Nostalgia

The beginnings of Computerbank Australia can be traced back to informal meetings initiated by Kylie Davies and friends in 1998. From these discussions, a project proposal called the "Computerbank Project" was put on the Internet in late '98. Positive media in the Age and the SMH helped the project get off the ground.

A formal group started meeting in Melbourne in January 1999. In due course, a constitution was adopted and the name Computerbank Victoria was registered in November 1999. In the early days, when we were homeless, we would gather at the weirdest of locations, including the Melbourne Printing Museum, The Victorian Innovation Centre, members' homes, and an old plastics recycling factory in the Western Suburbs.

By January 2000, a pilot project (The Filipino Community Council of Victoria, located in Footscray) was under way to try to put ideas into action on a small scale, in order to see what was viable.

Around April 2000, accommodation at Horticultural Hall in Victoria Street, Melbourne was obtained. This became the location of meetings, 'to do days' and other related activities.

Around September 2000, the offer of a large donation of surplus equipment from BP Australia triggered a major increase in the scale of Computerbank's Victorian activities, and the decision to lease premises more suitable for the project was made. In December 2000, the present premises at 92 Rosslyn Street West Melbourne were leased, and work started on setting up facilities to store, repair and install computers for Computerbank recipients. A training room was set up and volunteer trainers became involved with introducing our recipients to Linux and its applications.

The branch commenced its Work for the Dole Program in February 2001, with the intention of introducing a number of participants to computing using GNU/Linux. Several participants have subsequently joined Computerbank as volunteers, and have greatly assisted with Computerbank development.

After settling in at Rosslyn Street, attention was given to ways of making the Computerbank project an Australia wide effort, as interest had been shown by people in other states and donations were available Australia wide.

At the end of October 2001, a special general meeting formally approved the move to a national body, and Computerbank Victoria became Computerbank Australia Incorporated.

2001 saw the Victorian group create an internal network, and a set of software installation procedures, that would allow relatively rapid and consistent software installation of the Debian Linux distribution. We also developed a comprehensive set of training notes to give to recipients during training sessions. In 2001, the majority of computers were given to individual and family recipients, while some were shipped to overseas destinations, including East Timor, Africa and Fiji. At the end of the year, the total number of computers we had built and distributed was around 350.

In 2002, Computerbank continued its successful program; the number of systems distributed up to July had risen to around 550. We produced more documentation and support materials, and our Work for the Dole Program remained a success.

We are now receiving donations from companies who have donated previously, and many of our recipients keep in touch.

Many volunteers have helped Computerbank with its work since the early days of '98/'99. The Computerbank community greatly appreciates everyone who has helped, and those that continue to help - you are all important to ensuring the ongoing success of Computerbank. We thank you all.