New online collections
Ask a librarian, Collection spotlights, Our stories:
With 20+ new additions to our databases, there’s something for everyone – always available online.
Our stories
Fanfare for a new Dome
Ask a librarian, Our stories, Victorian history:
Brass instrumentalists from the Victorian College of the Arts were positioned in the upper galleries of the State Library’s La Trobe Reading Room (‘the Dome’), and the composer, George Dreyfus, stood on the podium below. There was a sudden, hushed silence. It was Tuesday, 8 July 2003, and the Dome was about to come alive with a bold, bright fanfare written to mark the occasion of its re-opening.
Shonky celebrants and wonky marriages ….. Holt’s matrimonial agency and the Free Christian Church
Ask a librarian, Victorian history:
The Free Christian Church and Holt’s Marriage Agency first operated in Melbourne in the late 19th century. They were never far from controversy and the law.
Armchair travel with State Library Victoria
Ask a librarian, Collection spotlights, Our stories, Research tips:
After over a year of international travel restrictions and domestic border closures, many of us are longing for a holiday. State Library Victoria collections can take you to faraway places – and back in time – without leaving your home.
Bright: a town for all seasons
Ask a librarian, Collection spotlights, Victorian history:
In normal times, the final week of April into the first week of May would see the Victorian town of Bright celebrating its Autumn Festival. Sadly, due to the pandemic, the festival was not able to run last year and has also been cancelled for this year. To mark the occasion, we take a look back over previous festivals and the history of the Town of Bright through some of the Library’s wonderful digitised images
Canvas Town: ‘a floating city, devoured by the sun’
Ask a librarian, Our stories, Victorian history:
It was November, 1852, when almost overnight, a strange sight sprang up, near Princes Bridge, in Melbourne. Canvas Town, as it came to be known, was a large tent city, set up to accommodate people on their way to the goldfields…
‘Put out that light!’ Brownout Melbourne during World War II
Ask a librarian, Collection spotlights, Victorian history:
In 1942, amidst fears of aerial enemy attack, Melbourne’s homefront was in the grip of brownout. These were tumultuous times, and the city hummed with wartime preparations, and thousands of American service personnel. At the same time, a killer stalked in the shadows.
The Sunday question
Ask a librarian, Our stories, Victorian history:
For most of its history, the Library was closed on Sundays. The battle to open was a hotly contested issue, not just at the Library, but all over Melbourne.
Dedicated to the ladies
Ask a librarian, Victorian history:
In Melbourne’s early colonial days there were few places where women could go to seek knowledge. A dedicated section of the newly established Melbourne Public Library was one of them.
The All England 11 and the birth of Australian cricket
In 1861 the great tradition of England and Australian cricket contests commenced when the first English team arrived in Australia.
