Vale Sir James Gobbo, AC, CVO, QC.
State Library Victoria is saddened by the passing of Sir James Gobbo, AC, CVO, QC., 25th Governor of Victoria.
Spooky stories from the Library
News:
In celebration of the spooky season, we asked staff at the Library to share some eerie, mysterious and spine-chilling tales from their years, and sometimes decades, walking its historic halls.
Researching religion and spirituality at the State Library
Ask a librarian, Collection spotlights:
Discover the diverse collection of works on religion and spirituality held at the State Library Victoria – they are for everyone no matter what path you travel.
Mapping the city with Mahlstedt
Ask a librarian, Collection spotlights:
The Mahlstedt Fire Insurance Plans show Melbourne’s CBD in precise detail. Learn how these incredible resources can be used to track changes to the city throughout the years.
The Library’s virtual volunteers
Some of the Library’s volunteers have been correcting the text of digitised historical Victorian newspapers, and in so doing, revealing more about our past.
When Spanish Flu came to Victoria
Ask a librarian, Our stories, Victorian history:
Spanish flu arrived in Australia in January 1919. With masks, closures, quarantine, inter-governmental squabbles and death, the events of a century ago resonate very keenly today.
Online Collection Spotlight: Britannica Kids
Ask a librarian, Collection spotlights:
What do frogs and salamanders have in common? What’s the largest coral reef on Earth? And who wrote the picture book, ‘Possum Magic’? The Britannica Kids online encyclopaedia doesn’t just offer answers to these questions.
Online Collection Spotlight: World’s Fairs
Ask a librarian, Collection spotlights:
What do Paris’s Eiffel Tower, Seattle’s Space Needle and Melbourne’s Royal Exhibition Building all have in common? Read on to find out!
Book:Top
People & professions, Such was life:
Ah Siug Jong came to Victoria from China to find gold but after a series of incidents he was jailed and eventually committed to an asylum. He left a complex diary which was his attempt to clear his name.
Such was life
On the case: Detective Piggott and the development of forensics
The early 1900s was an exciting time to be a detective. Innovations in science and technology, combined with the popularity of detective stories shifted crime fighting away from the seedy world of informers, which had influenced the early years of policing, towards the detection of crime using scientific methods and forensic evidence. Find out about how one Victorian detective contributed to the development of police forensics.
Arts
Portraits of Melbourne artists in their studios
John Hinds, an artist, photographer and active ROAR member from 1986 to 1992 spent time capturing artists he personally knew and the spaces that they used to create their works. His photographs captured a unique and often unseen time and place, creating an invaluable insight into the art scene in Melbourne.
