Military History and Heritage Victoria Inc. 2014 AGM

President’s Report 2014 AGM
It gives me great pleasure to present this report for the fourth year of the association’s existence.

Military History and Heritage Victoria Inc. has had another full and productive year and I believe that we have continued to achieve our aims.

On 11 November 2013 we ran, in partnership with MHHV member the RAAF Museum, a one day conference titled The Angry Sky: Australia’s Air War over Europe 1939-1945. The conference was very well attended and the proceedings have been published on our website.

On 2 August 2014 we ran, in partnership with MHHV Member the Fort Queenscliff Museum, a one-day conference titled The First Fateful Shot: Port Phillip Bay, August 1914. The conference was again very well attended and the proceedings will be published on our website.

On 20 and 21 September 2014 we ran, in partnership with the Australian National University, a two-day international conference titled INTERFET: Reflections on the 1999 East Timor Crisis with several high profile speakers including the Governor-General and The Prime Minister of Timor-Leste, His Excellency Xanana Gusmao. The conference was again very well attended and the proceedings will be published by Melbourne University Publishing. On the evening on the 20 September we also held a 15th Anniversary Commemorative Dinner where His Excellency Xanana Gusmao was the key guest and the former Premier of Victoria, Steve Bracks, AC was the dinner speaker.

Looking to 2015 and beyond, we have not yet scheduled any conferences but we intend to increasingly leverage the facilities at the Camberwell RSL to host other types of events and activities. I hope to be in a position to tell you more about this in the New Year.

Our website and Facebook page continue to grow in popularity – adding to the reach of promoting your events and activities. I would encourage you to make the most of this benefit and ensure that all your events and activities receive maximum promotion. A number of members have directly attributed increased attendance rates to the advertising on our website.

The articles and papers section on our website is growing into a respectable collection and I encourage you to peruse them and to contribute to the collection.

In particular, I am pleased that each of our conferences has a page that permanently records the occasion and publishes the papers presented. I would like to recognise the work of Jason McGregor as our Webmaster in maintaining and developing this valuable asset to the association.

I am very pleased that almost all of our members have chosen to renew their membership in the last few weeks and we continue to attract new individual members. We presently have nearly 30 organisational members and over 40 individual members.

Turning now to matters of governance. We remain fortunate to have patrons and vice-patrons who are engaged and highly supportive of the organisation. Our Council has continued to attract high calibre individuals, such as Dr Daryl Moran and Dr Steven Cooke. And I would like to thank our Treasurer – Peter Fielding – for keeping us in the black. 2

I would like to recognise the contribution of our Vice-President Mackenzie Gregory who passed away on 27 August 2014. I took the opportunity to dedicate the INTERFET Conference to his memory.

In closing, I would like to extend my sincere thanks to all those who have volunteered their valuable time and energy to help get MHHV Inc. to its fourth birthday.

I have been honoured to lead such a fine group. I am confident that the association’s fifth year will continue to further burnish the association’s reputation.

Thanks for your support over 2013-14 and I look forward to your continuing interest and support as we move into the Anzac Centenary.

Marcus Fielding
President
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