The Bathurst Family History Group were finalist in the Bathurst Regional Heritage Awards and received two “Highly Commended” Certificates with the following citations:
“The Line of Bonnets is a project of the Bathurst Family History Group. It is part of the “Roses from the Heart” Project honouring the nearly 25,000 convict women who were sent to Australia and stayed.
A bonnet is produced for each convict woman who came to Bathurst using the same type of skills that the women brought with them. Each bonnet has the name of a convict women embroidered on it.
The project is highly commended for the way it engages a wide group of people in Bathurst’s heritage, re-employs traditional skills and has created a collection which is open to further interpretation and exhibition.”
“Members of the Bathurst Family History Group are dedicated to restoration, conservation, interpretation and documentation of the history contained in the Bathurst Cemetery.
They are bringing that history to the people through their tours and educational activities, research, restoration of headstones and identification, research and marking of unmarked graves.
Monumental cemeteries are historical places, providing a database of information.
The Family History Group is highly commended for their ongoing commitment to the restoration of place and for bringing the information it contains to the attention and appreciation of the community.”