Bound volumes of the Carlton Football Club’s board meetings dating back to 1908 (when the minutes were penned by the club’s then secretary John Worrall) have surfaced in cardboard boxes, together with musty copies of the VFL’s Football Record from 1914 onwards.
Some of the recently-discovered volumes of the VFL’s Football Record
Bound volumes of the club’s board meeting minutes
Also discovered were plastic milk crates crammed with U-matic videotapes (the forerunners to Beta and VHS) - the “lost” tapes of Carlton matches from as long ago as 1978.
Of even greater fortune, the old 23-kilogram U-matic recorder discovered with the tapes also proved to be in excellent working order, which in turn assisted with the process of digitising.
Amongst the new-found footage is a rare post-match interview with Bruce Doull in the rooms on Grand Final day 1981, as well as the’82 premiership team’s audience with Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser at The Lodge, together with matchday material including Geoff Southby’s final game, Rod Ashman’s 200th senior appearance, and the team’s 115-point hammering of Richmond at Princes Park on a wet deck in the 14th round of 1984.
The discovered tapes, numbering almost 200 and almost all amassed by the then coach David Parkin, have since been digitised after the communications department enlisted the services of Jamie Sanderson, the founder of the Blueseum website.
The digitisation process began back in June, with DVD copies now securely kept with the bound volumes in a temperature-controlled archival-quality storage facility within the new Visy Park redevelopment.
“Walking into the old pie stand, and discovering the U-matic tapes and the Footy Records was like setting foot into football’s equivalent of Aladdin’s Cave,” Sanderson said of the historic finds.
“It is to David Parkin’s great credit that he saw fit to accumulate this video collection. Thanks to his foresight, the brilliant exploits of players such as Ashman, Johnston, Doull and Harmes are now there for future generations of Carlton supporters to see.”
Carlton also plans to digitise the boardroom committee minutes, but would require voluntary assistance in completing the massive task.
Those interested in assisting with the digitisation process can email Jamie Sanderson at the Blueseum, admin@blueseum.org
