2) Matthew Flinders' 1804 map of Australia

At 11am on 25 January 2011, in front of St Paul’s Cathedral in Melbourne, the President of the Federation of Australian Historical Societies Inc, Assoc Professor Don Garden, joined the Victorian Education Minister, the Lord Mayor of Melbourne and the Member for Flinders in the Australian Parliament to launch a call for bringing home to Australia Matthew Flinders’ 1804 map of Australia.

2014 is the bicentenary of the death of Flinders.

The 1804 Finders map is significant for Australia as a nation. Flinders was commissioned in 1801 by the British government to chart the previously unmapped regions of the ‘great south land’. Flinders completed his circumnavigation and rough charting in 1803. He completed the map in 1804 while detained at Mauritius and sent it to England. His account of his explorations, Voyage to Terra Australis and the first map of Australia were published in 1814. This is the map that is normally reproduced.

In 1817, Governor Macquarie recognized Flinders’ preference for the name ‘Australia’, and adopted the name himself.

As the original map Flinders drew in 1804 is a priceless part of our national heritage, it is important that it be returned to Australia and exhibited.

An online petition is available at the following link: Petition to the British Parliament – Bring Home the Birth Certificate of Our Nation

3) British Library's 2020 vision

The British Library’s 2020 Strategic Vision is worth consideration as it incorporates a projected technology trend and the effect of constant technological change.

http://www.bl.uk/aboutus/stratpolprog/2020vision/2020visioncomplete.pdf

(Source: aliaaglin@lists.alia.org.au – 28 January 2011)

4) National Library - Australian newspapers service

The National Library of Australia is now inviting contributions to its Australian newspapers service.

This service provides free online access to digitised Australian newspapers through Trove (http://trove.nla.gov.au), the national resource discovery service.

With 40 million articles from over 100 newspaper titles representing every Australian state and territory scheduled to be in service by June 2011, Australian newspapers will enable users to explore online an unprecedented quantity and range of Australia's newspaper heritage. From July 2011, the National Library will be implementing a model which enables other libraries and institutions to fund the digitisation of specific newspaper titles.

The Australian newspapers service is part of the Australian Newspaper Plan (www.nla.gov.au/anplan), a cooperative endeavour through which Australian libraries collect, preserve and provide access to Australian newspapers.

For further information about how to contribute to the Australian newspapers service, please see the Contributor Guidelines (http://www.nla.gov.au/ndp/get_involved/documents/ANScontributorguidelines2010final.pdf) and Factsheet (http://www.nla.gov.au/anplan/documents/Benefits_of_ANDP_Model_for_Contributors_000.pdf),

or call the National Library on 02 6262 1685.

(Source: National of Australia Library website – updated August 2010)

5) Local history - closure of Australia Post Offices

Twenty-seven Australia Post Offices are being closed nationwide. Many are located in prime positions in towns and suburbs and many are heritage listed under the Environment Protection Biosecurity Conservation Act 1999 and state and territory Heritage Acts. Examples of proposed closures are Glebe, Woollahra and Turramurra in Sydney.

(Source: Australian Financial Review 22-23 January 2011, p.10)