WE didn't know we were making history.
We took photos of our families, our homes, our work and our play, and we made keepsakes of ordinary items that were important to us at the time, but we did that just for ourselves and those closest to us. We didn't whip out our smartphones and share them on Facebook, because there were no smartphones and there was no Facebook.
There is now, though.
One of the most popular social media pages in modern-day Sunraysia is devoted entirely to the past, and the nostalgic reflections of local people.
The Lost Mildura and Sunraysia Facebook page has built a following of more than 15,000 people through a simple idea to post old photographs of the area, many being dug out of old albums and shoeboxes to be contributed by its fans.
While it features plenty of professionally made images now preserved by museums and libraries, it's often the everyday snapshots taken by ordinary people that generate the most interest.
Former Merbein man and retired teacher Peter Matthews runs the page from near Shepparton, where he now lives, and he's thrilled to have seen it grow into an online community of Sunraysia people, many of whom, like him, have moved away.
"What happens when people see what's on my page is it starts either online conversations or it starts conversations at home and that's really heartening to me," Mr Matthews told Sunraysia Daily.
"It's a prompt for people to remember, usually fondly, the things that you can't find any more."
The page is not commercial and Mr Matthews, 61, does it for the love of history and community. He wasn't its founder, but took it over six years ago from a friend who had too much on, and he puts up at least one new post a day. He also runs his own research business, often helping people track family histories or organise events such as reunions, and has co-authored several books.
A listed research agent for the National Archives of Australia and a search agent for the Public Record Office of Victoria, he is presently working with the Shepparton Heritage Centre to reorganise its collection of artefacts, and has overseen the development of a searchable image database of 10,000 photographs.
Despite being so busy, he tries to include as much information as possible with photo posts, and fact checks where necessary.
"I sort of treat it as a product, even though I'm not selling it. It's reliable and it's there each morning and people like that," he said.
"Retirement is not on the horizon. When you love doing what you enjoy, why stop?"
The size of the Mildura page's following is only one part of its success. The content is so sharable that the most popular images build audiences of their own as they spread across the web.
Recently, these have included an image of Merbein's "Mad Mile" flooded, probably in 1956, which reached 92,000 people. A simple image of Langtree Avenue in 1970 and a 1937 map of northern Victoria each reached 24,000 people.
Mr Matthews said he rarely knew for sure which photos would "take off" and said the Mad Mile image, for instance, "wasn't a great photo, but it really captured people's memories".
He is always looking for fresh material for the page and you can contribute by emailing images and, where possible, their stories, to [email protected], as email will carry higher photographic resolution than Facebook messages.
To see and join his page, CLICK HERE.
