A HERITAGE lottery grant will help to celebrate the work of a New Forest hero.

The money was welcomed by organisers of the 'Celebrating Arthur Phillip' project.

Captain Arthur Phillip was the man who led the First Fleet of convicts to set up a new agricultural colony in what became the Australia we know today.

He lived and learnt his farming skills in Lyndhurst, observing his farm servant Henry Edward Dodd.

The exhibition, 'Celebrating Arthur Phillip,' will be opened at New Forest Centre on Saturday June 7.

The HLF funding will help to collate a permanent heritage archive at the New Forest Centre, and provide Information panels at Lyndhurst Community Centre and St Michael's Church.