RASV successful in obtaining a Victorian Local History Grant

The digitisation project will preserve the records of one of Victoria’s most meticulous and talented rural photographers, Frank Johnston.

The Royal Agricultural Society of Victoria (RASV) is thrilled to be announced as a recipient of the Public Record Office of Victoria’s Local History Grant Program.

The digitisation project, valued at $6050, will allow the RASV to preserve the records of one of Victoria’s most meticulous and talented rural photographers, Frank Johnston, who was active from 1930-1980.

The project titled Celebrating Victoria’s Rural Heritage – The Frank Johnston Photography Collection, will allow for some of the Frank Johnston photography collection, gifted to the RASV some years ago, to be digitised.

RASV CEO Brad Jenkins was thrilled that RASV can preserve this collection and provide unmatched insight into rural and agricultural life for everyone to see.

“As a collection, the Frank Johnston photographs are a terrific record of 50 years of agricultural and rural life, covering a broad range of subjects from stock sales, family dynasties, land management, food production and the ever-changing agricultural technologies.”

“The RASV is proud to preserve this collection in the digital space and to share it with the rural and farming communities that Frank captured so brilliantly on film," said Mr Jenkins.

This project will add to the already rich history of Victorian agriculture, rural life and the Royal Melbourne Show that is available on the RASV Virtual Museum.

Displayed on the RASV Virtual Museum website are Royal Melbourne Show exhibitions, films, snapshots, trophies and most importantly, a collection of 54 oral history interviews with some of the people that have shaped the RASV and the Royal Melbourne Show.

This project will add to this collection by digitising thousands of images, enabling them to become a public resource for the first time, for both viewing and use.

“We hope that this will provide a great resource to the regional communities, rural families, farming and agricultural stakeholders, family history researchers, historians and students that will have access to the unrivalled Frank Johnston collection,” Mr Jenkins concluded.

The Celebrating Victoria’s Rural Heritage – The Frank Johnston Photography Collection digitization project will be completed by December 2021.