![A 1926 Mitchell grass hay rack at Rodney Downs, Aramac, showing an example of bush ingenuity. Picture supplied. A 1926 Mitchell grass hay rack at Rodney Downs, Aramac, showing an example of bush ingenuity. Picture supplied.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/88uitQDCBZnXA8enwGJ5Zd/c3473fec-cd36-4cb6-882d-5dcc14e1a105.jpg/r172_1210_1450_2279_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
"Listen, listen, listen" is the motto of a small group that's devoting itself to future-proofing Australia's country history.
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That was the advice of UNE archivist Bill Oates to the Treasury of Country Australian History soon after it formed with the aim of collecting the stories and materials of country Australians in an online collection of significance.
Listening is what they've done a lot of since then - to web designers, podcasters and legal eagles, as well as to people with interesting stories - and it seems to be serving them well.
"The TOCAH endeavour to is starting to gain momentum," president Cynthia Dodd reported to the group's August annual general meeting.
Born in Mackay, raised on a family cattle property in central Queensland and educated by correspondence school, Cynthia is one of seven women, "a small group of former country Australians" that has recognised the need to collect our history in a holistic and rigorous way.
![One portion of the TOCAH committee - treasurer Janelle Wilkie, Mary Bishop, and president Cynthia Dodd. One portion of the TOCAH committee - treasurer Janelle Wilkie, Mary Bishop, and president Cynthia Dodd.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/88uitQDCBZnXA8enwGJ5Zd/f2265964-6311-4deb-8b3c-1e099429394a.jpg/r0_0_906_601_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
The others include collections manager Janette Partridge, who was born in Victoria and has lived at Capella and WA, vice president Mary Bishop, from a mixed farm in the South Burnett, Goondiwindi local and treasurer Janelle Wilkie, ex-Longreach women Debbie Clark-Dickson and secretary Margie Webb, and Wintonite Jo Glasson.
They all felt that an increasingly city-centric trend in Australia's official collections and media, combined with generational change in country areas, meant that rural history was being lost.
They were also motivated by reports of people who were burning valuable records that had been offered to collections, and having them rejected.
"There was a growing understanding that nowhere is collecting this," Cynthia said.
"Historical associations often don't have extended longevity and work in isolated pockets.
"Very little of their work is digitised, and if it is, it's not cross-referenced for research."
Key differences between TOCAH and other historical associations are that the former is proactively collecting, that it is planning to develop a sustainable digital collection of significance, and that it must be made accessible.
![More of the TOCAH committee - Jan Partridge, secretary Margie Webb, and Deb Clark-Dickson. Janet Tombleson is absent. Picture supplied. More of the TOCAH committee - Jan Partridge, secretary Margie Webb, and Deb Clark-Dickson. Janet Tombleson is absent. Picture supplied.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/88uitQDCBZnXA8enwGJ5Zd/3e73077b-55bf-4401-9be9-99cf74cca0f4.jpg/r898_0_1750_601_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
The group has been in existence for two years now and has ticked off a number of the minutiae needed to go forward - charity status, becoming incorporated in Queensland, getting an ABN, a TFN, a bank account and a volunteers' insurance policy.
With membership fees established and policy manual approved, the significant collections phase has begun.
The loss of our oldest residents and their memories has heightened TOCAH's emphasis on that age group.
We've talked to drovers, optometrists, bush cooks - the last thing we want is to be seen as a squattocracy
- Cynthia Dodd
"Themes may emerge - we recognise there are some.
"For example, I was interviewing a 91-year-old surveyor whose forebear surveyed the Croydon-Normanton rail line - he had the most extraordinary memories and records.
"On the run, I was thinking, how do I optimise that.
"I was thinking, there could be a future conversation with a modern surveyor about how practices have changed."
The idea of rural resilience is also there to be explored.
The committee has broken its workload into special interest groups, which are allowing it to draw on external expertise, as well as stopping the tasks from becoming overwhelming.
They include governance and operations, community engagement, volunteers, collections, and finances.
"To gather funds, we have to think big," Cynthia said. "Funds will help develop a website capable of carrying all the stories, plus the indexed archive of scanned material."
They also need to purchase quality scanning and recording equipment, adhering to best practice principles.
Now, they urgently need volunteers in all spheres.
Cynthia said being legally set up in Queensland meant they could only collect in this state at the moment, but they expect a national board will eventually be set up.
"We want to get it right first, and develop a model that's applicable in all states," she said.