It’s not every day that you see an aeroplane parked outside the Library, but this was the sight that greeted Victorians when they came to visit in 1953.

The Sea Fury aircraft was mounted on the Library’s steps by personnel from the Royal Australian Navy, after they’d hauled it through the streets of Melbourne from their headquarters in St Kilda Road. (The Herald)

The aeroplane was on display as part of a wider exhibition called the ‘Jubilee of Flight,’ which was being held at the science museum to celebrate 50 years of aviation (The Age).

The science museum had been co-located with the Library since its inception in 1870.

The National Museum also shared the building, and its displays of taxidermied animals in McCoy Hall (now the Redmond Barry Reading Room) were very popular.

Whilst the National Museum chose to focus on the natural world, the science museum focused on human ingenuity, and how humankind turned the natural world to its advantage. An exhibition celebrating the miracle of flight was the perfect subject matter.

The ‘Jubilee of Flight’ exhibition ran for two months, from 10 December 1953 to 4 February 1954. It showcased the 50 years of aviation that had passed since the Wright brothers took their first famous flight in a powered aircraft in 1903.

It was a remarkable achievement for two brothers who ran a bicycle repair shop, for not only did they fly the aircraft that day, they’d also invented and designed it themselves.

By the time the exhibition closed in 1954, over 40,000 people had come to the Library to see the Sea Fury on its steps. (The Argus)

The plane was an incongruous sight – the likes of which we will not see again – for the museum we now know as Scienceworks moved to Spotswood in 1992.

You can find out more about the Sea Fury’s visit to the Library in our video at Ask a Librarian