As the Ballarat Historical Society approaches its 90th anniversary, a council grant is helping members put together a hardcover picture book featuring photographs of Ballarat from 1933 to the present day.
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The society has an extensive collection of images covering all aspects of life in Ballarat since the earliest days of photographs being taken on the goldfields by itinerant snappers.
The society says local photographer Kevin Williams is volunteering his time as pictorial editor and image co-ordinator, and is busily sourcing, selecting and collating possible images from the past 90 years for inclusion in the book.
Kevin Williams is a name familiar to many long-time Ballarat residents, and started his career behind the cameras at BTV6 (now WIN TV). Mr Williams and his wife Joan later ran Williams Photographic Studio in Sturt St from 1977 to 2012. Since retiring, he has become an invaluable committee member of the Ballarat Historical Society where he pursues his passion for collecting photos of early Ballarat.
To help with publishing costs the society has received a $10,000 grant from the City of Ballarat Community Impact Grants Program.
"We hold an excellent collection of images documenting the growth of Ballarat from 1851 to 1900, but for some time we have been concerned with the lack of photographs of more recent times," Ballarat Historical Society president Marion Littlejohn said.
"Such a reference work does not currently exist. For some time, the society has been actively collecting images which record modern Ballarat. To redress this, we launched our Capture the Vision project some years ago and are now actively collecting current photographs of life in Ballarat.
"These photos will form a large percentage of the images featured in our proposed book. We hope the book will balance and supplement the plethora of published photographic records documenting Ballarat's gold-rush years and find a valued place on the bookshelves of everyone with a connection to Ballarat."
"Ballarat has seen vast changes since 1933, including World War Two, the 1956 Olympics, the creation of a university, several Royal visits, steady growth and development, numerous demolitions and for better or worse - ever changing streetscapes. The proposed book will become a fascinating and permanent record of these changes."
Ms Littlejohn says if any members of the public have photographs of significant events, people, institutions or vanished industries they are willing to donate to the society, there is still time.
Email the Ballarat Historical Society for details on how to contribute funds or images ballarathistoricalsociety@gmail.com or leave a message on their Facebook page.
