An online trove of Victoria’s cultural and historical collections has been launched, connecting the public with thousands of rare and precious items to collectively tell the story of Victoria.

The refreshed and expanded Victorian Collections online platform is free for all and contains 200,000 searchable collection items, along with a growing array of in-depth feature stories, education kits and more.

Approximately eight million collection items are held by museums, galleries, historical societies, RSLs, sports clubs, churches, hospitals and schools across Victoria, with an estimated value of several hundreds of millions of dollars.

Some of these items are on public display but many more are in storage. Victorian Collections aims to increase access to these diverse, enlightening and rare objects, artworks and historical records.

Highlights include:

• The handwritten World War 1 diary of Priscilla Wardle, an Australian nurse serving in France, which was
  made whole when pages held by different collecting organisations were reunited.
• Items of iconic Australian design – architectural, fashion, industrial, graphic and more – held by RMIT Design Archives.
• Koori art and artefacts – from pre-contactstone toolsto artworks by First Peoples artists working in Victoria
  today.

The digitisation of culturally significant items is a critical part in protecting the state’s collections from the threat of ageing and environmental factors such as bushfires. This work is ongoing and the website is designed to digitally preserve more and more items and improve access for researchers, students and the public.

Behind-the-scenes, the site is being used by more than 700 collecting organisations across Victoria as an online collection management system that is helping to catalogue and digitise their collections for future generations. The website is supported by a training program to upskill staff.

The project has been developed by Museums Victoria and Australian Museums and Galleries Association Victoria,supported by the Andrews Labor Government. It brings together and improves upon the earlier websites Victorian Collections and Culture Victoria that were visited by 1.1 million people from more than 200 countries each year.

To view the new Victorian Collections website, visit victoriancollections.net.au