Great news!

So, I was sitting at my laptop, happily punching away, minding my own business, 

well actually the Aussie Hero business, 

when up popped a new email.......................................from.......................................

The Australian War Memorial!!!   

Why would somebody from the Australian War Memorial be emailing me?

Well, read on....

It seems that the Australian War Memorial has been identifying, assessing, selecting and cataloguing sites of relevance to Australian military history for archiving as a part of the National Library of Australia PANDORA project.

And again, why are they writing to me?  

Well let me explain....

Apparently the Australian War Memorial Research Centre is planning to create a comprehensive collection of publications relating to the Australian experience of war to assist all Australians to remember, interpret and understand the Australian experience of war and its enduring impact on Australian society both now and in the future. The library has traditionally collected items in print, but they are now committed to preserving electronic publications of lasting cultural value.

Oh my gosh!

PANDORA, Australia’s Web Archive, was set up by the National Library in 1996 to enable the archiving and provision of long-term access to online Australian publications. Accordingly, as a PANDORA partner, the Australian War Memorial has been identifying, assessing, selecting and cataloguing sites of relevance to Australian military history for archiving by the National Library of Australia as part of the PANDORA project. Additional information about PANDORA can be found on the Library's server here.  

This means that the National Library would have permission to retain the blog in the Archive and to provide access to it in perpetuity.    They also would like to re-archive the blog periodically to record significant additions and changes.

Some of the benefits of allowing the blog to be archived by the Library are that the Australian War Memorial in partnership with the National Library of Australia will take the necessary preservation action to keep the blog publication accessible as hardware and software changes over time.

To me this means two things.  

Firstly,  the Australian War Memorial believes that the blog, and by association, what you are all doing, is significant and worth preserving for history. 

Isn't that just a little overwhelming!

Second, should anything ever happen to Blogger, the vehicle I used to publish the Aussie Heroes on, the bulk of our history will be preserved.   

Isn't that great news!

Till next time.....................keep spreading the word and happy stitching....coz you are part of HISTORY now.    JMxx