Melbourne’s lost department stores
Buildings & streets, Our stories, Social life & customs:
Melbourne and shopping have been hand in glove since the 1880s, and at its peak the city flaunted more than a dozen department stores.
Our stories
Precious correspondence from Australian feminist, writer and poet Mary Fullerton
Arts & literature, Our stories:
Within the papers of a Victorian farmer from Beaconsfield, are a series of letters from his aunt, Mary Fullerton, an Australian author and a vocal member of the women’s suffrage movement.
Women changing the world, part one: intellectual equality
Arts & literature, Our stories, Politics, Social life & customs:
Explore the history of the struggle for women’s equality – intellectual, political, and physical – in this three-part series.
A determined dreamer: the life and art of Phyl Waterhouse
Arts & literature, Our stories:
A prolific artist, Phyl Waterhouse is represented in the collections of most major Australian galleries, although she arguably did not receive sufficient critical attention in her lifetime.
‘Here for you’: a new original artwork
The Library forecourt has been the backdrop for 163 years of social change. Now it is emblazoned with the faces of influential change-makers from Australia’s history.
A love story in the archives
Letters from the Victorian goldfields reveal a love story, filled with dramatic highs and lows.
Women in science at the Library
Collection Care, Conservation, Our stories:
Believe it or not, science is a vital part of the State Library’s day-to-day operations. In the Library’s Preservation and Conservation department we celebrate 16 brilliant women of science.
Bushfire and aftermath
Flying over fire-ravaged land, photographer John Gollings looked down on the Hume Highway as Victoria reeled from the deadliest fires in recorded history.
New Gold Mountain
Our stories, People & professions:
For the Chinese immigrants who flocked to Victorian goldfields in the 1850s, the journey began in Canton or Hong Kong and included several months at sea before arriving in Victoria, or ‘New Gold Mountain’.
What about the women? – Part 2
Our stories, People & professions, Social life & customs:
Piece together the stories of Mary Ann and Eliza Henty and their role in Victoria’s first European settlement.
