Aims of the Association

Though a number of things have changed over the years, the aims of the association have never needed to be updated as they are even more relevant today as they were when first developed:

• Promote the preservation, documentation, study and understanding of hand tools and the skills employed in their use.
• Encourage interest in and better understanding of crafts and early industries in which hand tools were used.
• Discover, identify, classify, document, preserve and exhibit hand tools. In particular, special efforts are to be made regarding the documentation and preservation of Australian-made hand tools.
• Share this knowledge and understanding with other interested persons and museums, pioneer villages, the National Trust, and other similar institutions.
• Accomplish these aims in a spirit of good fellowship.

These aims are achieved through the Association's many activities - its various publications, its care of the Caine Tool Collection and development of its own historic hand tool collection, its public displays and demonstrations at public events and its responses to questions from the general public via the web site and social media.