Archive for 2017

Fish named after men

Fish named after men

June 29, 2017

People & professions, Such was life:

Melbourne in the 1850s had a small but ambitious scientific community. One particularly idiosyncratic member of that community was William Blandowski, a man often at odds with the scientific establishment. He found himself embroiled in controversy with his choice of names for newly described Murray River fish.

Aerial Views of Melbourne by Charles Daniel Pratt

Aerial Views of Melbourne by Charles Daniel Pratt

June 26, 2017

Photography:

Charles Pratt was born in Wellington, New Zealand, in 1891 and was cadet with the First Wellington Rifle Company. When war broke out he quickly enlisted and saw action in… Read More ›

Alexandrino Da Costa, an East Timorese refugee, playing the guitar at the Puckapunyal Safe Haven. Photo by Ross Bird, 1999.

Let us all combine: refugee stories in Australia

June 22, 2017

Our stories:

Australian history is rich with refugee stories. Our shores have long been a destination for those fleeing war and persecution: from Prussia, 179 years ago; from post-World War Two Europe; and from early 1980s Vietnam. Throughout it all, we’ve seen policies that encourage and restrict immigration.

The authors shortlisted for the 2017 Miles Franklin Literary Award. R to L: Ryan O'Neill, Emily Maguire, Philip Salom, Mark O'Flynn, Josephine Wilson.

The 2017 Miles Franklin shortlist: interviews with the authors

June 20, 2017

News:

State Library Victoria supports books, ideas and the written word. And what better way to do so than by celebrating the 2017 shortlist for the Miles Franklin Literary Award?

Anne Frank.

Hope within the darkness: Anne Frank’s diary, 70 years on

June 12, 2017

Our stories:

This year marks 70 years since the publication of Anne Frank’s diary. It was first published in Dutch as Het Achterhuis (The Annex), and later appeared in English as The Diary of a young girl. It went on to sell more than 30 million copies, and has been translated into nearly 70 million languages.

Penguins get to partying at Play Pod

Penguins get to partying at Play Pod

June 8, 2017

News:

Penguins took over the Library’s courtyard recently and they brought a lot of families with them.

Start Space

$2 million donation to boost opportunities for budding entrepreneurs

June 1, 2017

News:

Leading Australian businesswoman Christine Christian has donated $2 million to State Library Victoria to establish Start Space – a new centre to support early-stage entrepreneurs, the first of its kind… Read More ›

Meet some of the team behind Australia’s oldest public Library

Meet some of the team behind Australia’s oldest public Library

May 26, 2017

Our stories:

This week we’re celebrating our wonderful team as part of the Australian Library and Information Association’s Library and Information Week. From librarians and technicians to photographers and conservators, we have more than 300 staff who work to run Australia’s oldest public Library. We hope you celebrated your library this week too.

The 1967 referendum

The 1967 referendum

May 26, 2017

Such was life:

On 27 May 1967, Australians voted in record numbers to alter two sections of the Constitution so it no longer discriminated against Aboriginal people. The landslide ‘yes’ vote was seen as a watershed moment in Australian political history.

Nova et accvratissima totivs terrarvm orbis tabvla by Joan Blaeu, 1664

From Melbourne to the stars: 5 great maps from our collection

May 23, 2017

Our stories:

We have well over 110,000 maps in our collection— enough to carpet metropolitan Melbourne. Here are five highlights.