HQ News

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Queensland Migration Heritage Partnership

The Partnership is an alliance of Queensland Government and community-based cultural and heritage organisations, all working together to explore, reveal and share immigration stories – past and present.

Through the Partnership’s forthcoming online hub, all Queenslanders will be able access information about Queensland’s migration heritage and tell their own stories of coming to live here. This website is due to go live in late October 2012.

The QMHP’s first project is a series of displays and activities centred on the Orient Line and its role in bringing migrants to Queensland. This project is called ‘The Voyage of a Million Questions: Stories of the Orient Line and seaboard migration to Queensland’. It will run from 12 November to 28 December 2012 at Queensland Museum, State Library of Queensland and the Queensland Maritime Museum.

We are specifically seeking your assistance to locate and liaise with people who arrived to live in Queensland on one of the Orient Line ships – or any ship! We are keen to have a number of stories ready for when the website is launched – and we also need to spread the word about this exciting project and important initiative.

Could you let me know if you have any members or associates who would be happy to tell their story of coming to Queensland aboard an Orient Line vessel? We can then follow up to get their story and permission to publish it online.

Current information about the Queensland Migration Heritage Partnership can be found at http://bit.ly/PT83aW

On behalf of the partners, we are really looking forward to working with you to bring stories of immigrants to Queensland to light.

Queensland Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages update

Queensland Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages (BDM) would like to provide this general information to keep our customers informed of the progress of its Historicals Revitalisation Program.

Earlier this year BDM embarked on a large scale revitalisation program designed to modernise its practices and make it easier for all customers and stakeholders to conduct business with BDM.

Part of the revitalisation program involves digitising all life event records that will drastically reduce the requirement for the use of paper in BDM's processes. As a consequence of digitisation Queensland historical life event records, those outside of BDM access policy will be made available to the public through an online ordering facility that will be coupled with the existing online search facility.

Customers will be able to search for records, select records and pay for their historical order - online 24/7.

Originally, BDM were scheduled to introduce an online certificate ordering service only. After careful consideration of the potential of the service and valuable input from stakeholders BDM has decided to delay the introduction of the online ordering service so that the facility to order and receive digital historical register images is included in the launch of the service.

The BDM website will be redesigned to incorporate the new information about the Historicals online service and will provide step by step instructions on how to use this exciting new feature.

BDM will keep customers informed as significant milestones of the new service are reached.

Legacy Way tunnel under Toowong Cemetery

Work on the Legacy Way tunnel project is progressing well with tunnelling due to start from the western worksite by early September 2012. The tunnel boring machines (TBMs) will take approximately 18 months to complete both tunnels.

Legacy Way runs under the Toowong Cemetery. Before tunnelling, Transcity will be undertaking conservation activities to 120 gravestones identified as extremely dilapidated and structurally unsound due to their age and existing condition. These gravestones are located in portions 1,2, 2A, 5, 11, 12, 16, 18 and 24 of the Toowong Cemetery.

All conservation work will be undertaken by qualified stonemasons under the supervision of heritage experts and in consultation with the Friends of Toowong Cemetery.

These important conservation activities are due to start in August 2012 and will take approximately four weeks to complete. Activities will be undertaken from 6.30am-6.30pm, Monday to Saturday.

For more information and to view a list of gravestones requiring conservation activities please click http://www.transcityjv.com.au/construction/toowong-cemetery

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to call the Transcity Community Relations team on 1800 778 772.

AFFHO Newsflash

The most recent edition of the The Australasian Federation of Family History Organisations Inc.(AFFHO) newsletter is now available at:
http://www.affho.org/news/index.php

Proposed Changes for Charities

A new national regulator, the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC) is in the process of being set up.

From 1 October 2012 the ACNC will be responsible for determining charity status for all Australian Government purposes and maintaining a charity register. Existing charities will be automatically registered with the ACNC. An annual information statement will be required. Most elements of the information statement may be made publically available via a new public information portal for charities.

Read more about this issue here.

Register for Gift Recipient status

Not-for profit , incorporated historical societies and other incorporated organizations who have the care of static and movable heritage, including archival material, may qualify for Tax Deductible Gift Recipient (DGR) status enabling donors to specific purpose funds established by those bodies to be able to claim tax deductions.

Any organisation wishing to obtain DGR status would need to apply to the Australian Taxation Office. There are two ways of obtaining such status:

1. By establishing a fund for a special purpose (e.g. Building Fund, Collection Fund, Conservation Fund, Museum Fund) and applying for DGR status.

2. By applying for the entire organization to have DGR status. This has stricter requirements particularly with regard to the composition of the organisation's management committee.

A package containing application forms and explanatory guidelines can be downloaded from the Tax Office's website at:

http://www.ato.gov.au/nonprofit/pathway.asp?pc=001/004/006

UPDATING OF INFORMATION

To help us help you, and to ensure that we are getting information to the correct person, could you please keep us up to date regarding changes to your Management Committees especially as most groups are having their AGM after the Membership Renewals are posted. If you have given us an email address, or contact address, for your group is it still correct? In some cases a contact phone number would also be of great assistance to us. No telephone numbers will be published unless we have permission to do so. Please forward any changes to the Secretary via mail or email.