Colac in North Carolina!

It was an exciting time for our region last Thursday [19th May] … Colac & District Historical Society were joint winners in their category in the Sir Rupert Hamer Records Management Awards!

Not only was it exciting for them to win the award but their entry is an amazing story.  Their member, Dawn Peel, was the instigator when she found a reference to the Colac Court of Petty Sessions 1849-1860 in the special collections at Duke University, Durham, North Carolina.  She thought it was an error until the duty librarian scanned the first few pages … they included the name of Hugh MURRAY (pictured) … she then knew it was no error.

You can read the whole story on the PROV Wiki site.  This is an amazing blend of history and technology … a digital copy of the register is available on a server in the United States, the story and full transcription of the register is on a server at the Public Record Office Victoria, and the full index is included in the Geelong & District database on yet another server in Victoria!

Congratulations to Dawn and the Colac & District Historical Society on their win in the category “Community Archives – providing enhanced records access” and congratulations also to the Knox Historical Society for their project on school photos – both were worthy joint winners.

All category winners can be seen on the PROV web site with more details on the projects to be added there later.