Inside History magazine (IHM) and the National Library of Australia have teamed up on a project to let the Australian public vote on which newspaper title is digitised on Trove. IHM editor Cassie Mercer explained that the winning title will then be funded through a crowd funding campaign. It’s part of an initiative to bring as many of our nation’s historical newspapers online so that the public can search, analyse, collaborate and build on our shared history.
“The more funds that are raised, the more pages of the winning title can be digitised. I’d encourage anyone with a love for Australian history to have their say, and to help support the upcoming campaign by voting for a newspaper and donating on Pozible.” Ms Mercer commented.
Voting on the shortlisted titles opened online 1 November and will close 30 November. The six shortlisted newspapers are:

Hobart Town Advertiser (1839–1865) (Tas)
Gympie Times (1923–1954) (QLD)
Hamilton Spectactor (1860–1913) (Vic)
South Western Times (1917–1954) (WA)
Laura Standard (1889–1948) (SA)
Smith’s Weekly (1919–1950) (NSW)

Anne-Marie Schwirtlich, Director-General, National Library of Australia commented that the shortlisted titles were selected from the priorities identified in the Australian Newspaper Plan (ANPlan). ANPlan is a collaboration of National and State Libraries Australasia which aims to preserve all Australian newspapers and to give the public access to them. By running this campaign, historians and genealogists around Australia will have access to the winning title much earlier than scheduled.
“We are delighted to work with Inside History magazine and its readers to expand the range of newspapers available through Trove. We know how invaluable access to newspapers is to family historians, researchers and writers across the country” Ms Schwirtlich commented.