THE Victorian Community History Awards, presented by Public Record Office Victoria and the Royal Historical Society of Victoria, were announced on Friday, February 2, at the Arts Centre Melbourne.

Excited to be honoured and named among the winners was the Willaura Modern Incorporated at Historical Railway Station Gallery and Willaura Historical Society who were awarded the Small Organisation History Award for their 2023 exhibition.

The judges said that Precious Objects: Shared Memories of our Collective Past, truly conveyed the spirit of Victorian community history.

Judges said the exhibition was impressively curated with 50 precious objects, seemingly random, but all of some significance to someone in the town’s past.

“This technique allowed several stakeholders from Willaura to tell a multitude of narratives about a small community and its past, rather than simply telling the stories of a few,” they said.

The judges were impressed by the genuine commitment to community collaboration both through the exhibition and its launch.

Willaura Modern Incorporated community art group project coordinator Lois Reynolds said the Willaura railway was renovated by VicTrack about five years ago for use by the community.

“So, we established an art gallery,” she said.

“We tried to offer the local district and visitors to our town an exhibition that would be of interest.

“We combined history and art together in this exhibition.

“It was our winter exhibition in 2023.”

Ms Reynolds said the exhibition’s curator was local Gerard Bunter, who created the installation to show case local stories in a different way.

“We would put these objects on display in a way that was a little different,” Ms Reynolds said.

“Not like a museum, but more like an art installation.

“So, our aim was to share memories of our town’s past and we relied on the community to offer something to us.  (For example) an item, a photo, or a story that hadn’t been told before.

“We had some delightful stories and objects of ordinary people with extraordinary stories.”

One of the items were songs from Rose Bygrave, former resident of Willaura and a former band member of Australian rock band, Goanna.

“I asked her to come back to her country town and open the exhibition,” Ms Reynolds said.

“We chose her songs as one of the precious objects of our district because she had written a number of songs about growing up in Willaura.

“At the opening she sang one of these called ‘Centre of the Universe’. 

“She wrote a beautiful piece about what it meant to her to grow up in Willaura.

“We had her songs playing throughout the exhibition for people to listen to while they enjoyed the exhibition.

“We saw that as a precious object that should be treasured in the future.

“The exhibition was not just of things from the past, but also what we have to value now.

“It was about elevating the precious objects, even though they may be ordinary things, to tell an extraordinary story.”

Ms Reynolds said it was a surprise to be selected but believed that the uniqueness the exhibition offered was what contributed to being recognised in the Victorian Community History Awards.

“Because it was something different, and out of the ordinary,” she said.

“It was a complete surprise. We’re thrilled.

“We had a grant from the Public Record Office to do the exhibition - it had (been put) on hold over COVID, but once we finally got it together, we had about 500-600 people through the exhibition.

“That was pretty amazing for the little town of Willaura.”

Ms Reynolds said the award was for all those people in the community who took the time to look in their garages or a cupboard for something that was special to them and that told a story for the district. 

“It’s because of them that this award was made possible,” she said.