The following email came my way and will be of interest to anyone researching people who have lived in areas serviced by Sydney Water Sydney Water has closed its historic maps and plans section and moved the lot (including Col Kay) to somewhere in Homebush. It is understood that this will prevent access to these resources. This is one of the most important resources for historical research on buildings, gardens and archaeological research and for these resources to be closed will seriously impact on historical research in the Sydney area. The end result no doubt will be greater uncertainty in historical research and inevitably more cost for industry. It would be appropriate for many of us who use the resource so enthusiastically to bombard Sydney Water with letters expressing our concern (and also letting State Records know of the potential loss of valuable state records. In the first instance you might write to Ms Kerry Schott (Managing Director) of Sydney Water who I'm sure will be sympathetic to our pleas As usual the address is a bit obscure but the "Contact Us" section of their website gives the following address: Sydney Water PO Box 53 Sydney South NSW 1235 Elizabeth

Hi Elizabeth I always find it helps to address the letter to a specific person who can make the decisions. Is there any chance of naming the person who is ultimately in charge of making this decision to shift the records? And is there a chance of the name and address of the minister responsible for this decision? Also could someone ask that it be put on the Mel and Kochie (morning television on Channel 7 that goes national) 'Wall' as an issue that people should be concerned about. Ditto - I hope that Sydney people get on the talkback and make a ruckus over this silly decision by some bureaucrat who is perhaps earning a promotion for 'saving money' by shifting the records to an 'out of sight/out of mind' destination prior to when the records are 'accidentally disposed of/ culled of non essential records' by someone who knows no better Regards Suzanne -----Original Message----- From: australia-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:australia-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of earoberts@bigpond.com Sent: Wednesday, 21 February 2007 9:59 PM To: AUSTRALIA-D@rootsweb.com Subject: [AUS] Potential loss of historic records The following email came my way and will be of interest to anyone researching people who have lived in areas serviced by Sydney Water Sydney Water has closed its historic maps and plans section and moved the lot (including Col Kay) to somewhere in Homebush. It is understood that this will prevent access to these resources. This is one of the most important resources for historical research on buildings, gardens and archaeological research and for these resources to be closed will seriously impact on historical research in the Sydney area. The end result no doubt will be greater uncertainty in historical research and inevitably more cost for industry. It would be appropriate for many of us who use the resource so enthusiastically to bombard Sydney Water with letters expressing our concern (and also letting State Records know of the potential loss of valuable state records. In the first instance you might write to Ms Kerry Schott (Managing Director) of Sydney Water who I'm sure will be sympathetic to our pleas As usual the address is a bit obscure but the "Contact Us" section of their website gives the following address: Sydney Water PO Box 53 Sydney South NSW 1235 Elizabeth ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to AUSTRALIA-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

At 10:29 PM 21/02/2007, you wrote: This is not to put a damper on anyone writing a letter, but to give a bit more perspective. I'm not an authority on this so don't mind if anyone corrects it or has conflicting details on any of the following. It's always best to petition from a position of knowledge. The main purpose of the Sydney Water historical map collection is not to serve as an archive for the public. Assisting genealogists and historians is less than a secondary purpose, and is unofficially supported as long as it doesn't get in the way of their main function Our water delivery system is a conglomerate of pipes etc from various historical periods. Sometimes to repair a burst main, or to run a new connection, the workers unexpectedly come across very old equipment. The historical map collection is set up to serve this sort of problem. The maps held by Sydney Water are not the only copies. Mitchell library and State Archives each have almost complete similar collections, although it can be difficult to match the reference codes of the maps held by each of the three sets. Sydney Water's collection is the most complete and comprehensive because it is a vital working resource to keep our water running, while the other two are archival collections because they are not required for ongoing work. In requesting improved public access to Sydney Water's maps we are really asking for a minor and non-vital function in their view to be raised in status. Gary ===================================== >The following email came my way and will be of interest to anyone >researching people who have lived in areas serviced by Sydney Water > >Sydney Water has closed its historic maps and plans section and moved the >lot (including Col Kay) to somewhere in Homebush. It is understood that this >will prevent access to these resources. > >This is one of the most important resources for historical research on >buildings, gardens and archaeological research and for these resources to be >closed will seriously impact on historical research in the Sydney area. The >end result no doubt will be greater uncertainty in historical research and >inevitably more cost for industry. > >It would be appropriate for many of us who use the resource so >enthusiastically to bombard Sydney Water with letters expressing our concern >(and also letting State Records know of the potential loss of valuable state >records. > >In the first instance you might write to Ms Kerry Schott (Managing Director) >of Sydney Water who I'm sure will be sympathetic to our pleas > >As usual the address is a bit obscure but the "Contact Us" section of their >website gives the following address: > >Sydney Water >PO Box 53 >Sydney South NSW 1235 > >Elizabeth _________________________________ Gary Luke ~ gary@feraltek.com.au Sydney, Australia