Reference Groups

A number of people have asked “how much work is involved with a reference group?”

If you put your hand up for one of our reference groups we do not expect you to attend meetings - lets face it we are all busy and the shire covers a large area.  What we want is your time with input to the particular area of interest -  not travelling to and attending meetings.

We have to be clever how we use our time and we can do this through the internet.

As with the Cultural Heritage Working Group,  the reference groups members will be people who are already engaged with the regions heritage, that is its History, Geology, Marine, Indigenous and the Arts. It is your existing level engagement with this heritage that we would like to tap into for information, insight and ideas

We expect that you will respond to emails and those responses can be as extensive, thoughtful or as simple and brief as you want to make them.

We are not starting from scratch. You will see that the Cultural Heritage Working Group through last years Heritage Strategy has already identified that there is rich tapestry of stories in the region. The next phase is to shape these into information packages for the experience seeker, the informed traveller  - our guests who are coming to the region.

Success for Merimbula-Imlay Historical Society

After completing a challenging year long program assessing their practice against The National Standards for Australian Museums and Galleries, the hard working volunteer group of the MERIMBULA OLD SCHOOL MUSEUM have been rewarded a certificate that will see the Museum published in the state-wide publication of all the Museums.

The Old School Museum is an outstanding heritage asset and based on the advice and feedback of the Standards Program, the volunteer run museum is now developing a plan to work with school groups to raise awareness and bring history to the community.

Olwen Morris, a member of the Merimbula Old School management committee explained that the whole project has been well worth the effort and has provided strong impetus for volunteers to work towards the image of the Old School Museum making it a showpiece for our local community.

The Merimbula Old School Museum is located in a beautifully restored heritage listed stone building dating from 1873. The collection on display tell the stories of Merimbula and it's development.

December Update

In the mad rush before Christmas our working group members have begun seeking expressions of interest from like minded people in the community to engage with us on this project and to contribute to the foundation reference groups for each of our identified stories - History, Geology, Marine, Indigenous and Cultural Arts. Early in the new year a community awareness campaign will be launched encouraging people of the Sapphire Coast to stay in touch, submit information and generally become involved in this exciting project. Until then, Seasons Greetings and a Happy New Year to you all!

Project Meeting

The Cultural Heritage Working Group held a meeting for this project  last week and discussed:

A.     The Community Consultation Process:

a.     The group felt that it was important to maintain the Cultural Heritage Working Group as the “in region” Key Reference group for the Project. They acknowledge the importance of engaging people outside the region with specific areas of knowledge and interest and therefore endorsed the establishment of an “out of Region” reference group and to invite people from Bombala and Eurobodalla, the adjoining shires to participate as well as other individuals with a specific interest in tourism and cultural heritage at a state and national level.

b.     Establishing reference groups for each of the five themes be established and the we canvas public interest for these groups. If you have a particular interest in participating in this process or being a member of a reference group please  let us know heritage@sapphirecoast.com.au

B.     The Importance of a position to facilitate the social media and meeting strategy was discussed and seen as a first priority

C.     Recent developments and opportunities in the region where celebrated - they included:

a.     The new ceramic mosaic walls at the Eden Killer Whale Museum

b.     The Four Winds Regional Development Grant to develop Nature’s Concert Hall – the Sound Shell which will be in place for next Easters Festival at Bermagui

c.      News that the well known and much loved late Mrs Shirley Hannan’s private collection may be offered to an art insitution. A group of locals are meeting to discuss the possibilities of keeping this unique and valued asset in the region. This is a national treasure, a real asset to the community and we need to do something about keeping it in the shire. Don't forget the next Shirley Hannan National Portrait Award is at the Bega Regional Gallery in 2012. What can we do to keep her Private collection here?

Stage One

 1. Research and Development of the stories

In developing the strategy last year we identified three key iconic stories 

The Killers of Eden,

Meeting of the Waters

In the Shadow of the Mountains

To explore more of these visit  http://sapphirecoaststories.blogspot.com/

Or download the complete strategy from this blog.

Two other stories Naturally Inspired  and the Bundian Way were also identified as having significant potential  and requiring further research and development.  A report on the developments  already underway with these two will be available in a later posting.

We now intend to add another layer to the material already developed. 

The information will be pitched to align with the expectations of an educated, environmentally aware target market, matching the profile of the Brand Australia ‘experience seeker‘

This project will produce 10 succinct (5000 word maximum), high quality, authentic, digitally presented information suitable for ready adaption as downloadable packages on the Australia‘s Coastal Wilderness and Sapphire Coast Tourism websites. 

The project is lumped into 5 themes, each of which will addressed by an author under the oversight of a community reference group convened by the Heritage Committee:

       Marine Heritage

Cetaceans of the Coastal Wilderness.

Marine Richness – mixing the currents

Historic Heritage

Old Tom and the History of Whaling

Life in the 19^th Century

Geoheritage

The Geology and Landscapes of the Three Mountains

Gondwana Splits – the Geomorphology of the south east coast

Indigenous Heritage

Bundian Way – the ancient highway

Balawan, Mumbula and Gulaga, the Sacred Mountains

Cultural Heritage

Nature, Inspiration and Art

Music and the Coastal Wilderness

The authors will undertake research based on the available literature and, where relevant, through consultation with experts and the community holders of information related to the iconic stories in the Heritage Strategy.

The Working group would like to hear from anyone interested in joining any of the specific community references groups. 

We will be inviting tenders for the authors for the themes in late November so if your are interested in an invitation let us know at: heritage@sapphirecoast.com.au

 2.   Develop and implement social media and meeting strategy

We are  looking for some one to take up a contract position working with the project coordinator to help facilitate the social media and meeting strategy throughout the project. We are looking for someone who is living in the region, who is social media savvy, has an eye for design, has excellent written and communication skills as well as complimentary self management, time management and project management skills. We envisage that the position would be the equivalent of one day a week for at least eight months. If you are interested contact 

heritage@sapphirecoast.com.au

Next Stage

There are two stages in the implementation of the Sapphire Coast Heritage Strategy

Stage One 

a. Research and development of the stories

b. Develop and implement social media tools

this informs

Stage Two 

a. Production of  Cultural Heritage and  Interpretive signage

b. Development of web based programs

Stage one will be implemented between November 2011 and the first quarter of 2012 and this will be followed by stage two in the rest of 2012.

Welcome

The Cultural Heritage Working Group welcomes you to our new Implementation Blog. 
Building on the work we did last year in developing the strategy this project will engage with the development of heritage information, interactive web page, maps, interpretive displays and signage to promote heritage experiences on the Sapphire Coast.  As well as this, over the next year, the project will familiarise the community on how to use and update the heritage material and stories through social media tools and demonstrate how they can be used to deliver heritage stories to the visitor . 
We do hope you will join us in contributing ideas, feed back and encouraging others to participate as we grow this project together.