Amateur historian seeks donations to digitise historic WA footage

An amateur historian who bought 74 reels of historic WA films that were found by the roadside in Perth is seeking funds from the public to digitise them, reports the West Australian.

Warren Duffy, founder of the Lost Perth Facebook page, paid $5000 for the reels, some of which were in ‘top condition’ and feature video recordings from across the state between 1948 and 1961.

‘You see libraries get hold of [film] and they can’t afford to digitise it,’ said Duffy. ‘It gets stuck away into a vault and you never see it again.’

An online campaign launched by Duffy has already raised $8500 but more funds are needed to reach the total $12,000 required to digitise the film.

‘I’m going to get this converted, then donate it to the State Library or the Albany whale museum or library,’ he said.

Donations can be made at via GoFundMe.

Category: Library news