Golden elms beside the bowling green, Ireland St. Bright.

Bright: a town for all seasons

April 27, 2021

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

Bliss’s book marks

Bliss’s book marks

April 19, 2021

Collection Development & Description:

Provenance research in rare book cataloguing by Derrick Moors

Canvas Town: ‘a floating city, devoured by the sun’

Canvas Town: ‘a floating city, devoured by the sun’

March 31, 2021

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…

An ‘ordinary great woman’: Anna Vroland

An ‘ordinary great woman’: Anna Vroland

March 31, 2021

Family matters:

Upon her death in 1978, Victorian woman Anna Fellowes Vroland (1902-1978) was described by a colleague as being ‘one of the ordinary great women of our time’. Anna was a school teacher, writer, radio commentator, and political activist in the areas of Aboriginal rights, women’s rights and the peace movement. She held many views that seem entirely contemporary, but were not at all commonplace at the time she aired them. 

An appreciation : the Arch of Victory & Avenue of Honour, Ballarat

The Lucas Girls: A match to remember Q&A

March 10, 2021

News:

We spoke to Belinda Ensor and Joel Checkley, the creators of The Lucas Girls: A match to remember, about the story behind their short film.

‘Put out that light!’ Brownout Melbourne during World War II

‘Put out that light!’ Brownout Melbourne during World War II

March 1, 2021

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

The Sunday question

February 25, 2021

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.

Hayley Millar-Baker, courtesy of Simon Strong and Vivien Anderson Gallery

Artist in conversation: Hayley Millar-Baker

February 24, 2021

News:

We speak to Hayley about her series I Will Survive, which is being displayed in an outdoor exhibition on the Library forecourt.

Dedicated to the ladies

Dedicated to the ladies

February 15, 2021

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.

Country tennis in Victoria

Country tennis in Victoria

February 8, 2021

Sport, Such was life:

The Australian Open came via courts in paddocks in rural towns and coastal getaways, built to attract tourists, inspire social events and to hold tournaments.

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Such was life

Online Collection Spotlight: Trench journals and unit magazines of the First World War.

Online Collection Spotlight: Trench journals and unit magazines of the First World War.

April 20, 2026 — 0 comments

This Online Collection Spotlight examines WWI trench journals created by units from several combatant nation between 1914 and 1919. Produced in camps and battle zones, these handmade publications reveal humour, creativity, and resilience through poems, sketches, notes and stories.

Arts

Photographic portrait by Richard Beck of Ailsa O’Connor (1921-1980), political activist, painter, sculptor, author and teacher.

Ailsa O’Connor: highlights of a life of socialist activism, feminism and art

March 23, 2026 — 9 comments

Ailsa O’Connor (1921-1980) was a political activist, painter, sculptor, author and teacher. Throughout her art career she was a member of the Communist Party and associated with the Socialist Realist Group.