This was a postcard sent to Norman George by his mother whilst he was serving during the First World War. Norman’s mother Elizabeth is pictured in the centre of the photo, 1915-1918 – Image courtesy of Picture Ipswich

In March 2015 Ipswich Libraries was awarded a grant of $5,000 by the State Library of Queensland for use with the Picture Ipswich digitisation and accessibility process. The ‘From Selection to Discovery’ grant project was established by the State Library of Queensland in order to provide funds to community organisations so that they may digitise, preserve and provide access to Queensland’s history online. This grant opportunity was open to all Queensland organisations who had already begun the digitisation process and were looking for extra funds to assist in the purchase of equipment or to the attendance of training.

The ‘From Selection to Discovery’ project also allowed Picture Ipswich to send two representatives from the library to participate in a two day training event held at the State Library of Queensland. This session assisted the staff involved in the project and also provided them with further skills to assist with the digitisation and accessibility process. The session also allowed staff to observe several pieces of digitisation equipment and software in action. The State Library of Queensland staff also provided information on promoting our digitised collection online and through social media avenues.

Picture Ipswich will aim to utilise these funds to upload a range of photographs from the World Wars and between the wars, with particular emphasis on photographs taken during World War I and II. This grant project will aim to digitise and upload 300 new photographs to the Picture Ipswich website by the end of August 2015. At this point in the project we have made over 180 images available online through the Picture Ipswich website, and are working hard to achieve our goal by the August deadline.

During the process we have come across a number of amazing photographs which portray life on the home front at the time as well as a number of heart-felt postcards sent from Ipswich boys serving overseas during the Wars. One such image is the photo above which was sent by an Ipswich mother to her son overseas during the First World War. The women are dressed in the Australian soldiers uniform and appear to be rather patriotic with the British flag being shown in the background. Another gem of a photo recently uploaded to the Picture Ipswich website is that of the image below. It shows two young children dressed in child-sized Australian soldier and Nursing uniforms in a bid to collect money for the ‘Wounded soldiers fund’.

Two children dressed up to collect funds for the war effort during World War I – Image courtesy of Picture Ipswich

If you wish to view any of images uploaded you can visit the Picture Ipswich website and click on the ‘World War 1’ or ‘Military’ photo trail available through the site. The treasures that we have unearthed through this project are of great importance to not only Ipswich residents but also Queensland as a state. Picture Ipswich are also still seeking images from Ipswich’s history to digitise for their online collection. If you would like to discuss donating images to this collection please contact the Digital Archivist on 3810 7272 or email . The images are scanned and returned to the owner. The library does not retain the physical photograph. With the help of the larger community the Picture Ipswich site can continue to provide a historical record of the lives and times of Ipswich.