Airservices Australia today announced it has developed a heritage portal to bring together collections of civil aviation historical material.
The web-based Connecting the Nation portal, developed in conjunction with the University of Canberra, makes images, oral histories and other material available to the public in digital formats for the first time.
Airservices Executive General Manager Safety, Environment and Assurance, Dr Rob Weaver, said that Airservices was committed to preserving and promoting aviation heritage for the benefit of all Australians.
“Aviation is an integral part of Australia’s national story and has both shaped and reflected our national character, and the cultural and technological history of the 20th century,” said Weaver.
“This has included significant innovations in technology which have helped to ensure that whenever you step on a plane arriving or departing from Australia, you know you’re in safe hands.
The portal provides a wealth of research into aviation heritage and links to important collections of major museums as well as to the vast amounts of archival material and image collections that is often cared for by volunteers or individuals.
“This has led to the development of a vibrant new approach to aviation heritage and to the development of an exciting new online digital repository that will continue to grow as community members contribute and interact with it,” Weaver said.
“We wanted to bring these unique, but dispersed and hard to find collections together and help people to share their stories, including the more than 150 oral histories that are now available through the portal for the first time."
The Connecting the Nation heritage portal is available at http://connectingthenation.net.au/