Trade Fair and Expo

Before leaving early (it is a long way back to Gippsland, and the Monash in peak hour is not for the faint-hearted), I had an early look at the Trade Fair and Expo, which was on from morning tea time. There were about 10 -12 stands, a mix of organisations and commercial suppliers and services to the sector.


David Elms was there from the Ballarat CFA. They are justifiably proud that they are cataloguing their collection, and have 27 items on Victorian Collections. I had been thinking that VC was ideal for fire brigades, but he tells me that Ballarat and the Fire Services Museum of Victoria are the only two on there.



Andrew Hiskins, from the State Library of Victoria, who chaired the Social Media & The Web in Museums session, is seen here with John Watson, the Community Museums Project Officer at the Department of Planning and Community Development in the Community Museums Pilot Project. This is a really interesting project that is being trialled in the Central Victorian Goldfields, but will hopefully be rolled out across Victoria soon. As soon as it is signed off by Ted Bailleau, in his capacity as Minister for the Arts. Gippsland would be due to get a Project Officer under this model, which would be wonderful.

I suspect this is like anything waiting on political approval - your local member needs to be told how important that it is to you. I will be writing to a few tomorrow - please join in with me if you think it is important.