Introduction

This important and timely archive project will capture the key events and influences on the genesis and development of the Victorian outdoor education and related residential camp and journey-based sector from the 1970s to date.

Why now?
With the passing of time, crucial information relating to the establishment of the Victorian outdoor education sector becomes inevitably damaged or lost forever.

For example, many valuable printed resources reside in personal collections. These materials and ephemera may be degrading due to less-than-ideal storage conditions, or simply their age.

We also recognise that those people involved in the early days of the sector are getting older and it is important to record their stories for future generations.

Survey aims
The aims of this survey are to:
  • Identify the location and/or owner of important archive materials
  • Identify and prepare to digitise printed documents related to the genesis and evolution of Victoria’s outdoor sector. This includes newsletters, conference papers, magazines and so on.
  • Collect and securely archive materials/equipment from personal collections relating to the evolution of the Victorian outdoor sector.

Closing Date
This survey will be open until Tuesday 31st March 2026.


Privacy statement
Any personal contact information you supply will not be shared beyond Outdoors Victoria and the Project Lead Contractor without your prior consent.
Section 1: Nature of your involvement

In this section we are seeking your contact details and the nature of your connection with Victoria’s outdoor education and related sectors.

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* 1. Name

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* 3. Mobile

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* 4. Your role

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* 5. Sector (please feel free to tick all that currently apply to you)

Section 2: Printed material

In this section we are hoping to identify:
  • What printed materials (eg newsletters, guidebooks, conference papers, newspaper clippings, magazines, etc) exist in people’s personal collections.
  • How much of this material people are willing to loan the project so that it can be digitised.
Note: The actual digitisation is outside of this project’s scope. We are simply aiming to quantify what materials exist and what might be available for digitisation at this point.

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* 6. Do you have any printed materials in your possession?

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* 7. If yes, please provide a short description of what you have in your collection (200 words max).

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* 8. Are you willing to loan these materials to the project for the purposes of digitisation in the future?

Section 3: Artefacts and ephemera

In this section we are hoping to identify:
  • What artefacts and ephemera (eg equipment such as rucksacks, overgear, specialised items such as paddling or climbing gear, etc and ephemera such as photographs, books, conference lanyards and souvenirs, etc) exist in people’s personal collections.
  • How much of this material people are willing to contribute to a secure and publicly accessible curated archive.
Note: It is planned to work with the State Library to establish an archive for the project materials. All contributions remain the property of the owner and can be returned on request.

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* 9. Do you have any artefacts or ephemera in your possession?

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* 10. If yes, please provide a short description of what you have in your collection (200 words max).

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* 11. Are you willing to loan these materials to the project for the purposes of digitisation in the future?

Additional comments

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* 12. Please let us know if you have any further thoughts or suggestions that might assist us with this project (500 words max).

Conclusion

This marks the end of the survey. We very much appreciate you taking the time to complete this survey and to help us with this project.

Outdoors Victoria will keep everyone up to date on progress via our monthly Newsletter. A final report will be published in June 2026.

If you have any further questions, please contact Outdoors Victoria at info@outdoorsvictoria.org.au

With thanks,
Andrew Knight
CEO, Outdoors Victoria

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