Australia's cultural heritage makes technological leap
Australia's cultural heritage makes technological leap
Mar 21, 2005: The State Library of NSW is beaming its massive archive of national treasures - ranging from Banks' Endeavour journal to Jørn Utzon's original sketches of the Sydney Opera House - to Australia and the world via its new multi million dollar website - atmitchell.com.
The Library has partnered with Telstra, George Patterson Partners, EMC and Computer Associates on an undertaking that it claims will lead to world's best practice in combining iconic material with cutting edge technology.
Its $1.5 billion 'DNA of Australian culture' collection, much of which has been previously inaccessible to the public, will be gradually added to the free interactive website over the next two years. The first four of many planned interactive journeys available to the public will go live today.
At the launch of the initiative in Sydney, Senator Helen Coonan, Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts said: "This is a wonderful initiative driven by the State Library of NSW's respect for knowledge and its commitment to learning. This vision could not have been realised without the technical nous and financial assistance of the commercial sector partners involved in this project.
"The cutting edge technology has opened the Mitchell Library's collection to the world and will help change the way we learn about Australia and its history. This achievement is a real credit to the Library and its technical partners."
Telstra delivers the service through a "on demand" computer system that carries large amounts of data from the Library to a data storage facility within a CBD telephone exchange when the Library needs it. From here, the information is then transmitted to the public via the Internet and Telstra's i-mode service that provides exclusive content through a compatible mobile phone.
"This is just the beginning of our exciting adventure," said State Librarian & chief executive, Dagmar Schmidmaier.
Using a simple search function, this first phase of atmitchell.com provides access to many historically significant items, including: Sir Joseph Banks' Endeavour journal, 1768 – 1771; Jørn Utzon's original sketches of the Sydney Opera House, 1962 – 1966; rare maps documenting the emerging shape of Australia including, the original Tasman map, 1644; photographs by photographer and adventurer, Frank Hurley from Endurance, Antarctica, 1915; and Lachlan Macquarie's journal and miniature portraits of his family members.
"This vast collection will prove invaluable to students, teachers, architects, photographers, researchers, librarians and the general public who wish to explore and discover," Ms Schmidmaier said.
"The State Library's mission is to provide equity of access to the people of NSW. With the convergence of technology and the support of our partners such as Telstra - people in Australia and across the globe will be able to access the Library's treasures from their computer, mobile phone or other handheld devices," she said.
Telstra chairman, Donald McGauchie, said the importance of the collection as an educational resource was backed up by the release of Telstra's education survey, which found more than three quarters of parents with the Internet installed at home believed it had improved their children's education.
"As an educational resource, the Mitchell Library's archives are second to none and I'm delighted that Telstra's technology resources have been utilised to bring the collection to life for millions of Australians for the first time."
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