The next round of nominations for the UNESCO Australian Memory of the World Register opens on Thursday 30 November, with an official launch event at the UNESCO Australian Memory of the World Knowledge Centre at the ACT Heritage Library in Fyshwick, ACT.

The Australian Register currently stands at 88 inscriptions of documentary heritage items and collections around Australia. The Register was established in 2001 with the inscription of two items of documentary heritage that were already listed on the UNESCO Memory of the World International Register: the Endeavour Journal of Lieutenant James Cook; and the Mabo Case Papers.

Since these first inscriptions, every round has seen significant First Nations documentary heritage inscribed on the Australian Register, along with items and collections from many other areas of Australian life and culture.

One subject area which is not well represented in the Register is the documentary heritage of Australia’s culturally diverse communities. We are hoping to address this deficiency in this nomination round, and encourage custodians of this documentary heritage to consider submitting nominations.

For those interested in nominating documentary heritage to the Australian Register, there will be a workshop on 22 February 2024, in person at the ACT Heritage Library and also online. The workshop will take attendees through the nomination process and give advice on how to address the selection criteria and other sections of the nomination form.

Information on how to register for the workshop will be available on the UNESCO Australia Memory of the World website – www.amw.org.au – closer to the date.

Completed nominations must be submitted to the UNESCO Australian Memory of the World Committee by 30 June 2024. The nomination form will be available for downloading in the How to nominate section of the website.