Brett remembers George
George’s oral history is part of the Library’s collection and is a unique record of his life story in his own voice and words.
As Brett explains, ‘you can hear my father’s intonation, his emotions, the things that he really cared about’. Brett’s story forms part of the Library’s Hear Their Voices Again appeal, which aims to preserve and make accessible more than 20,000 oral histories and recordings of conversations with Victorians – conversations about their lives, their families, their work and the moments that shaped our state.
‘The thing about oral history is it’s authentic and much richer than just reading text on a page.’
Many precious voices in the collection will soon be gone. The analogue media used to capture recordings from past decades – such as cassettes, reel-to-reel and VHS tapes – is deteriorating. Without urgent preservation, they will soon become unplayable.
To find out more, or to donate to help preserve more memories in the collection and make them accessible, head to Hear Their Voices Again.
