26 February, 2020 | 2020Heritage Project

Expanding Project To Become A Virtual Museum

Who would have thought we would all be at home (well almost all, I hope) working like this? Very strange and challenging times…

One initiative we kicked off last November related to engaging Graeme Philipson to write the definitive history of the Australian ICT industry. Graeme’s efforts are underway and he is executing to a plan we have signed off on. His first action is to undertake oral history interviews with a number of our Pearcey Medallists and Hall of Famers (46 in all). In researching this effort, he and many of us have uncovered a fantastic latent goodwill in the community we are touching through these efforts. The desire to collaborate with Pearcey has arisen from many sources and so we all need to ‘spread the word’ and capitalise on this. One exciting discussion talked about Pearcey establishing the equivalent of the Charles Babbage Institute. This dovetails totally with Graeme’s efforts but implies collaboration on a scale not heard of in this country – the concept of a virtual museum could be the output. I don’t want to get carried away here, but I think we have the opportunity to really ensure Australia’s technology heritage is secured for the future.

I sincerely hope you are all well and managing the situation even if in isolation. Don’t hesitate to communicate your ideas.

Wayne Fitzsimmons
Chair, Pearcey Foundation