Local museums in Western Australia have mushroomed since the 1970's. To date 160 local museums have been listed by the Western Australian Museum as being open to the public. The resultant problems in preserving their collections, and the need to establish professional guiding principles have been addressed over the past 10 years in Western Australia by the Western Australian Museum, and the Battye Library, in conjunction with the Institute for the Conservation of Cultural Material (ICCM) W.A. Division, the Museums Association of Australia (MAA) W.A. Division, and the West Australian Society of Archivists. Both the ICCM and MAA W.A. Divisions have applied for state government grants since 1983 to employ from 2 to 3 full-time professional staff, who are based at, and administered by, the W.A. Museum, to provide conservation, curatorial advice and practical assistance. However, the results of training sessions in preventative conservation offered as part of this professional service to local museums have not had as far reaching effects as might be achieved. A proposal for a preventative conservation workshop training program for local museums has therefore been prepared for the ICCM W.A. Division. It is to be presented to the Bicentennial Authority for consideration as a Bicentennial funded project, in the event that the state government cannot financially accommodate the same program with the W.A. Museum's Local Museums Advisory Service. This paper deals with the context in which the proposal is made, and considers the strategy envisaged, and some of the basic requirements which have been detailed in the Proposal itself. -- AATA