Project preserves town's history

To salvage the memory of the region's greatest sporting heroes and community achievements, the State Library of WA Foundation is digitising WA's most prominent publications.

The Tambellup Times, established in 1912, will join a range of magazines and newspapers that will be placed online to be accessible worldwide through the On the Home front project.

After living in Tambellup his entire life, Dave Herbert said that a lot had changed over the years but the town's residents had always held their spirit.

"We are living in another era altogether; Tambellup is renowned for its sporting history from hockey through to State players, cricketers - having access to that history is important," he said.

Anne Maree Lockyer whose family arrived in Tambellup in 1903 said there was a lot of history that was just sitting around that people did not see, and it was vital to digitise it now when people are around to tell it.

"Our history can now be accessible to everyone and we are getting swallowed up by bigger and more regional things, so holding onto how active we were, our spirit and how small areas challenge adversity becomes all the more important," she said.

"But on the other hand I know in my own lifetime we have gone from tapes, to VCR to CD to DVD and in 50 years time how accessible will this new digital form be."

The State library currently holds the material and is looking for funds to ensure the stories are preserved correctly.

Stan Arnold said it was a worthy cause and would give people the chance to find out more than they had ever known or heard about before.