As Historypin grows and takes on different lives in different communities all over the world, we’ve been looking to get good people to lead the project in some of those places.

After putting down roots in San Francisco with Jon Voss, we are now very pleased to be able to launch Historypin Australia in the form of Dr. Sarah Barns, our fantastic new team member and territory Director.

Sarah has a very strong, relevant background in the digital, creative and arts sectors and has been part of a small group of pioneers exploring geo-web and location publishing in Australia.

Specifically, Sarah has spent the past five years experimenting with how the documentary histories of urban sites might be unearthed using location-based services, using a range of media including sound and radio archives, film, photography and maps.

This work has included the production of the ABC’s Sydney Sidetracks in 2008 and co-production of the wonderful Unguarded Moments for the City of Sydney’s Art & About Festival in 2011.

The arrival of Dr Barns (FYI very useful in a geo-spatial heritage emergency, not useful if you’re ill on a plane), comes in the wake of some really exciting developments down under.

These have seen over 25 libraries, archives and museums come on board since Historypin’s launch in July last year, including Museum Victoria sharing the largest collection of images to date via their new Historypin Channel and a close collaboration with the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney, with whom we recently announced plans to launch the first national Historypinning campaign in 2013, with a year of events and activities planned across the country.

For more on the national campaign and Sarah’s progress in Australia, keep an eye on the blog and you can get in touch at sarah.barns@wearewhatwedo.org.