NEARLY two-decades work from a dedicated Bendigo local-historian has earned statewide recognition.
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Bendigo Historical Society volunteer Kay MacGregor has received an Award of Merit from the Royal Historical Society of Victoria this week.
It comes after 16 years spent volunteering for the society, overseeing digitisation and collation of the historical society's collections.
Ms MacGregor said the award was for all the volunteers who had participated in the process.
She joined the society in 2003, after retiring from full time work at La Trobe University. At that point, the Bendigo Historical Society's collections were without a home.
Ms MacGregor was tasked with listing the places collection items were stored, before the society brought it together in the former Governor's residence at the then-jail.
In 16 years Ms MacGregor has seen the digitisation of 10s of thousands of documents, photos and objects.
The process has meant the collection became available for people across the world interested in Bendigo's history.
A passion to record the city's history has kept Ms MacGregor volunteering for so long.
Her own family have lived in Bendigo since the gold rush era.
Ms MacGregor said she wanted to celebrate the ordinary people who made Bendigo and the surrounding region.
"They're part of the fabric of what made Bendigo, the story of Bendigo, what Bendigo is now as a city," she said.
Since 2003 Ms MacGregor has noticed an increased awareness of the significance of Bendigo's history to the development of Australia as a nation.
Ms MacGregor said she was grateful to receive the award, but accepted it on behalf of all the hard-working volunteers at the Bendigo Historical Society.
"I've had so many volunteers over the years who've worked very hard, with very little recognition of what they do, to save and preserve Bendigo's history," she said.
Bendigo Historical Society president Jim Evans said Ms MacGregor was a dedicated and selfless volunteer in caring for the group's collections.
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