Collective Isolation Project, week 7: Public health
Staying home may save lives, but we can't stay home forever.
Out in public, individual responses to perceived threat are as varied as the individuals themselves. While one person might cruise supermarket aisles outfitted in beekeeper garb, another stands too close, ignoring social distance rules at the checkout.
Public health campaigns are key to communicating messages about how to stay safe, and the best campaigns stay in people’s minds for a long time.
This week, design a poster or compose a slogan to promote public safety through the pandemic.
Share your response in words or pictures at our Facebook Memory Bank group and tag us with #SLVMemoryBank.
About this collection item
Take safety with you (and have a good time) is a National Safety Council of Australia (NSCA) poster with artwork by Laurel McKenzie, c1970-80.
NSCA was established in 1927 to reduce road accidents, but its remit soon expanded to promote public safety awareness and accident prevention at work and at home, as well as on the roads.
At its peak in 1989, the non-government, not-for-profit organisation employed 430 people and operated an impressive arsenal of search and rescue equipment – including a mini-submarine – before being undone by a fraud scandal in which its feted director was exposed as a conman.
The Library houses an eye-catching collection of public safety posters produced by the NSCA, more than 300 of which are digitised and available to view from home on the Library’s catalogue.
How to respond
Please feel welcome to respond as creatively or literally as you wish.
We collect all kinds of materials including photos, diary entries, letters, written lists, oral histories, poems and objects ... our collection policy covers almost everything you could imagine, so try us!
If you contribute, we may contact you to discuss collecting and using your images, stories, objects and experiences. We may not be able to accept everything, but we will endeavour to do so! With your permission, your contributions may be added to the State Collection or used in future Library programs.
About The Collective Isolation Project
The Collective Isolation Project aims to cement this current moment in history, and is our inaugural Memory Bank campaign.
Find out more about Memory Bank, including details about how to contribute each week.