Katrina's farewell

After nearly ten months we have said 'goodbye' to Katrina Marshall. At a big gathering of volunteers on 13th December. Katrina delivered copies of 'Voices in the Hall' to one and all - her compilation of 'volunteer stories at the Hall School Museum and Heritage Centre'.

She reminded us that it was back in February as an ANU Masters student, that she had to find a location for her Internship. Having expressed a preference for a community-based organisation, she was advised to get in touch with us. Within a week or two she had 'signed up' to help with building a catalogue of the Gillespie Collection, and designing and setting up a Family History Unit. The 130 hours requirement for her Internship came and went, but Katrina - now a paid up volunteer member - just kept going.

As well as 'Voices in the Hall' Katrina leaves with us a model handbook for the Family History Unit that she designed - the Family History Unit Guide. Her exemplary documentation will enable any volunteer who spends time in the Unit in future to quickly and easily discover all the key information about the Unit's structure, contents, and processes. I believe it was largely on the strength of this document that the Centre was awarded the Cynthia Foley Encouragement Award from the NSW / ACT Association of Family History Societies at their 2108 annual conference in Bateman's Bay.

Ken Heffernan gave Katrina a present from the Gillespie Collection team, and thanked her especially for the outstanding work she has done as a member of that team in helping get the entire Collection catalogued. This work, together with that of Ken, Margaret and Phil in cataloguing the stone artefacts, books and photos, will feed directly into the Significance Assessment to be carried out in 2019.

As official Internship supervisors, Alastair and Ken had no hesitation in awarding the highest possible grade. As colleagues and friends we will all miss Katrina's exceptional capabilities, friendliness, and helpfulness. Bon voyage Katrina, and every best wish!