The post-Christmas period has been extremely busy for us, and there have been a number of very positive developments for Immigration Bridge Australia (IBA)  First please click on the link below http://www.spinifexinteractive.com/temp/Immigration_Bridge_TVC_wmv9_10Mar.wmv This the initial ad that SPINIFEX INTERACTIVE has put together for us to be shown on SBS TV as part of SBS's $200,000 2 year media sponsorship of the Immigration Bridge project. Spinifex has also put together a radio ad for us, but I have it as a file not a link at the moment, so for those interested, please contact us and we will email you a copy. Glen Joseph of Spinifex has been very supportive of the IBA project; producer Tania Templeton has gone to extraordinary lengths in pulling a team together that has given so much to the project; director Angela Pelizzari has done a wonderful job capturing the character of initial subject, poet Peter Skrzynecki, and others who will appear in later ads.

Our decision to incorporate a solar roof into the design is certainly creating interest. Meetings with companies wishing to supply advanced solar panels for the 4000 sqm solar roof, reveal that the output could be as high as 1.3MW by the time of construction. This combined with the anticipated "feed-in" tariffs proposed for the ACT, makes the roof a very valuable part of the bridge. As there are still a large number of unknowns as policies are prepared to achieve 2020 targets, it is case of "Watch this space", and I look forward to reporting further on this in future newsletters.

Our thanks to SBS and the National Archives for the exposure they gave to our project on "Shake your Family Tree" Day, and it was a pleasure once again to have air time with ABC morning presenter Alex Sloan on the same day.

CoAsIt has once again been very supportive, and I spent a very enjoyable evening addressing their attached Italian family History Group in Leichardt this week. They were very enthusiastic, and it was a pleasure spending time with them.

We welcome a number of new Ambassadors for the Bridge, such as Ian Kiernan AO, Hans Tholstrup AM, Basil Sellers AM, and Frank Costa. Please check out the full list.

We also have a new 1300 number. That means that anyone can contact us from anywhere in Australia for the cost of a local call. It is 1300 300 046.

We welcome a number new Ambassadors for the Bridge. I have written of them and their backgrounds in the Ambassadors section on this site. The full list of eminent Australians who are now Ambassadors appears there.

We have exciting news that I am preparing to send out in a newsletter (please subscibe if you haven't done so already), including a major sponsorship from SBS and some great news about the solar roof and its potentail output.

Issue Number: 20 (January 2008)

As we lead up to another Australia Day, when we once again celebrate the richness and diversity of our culture, I want to emphasise the role this Bridge will play in that celebration for generations to come. Below is a summary of the main questions that we have been asked about the project over the last year, and the answers that will bring you up to date about all aspects of the Immigration Bridge. Q & A – January 2008 (Printable version for general distribution) Q. What is the Immigration Bridge? A magnificent pedestrian bridge is to be built across Lake Burley Griffin in the nation’s capital to commemorate the contributions of the more than 10 million migrants who have permanently settled here in Australia since 1788. Immigration Bridge Australia will be one of the most spectacular and beautiful bridges ever conceived in Australia, deserving of world recognition. The Bridge will be imaginative and inspiring, a national monument in conception, design, construction and function. This Bridge will fulfil the recreational plans of the original designer of Canberra, Walter Burley Griffin in joining Acton Peninsula, home of the National Museum of Australia, with the Parliamentary Triangle. It will be both monument and valuable piece of infrastructure for the Nation’s capital. Q. Does the project have a website? Yes. www.immigrationbridge.com.au/. The website is quite comprehensive, and is updated on a regular basis. Visitors have access to a large amount of information about the project, to participate in the History Handrail program (see below), to lodge stories of migration in the Migration Book (see below), to subscribe to a newsletter, and to automatically pass on information to family and friends Q. Is this a Government project or initiative? No. The Immigration Bridge is one of the largest NATIONAL COMMUNITY projects undertaken in Australia. Immigration Bridge Australia is a registered Not-For-Profit (NFP) organisation formed solely to bring about the construction of the bridge. Upon completion the Immigration Bridge will presented as a “Gift to the Nation”. Q. How much will it cost and how is it to be funded? The cost has been put at $30m. As a community project it will be funded mainly by a combination of individual contributions (including the History Handrail Program), business sponsorships and income that will be generated as a result of the incorporation of a solar roof in the construction. Q. Does it have Government approval? The project has the support the National Capital Authority (NCA), representing the immediate past and current Commonwealth Governments, and the ACT Government. The project taking the form of a bridge was at the suggestion of the NCA, and the land at the southern landing has been given as an in-kind contribution by the ACT government to the project, so one planning authority (the NCA) would be involved in the building approvals process. Messages of Support on http://www.immigrationbridge.com.au/ Q. What is the History handrail Program? The 800 metres of handrail on the Bridge will be constructed out of the best quality stainless steel at a cost of $2.2m. On the History Handrail will be laser engraved in perpetuity the full names, years of arrival and countries of origin of more than 200,000 who came to Australia to settle between 1788 and the current day. These “name places” are available to the public to purchase for $110 (inc GST) per each. This program will yield approx $22m to the project. Details of registrations are available online at http://www.immigrationbridge.com.au/ Q. What is the cut-off time for registrations for the History Handrail program? The program for name places to be engraved will cease only when the first 200,000 name places have been filled, and on current projections that will occur sometime in 2008. A structure will remain in place to continue the recording of names of migrants and their stories and making them available for the public to view and read. Q. What is the Migration Book? The Bridge project will include a Migration Book. It will record all the stories that we can gather about the Australian migration experience. It will be a huge book, magnificently bound and displayed under glass on the bridge, with a page turning each day of the year. Q. When will construction begin and what is the timetable for completion? After extensive planning, the project was officially launched in the Great hall of Parliament House on December 4th 2006. As a community project, building commencement times will depend of the pace of fundraising, but the revolutionary nature of the concept design, incorporating a solar roof, necessitates a year’s work by engineers of many disciplines, as well as our architects, before the final design drawings will be complete by the end of 2008. Construction will be undertaken from 2009 to 2011. The Bridge will therefore be finished in time to be a centrepiece for the Centenary of Canberra in 2013. Q. Who are the major contractors on this project? What are the design specifications? Why a Solar Roof? It has been our objective to come up with a design that was uniquely Australian, and capable of holding pride of place on the world stage. To that end, we have put together a unique design team of architect, engineer, musician and poet, along with the project’s campaign director. James Grose of Bligh Voller Nield and Tristram Carfrae of ARUP Australia, world renowned composer Ross Edwards, acclaimed poet Peter Skrzynecki and Andrew Baulch have been collaborating to that end for a year now. It is anticipated that contracts for the construction will be let in the next twelve (12) months. The Bridge will stretch 400 metres across Lake Burley Griffin from the National Museum of Australia to the land between Lennox Gardens and the southern end of Commonwealth Avenue in the Parliamentary precinct, elevated to a minimum height of 12 metres, allowing easy passage for all water craft. We have asked the design team to incorporate cutting-edge technology in terms of design and materials. The pedestrian walkway is six (6) metres wide covered by a 10 metre wide canopy. Its streamlined, undulating design reflects and frames the rhythmic beauty of Canberra’s iconic Brindabella Mountain Range in the background. The sculpted stainless steel handrail running the length of the bridge will carry the names of over 200,000 migrants whose names will be engraved on its surface.  A laminated glass upstand will sit above the handrail, etched with fascinating details and illustrations of the Migration story.   The Handrail of the highest quality stainless steel will be treated and polished in such a way that years of human touch will enhance its patina, imbuing it with a sense of living, continuous connection between past, present and future visitors. The handrail will be treated to protect it against graffiti. The Bridge will be sheltered by a 4000 sqm glass solar roof which will feed electricity back into the grid, generating 550 kW of power and saving 770 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions per annum. The laminated glass panels will let light through onto the surfaces of the Bridge, and the roof will perform the dual functions of shelter for visitors and commuters, and electricity generator. Q. How did the Immigration Bridge project come about? A committee was formed in 2001 in Cooma with the object of bringing to fruition the idea of local resident Gianni De Bortoli, to build a monument honouring the contributions that migrants have made to Australia. After discussions with the NCA it was decided that this should take the form of a pedestrian bridge spanning Lake Burley Griffin in Canberra, linking the site of the National Museum of Australia to the Parliamentary Triangle. With the publishing of the Griffin Legacy, it is now clear that such a bridge will fulfill Walter Burley Griffin’s original plans for a continuous flow of recreational activity in our nation’s capital. The Immigration Bridge builds on one of the Plan’s eight propositions, which is to allow for a seamless link between national attractions by providing improved lakeside networks, in this case in the form of a pedestrian bridge. While the Bridge is a stunning example of contemporary architecture incorporating cutting-edge technology, its elegant and unobtrusive design sympathetically frames the lakeside environment and its surrounds, in particular Canberra’s Brindabella Mountain Ranges. Q. Who is on the Board? Immigration Bridge Australia is a company limited by guarantee, with a Board chaired by Lieutenant General Laurie O’Donnell AC (Retd). Board members are Vin Good (Deputy Chairman), Richard Lawson RFD (Treasurer), Geoff Bowland, the Hon Stephen Charles QC, Johnny De Bortoli, Graham French, Emmanuel Notaras, and Jane Singleton AM. Special Adviser to the Board is eminent company director Jim Dominguez CBE AM, Solar Adviser is Professor Andrew Blakers of ANU, and Campaign Director Andrew Baulch is responsible for project development and fundraising. Business and Corporate Governance advice is provided by WalterTurnbull. Q. Who are the Ambassadors for the Bridge? Eminent Australians, including Dame Elisabeth Murdoch, Sir Arvi Parbo, Professor Ian Frazer and many others have accepted invitations to become ambassadors in support of the project. For a full list http://www.immigrationbridge.com.au/ Q. Why is immigration being celebrated in this way? It’s important to remember what the Immigration Bridge symbolises – it is being built to commemorate the extraordinary contributions made by migrants to Australia and the wonderful opportunities provided by Australia to those who have migrated here since 1788. It’s about a continuum – migration involves a journey physically, emotionally and notionally - the Immigration Bridge is designed to acknowledge and celebrate the migration story. That said there are some interesting facts about our immigration history Today, nearly one in four Australians was born overseas.  Over 10 million migrants from 213 ethnic groups and countries have settled here since 1788 with over 6 million of those arriving since 1945. Australia continues to accept over 100,000 migrants a year Migrants have always and will continue to make a contribution to Australian society, culture and prosperity and ultimately to shape the national character. The Bridge has strong links with the Snowy Scheme, which set the tone for future Australian multi-racial harmony - 60,000 migrants from 30 different countries working together on Australia’s greatest engineering undertaking. Q. Who are the key sponsors? Bendigo Bank is a principal sponsor and the banking sponsor for the project. ActewAGL has also made a substantial commitment to the project. Snowy Hydro Ltd and the late Harry and Helen Notaras & family provided initial support for the project, and PricewaterhouseCoopers has provided in-kind support. Architects Bligh Voller Nield, engineers Arup Australia, Ross Edwards and Peter Skrzynecki have all given considerable in-kind support to the project during the design process. SBS has agreed to a substantial 2 year media sponsorship. We are currently actively seeking further sponsorships. Q. How many ethnic groups are involved with the Immigration Bridge? The organisers of the project are in the process of making contact with as many as possible of the various ethnic groups and nationalities which account for Australia’s migrant population and their descendants. All are welcome and we would like to encourage as many as possible to participate by visiting our website on http://www.immigrationbridge.com.au/.We already have attracted registration of migrants coming from 101 different countries on the History Handrail. Q. Is there any single ethnic group which is represented more than others? No. The aim is to commemorate all migration to Australia with a magnificent bridge and through the collection of stories and names which will be incorporated in the construction. We hope that all ethnic groups and nationalities will be represented through these contributions. Registrations from 1788 through to 2007 have indicated strong representation from English, Irish and Scottish migrants in the 19th Century, as well as from a multitude of countries after the Second World War. Q. Where do Aboriginal people fit in such a project? The Board of Immigration Bridge Australia wishes to acknowledge the Ngunnawal People who are the custodians of the land on which the Bridge will stand. As the Bridge salutes immigrants who have come here since the First Fleet, it acknowledges they were coming to an already populated country. This recognition of prior occupation is of major significance to this national community project. Aboriginal culture celebrates the value of stories and the need to pass them on from generation to generation. This project therefore salutes Aboriginal Culture by collecting and recording all the stories of migration in the Migration Book to be published online and in a book on display under glass on the Bridge. Already hundreds of stories have been collected http://www.immigrationbridge.com.au/ There will be large maps on the Bridge depicting the tribal and language areas of Aboriginal peoples. Q. Has the design been sympathetic to the original intentions of the Griffin Legacy? (And what is the Griffin Legacy?) The Griffin Legacy project aims to comprehensively examine Walter and Marion Griffin’s designs for the National Capital from almost a century ago (1912), in terms of both structural and symbolic content, and to recapture and enlarge upon the spirit of those concepts to present a renewed vision for Central Canberra. The Immigration Bridge builds on one of the Plan’s eight propositions, which is to allow for a seamless link between national attractions by providing improved lakeside networks, in this case in the form of a pedestrian bridge. While the Bridge is a stunning example of contemporary architecture incorporating cutting-edge technology, its elegant and unobtrusive design sympathetically frames the lakeside environment and its surrounds, in particular Canberra’s Brindabella Mountain Ranges.

Please help us get the word out about this NATIONAL COMMUNITY PROJECT - just click to make it easy through our “Tell a Friend” section. The system does it for you automatically. You can enter up to five friends' emails at the one time.

Any questions please call us at the office on 02 6367 3290 or 0412 265 344

Andrew Baulch Campaign Director 24 January 2008

Issue Number: 19 (December, 2007)

As I preparing to send out this newsletter, the tally of countries from which migrants have come to Australia from which registrations have come has risen to 99! While this is great achievement in itself, I can't help wondering which name will come up as #100. A Canberra resident from Sierra Leone has telephoned to say he will be registering at the nearest Bendigo Bank, but he will be competing with the online registrations which are racing in as people buy them as Christmas presents, and those who send them in to WalterTurnbull where they are banked and forwarded to us here in the office for processing. STOP PRESS!! Our Canberran Yembeh Mansaray (Sierra Leone 2002) has just registered his name making SIERRA LEONE the 100th country to appear as a country of origin on the History Handrail. At the same time as we await the arrival of country #100, the stories continue to roll in. People from all over the world log onto the website every day to read them. I was very pleased to be a guest at the ABC Studios in Sydney, where livewire radio host Adam Spencer hosted a live "The world is Sydney" program to celebrate the diversity of countries that go to make up the population of Sydney. I met close to 200 people and outlined our wonderful project to them. It was great to meet Adam, his wife Mel, roving reporter Phil Ashley-Brown and the fabulous Peter Zmijewshi, the weather forecaster! The enthusiasm of everyone for our project was uplifting. Jane and I raced down on the weekend to attend the 60th anniversary gathering at Bonegilla Migrant Processing Centre, near Albury, where more than 300,000 migrants were housed over the years 1947 to 1971.  We met and spoke to the hundreds attending - former residents and their children and grandchildren, and it only served to underline the importance of this project that at the 50th Anniversary (obviously 10 years ago) there were 11,000 people! The numbers are dwindling at a frightening rate, and it is so important that we collect their stories now before they are lost to us. (My thanks to ABC radio presenters Anne Delaney in Wagga and Narelle Graham in Albury for interviewing me and highlighting the project over the weekend.) In case you didn't know, Australia now has another Welsh migrant success story in our new Deputy Prime Minister, Julia Gillard. (you can read from her letter of support) As I have flagged in the Latest News section, our brochure (which had a print run of 100,000) has now a couple of shortcomings because of its age. It doesn't mention the Migration Book and its importance to our overall project, and it mentions a date for information to be supplied by those who reserved places on the History Handrail without a name, country of origin, etc. attached. That date 1 December 2007 was NOT meant to be interpreted as a cut-off date for registrations. We will cut off when we have recived the full 200,000 names. At the current rate that will be sometime in 2008, but I advise those putting off their registrations to not do so for much longer, as there is huge push towards Christmas, and the focus will then be on Australia Day, not to mention promotions by sponsors, Bendigo Bank and SBS.

I was a guest at the Forum and AGM of the Refugee Council of Australia recently at Macquarie Street. What a great bunch of people. It is instructive to note the considerable contributions to our society by the more than 300,000 refugees who have been able to settle here since the Second World War. Yet another major organisation that is very supportive of our project.

At the presentation of "In first Person" at the Tuggeranong Arts Centre, six prominent Hungarians told their stories of migration in digital format before an enthusiastic audience. The stories were very moving, and afterwards I joined the six to field questions from the audience. The question that comes to mind was the one asking what kind of "counselling" there was available to them at Bonegilla (five of the families had resided there) given the trauma they had been through in getting to Australia. There was general mirth, and all explained there was none, but the acts of kindness by individuals and families sometimes more than made up for that. For example....

The father of one of the storytellers was determined to get himself a job and extract his family from the camp. He took himself to the Hume Highway, and finally a truck driver took him all the way to Sydney and dropped him in a likely spot. After spending three days sleepng in a park, local police took him in, washed his clothes while he showered and spent a more comfortable night in a cell, and they then took him to a spot where he had a chance to meet fellow Hungarian speakers (he discovered they had put ten pounds in his pocket). Finally he met some, and three weeks later he had a job in the Holden Factory.

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We are rushing headlong towards Christmas - I can imagine few better and more lasting Christmas presents than a place on the History Handrail  Make sure you give us an email address as the system automatically generates a certificate with details of both giver and the name to be celebrated, along with year of arrival and country of origin.  REMEMBER there are 3 ways to register for places on the History Handrail ONLINE using a credit card, or DOWNLOAD an application form on the same page and forward to WalterTurnbull, GPO Box 1955, Canberra ACT 2601, or go to any BENDIGO BANK anywhere in Australia. They not only have application forms, but you can pay over the counter. Bendigo Bank will have a major promotion of the project over December and January

Please help us get the word out about this NATIONAL COMMUNITY PROJECT - just click to make it easy through our “Tell a Friend” section. The system does it for you automatically. You can enter up to five friends' emails at the one time.

Remember CHRISTMAS! Any questions please call us at the office on 02 6367 3290 or 0412 265 344

Andrew Baulch Campaign Director 10 December 2007

PLEASE NOTE: HISTORY HANDRAIL DEADLINE Our current brochure is reaching the end of its natural life (more than 100,000 having been printed!) and a new version will be coming out soon. At the top of the Reserve a place on the History Handrail form it says "Please tick the box if details are to be provided at a later date - Details are to be provided no later than December 1, 2007." This was and is not a cutoff time for registering names. As construction of the Handrail will not start before the end of next year, in the new brochure that date will be extended to December 1 2008. The cutoff time for registering names has always been when we have the 200,000 names. At current rates this will happen sometime next year, and I advise all to use the pre Christmas and Australia Day period to register names and save potential disappointment.  

Cricket Australia has kindly forwarded us the list of players, both men and women, who have represented Australia at cricket after coming here as migrants. We will be endeavouring to highlight all fields of sporting and cultural achievement in this space over the coming year - so watch this space! 

MEN	BIRTHPLACE
ALEXANDER, G	Oxfordshire (England)
BANNERMAN, C	Woolwich, Kent (England)
CARTER, H	Halifax, Yorkshire (England)
COOPER, BB	Dacca (India)
COOPER, WH	Maidstone, Kent (England)
DELL, AR	Lymington, Hampshire (England)
GRIMMETT, CV	Caversham, Dunedin (New Zealand)
GROUBE, TU	New Plymouth, Taranaki (New Zealand)
HODGES, JR	Knightsbridge (London)
HORAN, TP	Middleton, County Cork (Ireland)
JACKSON, A	Rutherglen, Lanarkshire (Scotland)
JULIAN, BP	Hamilton (New Zealand)
KELLY, TJD	County Waterford (Ireland)
KENDALL, TK	Bedford, Bedfordshire (England)
MACLEAY, KH	Bedford-on-Avon, Wiltshire (England)
MCDONNELL, PS	Kennington, London, Middlesex (England)
MIDWINTER, WE	St Briavel's, Gloucestershire (England)
MUSGROVE, HA	Surbiton, Surrey (England)
SELLERS, RHD	Bulsar (India)
SYMONDS, A	Birmingham, West Midlands (England)
WESSELS, KC	Bloemfontein, Orange Free State (South Africa)
WHATMORE, DF	Colombo (Ceylon)
Women
Melanie Jones	Barnstaple, Devon, England
Jan Lumsden	Musselbourough, Scotland
Lindsay Reeler	Zambia
Lisa Sthalekar	Pune, India
Stephanie Theodore	France

Issue Number: 18 (October, 2007)

We are rushing headlong towards Christmas - I can imagine few better and more lasting Christmas presents than a place on the History Handrail  Make sure you give us an email address as the system automatically generates a certificate with details of both giver and the name to be celebrated, along with year of arrival and country of origin. As I was about to send out this newsletter, I received a letter from Carlo Salteri AC accepting with pleasure our invitation to become an Ambassador to the Bridge. One of our foremost businessmen, co-founder of Transfield, and founder of Tenix, he wrote ""I was lucky that in 1951 I came to Australia to build a 132 kv power line from Talleware power station to Homebush sub. station. I liked the people and this country and decided to make it my home, never regretting it". We are proud to have his support for this great project. We are pleased to announce that SBS has agreed to support the project in a major way over the next two years through a combination of radio and TV promotion. They will be an official media partner of Immigration Bridge Australia. For those who haven't checked the latest list of ambassadors to the project, both SBS Chairman, Carla Zampatti AM, and Deputy Chairman Gerald Stone feature among their number. Australian cricketers born overseas noted. Cricket Australia becomes the first of what we anticipate will be many Australian cultural and sporting organisations to furnish us with details of representatives who were migrants. In the current context, we are very pleased that Andrew Symonds came to live here as a youngster. Check out the full list. What an impressive event is the Queensland Multicultural Festival. Tens of thousands crowded into the Roma Street Parklands on October the 14th to see performances from people of a multitude of backgrounds sing, dance, perform and rejoice. I was very pleased to be asked to speak, and returned quite hoarse from talking to so many people and organisations about our wonderful project. Not only have Queenslanders embraced the project, but their institutions are now offering to assist in whatever way they can.  Our Solar Roof has been the focus of much admiration and attention with the accent on the effects of climate change. I outlined our intentions for the roof and for the Solar Stock Exchange to last months meeting of ANZSES (the Australia and New Zealand Solar Energy Society), and we have inspired a project that could end up installing up to 20 hectares of solar roof in regional centres of NSW. It is a fascinating industry, with so much promise for the future, and so much chaos with governments both existing and aspiring trying to wrestle with carbon credits, feed-in tariffs, installation rebates, renewable energy certificates, pricing of green energy, and renewable targets which will help the industry make investment decisions going into the future. We are in the thick of it, talking to suppliers, politicians, energy retailers, and solar panel manufacturers and suppliers. I will try to provide regular updates on this moveable feast.   Sir Arvi Parbo expressed particular interest in the solar roof, saying that his mining exploration parties used solar power for their camps more than 30 years ago, where he found it much superior to carting generators and diesel around. Sir Arvi is an Ambassador to the Bridge, and I briefed him about developments in the project in Melbourne last week.

Co.As.It are wonderful institutions delivering numerous services to Australian Italians and teaching the Italian language. Co.As.It in NSW (www.coasit.org.au) next year celebrate their 40th anniversary and want to celebrate it with our project. They are going to encourage and help all Italians to record their stories of migration. Chief Executive Andrea Comastri and Italian Heritage Project Officer Linda Nellor have offered to help facilitate this process. As all states and territories have individual Co.As.It. organisations, I also met with Rose Patti and Paolo Baracchi of the Victorian arm (www.coasit.com.au) this week and they have come up with a number of exciting suggestions for collecting migration stories and encouraging all to take part in the History handrail program.

It was a privilege to attend and be invited to speak at the Springvale Neighbourhood House AGM last week when I was in Melbourne. I was so impressed with the numbers of cultures that were represented and supported and with their extensive programs to teach English. Samar Mougharbel, Gamini Fonseka and their great numbers of volunteers and teachers are doing an inspiring job.

Being processed in the office are registrations of migrants from Sierra Leone and St Lucia and Bavaria has also been nominated. Bavaria, like Prussia, was a kingdom after the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire, and remained that way until 1871. These will take the list to 93 over the next few days, and I ask you to help us get to the magic 100 by looking at the list  and contacting friends who may have origins in those countries yet to be named. I am continually asked about countries of origin, and would like to emphasise that we are wanting to record the names of countries as they were when individual immigrants departed for Australia.

Question - was Sophie (de Montmollin), Governor Charles Latrobe's wife the first Swiss migrant? (Charles was first Governor of Victoria) I hope that we can with your help record some of the history of each migrant group to supplement the individual stories of migration in the Migration Book. I know if we try to identify the first migrant from each country we are likely to open up a huge can of worms, but a plaque with that sort of information, years and strength of migration, etc, is what we are intending to put in place with your assistance.

REMEMBER there are 3 ways to register for places on the History Handrail ONLINE using a credit card, or DOWNLOAD an application form on the same page and forward to WalterTurnbull, GPO Box 1955, Canberra ACT 2601, or go to any BENDIGO BANK anywhere in Australia. They not only have application forms, but you can pay over the counter. Bendigo Bank will have a major promotion of the project over December and January

With great articles written in such papers as the Dutch Courier in addition to the coming media partnership with SBS increasing numbers of Australians are finding out about the Bridge. Too many still unaware of it, so please help us get the word out about this NATIONAL COMMUNITY PROJECT - just click to make it easy through our “Tell a Friend” section. The system does it for you automatically. You can enter up to five friends' emails at the one time. If you think their firewall might block it, perhaps you could send a personal email.

Remember CHRISTMAS! Any questions please call us at the office on 02 6367 3290 or 0412 265 344

Andrew Baulch Campaign Director 25October 2007

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For any person wishing to purchase a place on the History Handrail from now on, CERTIFICATES will be automatically generated PROVIDED YOU SUPPLY US AN EMAIL ADDRESS with your purchase. What better present to give than one that will be there for your children and grandchildren (and beyond) to see?

This will be a spectacular year for the development of the Bridge, as we take the project to each and every State and Territory of Australia with a series of launches. In the meantime our design team will be going through the rigorous process of taking our concept to certification.