These plaques are the first of many to be erected by the Upper Clutha Historical Records Society in places of historical importance, and follow rapidly on the heels of a launch in January of the society’s new website, wanakahistory.org, new social media accounts and the society’s new logo.
Project manager Catherine Hart said in a statement the goal was to bring the stories and rich history of the Upper Clutha region to life for the local community, visitors and tourists.
Cornerstone strategies for the revamped society are:
- to leverage the 40 years of volunteer activities capturing and researching historical records for the Upper Clutha District;
- to continue building its vast database of paper records, digitally archived documents, images, stories and oral history files;
- to engage with young people, creating valuable educational resources;
- to launch Wanaka History, a new community-facing digital media platform.
Local creative design agency Left Creative has been engaged for all creative design aspects of the programme, including the new website.
Funding support has been received from Central Lakes Trust, Otago Community Trust and the Queenstown Lakes District Council.
Ms Hart said new members and volunteers were welcome to take part and join up through the new website.
People can also sign up to the society’s regular newsletter, Those Were The Days, via the Wanaka History website.
— APL
