The Friends of the Battye Library has been successful in being granted funds of $94,500 by Lotterywest to develop an enhanced East Perth Cemeteries website.
The project will be carried out in partnership with the National Trust of Western Australia and the new website will be hosted by the Trust on completion. The existing website is static and operates purely as a genealogy database. The new website will incorporate an integrated mapping function using GPS technology. Headstones will also be tagged according to themes and topics that will enable unique interpretive stories to be developed and for tours to be developed by users according to their interests.
In addition there will be a facility for crowd sourcing of research information about people buried at the Cemeteries that enhances community engagement and sharing of stories. It will also allow for on-line donations to the tax deductable appeal for grave conservation and to promote public programs and school education offerings.
The new website will continue to provide genealogical data but its content will be boosted to increase community understanding of the significance of the East Perth Cemeteries. It will also enable engagement through virtual and real visits. Importantly visitors will have increased access to the 10,000 or more stories embodied in the place.
Lorraine Clarke and Cherie Strickland are the genealogists who, as members of the Friends of the Battye Library, are the people doing the work on the website with the support of the National Trust of Western Australia
