Libraries in Australia developed from the private collections of many enthusiastic and dedicated individuals. Mechanics Institute libraries started to appear in the late 1820’s.Parliamentary libraries were functioning on a State and Federal level from the middle of the nineteenth century but on the whole were neither efficient nor clear in their goals until as late as the 1960s. Many issues and questions that are current in the management of today’s libraries were also current in the nineteenth century, including weeding of outdated material, relevance, the use of government funds for leisure activities, and accessibility
The Role of Private Collectors and Individuals
It has been estimated that 90 percent of the first settlers never learnt to read. Those who could read brought a few books out with them, and had other volumes sent out on subsequent ships.
In 1821 a union catalogue was created, listing the collections of private citizens. In the 1820s John Gurner (1792-1882), solicitor, started collecting Australiana, especially old newspapers. Sir Charles Nicholson (1808-1903) arrived in Sydney in 1834 with the foundations of a huge collection, which he continued to build on from overseas sources during his residence. Most of his collection was donated to the University of Sydney Library. Edward Wise (1816-1865), lawyer and politician, was the first to systematically collect Australiana. Part of his collection was bequeathed to the people of NSW and is now in the Mitchell Library. Some of these collections were specialised and large, for example Alexander McLeay’s (1767 - 1848) collection, which was auctioned in 1845, consisted of nearly 4,000 volumes. His scientific collection, augmented by his sons and nephew, was transferred to the McLeayMuseum at the University of Sydney in 1890.
In the early nineteenth century it was necessary for all sorts of co-operation to facilitate the development of collections: books were bought in England then shipped out; gifts, bequests and auctions all played a role. Pooling of resources created collections, for example the Philosophical Society Library was created from pooling the private collections of its members.
Patronage, amateur scholarship, and literary connoisseurs developed after the gold rush of the 1850s. Gentlemen in parliament, universities, and public libraries looked to the northern hemisphere as a model for learning, reading and collecting. They supported these enthusiasms with their own private collections.
The role of the private collector continued into the 20th century, for example with Sir John Ferguson (1881-1969), bibliographer and judge, who had to move to a larger home in 1922 to accommodate his collection. Sir John's collection of Australiana passed to the National Library and is housed in the Ferguson room.
SirWilliam Dixson (1870-1952) was also an important collector of Australiana. The Dixson Library, housing his collections, was opened in 1959.
HCL Anderson (1853-1924) was principal librarian of the Free Public Library of New South Wales from 1893 to 1906. Anderson created a strong collection and service policy. He worked to secure Mitchell's extensive collections of books, manuscripts and maps, to build and preserve the first collection of national significance. Anderson persuaded Mitchell to finance the housing of the collection in what is now the Mitchell Library of the State Library of New South Wales. Anderson was also an advocate for the education of librarians and the expansion of services to the community, to business and to industry.
George Robertson (1860-1933), bookseller and publisher, thought of bookshops as cultural centres and insisted that customers should be encouraged to browse at their leisure. He published many Australian authors, aiming to match the quality of European books. In 1895 he started a lending library, the Sydney Book Club, and in 1909 added an art gallery to his bookshop.
Mechanics Institutes
The first library in Australia opened in 1927. The Australian Subscription Library and Reading Room had around 1,000 volumes which focused on history, theology, biology science and travel. It cost 5 guineas to join. The Sydney Mechanics’ School of Arts Library opened in 1833. It was the first of a number of Mechanics Institute and School of Art libraries which began appearing in the 1830’s. The Mechanics Institute movement began in England in the late eighteenth century by artisans and other workers. These libraries served people from a new class who had time, could read, and had a belief in self improvement. By the 1880’s the Encyclopaedia Britannica was almost standard amongst these libraries, and by 1900 there were approximately 1,000 of this type of library, although membership was often low, with only a few hundred using the facilities.The familiar question- What is the role of libraries? - is clearly current by the end of the 19th century. “I am not attacking billiards…My point is that, however admirable and noble these games are, it is not for them that the Government should pay money away yearly…” It is estimated that the mechanics institute libraries served around 5 per cent of the population.
By the end of the nineteenth century 95 per cent of people were able to read and write.
Parliamentary Libraries
The development of the Parliamentary Libraries closely follows the development of the Australian political system. The oldest Parliamentary Library in Australia was in NSW. In 1829 some books were purchased at the suggestion of the Clerk of the Legislative Council, and Governor Gipps put 300 pounds towards the establishment of a library. A library committee was established in 1840. A Legislative Assembly Library was created in 1856, and in 1862 the two libraries joined to become the Library of Parliament. These early Parliamentary Libraries employed a range of people, including a convict and an artist. In 1886 the survey of Australian libraries published by C.W. Holgate state that the NSW Parliamentary Library was ¨...a very fine and well selected Reference and General Library...¨ A few issues continued in the library until well into the mid 20th century: the desire by Parliamentary Members for the library to serve their general reading needs while the Librarian believed it should be a reference library only; the need for weeding to create space; to keep the library relevant; a desire to build collections; and Members requests for bulletins which summarised international and local affairs, which the Librarian Francis Walsh resisted because of fears of accusations of bias toward him or the Library.
In 1901 the new Federal Parliament appointed a Joint Library Committee, which recommended a federal public library, of which the Parliamentary Library would be one part of. This committee recognised the role of a central repository of historical information and materials relating to Australia. From 1901 til 1927 both the National Library and the Parliamentary Library were housed in the Victorian Parliament. The non-parliamentary collection was housed in the first National Library building in Canberra in 1935. In both the Munn-Pitt report of 1934 and the late 1940’s report of Lionel R McColvin it was recommended that the Parliamentary Library should report more efficiently to Members, anticipate their needs, and service Members’ general reading needs less. It was not until 1960 that the Parliamentary Library and the National Library were legislatively separated, and not until 1968 that this was made effective.
In December 1827 the Australian Subscription Library and Reading Room began in rented premises in Pitt Street, and for the next two years the Library moved to George Street, then Bridge Street, Macquarie Street and Macquarie Place.
In 1845 it moved into its own new building on the corner of Bent and Macquarie Streets.
By 1869 the debt-laden subscription library was bought by the New South Wales Government for £5100 (£1500 for the books and £3600 for the building). In 1869 the Sydney Free Public Library opened its doors with a stock of 20 000 volumes. In 1895 it was renamed the Public Library of New South Wales.
In 1910 the Mitchell Library opened. David Scott Mitchell (1836-1970) bequeathed his
extensive collection of Australiana to the library trustees with an endowment of £70,000. When it opened it had 60,000 volumes as well as a lot of other material.
The State Library of New South Wales is the largest of the Australian State Libraries, and remains unrivalled in its field and is one of the great national collections in the world.Situated in Sydney’s CBD between the RoyalBotanic Gardens and Parliament House on Macquarie Street, the State Library of New South Wales is internationally renowned.It holds over 5 million items and aims to collect, preserve and make accessible the documentary heritage of NSW. Items include Abel Tasman’s journal of 1643–1647 and the earliest known photograph taken in Australia, the 1845 daguerreotype of Dr William Bland.
The SydneyUniversity and its Library were established in 1850 through the work of collectors and enthusiasts like Sir Charles Nicholson (1808-1903), and bequests, donations, and gifts. The University library had less regard then than it does today, and did not have a librarian for much of its first decades. The main building, Fisher Library, is named after Thomas Fisher, an early benefactor. The collection was moved to the purpose-built Fisher Library when it was completed in 1908.
The Fisher Library 1909
University of Sydney archives
Australian Library History in Context edited by W. Boye Rayward, published in 1988 by the School of Librarianship, University of NSW.
Libraries in Australia by Norman Lynravn, first published in 1948 by Wadley and Ginn
Libraries in Australia by Peter Biskup, published by Centre for Informaton Studies, Wagga Wagga, in 1994.
Free Public Library, 1892.
The original Fisher Library, 1909 Interior
