Our stories, People & professions, Victorian history:
For many decades, Victorian legislation discriminated against women who wanted to work at the library. Isabella Fraser was State Library Victoria’s first female staff member in 1908, and paved the way for the many women who have followed in her footsteps.
Ask a librarian, Our stories, Victorian history:
On 1 August 1905, an unusually large crowd, including “ladies in bright dresses”, descended on Melbourne’s Supreme Court building to see Ms Grata Flos Matilda Greig become the first woman to be admitted to legal practice in Australia.
Buildings & streets, Our stories, People & professions, Such was life, Victorian history:
Once upon a time a staff member sat in the Dais in the La Trobe Reading Room, watching over any chattering public. We asked two long term SLV librarians how this used to work.
Ask a librarian, Our stories, Victorian history:
With the dominance of air travel in the twenty-first century, it’s easy to forget what a massive role ships, ports and piers played in the development and history of Melbourne. We look at the historic evolution of piers at the Port of Melbourne.
Ask a librarian, Victorian history:
Horseracing is an industry strongly associated with Melbourne, but it took almost three years after colonial settlement for the first horse race to be held. Like many of today’s horse racing carnivals, the reporting was more focused on what happened off the racetrack than on it.
Ask a librarian, Collection spotlights, Our stories, Victorian history:
The Historical Maps and Plans Collection is a boon for researchers, containing everything from descriptions of what the landscape was like when Europeans arrived, to the locations of early buildings and houses, pastoral runs, and even shipwrecks.
Ask a librarian, Victorian history:
Step behind-the-scenes as we tour the Library from Dome to Catacomb. We invite you to explore the layers of history that make up the Library.
Ask a librarian, Collection spotlights, Victorian history:
The Pictures collection at State Library Victoria contains many gems such as a posters collection of over 6,000 items, including 237 posters from Melbourne’s legendary Pram Factory.
Ask a librarian, Collection spotlights, Victorian history:
Sometimes called ‘bird’s eye view’ maps, isometric maps depict a view ‘from above’. This plan, produced in 1866, shows a remarkable point-in-time layout of Melbourne streets, the Yarra, Port Phillip Bay, and parts of Collingwood and East Melbourne. A closer examination reveals some of the fledging city’s most important social, economic and civic locations and buildings, as well as parks and reserves, including many which remain today.
Ask a librarian, Our stories, Victorian history:
For more than half a century, Vance and Nettie Palmer stood as beacons in the Australian literary landscape. In 1985, on the centenary of their births, the Victorian government established the annual Premier’s Literary Awards in their honour. Of particular note to us at the State Library is that it was here that Vance and Nettie first met.
