The Rockliff Liberal Government is committed to ensuring the experiences of today's generation, and of the generations that have preceded us, are preserved and passed on.
That is why we invested $8 million to establish a new state-of-the-art Tasmanian Archive collection storage facility in Geilston Bay.
Today, I was honoured to officially open the new facility, which includes climate control in all storage areas, a cool store for our film and colour photographic collection, contemporary security and fire alert and suppression systems as well as a dedicated room to accommodate magnetic media.
The collection comprises of more than 3.3 million records and occupied 14km of shelving at the former site at Berriedale, with the new facility having a capacity of 28.5km.
Our Government's investment puts Tasmania in a rare position within Australia, with the State now having sufficient, tailormade storage capacity for current archives, as well as the ability to accommodate for growth in the physical collection over coming years.
The Tasmanian Archives' vast collection of records gives people access to government and community records, including the UNESCO Memory of the World listed records of the Convict Department, the State Audio-Visual collection, extensive photographic archives, large selections of drawings and records relating to architecture and built history, name rich records including births, deaths and marriages as well as archives that document the story of industry, people and the environment.
We are also preserving records that document Tasmania's heritage through the digitisation of a significant proportion of the Archives' audio-visual collection as well as making these important records accessible for the community.
The Tasmanian Archives is also a visitor drawcard, attracting researchers and cultural tourists from around the world to see first-hand the collection, which includes our internationally renowned Convict Records, recognised with UNESCO Memory of the World status.
Finally, I would like to thank Libraries Tasmania and the Department for Education, Children and Young People for their work in developing and establishing the new facility.
