CityLibraries seeking residents to share local memories

Date: Tuesday, 11th August 2009

Do you know someone who’s great at remembering ‘the good old days’?

Townsville’s CityLibraries is looking for residents interested in taking part in a program which will see locals recording their stories and uploading them on to a website.

The project, titled “Looking Back … Memories of Townsville”, is being partially funded by a $1500 grant from Adult Learners Week.

Lifelong Learning Officer Trisha Fielding said participants did not need to be familiar with the internet, as all training and assistance with tasks such as typing and scanning would be provided by CityLibraries staff.

“First we’ll start with an information session at CityLibraries Thuringowa this Friday (14 August), when we hope to provide people with some scope and inspiration,” Ms Fielding said.

“An online producer, Winsome Denyer from ABC Local Radio, will be speaking at this session.

“Winsome is well known in Townsville for her contribution to recording and preserving Townsville’s stories.

“Then, people can register for one of the workshops and have a couple of weeks at home to draft their story and look for suitable photos.

“The workshops they sign up for will be at CityLibraries Thuringowa from 1-4 September. The program will culminate in the creation of a wiki site – an ongoing, collaborative resource which will be available from the CityLibraries web page.”

Ms Fielding said all different stories were needed.

“The sort of stories we’re looking for include memories of school, home, work, industry, sport, leisure, events, people, cyclones, floods and the changing face of Townsville, such as The Strand, Flinders Street, and the outer suburbs,” she said.

“But the stories aren’t limited to these categories, by any means.

“If you have a story to tell about life in Townsville, whether 50 or five years ago, and you’re interested in learning some skills with new technologies, we want to hear from you.”

To register for the information session phone 4773 8811.