Your Valuing Our Veterans project may have involved any number of:

• General Social Activities
• Focused Learning Activities
• Projects to systematically record and preserve veterans' memories.

The work you have undertaken is important, both to you and the veterans, and you should try to gain publicity for your efforts. This will help celebrate those veterans you have met and encourage others to join in the program.

Depending on your community, there are numerous opportunities to pass on what is learnt. Here are some ideas. We would be pleased to hear of more.

• Tell the local media what you are doing. Most newspapers and radio and TV stations are always looking for interesting local stories. Write to or telephone the news editor, talk show hosts or program directors.
• Mount an exhibition in your local shopping centre, especially in the lead-up to the major commemorative days—Anzac Day and Remembrance Day.
• Contact the history teachers' association in your State. The members may be interested in publishing what you did and in raising awareness of this history education campaign.
• Create a video of your Valuing Our Veterans activities. This could be used to promote your Internet home page. Secondary schools could use the tape to assist students with subject selection.
• In conjunction with veterans' organisations, community groups and schools, arrange a public presentation, to which the local media are invited. The presentation, which could be on Anzac or Remembrance Day, might comprise:
  • a bound set of collected interview transcripts
  • a set of photographs from a general social activity
  • an information brochure about a local monument, or
  • the 'presentation' to a local library of a World Wide Web link to the school's interview collection.

General Outcomes

Many outcomes are possible from general social encounters between students and veterans. Veterans can become a regular part of the school's Anzac week ceremonies or other special occasions. Classes could run special commemorative events built around themes they have studied at which veterans could be invited to be present. Historical societies could work in conjunction with local schools to provide students with learning experiences which centre on veterans. There are numerous possibilities and, as links between libraries, schools, veterans organisations, historical societies, history teachers associations, genealogical societies and others continue to grow, so will the range of outcomes.

Watch out for new web sites which have material relevant to your project. Some current web sites that may be of assistance are:

• The Australian Federation of Studies for Studies of Society and Environment (AFSSSE). This site is funded by the Commonwealth Department of Employment, Education, Training and Youth Affairs (DEETYA).
• The Great War Society. It also provides useful links to other sites: mcs.com/~mikei/tgws/links.htm1

The Department of Veterans' Affairs would like to know if you undertake a Valuing Our Veterans project which results in the addition of home pages to your school or community Web site. If you contact us we can arrange a link from our website to yours.

• 1. Disclaimer: This publication contains links or references to external web sites over which DVA has no direct control. Whilst reasonable care was taken at the time of publication, it is possible that the content of these external sites has changed, moved, or may no longer exist.