Protecting cultural heritage:
The role of Blue Shield Australia
by Detlev Lueth
Detlev Lueth has been working at the National Archives of Australia since
2002 and is currently the Assistant Director of National Preservation
Coordination. Previously he worked as Senior Paper and Exhibitions
Conservator at the National Museum of Australia, Senior Film Preservation
Officer at the National Film and Sound Archive and Photo Conservator at
International Conservation Service in Sydney. He has carried out research and
lectured on the preservation and conservation of photographic materials at
both the University of Canberra and of Melbourne. He has been an active
member of the conservation profession for more than 20 years and was the
2004 Australian Institute for Conservation of Cultural Materials (AICCM)
Conservator of the Year for contributions to photographic conservation. He
has been a member of the Blue Shield Australia (BSA) Committee as the
representative for the International Council on Archives (ICA) on behalf of
the Council of Australasian Archives and Records Authorities (CAARA) since
2007 and the 2009/2010 chair of the BSA Committee.
Abstract
The Blue Shield is the cultural equivalent of the Red Cross. A protective
emblem used to mark and protect cultural sites from attack in the event of
armed conflict, the blue shield was introduced as part of UNESCO’s 1954
Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed
Conflict. The Blue Shield also seeks the protection of cultural heritage by
coordinating preventative measures to meet and respond to emergency
situations, both natural and man-made.
The 2009 natural disasters in Queensland and Victoria caused extensive tragic
losses and damage in the affected communities. This loss and damage
extended to our cultural heritage. Given the scale and severity of these natural
disasters, anecdotal evidence points to inadequate or complete lack of disaster
plans resulting in a failure to protect our heritage against the extreme forces
of these recent natural disasters. As the effects of climate change become well
understood it is increasingly clear that Australia can expect more frequent,
widespread and severe natural disasters annually.
Generally speaking after each disaster we learn from our mistakes and design
safer and smarter ways to mitigate risks associated with natural disasters. The
Australian Blue Shield committee suggests that given the magnitude of recent
natural disasters there is a need to raise awareness of the importance of risk
preparedness, response and recovery programs in the Australian cultural
heritage sector. The magnitude of recent disasters also indicates that no single
organisation is able to safely protect our cultural heritage.
Detlev Lueth
Protecting cultural heritage: The role of Blue Shield Australia
The Blue Shield Australia (BSA) committee advocates for the Australian
cultural heritage sector to take measures which will prevent, prepare, respond
and recover from all types of disasters. It encourages the development of
Mutual Aid Agreements between relevant organisations in identified regions,
with a view to developing an integrated disaster planning and response
regime for those organisations.
BSA seeks to work in partnership with the Australian Society of Archivists
(ASA) and other Australian peak professional bodies in the cultural heritage
sector on activities which appropriately prepare the sector for natural
disasters.
Introduction
This paper outlines the aims and objectives of the Blue Shield Australia
committee. It considers the need for the establishment and maintenance of
disaster plans at all Australian cultural heritage organisations especially in the
context of recent major natural disasters experienced in Queensland and
Victorian. It also proposes the formation of local cultural heritage sector
disaster support networks with linkage to other local organisations and
agencies involved in disaster management or emergency planning. It shows
how BSA works towards the uptake of these measures across Australia
notably through its annual MayDay campaign and it calls for the support of
the Australian archival profession to participate in BSA activities as
individuals and collectively through the ASA.
What is Blue Shield?
The Blue Shield is the cultural equivalent of the Red Cross. The Blue Shield is
the protective emblem used to mark and protect cultural sites from attack in
the event of armed conflict as part of UNESCO’s 1954 Hague Convention for
the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict. The Hague
Convention is the basic international treaty formulating rules to protect
cultural heritage during war and military occupation. It aims to protect
cultural sites, monuments and repositories, including museums, libraries and
archives. It covers immovable and movable cultural property including
monuments of architecture, art or history, archaeological sites, works of art,
manuscripts, books and other objects of artistic, historical or archaeological
interest, as well as scientific collections of all kinds regardless of their origin
or ownership. Written in the wake of the widespread cultural devastation
during World War II, the Convention is the oldest international agreement to
address exclusively cultural heritage preservation.1
In 1996 the International Committee of Blue Shield (ICBS) was established to
advise UNESCO on how best to protect cultural heritage under threat of war
as well as natural disaster. The ICBS is international, independent and
professional.2 In September 2005, the ICBS approved an application by four
cultural heritage professional associations in Australia to establish an
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Protecting cultural heritage: The role of Blue Shield Australia
Australian national committee, Blue Shield Australia (BSA).3 There are now
more than 20 Blue Shield National Committees around the globe. In 2008
these national committees formed an Association of National Committees of
the Blue Shield (ANCBS). The aim of this association is to strengthen the
network between the national Blue Shield Committees and ICBS as well as
other cultural emergency assistance organisations.4
What is Blue Shield Australia?
Blue Shield Australia is a cross-sectoral body covering archives, libraries,
museums, galleries and the built heritage. It brings together in a federated
association the knowledge, experience and networks of peak professional
bodies dealing with cultural heritage in Australia. These member bodies are:
 International Council on Archives, represented in Australia by the Council
of Australasian Archives and Records Authorities (CAARA)
 International Council of Museums, represented in Australia by ICOM
Australia
 International Council on Monuments and Sites, represented in Australia
by Australia ICOMOS
 International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions,
represented in Australia by the Australian Library and Information
Association (ALIA).
The Blue Shield Australia committee consists of one representative and a
proxy from each member body. The committee meets at least four times a
year and is supported by funds contributed by its four member bodies, and
by in-kind assistance from its Secretariat, the Collections Council of Australia
Ltd.
What is BSA’s vision?
The aim of BSA is to ensure the preservation of cultural heritage in Australia
under all kinds of threat by influencing disaster preparedness and emergency
management. This aim extends to Australia’s Areas of Influence (AoI) defined
by the Australian Government as South East Asia and South West Pacific.
What are BSA’s goals?
The objectives of BSA are:
1. To serve as the Australian national committee of the International
Committee of the Blue Shield.
2. To promote the protection of cultural property (as defined in the Hague
Convention) against threats of all kinds.
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3. To intervene strategically with decision makers and relevant
organisations to prevent and to respond to natural and man-made
disasters.
4. To contribute to efforts to protect the world’s cultural heritage threatened
by natural and man-made disasters.
5. To contribute to efforts to prepare the Australian general community and
more specifically cultural heritage organisations to respond to threats to
cultural heritage in times of natural and man-made disasters.
What activities has BSA undertaken?
Since its inception BSA has taken a number of actions to promote the
protection of cultural property from natural and man-made disasters. These
activities include:
 Making submissions to federal government inquiries:
o Defence White Paper
o Senate Select Committee Inquiry into Bushfires in Australia
 Holding meetings with the Attorney-General’s Department, and
Emergency Management Australia
 Raising awareness of BSA and its activities via presentations at
conferences and meetings of Australia’s cultural heritage organisations
 Attending the first meeting of the Association of National Committees of
the Blue Shield (ANCBS) in 2008 at the Hague in the Netherlands
 Representing Australia’s Blue Shield activities to our peers
internationally
 Helping organise an Australian archive professional to travel to
Germany to assist the Cologne archive with their disaster recovery
activities
 Surveying the level of established ‘memorandum of understanding’
agreements between cultural heritage institutions across Australia
 Assisting with media response and facilitation of Australia-wide contact
after the February 2009 floods in Queensland & NSW and fires in
Victoria
 Carrying out annual MayDay campaigns.
BSA and the Victorian Black Saturday bushfires
On 7 February 2009 after a week of very high temperatures the state of
Victoria was devastated by bushfires to such a degree that it became the worst
peacetime disaster in Australia’s history. Conditions on the day were
comparable to a fan-force oven with winds over 100 kilometres per hour and
temperatures reaching as high as 46.4°C. Hundreds of fires burned
throughout the state that day with some fires not under control until
15 March 2009. These fires tragically killed 173 people and hundreds were
injured. The fires displaced seven and half thousand people, swept through
70 national parks and reserves, ravaged a million acres, destroyed 78
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townships in 19 councils, destroyed 2000 houses, 61 businesses, 3550
agricultural facilities, and killed or injured more than 11,000 farm animals.5
Unfortunately no statistics have been compiled to account for damage and
losses to cultural heritage but we do know that the Marysville Historical
Society lost their entire collection.6 We also know anecdotally that various
historical houses and countless private collections were destroyed and/or
damaged when the bushfires burned family homes to the ground.
It is perhaps then an understatement to say that the Victorian bushfires
served as a ‘focusing event’ not just for the affected local communities but the
wider state of Victoria and the national community. It was the only news in
town and everyone wanted to do what they could to assist with the recovery
actions.
Usually large disasters like this lead to new disaster legislation, policy,
planning and practices. This is partly why the Victorian Bushfire Royal
Commission was established on 16 February to investigate the causes and
responses to the fires.7 BSA intends to present a submission to the Victorian
Bushfire Royal Commission to highlight the need to protect our cultural
heritage during times of disaster.
One of our key recommendations will be the importance of and need for
emergency support agencies to include in their planning, preparation,
response and recovery strategies, measures to protect our cultural heritage
leading up to, during and after disasters. This will mirror the 14
recommendations we made in our July 2009 submission to the Senate Select
Committee Inquiry into Bushfires in Australia.8 The submission to the Senate
and our future submission to the Victorian Bushfire Royal Commission can be
found on the BSA website.9
BSA’s response to the Black Saturday Bushfires
BSA’s contribution mainly consisted of collaborating with both the
Collections Council and the Australian Institute of Cultural Materials
(AICCM) in providing web-based advice on the appropriate recovery of firedamaged items, and issuing media releases to help alert communities to the
importance of this recovery work. You can also find these press releases on
the BSA website at www.blueshieldaustralia.org.au.
The main response was carried out by the Victorian Division of the AICCM
who coordinated volunteer conservators to attend community meetings and
events in affected areas, providing conservation advice and delivering
archival storage materials. This response was the result of many people and
institutions coming together to assist. Within a week after the bushfires struck
the AICCM gained support in principle and materially from the major
Victorian conservation departments, collecting institutions, and arts bodies, as
well as from the National Archives of Australia Melbourne Office and the
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Public Record Office Victoria (PROV) which offered sustained and extensive
support.
Justine Heazlewood and Diane Brodie of the Public Record Office Victoria
(PROV) as well as Ross Latham, Director of the Melbourne Office of the
National Archives of Australia, must be singled out in praise for their
dedicated assistance. They quickly outlined the nature of the support they
could give which included a bounty of archival storage materials, staff time to
assist in voluntary work, and the use of vehicles. Storage for items from
public collections was also available if required.
An important factor which facilitated the quick response from the various
Victorian cultural heritage institutions was largely due to an existing network
forged by the Victorian state collecting institutions. Near the end of 2008, all
of the Victorian Arts Portfolio agencies had signed the Victorian State
Collections Emergency Response Memorandum of Understanding. At the
centre of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was the agreement
between the agencies to assist each other following a disaster to any of their
collections. While none of the agencies were under threat during the Victorian
bushfires, their united approach was evident when it was suggested that they
support the AICCM in providing conservation and preservation support to
local history/museum collections in affected areas.
BSA commends the countless hours of volunteer work the Victorian branch of
the AICCM undertook in responding to the bushfires. We’re also confident
that the Victorian Arts Portfolio agencies network will continue to facilitate
preparedness and protection of Victoria’s cultural heritage not just in case of
bushfires but also from other types of disaster.
History of natural disaster management in Australia
Disaster management in Australia has been shaped by a number of natural
disasters. The most notable (in most recent times) were Cyclone Tracey in
Darwin on Christmas Eve 1974 that killed 71 people10 and the Ash
Wednesday bushfires that burned through Victoria and South Australia on
16 February 1983 killing 76 people.11 These two events have, until this year,
most profoundly shaped how Australia, and in particular Australia’s
emergency services, have responded to, (and to a lesser degree prevented and
prepared for), annual natural disasters in recent decades.12
Australia’s most common seasonal disasters can be grouped into cyclones,
bushfires and floods. It seems since Cyclone Tracey we have a good track
record of preparing the community for the annual cyclone season by constant
monitoring of the weather, giving warnings on approaching cyclones and
categorising cyclones into classes of severity from 1 to 5. Furthermore, the
communities in Northern Australia are reminded to prepare weeks in
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advance and strict building codes have been introduced in many cycloneprone parts of Australia to better shield life and protect property.13
In the case of bushfires, pre-season back burns are carried out to reduce fuel
loads and the establishment of national categories of fire danger warnings
from low to extreme have been implemented. The Total Fire Ban category was
introduced for the first time on 24 November 1982 just before the Ash
Wednesday bushfires.14
For the first time in Australia, two days after the start of the 2009 Victorian
bushfires the Victorian Police issued a fire danger warning on all mobile
phones in Victoria.15 In response to the interim report from the Victorian
Bushfires Royal Commission a new national six-stage bushfire code rating
system was introduced. The fire danger starts at low to moderate and runs
through to severe and extreme with the added new warning now being
Catastrophic. The forecasting of catastrophic conditions will be referred to as
Code Red days. This new warning will come into play on days when
environmental conditions are such they pose a very real likelihood of major
loss of life or property and relocating to a safer place would be the best
option.16 These warning messages and how to prepare and respond to
bushfires will be badged under a new media slogan ‘Prepare, Act, Survive’.17
In the case of floods, levees have been built in some but not all flood-prone
areas, warnings of rising flood levels are given in the media and actions are
focused on recovery while also allowing the continuation of building in floodprone areas. However, this building practice seems to be changing with at
least some coastal councils around Australia trying to guard themselves
against future liabilities due to climate change impacting their community
living and working close to rivers, inlets and the ocean.18
This is a very simple summary of how Australia annually prepares and
responds to natural disasters. I’ve used the example of these three types of
natural disaster to highlight that they are seasonal. However they do not
include other types of natural disasters, which may or may not occur during
any year. They also don’t account for the increasing risk of ‘man-made’ events
such as the Longford gas explosion in Victoria on 25 September 1998,19 or the
Western Australian gas crisis on 3 June 2008 caused by the rupture of a
corroded pipeline.20 These disasters caused each state to be without gas for
several weeks.
I’m sure I won’t be telling you anything new when I say that natural disasters
can’t be averted. For example, I’m not aware that anyone has yet come up
with a way to prevent tsunamis or cyclones from forming as well as bushfires
being started by lightning. However we know that we can take measures to
minimise the effects of natural disasters by taking actions to prepare, respond
and recover our cultural heritage.
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I’m also confident you would be aware how the increasing effects of climate
change will cause more frequent and extreme natural disasters.21
Consequently climate change is likely to put our cultural heritage further at
risk and therefore there is an ever-increasing need to take actions to prevent,
prepare, respond and recover from natural disasters.
What could we do to reduce the effect of disasters on our heritage?
As professionals working in the archive sector we know that the protection of
archives via disaster preparedness measures is a sound and cost effective
preservation strategy. This strategy is also in most part understood and
supported by our other allied colleagues who act as custodians and hold our
heritage in trust for future generations. We know anecdotally that disaster
plans are in place at a good many of our federal and state metropolitan-based
archives.
BSA supports these established disaster preparedness measures in
metropolitan Australia. It however advocates for the implementation of
disaster plans across the whole cultural heritage sector not just in
metropolitan areas but also in rural and regional Australia. Not just state or
federal funded organisations but also community and council run and/or
funded organisations.
We stress the need for disaster plans to be kept up to date and be well
informed by current best practice. This includes the establishment and
support of local cultural heritage networks with a signed Memorandum of
Understanding (MoU). These are designed to assist members of the network
with planning, preparing, responding and recovering from disasters. Most in
Australia are either in development stages or dormant. However standing out
among these is the Canberra-based DisACT network, which incidentally
celebrates its 10th anniversary this year and is frequently referred to
Australia’s model network.22
The most recent MoU was signed and launched in August this year between a
network of cultural heritage organisations located in Ballarat, Victoria. Staff
from the Public Record Office Victoria were heavily involved with
establishing this network and the PROV Director Justine Heazlewood
formally launched the MoU on 5 August.23
BSA is very pleased to see the establishment of this network because it’s
Australia’s first non-metropolitan network and we hope it will inspire many
other regions throughout Australia to follow its lead. The formation of this
network is featured on the Collections Council of Australia website.24
To promote the widespread proliferation of disaster preparedness measures
in the Australian cultural heritage sector BSA carries out an annual campaign
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during the month of May.25 The reason the campaign uses the term ‘MayDay’
is because it is an emergency code word used internationally as a distress
signal in voice procedure radio communications. It derives from the French
venez m’aider, meaning ‘come help me’.26 Therefore the MayDay campaign
fuses two concepts – the distress signal, and the first day of May – so as to
create a memorable calendar date for activities which improve disaster
preparedness in the cultural heritage sector.
The concept of the ‘MayDay’ campaign originated from the Society of
American Archivist (SAA) in 2006.27 SAA promotes their MayDay campaign
throughout the American cultural heritage sector by partnering with Heritage
Preservation and other oraganisations.28 With kind permission from the SAA,
BSA has coordinated a MayDay campaign in Australia since 2007.
In our submission to the Senate bushfires inquiry, BSA made a number of
recommendations for government and its agencies to consider. We also made
recommendations as to what individual professionals working with cultural
heritage could do to implement disaster mitigation procedures. Some of these
recommendations are also listed activities in the BSA MayDay campaign flier
that you can find on the BSA website.
In summary, as individual workers in the archive sector, we could undertake
the following activities:
 Ensure that a disaster plan is in place at your archive
o that the plan is up-to date with contacts
o that at least two staff and or volunteers are appropriately
trained and familiar with the disaster plan and are replaced in a
timely manner when a vacancy occurs
o disaster response kits (bins) are in place and well stocked.
 Identify the three biggest risks to your archive
o make a timeline as to how your archive is going to remove,
reduce or minimise these risks.
 Record and share information both internally and externally about lessons
your archive has learned from recent disasters.
 Ensure your archive joins or calls for the formation of a local cultural
heritage sector disaster support network
o work toward linking the network to other local organisations
and agencies involved in disaster management or emergency
planning.
 Promote the BSA MayDay campaign to your colleagues by posting our
flier on your noticeboards and discussing with your colleagues what
mitigation activities you will undertake during the month of May.
 Ensure that your archive website has easily accessible disaster
preparedness, response and recovery advice for your clients and the wider
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community. This advice could take the form of a simple link to the BSA
and or ASA websites.
There are also a number of things the archival profession could undertake as a
group. For example ASA could join the BSA committee as an Associate
Member. BSA already sends our minutes to the ASA national council and a
formal invitation to take up Associate membership will shortly be sent to the
ASA President for consideration.
 It’s hoped that through the ASA representative on the BSA committee new
collaborative disaster mitigation activities will be developed
 Help to develop a database to capture the impact of disasters which affect
the archival sector
 Ensure that disaster planning is included in Australia’s archival industry
training programs
 Establish a register of ASA members who are prepared to volunteer their
time to assist with ASA or BSA disaster recovery actions
 Maintain disaster mitigation and recovery advice on ASA website and
work with BSA and other potential partners to ensure this information is
updated and linked to the wider heritage sector and general public.
BSA offers to partner and support with any of the above activities but it will
also carry out four key initiatives over the next 12 months:
 Make a submission to the Victorian Bushfire Royal Commission
 Develop a new Blue Shield Australia website with much more national
and international disaster mitigation information
 Develop a series of disaster planning and recovery training workshops to
be conducted throughout Australia in 2010.
 Organise in partnership with DisACT a national disaster planning
symposium specific to the cultural heritage sector for May 2010 in
Canberra.
Conclusion
Australia is accustomed to annual natural disasters yet has been deeply
shocked by the scale and severity of the 2009 Victorian bushfires and the
recent natural disasters in the Philippines, Vietnam, Samoa, American Samoa,
Tonga and Indonesia. We know we’ll see more natural disasters each year,
and according to climate change predictions these natural disasters may
become more frequent and extreme. Consequently we are likely to see further
damage and loss impacting our cultural heritage unless we prepare
individually and collectively to reduce risks of disasters affecting our cultural
heritage.
BSA calls on the assistance of the Australian archival sector to work in
partnership with raising the awareness for the fundamental importance of
disaster mitigation measures. This is to ensure that risks and hazards to our
archival heritage are identified and that disaster prevention, preparedness,
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response and recovery objectives become core business and practice in the
archival sector. A further aim is to integrate these measures into all national,
state and municipal disaster plans and business recovery plans.
Acknowledgements
I like to thank and acknowledge my employer the National Archive of
Australia for support and assistance to deliver this paper. I’m also grateful for
the support of my colleagues on the Blue Shield Australia committee and I
especially like to thank Margaret Birtley and Veronica Bullock for their
unfailing support and professional guidance. The formation of this paper was
also largely due to Alexandra Ellem, the AICCM Victorian president. Last but
not least I like to thank my wife and family who sacrificed their time with me
so I could prepare and deliver this paper.
References
1. The 1956 Hague Convention, http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.phpURL_ID=13637&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html
2. The International Committee of the Blue Shield (ICBS),
http://icom.museum/emergency.html
3. Blue Shield Australia (BSA),
http://www.collectionscouncil.com.au/blue+shield+australia.aspx
4. Association of National Committees of the Blue Shield (ANCBS),
http://www.ancbs.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=frontpage&It
emid=1
5. Interim Report into the 2009 Victoria Bushfires Royal Commission,
http://www.royalcommission.vic.gov.au/Interim-Report
6. ABC Radio – Disasters and Accidents,
http://www.abc.net.au/local/audio/2009/07/14/2625218.htm
7. 2009 Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission,
http://www.royalcommission.vic.gov.au/
8. Australian Parliament Senate Select Committee on Agricultural and Related
Industries Inquiry into Bushfires in Australia,
http://www.aph.gov.au/Senate/committee/agric_ctte/bushfires/index.htm
9. Blue Shield Australia’s recommendations to the Senate Select Committee
into Bushfires in Australia,
http://www.collectionscouncil.com.au/fifteenth+announcement+3+
september+2009.aspx
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10. Emergency Management Australia, Historical Disaster, Cyclone Tracey,
http://www.ema.gov.au/www/emaweb/emaweb.nsf/Page/EMALibrary_
OnlineResources_HistoricalDisasters_CycloneTracy
11. Emergency Management Australia, Historical Disaster, Ash Wednesday
Bushfires,
http://www.ema.gov.au/www/emaweb/emaweb.nsf/Page/EMALibrary_
OnlineResources_HistoricalDisasters_AshWednesday
12. Erin Smith, National Disaster Preparedness in Australia – Before and After
9/11, Journal of Emergency Primary Health Care, vol. 4, issue 2, 2006, p. 3,
http://www.jephc.com/uploads/990195.pdf
13. Northern Territory Emergency Services,
http://www.pfes.nt.gov.au/index.cfm?es
14. Victorian Government Department of Sustainability and Environment,
Ash Wednesday 1983, Getting Ready for the Fire Season,
http://www.dse.vic.gov.au/DSE/nrenfoe.Nsf/LinkView/FAAF080E6756F7
904A25679300155B2B7157D5E68CDC2002CA256DAB0027ECA3
15. Country Fire Authority Victoria, Video Community Safety Message
02/03/09, CFA’s Director Community Safety Lisa Sturzenegger,
http://www.cfaconnect.net.au/index.php?option=com_video&task=
showVideo&act=watch&Itemid=10&video_id=kn50uvgrMQE&title=
Community%20Safety%20Message%2002/03/09
16. Media Release, Premier of Victoria, New National Fire Warning System
for Victorian Communities, 10/09/2009,
http://www.premier.vic.gov.au/premier/new-national-fire-warningsystem-for-victorian-communities.html
17. Country Fire Authority Victoria, CFAConnect, Prepare. Act. Survive.
http://www.cfaconnect.net.au/index.php?option=com_k2&view=
item&layout=item&id=881&Itemid=42
18. Wellington Shire Council, Climate Change and Sea Level Rise
Implications: Ninety Mile Beach and Lake Reeve – Honeysuckles to Paradise
Beach, Report prepared by ETHOS NRM PTY LTD, March 2008,
http://www.wellington.vic.gov.au/page/page.asp?page_Id=1498
19. Royal Commission Report into the 1998 Esso Longford Gas Plant
Accident, Emergency Management Australia Disaster Database,
http://www.ema.gov.au/ema/emadisasters.nsf/00ed8726e14caddfca256d
09001da856/51561bea38d1b17cca256fbe007bb49b?OpenDocument
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20. 2008 Western Australian gas crisis, Wikipedia,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Western_Australian_gas_crisis
21. Special Report – Hardening Australia: Climate Change and National
Disaster Resilience. Australian Strategic Policy Institute, Athol Yates and
Anthony Bergin, August 2009, Issue 24,
http://www.aspi.org.au/publications/publication_details.aspx?ContentID
=221
22. DisACT: A Disaster Recovery Resource for Public Collections in the ACT
Region, http://www.anbg.gov.au/disact/index.html
23. Ballarat Collections Network, http://www.prov.vic.gov.au/main/bcn.asp
24. Collections Council of Australia’s Collaborative Projects Showcase:
Ballarat Collections Network,
http://www.collectionscouncil.com.au/showcase%2Bof%2Bcollaborative%2
Bprojects.aspx?agentType=View&PropertyID=6&customFieldIDs=1&Search
Values=ballarat
25. Blue Shield Australia, Thirteenth Announcement, MayDay 2009, 24 March
2009,
http://www.collectionscouncil.com.au/thirteenth+announcement+24+march
+2009.asp
26. Mayday (distress signal), Wikipedia,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayday_(distress_signal)
27. Society of American Archivist President Announces MayDay Project,
http://www.archivists.org/saagroups/gov/newsletters/grs_newsletter_
2006_03.pdf
28. The National Institute for Conservation, About Heritage Preservation,
http://www.heritagepreservation.org/ABOUTHP/INFO.HTM
© 2009 National Archives of Australia
This paper was first presented to the ASA/ARANZ/PARBICA Joint
Conference in Brisbane, 14–17 October 2009.
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