The Dandenong-Cranbourne RSL sub-branch has been selected to take part in a training program being delivered by Museums Australia and the Andrews Labor Government.

Member for Dandenong, Gabrielle Williams, today announced the organisation is one of five across Victoria taking part in the program, which aims to help ex-service organisations preserve, maintain and increase access to significant war heritage collections, such as World War I diaries and battlefield relics.

As part of the Program, the Dandenong-Cranbourne RSL sub-branch will receive:

• Intensive museological support from Museums Australia
• A tailored report identifying conservation, significance and oral history priorities
• Up to $5000 to work with a conservation professional to stabilise, repair or rehouse at-risk memorabilia
• Support to identify significant items of memorabilia and catalogue onto the Victorian Collections website

The Program is a key initiative of the Labor Government’s $1 million Veterans Heritage and History Strategy, released earlier this year. It’s our way of ensuring local organisations who possess these treasured objects have the knowhow to preserve them.

The War Heritage Collections Training Program will run between 2016 – 2018.

More details on a new War Heritage Roadshow will be announced soon. Please visit http://veterans.vic.gov.au/heritageandhistory to register your interest.

Quotes attributable to Member for Dandenong, Gabrielle Williams

“We have a really proud wartime legacy in Dandenong, and it’s our duty to preserve these memories for younger generations.”

“The War Heritage Collections Training Program will give the Dandenong-Cranbourne RSL sub-branch the skills it needs to safeguard the important treasures that mean so much to so many locals.”