Help Us

Our greatest resource is our members.

Members benefit and contribute through:
  • attending meetings and contributing their views and experiences. There are often special presentations on various topics at our meetings.
  • accompanying us on excursions to places of historical interest
  • helping to 
    • care for and develop 
      • our historical collections and resources
      • displays within Schramm's cottage and the other historical buildings
      • the buildings themselves in the reserve:
      • the gardens surrounding the buildings (including the forest cemetery)
    • assist with historical research and development such as the catalogue of our archives
    • supervise the Schramm's Cottage museum complex
    • conduct tours of the complex for individuals and groups
Current annual membership contributions due of April 1 of each year are:
  • $10 for full time student or child (under 18)
  • $20 for an adult
  • $30 for a family.
Members are sent the quarterly Doncaster-Templestowe Historical Society Newsletter which include items of historical interest and information about monthly meetings and activities.
Membership Application and Renewal Form

Donate money

  • Donations are gratefully accepted by cheque made out to DTHS and posted to PO Box 4006, Doncaster Heights 3109  or.  click to contribute now via PayPal.

 


Donate time !!   

How you can help the future by caring for the past...

  • Be a Museum Guide - Sundays 1:30pm - 5:30pm: You don't need to be an expert.  Welcome visitors; receive admission money and donations; guide people through the buildings to ensure that exhibits are not removed or damaged.  
  • Be a Gardener:  We have working bees to maintain our beautiful gardens.  People contribute for whatever time they can spare,  doing whatever work they feel comfortable with.
  • Help us clean the museum and exhibits:  DTHS is lucky to have thousands of objects in our collection relating to the early european settlement of the area in the late 1800's as well as many from the 1900's.  There are always parts of the museum complex that need cleaning - from the agricultural machinery, to the teaspoons in the dining room....
  • Help us put as much online as we can.  The internet has provided a way for museums to help people from around the world find information about our past and about the objects in our collection, even if they cannot get to our locations.  Our IT objective is to make the website a free "one stop shop" for finding anything in our collection - photos, documents, objects, books.  There are tasks for everyone.  Many require very little IT skill to contribute, and most can be complete off site i.e. in your own home. 
    • Needs Transcription - Many images in our website and our collection cannot be found unless transcribed. Helpers can work from home and do as little or as much as they feel like.
    • Needs Proofreading - Many documents have been machine OCR'd and contain many mistakes.  Helpers copy the text from the website, correct it against the original scen, and email it to us to replace the online text.
    • Needs Scanning (either at Schramm's Cottage or at the member/ helpers home)
      • Scan complete photo library (Started 1967)
      • Scan complete document library (Not started)
      • Scan contents of Map Drawer in archives room
      • Scan our transparency collection (needs a flatbed transparency scanner)
    • Needs Research - the hardest job is to try to track the story behind the object or the fact... Using online resources, or books from our collection, or another library etc.  Our website is continually being added to by members and volunteers who research whatever they are interested in.
    • Computer Tasks in progress:
      • Add metadata (who, what, where etc) information to each photo and document so that they are "findable" (Started 1967. Ongoing: Ken Smith; Bev McArthur)
      • Post on Facebook and Instagram to generate interest in local history and to publicise the society (Started 2022. Ongoing. Needs additional volunteers)

  • Additional Projects in progress
    • Liaison with Manningham re. building of a new museum complex office and archive.  Hoping for completion in 2025
    • Research location evidence for Waldau Graves. Replace grave marker text on all graves. (Stephen Digby)
    • Redesign and Replace Waldau Cemetery information board (Stephen Digby): 
    • Extract all historical research from all past newsletters and add them to the website (Started 1999. Ongoing: Stephen Digby)
    • Books digitised/ permission sought/ placed online.   Go through all books in library and create a webpage for each.  Research copyright to get permission to publish full text online (Started 1998. Ongoing. Stephen Digby)
    • Objects - Their Stories - Ask members to pick an object that interest them and explain it's use to a person with no previous knowledge of the item or the times in which it was used (A few completed and added to newsletters and website.  Thousands to go !!!)
    • Collect and scan DTHS Minutes Archive - General, AGM and Committee:   (Not started)
    • Apply for Grants - Help and ideas needed:  Possible grant ideas: Additional scanners; large TV to assist with presentations in school room; New grave markers,; 
    • Advertise for volunteers on Seek Volunteers (Registered July2023.  Added transcription job)
    • Review all offers for volunteering in membership forms and contact to check if interested in following up (HelperSteD)

  • Ideas in search of an initiator.....
    • Approach local businesses for donations offering advertisement in newsletter
    • arrange for an activity at Schramm's Cottage Museum Complex and get a coffee van to come to the car park.

  • Ideas considered and rejected
    • Use of the Schramm's Cottage Museum Complex for parties, weddings etc.  Reason:  Great legal burden for this type of activity.  No capacity to allow alcohol on premises.  Difficulty in ensuring safety of collection objects and grounds.





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