Henry Lawson: Mementos of a difficult man
In mid-2003 the State Library formally acquired the Australian writer Henry Lawson’s walking stick and shirt. On the anniversary of his death, we take a closer look at these items.
The Big Issue marks 20-year milestone with an exhibition celebrating vendors
News:
Discover the stories behind the faces of Melbourne’s street magazine vendors in ‘The Big Issue portraits’, a free exhibition now on show at State Library Victoria.
Reconstructing Melbourne’s early Chinese restaurants and other businesses
Family History Feast 2016, Family matters:
On Monday 8th August, the Library hosted its 13th annual Family History Feast, this year’s theme focused on researching occupational records. Over the coming weeks we will blog about or… Read More ›
The erasure of Melbourne’s wetlands
Buildings & streets, Cities & towns, Such was life:
Creative fellow and author, Dr David Sornig, shows us how the library’s maps and manuscripts chart the demise of West Melbourne’s wetlands in his special guest blog this week. Welcome David.
It’s art Jim, but not as we know it; new books to stretch the imagination
Denizens of the night, a plethora of postcards, illuminated walls, and things that go bump in the night; all in a day’s work for the Arts Library’s new book stand.
Celebrating Children’s Book Week 2016
News:
We welcomed more than 200 little readers, their families and carers to the Library this morning for a special 2016 Children’s Book Week Storytime.
Supporting Hearing Awareness Week 2016
News:
This week is national Hearing Awareness Week (21-27 August), an annual initiative that raises awareness for the needs of Australians who are deaf or hearing impaired.
Long Tan at 50
Half a century has now passed since Australia’s most well known battle of its decade long involvement in South Vietnam. 18 diggers were killed and another 24 were wounded in the dramatic fighting that took place in the rubber plantation near the village of Xa Long Tan on the 18th August 1966.
Announcing the 2016 Inky Awards shortlist
News:
The Centre for Youth Literature at State Library Victoria has announced the shortlist for the 2016 Inky Awards for young adult literature today, celebrating a decade of the national teen choice prize.
Save the Game.
Videogames have a preservation issue. The perpetual and profitable march ‘forward’ by technology renders videogames obsolete within years of their release.
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.
