More than 200 hours of detailed, local historical interviews will be preserved at Liverpool city library.
Oral history recorded on analogue material from the 1980s to 2000s will be converted to digital format as part of the project.
The significant recordings detail fascinating aspects of Liverpool’s past dating back to the early twentieth century and include First Nations and migrant stories.
Currently held on 130 magnetic cassette tapes, the recordings will be digitised into high quality preservation files to protect them from the deterioration of old analogue formats, safeguarding important facets of Liverpool’s heritage.
Liverpool library was one of 52 community organisations to receive a share of community heritage grants from the national library of Australia which committed more than $389,000 to support community-led and volunteer-run organisations to care for their local history, stimulating local tourism and community wellbeing.
The tapes hold interviews from the following five projects:
Farewell to Badgery’s Creek, A Little Bit Country, 1992: Residents recall life in an idyllic rural community ahead of the impending construction of the Western Sydney International Airport and the impact of this change on the community.
The Heart of a Place, 1992: Compiled by the Moorebank Womens’ Writing Group, residents from Moorebank, Chipping Norton, Hammondville and Holsworthy record unique family histories across several decades. The recordings include descriptions of the impact of military settlements, social housing schemes and a simpler suburban life which echoes lifestyles across other Australian suburbs.
Looking Back on Liverpool, 1985-6: Recollections of life from everyday Australians, migrants and First Nations people in Liverpool from 1900 to 1960. Several themes are explored over these years including why migrants chose to settle in Liverpool, the Great War, school days, work and entertainment.
Edmondson Park South, 2012: Documenting the history of the former Ingleburn Army Defence Site, this recording includes interviews with former soldiers against the backdrop of Liverpool rapidly becoming a new residential and business centre.
On the Frontier, 1994 and Hargrave Park, Never Heard of It, 2007: Contains interviews with significant historians and community figures on Liverpool’s past and present.
Researchers and the broader community will have an opportunity to access the recordings through the library’s online heritage collection from June this year.
