The Ararat Historical Society has a new president who is eager to put plans in place to revitalise the Langi Morgala Museum.
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Tammi Munro was elected president of the historical society at its 2022 annual general meeting.
Mrs Munro said the historical society needed an "injection" of younger people and she hoped to encourage people to join.
"Once these stories are lost the town's history disappears," she said.
"The new committee wants to bring the museum into the 21st century.
"All of our archives are hand written so we need to digitise everything."
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Mrs Munro said it was paramount the society found a means of making money.
"At the moment the place is not profitable, the visitor numbers through the door don't meet our costs," she said.
"We are working on developing a website where we will have photos for sale.
"Fred Ellis has spent so many hours answering research questions and looking up stuff free of charge so we want to become like other research societies and charge a fee for the time spent."
Mrs Munro said any money made would go straight to the museum to repair and revamp the building.
"It is a historic building so it needs a lot of repairs," she said.
"We want to have money to restore exhibits and we are planning to circulate our exhibits quarterly so there will be something different each time you come."
Mrs Munro has always had a passion for history, leading to her writing her own book in 2021, Historic Ararat.
"I wrote my book last year about the people, places and events that have stood out over time in Ararat," Munro said.
"The history of the town had always fascinated me and I had always wanted to get involved with the historic society.
"I knew they had five core members who opened the museum three days a week, they needed some help."
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The historical society planned on working with other historic groups across Ararat to enhance the visitor experience.
"We are also keen to work with The Friends of J Ward, Gum San and the Railway Museum so we can share each other's resources and refer visitors to the different museums," Mrs Munro said.
"Ararat's history dates back to 1857 and we have such a wealth of history in town, we need to promote it."
Mrs Munro also wanted to acknowledge the efforts of outgoing president Jerry Bolt, who was in the position for six years.
"He helped keep the place open in what was probably the two hardest years ever during COVID-19 and was able to ensure Langi Morgala remained financially stable," she said.
"We can't thank him enough and we hope we will still come around."
At the annual general meeting Rhonda Holz was voted in as secretary with Fred Ellis her assistant, Sandra Audsley was named as treasurer while Kerrin Galley assumed the role of vice-president.
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