The Australian National Museum of Education has been awarded a $4,500 federal Community Heritage Grant to fund a significance assessment of the collection. The grant was announced at the National Library of Australia in Canberra on 27 October, 2015.

This year, grants worth $438,710 have been distributed to 75 community groups and organisations from around Australia to assist in the identification and preservation of community owned but nationally significant heritage collections.

In addition, Hakim Abdul Rahim from The Australian National Museum of Education attended a three-day intensive preservation and collection management workshop held at the National Library, the National Archives of Australia, the National Museum of Australia and the National Film and Sound Archive in Canberra.

Curator Hakim Abdul Rahim said the grant was important in supporting the effort to preserve the Australian National Museum of Education at the grassroots level. “While the grant provides the funds, the workshop offers the expertise to help us protect our collection and make it accessible while it remains in the local context,” he said

Director-General of the National Library of Australia, Ms Anne-Marie Schwirtlich, said the CHG program showed the commitment by the National Library, along with its partner institutions and the Federal Government, in encouraging communities to care for the nation’s heritage, be it in small country towns or capital cities. CHG is managed by the National Library. It is funded by the Australian Government through the Ministry for the Arts; the National Archives of Australia; the National Film and Sound Archive; the National Museum of Australia and the National Library.

Media contacts: Dr Malcolm Beazeley, Director ANME, ANME@canberra.edu.au or Hakim Abdul Rahim, Curator, Hakim.AbdulRahim@canberra.edu.au 0421155496