Remembering Old Queensland on Facebook

These pages vary in size and activity, but together they form a useful jigsaw puzzle of Queensland's photographic history. Apart from bringing people together to think and talk about their memories and local history, they can be incredibly useful for researchers. I wrote an article on this a few years aback for the Professional Historian’s Association, pointing out that Facebook pages can contain a lot of anecdotal material and unpublished photos, and allow researchers to directly connect to people with information.

The experience of some archivists and librarians, however, has not been so positive. I know from personal experience that the advent of the ‘town memories’ pages was met with disdain in some places, with archivist staff (rightly) concerned by the uncontrolled and uncredited online distribution of material that their institutions owned the copyright on. I was working in a municipal council’s digital archive department when a new local history Facebook page started sharing their photos, and I witnessed the archivist’s determined attempts to clamp down on the practice. The admins on that page ended up imposing strict conditions on photo sharing there.

At the same time I was regularly frequenting another Facebook page - for another place - which was having a similar experience with local librarians banning the online sharing of their local history photos.

In my opinion, many major libraries and archives have missed a trick here because these pages actually represent an opportunity to greatly expand their own collections and knowledge base. The true value of the Facebook pages is in (a) having people share old photos from private collections, and (b) people providing new background information for photos (such as names and dates).

I wrote to the relevant archivists about the second Facebook mentioned above, suggesting they implement a sharing scheme in which they make watermarked versions of their images available to share on Facebook, and in return they could harvest the comments for historical data. They might also get permission to access private collections of interesting photos. Unfortunately, I received no reply. In the subsequent years, many people on that page have shared brilliant photos from their family collections, giving new insights into life in the town in decades past. I feel that, for those archivists, it remains an opportunity missed due to professional snobbery.

• Adavale Outback Queensland: ‘History, Heritage, Stories, Pictures and Memories from the great Pioneering Outback Town of Adavale and district, Western Queensland.’ 
• Brisbane Memories: ‘Brisbane, a place to live, visit and remember. Regardless of how long you have spent here in this fair city, there are memories that can be shared...’ 
• Central Queensland Old Pictures and Yarns: 'Old pictures and yarns from Central Queensland'. 
• Darling Downs of Yesteryear: ‘A blast from the past! Please place your old photos of the Darling Downs here for everyone to see what has changed and what is still the same!’ 
• Disappearing Queensland: ‘This page is for anyone to share photos or stories of places in Queensland that are disappearing or could disappear at some time in the future.’ 
• Early Faces of Queensland: 'Sharing Photos of Early Queenslanders Taken by Local Photographers. Brisbane and Beyond. If you recognise anybody in the photos we upload please contact us.' 
• Gladstone: Remember When: (Closed Group): ‘We all have enjoyed the reflection down memory lane and the current events. So, here is a page for the Gladstone region to your stories, photos, events, history of the region. Please create albums to add your photos, video’s too, share your school Tonkas, find your old school mates and teachers or maybe colleagues you have worked with. Please share your photos for all to enjoy and don’t forget to LIKE the page and SHARE away.’ 
• Have You Seen the Old Gold Coast: ‘Lets see the old Gold Coast.... Do you have any old pics of The Coast ?’ 
• Have You Seen the Old Mackay: Promoting the rich history of Mackay and District and preserving the history we have left so it is saved for future generations 
• Historical Gympie: ‘A place for historical information and photos of the Gympie Region.’ 
• I Grew Up in the Redlands: 'A place to find your old class photos.Every Redlands shire school has it's own album here.Please look in your old schools album.Sporting Team and old pics of life in the Redlands are most welcome..!' 
• Ipswich Leftovers: 'Putting photos from Ipswich's past and putting them into photos of Ipswich now. Showing what's gone and what is left of this wonderful historical city.' 
• Lost Brisbane: ‘Photos of forgotten Brisbane. See if you can recognise the places in the photos, and tag them if you wish. Please feel free to add photos, make comments or relate any memories you might have about the places in the photos. Enjoy.....’ 
• Lost Cairns: ‘Photographs of Cairns and district, Queensland - in times gone by.’ 
• Lost Gold Coast: 'Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. Please share your Photos and Stories , lets keep the memories alive!' 
• Lost Ipswich (Public Group): ‘This is a group for remembering what Ipswich has lost. Not to be negative but more to celebrate this towns Past in Stories and Pictures.’ 
• Lost Logan: ‘Welcome to Lost Logan. Discover a bygone era of Logan. Everyone is welcome to tag photo's and post their own...enjoy!’ 
• Lost Maryborough: ‘Photos of forgotten Maryborough (Queensland). See if you can recognise the places in the photos, and tag them if you wish. Please feel free to add photos, make comments or relate any memories you might have about the places in the photos. Enjoy’ 
• Lost Queensland: ‘This page is for places, people and infrastructure no longer in existence or lost in the mists of time in Queensland. Please add anything you feel would be interesting to this page.’ 
• Lost Sunshine Coast: ‘This group is for sharing, in any format, all the "lost" beings & characters, things, places, events, experiences, memories, memorabilia, & encounters with the Sunshine Coast of Queensland in our past.’ 
• Lost Tiara District: Sharing local history through photos of the Tiaro District including Tiaro, Bauple, Gootchie and surrounds. Please feel free to add or tag photos, 
• Lost Townsville: ‘A way for people to share images of Townsville in past times.’ 
• Old Brisbane Album (Public Group): ‘Old Brisbane Album is a sister group to Old NSW Album, Old Melbourne Album and Old Sydney Album. It is a group to share your memories of days gone by in Brisbane and surrounds, including the Gold Coast.’ 
• Queensland School Photos: 'Photos from Queensland Schools.' 
• Remembering the Brisbane Tramways: 'This page is dedicated to the memory of the Brisbane Tramways, which ran from 1885 to 1969.' 
• Rockhampton: Remember When: (Public Group): ‘…here is a page for the Rockhampton region to share your stories, photos, events, history of the region. Please create albums to add your photos, video’s too, share your school Tonkas, find your old school mates and teachers or maybe colleagues you have worked with. Please share your photos for all to enjoy and don’t forget to LIKE the page and SHARE away.’ 
• Stanthorpe History: ‘This page has been created to share Stanthorpe History. Feel free to add your pictures, stories, memories and comments about Stanthorpe and its surrounds.’ 
• Toowoomba: Remember When: ‘Our mission: to help people experience the joy of recalling forgotten, but happy, memories of Toowoomba’s bygone eras.’ 
• Townsville 100 Years Ago: 'Breaking news from Townsville one hundred years ago.' 
• Vintage Queensland: ‘If you appreciate vintage photos (pre 1980) ......you will love Vintage Queensland! Feel free to comment and add your own photos if you wish.’ 
• Vintage Rural Australia: ‘Post your own photos on Vintage Rural Australia: an album of LIFE ON THE FARM, in times past. Share, and save the memories and history with others.’ 
• Warwick - Pictures From the Past: ‘The history of Warwick, Queensland, Australia... in pictures. Displaying photographs dating back to 1840.’