The Geelong Heritage Centre is Victoria s largest regional archive and historical resource centre. The Centre s provides public access to collection records for research, legal administrative recall, establishing citizen s rights and entitlements, cultural enjoyment and historical display purposes.
The collections embrace the entire history of Geelong from 1838.
The Centre has an extensive local and family history collection that includes council records, newspapers, reference works, maps and plans, photographs and archival materials. The Centre provides assistance and guidance to members of the general public in family, local history and school projects.
The Centre has several displays of collection material for free public viewing all year round , and most of these displays are developed to enhance understanding of significant historic events, and/or celebrate anniversaries of major 'milestones' in Geelong and local district history.
The Centre is a business unit of the City of Greater Geelong (CoGG).and has a management committee that directs policy and strategy comprising the municipalities of CoGG, Surf Coast and Golden Plains, the Geelong Historical Society and the National Council of Women.
The Centre collection consists of approximately 1.8km of shelved archived material including over 40,000 images and more than 30km of microfilm. The Centre has a permanent staff of 3, supported by a team of about 15 volunteers who help in a variety of tasks and a very active Friends group.
In 2008, the Centre received in excess of 6500 client inquiries. The main use is family history, followed by school projects and research by tertiary students. Some particular uses may be bodies such as sporting clubs gathering historical material for celebrations.
The future of the Centre is to remain a well used, appreciated and user friendly heritage information service. In the future there will be greater reliance on electronic records and systems.
