News and Events

January 2012
The need for a New Zealand branch of Blue Shield has been highlighted by the Christchurch earthquakes. A group of 14 organisations across the culture and heritage sector as well as the Archives and Records Association of New Zealand (ARANZ) and the Ministry of Civil Defence and Emergency Management met for an initial meeting in November 2011 and discussed the benefits of setting up Blue Shield in New Zealand.
For more information visit http://archives.govt.nz/about/publications-media/nga-tapuwae-december-2011/blue-shield-comes-nz

June 2011
The articles on pages 3 and 4 of Museum and Gallery Services Queensland's (M&GSQ) quarterly publication Source, feature recognition of Christine Ianna and Lydia Egunnike's work during Queensland's natural disasters at the the recent Queensland Disaster Heroes ceremonies held across the State as a part of Queensland Week.
[ PDF ]

8 June 2011
Blue Shield Australia has been awarded a grant by the Office of the Arts, though the Distributed National Collections program.
Blue Shield Australia has been active in promoting cultural heritage risk preparedness in Australia since its inception in 2005.
In awarding the funding the Hon Simon Crean MP, Minister for Regional Australia, Regional Development and Local Government in Australia's Federal Government, stated that given the recent spate of natural disasters in Australia the project is both timely and important. The project BSA: Building cultural heritage resilience in regional Australia. Please see the media release for more information.

15 March 2011
The BSA committee is following the tragic events in Japan with great concern. We express our deepest sympathy for those people who have lost family members and for everyone who has been touched by this monumental disaster. In due course BSA will welcome contributions to our Facebook page from those who can provide helpful information for understanding the effects of the earthquake on particular examples of cultural heritage.

Our thoughts are with our colleagues in the devastating flood affected areas across Australia. In response to the flood disaster the BSA Committee convened a special meeting in Melbourne on Tuesday 17 January 2011. The meeting gathered available information at the time as to how the floods have affected the different cultural heritage sectors. It also canvassed possible recovery efforts, which could be implemented immediately as well as what activities should be undertaken in the short, medium and long-term. As the flood disaster continues to unfold and detailed information was not available for the whole cultural heritage sector BSA agreed to establish a central register of cultural heritage affected by the floods. This register will be used to better understand how, where and when the cultural heritage sector could best respond to the flood disaster. For more details about the register please see: The BSA committee has agreed to meet regularly regarding the flood disaster with not just the BSA pillar and associate members but also other cultural heritage organisations wanting to assist. BSA news and how you might be able to assist the recovery will be posted on the BSA website and facebook page as well as well as BSA member organisations websites and discussion lists etc.

For media enquiries please contact the BSA secretariat
Email: info@blueshieldaustralia.org.au

The Blue Shield Australia DISACT symposium 2010 was sponsored by Steamatic