Lake Macquarie City Council (LMCC) was one of six regional councils across NSW, to receive a NSW Government in association with Museums & Galleries NSW (MGNSW) grant to improve access to important regional collections of artworks, objects and archives by photographing a selection of items, writing up their stories, and then showcasing them on the MGNSW website, which will give Australia-wide access. To kickstart the program specialised equipment, training and resources were acquired by LMCC.

HELM worked with Caves Beach Surf Life Saving Club and LMCC to bring our surf culture to prominence. WOW! what an amazing collection of heritage memories, items and photos. We were very excited when the club agreed to share some of their amazing treasures with us and the wider world. Alan Wallace is a wealth of knowledge of the Club’s history along with Phil Rowe and Steve Smith. Meg O’Donnell from LMCC supervised the selection of objects and transported them to the Speers Point studio for photographing by a professional photographer. With the assistance of Alan Wallace, HELM wrote stories to match each object, which will be sent to MGNSW for uploading to their Storyplace web site.

It’s important that our heritage is recorded for visitors, newcomers and future generations of our area and further afield. The items will be added gradually throughout the year. Others taking part are West Wallsend Heritage Group, Lake Macquarie History Society, Morisset Hospital Museum, and Lake Macquarie City Council’s collection. The fascinating stories about the history and culture of NSW can be found at: storyplace.org.au