WHEN a coup d'état bubbles over, the first place ransacked by the rebels isn’t necessarily the armoury or safes stocked to the ceiling with gold bullion.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
There’s something deemed more valuable than bullets and gold.
It’s the archives.
An infinitely renewable resource, history is made every day in every corner of the world.
It shapes decisions made in the future, holds the successes and chagrins of society without discrimination and it says more about us than we wish to know.
A place where history is preserved and conserved is undoubtedly valuable for those wishing to change the course of it.
Without uncovering some nationally sensitive information, Tamworth is home to one of those relative goldmines.
Like a little bunker, down the end of a warren of corridors in Ray Walsh House, you’ll find the Tamworth film and sound archive.
It is believed to be one of the only archives of its kind in regional Australia.
With spools of film, shelves jam-packed with VHS, photos and discs, and a litany of artefacts preserved in pretty decent condition, it’d be fair to say that, if it has ever been publicly said, sung, scribbled or snapped in Tamworth, it has found a home in the archive.
To weave all of the formats together would show the threads that have formed the lacework of Tamworth, preserved in written and photographic history.
READ MORE:
That’s the task facing the tireless volunteers who keep the archive alive.
The growing bounty of items under their watch now have to make the leap to the digital world.
The first steps have been taken to digitise the historic collection in a bid to hopefully give people unprecedented online access to a truly rich vein of resources.
It’s a worthy cause, but how much it's worth is a burning and complicated question.
Preservation conservator Mick Newnham has spent years working with Canberra’s National Film and Sound Archive, as well as on collections throughout South East Asia.
Mr Newnham’s assessment of the Tamworth archive will help form its strategy for digitising the entire collection.
It's a task that could take decades.
And time is – and isn’t – of the essence.
“I always say the people we are working for, their grandparents haven’t been born yet,” Mr Newnham said.
“Collections only increase in social value over time.”
However, some pieces, particularly those recorded on magnetic tape, are prone to deterioration.
They could have only a few years left before they’re lost to history and are unable to be saved.
The Tamworth archive will essentially have to apply for grants from the governments so it can access money and equipment to turn its goldmine into data.
It’s an expensive prospect, which neither Mr Newnham nor the volunteers dared to put a price tag on.
But proving the value of a collection, or the arts in general, can be needlessly fraught.
“Any cultural heritage, you can’t really quantify it in dollar terms,” he said.
“It’s about social stability.
“It is about understanding who you are because you understand where you’ve come from.
“Politically stable countries have good strong cultures.”
According to the dedicated volunteers who are the guardians of the valuable vault, the archive is home to a copy of pretty much every TV broadcast from Tamworth.
"There is 40,000 items on the database," archive treasurer John Vickery said.
If it happened in the city, "we have some record about that event or person", Mr Vickery claimed.
It is a collection unmatched in regional Australia and the mammoth task is not lost on the long-serving volunteers.
"We would like about four more copying machines and about eight more volunteers to run them, and we’ll get it done in a couple of years," Mr Vickery said.
Talking to other volunteers, it becomes apparent there is more than a hint of jest in Mr Vickery's assessment.
Ian Austin said that, after 20 years in the bunker, they've only just began to scratch the surface.
All in the name of giving people access to the story of the town they live in.
And that's why Mr Newnham's visit was so important.
His assessment of the joint will shape its future and how the volunteers and council staff will take the collection there.
It's about the sustenance and guidance of culture
The council's collection officer, Miranda Heckenberg, highlighted the national significance of some pieces like the Ison's World War I slides, which were recently accepted into the UNESCO Australian Memory of the World list.
She said the back of the digitisation project would be broken in stages.
"It's more a matter of working out what we need to prioritise to kind of work on a plan," she said.
"It’s probably one that will happen in stages.
"And figuring out [which] is the important stuff at the most risk."
In Mr Newnham's first visit to the Tamworth archive, initial assessment would suggest each item has an inherent value and importance.
Because it's about the sustenance and guidance of culture and society.
It is perhaps why the work of the volunteers and the council can't be understated.
After all, they could be the defenders at the gates.
"It is recognised, because in any coup, the target is the broadcasters and their archives," Mr Newnham said.
"When the coup happened in Fiji, a friend of mine was working and the broadcaster’s library was their first target."