Digital copying of photographs, maps and documents will become a daily activity for members of the Friends of Bella Vista Farm.
The group of volunteers has just begun a project that will see them digitally preserve and record historic images and data relating to the Hill’s District’s Bella Vista Farm, near Castle Hill, New South Wales.
Group president Graham Rawstron said digitising the farm’s vast collection of archives had never been done before, and will involve many hours of scanning reams of architectural designs, drawings, maps and photos.
The volunteer organisation recently received a NSW government grant of $5,000 towards the project, which Rawstron admits is largely reliant on the goodwill and efforts of volunteers. He said the scale of the work means it will take more than a year to complete.
Material and items set to be preserved by the process will include memorabilia from people and families who had been associated with the farm throughout its history.
Additional information about the property, which to date has little recorded about it in historical publications and booklet printing, is welcomed, said Rawstron. The ultimate aim, he stressed, was to acknowledge and better inform future residents about its significant place in the history of The Hills District.
Bella Vista Farm was granted to first settler Joseph Foveaux in 1799, and features a homestead and farm buildings that remain intact to this day.
