Aerial Views of Melbourne by Charles Daniel Pratt
Charles Pratt was born in Wellington, New Zealand, in 1891 and was cadet with the First Wellington Rifle Company. When war broke out he quickly enlisted and saw action in… Read More ›
Let us all combine: refugee stories in Australia
Australian history is rich with refugee stories. Our shores have long been a destination for those fleeing war and persecution: from Prussia, 179 years ago; from post-World War Two Europe; and from early 1980s Vietnam. Throughout it all, we’ve seen policies that encourage and restrict immigration.
The 2017 Miles Franklin shortlist: interviews with the authors
News:
State Library Victoria supports books, ideas and the written word. And what better way to do so than by celebrating the 2017 shortlist for the Miles Franklin Literary Award?
Hope within the darkness: Anne Frank’s diary, 70 years on
This year marks 70 years since the publication of Anne Frank’s diary. It was first published in Dutch as Het Achterhuis (The Annex), and later appeared in English as The Diary of a young girl. It went on to sell more than 30 million copies, and has been translated into nearly 70 million languages.
Penguins get to partying at Play Pod
News:
Penguins took over the Library’s courtyard recently and they brought a lot of families with them.
$2 million donation to boost opportunities for budding entrepreneurs
News:
Leading Australian businesswoman Christine Christian has donated $2 million to State Library Victoria to establish Start Space – a new centre to support early-stage entrepreneurs, the first of its kind… Read More ›
Meet some of the team behind Australia’s oldest public Library
This week we’re celebrating our wonderful team as part of the Australian Library and Information Association’s Library and Information Week. From librarians and technicians to photographers and conservators, we have more than 300 staff who work to run Australia’s oldest public Library. We hope you celebrated your library this week too.
The 1967 referendum
On 27 May 1967, Australians voted in record numbers to alter two sections of the Constitution so it no longer discriminated against Aboriginal people. The landslide ‘yes’ vote was seen as a watershed moment in Australian political history.
From Melbourne to the stars: 5 great maps from our collection
We have well over 110,000 maps in our collection— enough to carpet metropolitan Melbourne. Here are five highlights.
Visions of fairyland: Herbert Swire’s watercolours
Herbert Swire was 22 years old when he joined a scientific voyage to Antarctica on board the ship, HMS Challenger. He captured what he saw in two delicate watercolours that have recently been donated to the library.
Such was life
Online Collection Spotlight: Bloomsbury Historic Dress in Detail
Watch the wonders of fashion unfold with this informative and visually stunning peak into the history of clothing. This video database, with companion articles, explores historical contexts, materials, and construction methods, enabling you to see how different garments were worn, and the function that each item served.
Arts
Online Collection Spotlight: American Music
From Willie Nelson to Dinah Washington, Muddy Waters to Flaco Jimenez, you can enjoy a journey across the diverse musical roots of America with the Music Online: American Music database. Hosting an astonishing array of talent the collection consists of almost 7000 albums and 120,000 songs.
