In honour of UNESCO’s World Day for Audiovisual Heritage the Archdiocese of Australia is launching an initiative titled ‘Our People, Their Stories’.
In recognition of the importance of audiovisual material as a source of information about people’s lives and culture from all over the world, from simple photographs, sound and video recordings to complex film productions and documentaries, the Archdiocese is looking to preserve audiovisual documents as sources of living memory of the Greek community in Australia.
As a gift to future generations, www.opts.org.au seeks to become a digital “living” museum, which will store personal stories collected and recorded through audiovisual media, as well as previously unpublished photos.
” ‘Our People, Their Stories’ aims to systematically and methodically record and safekeep the personal stories of Greek people, first and second generation immigrants to Australia,” Archbishop Makarios stated.
“Its mission is to ensure that these personal stories, narrated by the individual bearers of the historical memories themselves – who were oftentimes the protagonists or participants in significant historical events – will highlight important aspects of the collective history of Hellenism in the fifth continent. These are aspects which, until now, have remained in obscurity and which are in danger of being forgotten as the older generation of migrants gradually passes away.”
Participants in the project are to include historians, journalists, cinematographers and specialists in the narration of oral histories, while younger generations are being encouraged to become actively involved in all stages of its development.
The media release by the Archdiocese states that the audiovisual material will soon become available online and regularly enriched and updated with new stories from members of the Greek-Australian community.
The material posted on the “living” museum website, ‘Our People, Their Stories’ will be freely accessible to the public.
