The Museum's temporary closure since 1998 has foiled wide recognition of its collection and programs. It may therefore be a surprise to hear that it is potentially the world's most comprehensive Museum in its field. This view has been strengthened after hearing recently from overseas experts that there really is no other collection like it in the world, nor are its unique proposed programs offered anywhere.

Provided that support is forthcoming for its re-establishment, the Museum of Printing will be in full swing well before the 2006 Commonwealth Games. It will be a source of pride for Victoria, for Australia and for those who have supported it.

More of the community will come to an understanding of the role of printing in the development of society. Those studying current printing and design techniques, or working in these areas, will gain an appreciation of what came before (and see the links between old and new). And those who research the history of industry, society, design, et al, will access our vast collection of printers' artefacts and equipment. The Melbourne Museum of Printing, when re-established, will be one of the major printing museums of the world. Its educational and artistic programs will set it apart from any other, and the depth of its collection of artefacts will provide unequalled opportunities for research. This Museum, under its present name or some other name, will fulfil a national role as the repository of equipment, artefacts and understandings of the past and present industry of printing, packaging and publishing. Establishment of a second campus (possibly in Sydney) will be a possibility at a later stage.

The community can come to an understanding of printing.

Once the Museum is re-established it will offer a wide range of services. These include:

• Educational workshops for secondary, TAFE and university students with an interest in typography, as well as those already working in printing and design;

• Research opportunities for scholars in the practice and history of graphic design, society, commerce, industry, engineering and other fields;

• General visitation including school groups (non-workshop), citizens clubs and tourists;

• Facilities for artists and writers to practice printmaking with metal types and hand presses;

• Provision of props and locations for film makers. The Museum supplied equipment and specialist advice for "Pozieres" and "My Brother Jack", among others.

The Museum will also continue to provide support for other institutions (museums, theme parks, university departments) who have printing equipment in their collections and need otherwise unavailable advice and supplies (such as founts of handset type).

Preserving the past of printing and publishing is a worthwhile venture and the Museum will reach a wide and continuing audience. The museum will provide many benefits to the community. There is little doubt that it will attract industrial support, and through its internal and outreach programs, it will also be a link from its major benefactors to the wider public and to all those involved in printing, publishing and design whether as students or working. People in the film-making industry are among those who have used and appreciated the Museum's range of machinery and equipment. They have not yet taken advantage of the complete, workable composing room with a realistic battery of Linotypes, but they will. They will come from around the world to see it and use it. Any organisation which takes the initiative in restarting, or at least protecting, this Museum will have good reason to be proud of it.

Fine art, like this limited edition book, carry the Museum's imprint around the world.

The Museum claims that, through its collections and its programs, it will have a number of benefits for Victoria. It will benefit those who may come from interstate and overseas and that will of course also benefit Victoria.

• In artistic terms, it has values in printmaking, art education, art and design history, support for other museums and users of older technology and film makers.

• In heritage terms it has values in conservation of industrial processes and knowledge and the world's only trove of printers' work-in-progress.

• In educational terms it has values in showing the development of printing to students in typography, technology, society and history. "Development" includes the industry of printing, the design of printing and the effects of printing.

• In terms of tourism, when successfully established, it will attract (at least) reasonable numbers of general public, school groups, citizens groups and incoming tourists. It will provide opportunities for employment and volunteering.

The GSW ran on a pilot basis and proved that teachers were keen to bring their students and willing to pay a substantial fee to see the link between traditional printing and what they do today in software.

The main audiences of the Museum's programs will include: the general public who will gain an understanding of the role of printing in development of knowledge and society; those working in, or studying for design and print, who will see the connections between their computer software and what came before and be able to preserve the associated skills; artists and writers who would like to typeset and print by hand their books, broadsheets and other works of art; academic researchers whose work in the history of design, industry, commerce, etc will benefit from our unique and extensive resources of engravings, standing jobs and documents relating to the work of many printers and their thousands of clients since about 1950.

Visiting artist practices hand typesetting.

There seems to be no other city, no other country, in which a substantial cross section, some decades' worth, of printing jobs have been preserved for research. This Museum's collection of "documentary artefacts" consists of the actual printing blocks and typesettings used for thousands of printing jobs, from some dozens of printers in Victoria and elsewhere. The artefacts cover almost every kind of general printing dating from the 1960's to the 1990's with some earlier. They are accompanied by a collection of job-related documents such as quotations, invoices, proofs, job bags and specimens, and business related documents like purchase orders and supplier invoices.

A preserved typesetting: fascinating.