Daily Archives: 3 November, 2019

St. Paul’s Cathedral (Melbourne, Australia)

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St. Paul’s Cathedral

St. Paul’s Cathedral, an Anglican cathedral, is the cathedral church of the Diocese of Melbourne and the seat of the Archbishop of Melbourne (who is also the metropolitan archbishop of the Province of Victoria and, since June 28, 2014, the present seat of the Primate of Australia).

The cathedral’s Gothic transitional facade

Here are some interesting trivia regarding the cathedral:

  • The cathedral was designed by the English architect William Butterfield, known for his distinctive interpretation of the Gothic Revival.
  • It is one of Melbourne’s major architectural landmarks.
  • To fit the block, the cathedral was orientated in line with the central city grid, just off the north-south axis, rather than facing east, the traditional direction.
  • The location for the cathedral marks the place of the first public Christian service in Melbourne was conducted, by Dr. Alexander Thomson, in 1835.
  • In contrast to the bluestone Gothic of St Patrick’s Roman Catholic cathedral, on the eastern hill of the city, as well as other grand 19th century public buildings faced in light grey sandstone imported from other states, the cathedral’s interior stonework is  a mixture of sandstone from the Barrabool Hills and Waurn Ponds limestone, with contrasting stripes of Victorian bluestone, that gives the cathedral a warm coloring. Also, because the spires are built from Sydney sandstone and are 40 years newer, they are different and darker in color than the older parts of the building.
  • Once the Moorhouse Spire, the central spire, was completed to its full height of 95 m. (312 ft.), St Paul’s became the tallest structure in central Melbourne. With the retail heart height limit of 40 m., it has retained its dominance of the immediate area, dominating the city’s skyline when viewed from the south. For nearly 40 years, even without the spires, the cathedral presented a rather solid, horizontal mass.
  • From the southern approaches to the city, St. Paul’s Cathedral occupies a prominent and dominating location at the center of Melbourne, being situated diagonally opposite Flinders Street station (the hub of 19th-century Melbourne and an important transport center) and, immediately to its south, Federation Square (the new public heart of Melbourne). Continuing south down Swanston Street is Princes Bridge, which crosses the Yarra River, leading to St Kilda Road.
  • Besides Sunday and weekday Eucharists, the cathedral maintains the English tradition of a daily choral Evensong, being the only Australian Anglican cathedral to do so.
  • Its 2009 restoration project was acknowledged by the Australian Institute of Architects, the Victorian Chapter Heritage Architecture Award 2009 and the Lachlan Macquarie National Award for Heritage Architecture 2009.

Check out “Federation Square,” “Flinders Street Station” and “St. Patrick’s Cathedral”

Nighttime view of the cathedral

The awe-inspiring St. Paul’s Cathedral, planned in a traditional Latin cross, has a long nave, side aisles, short transepts, a tower at the crossing, with choir below, sanctuary and altar beyond, and a pair of towers framing the ceremonial main entrance.

Heritage Council of Victoria Plaques

The cathedral’s Gothic transitional architecture combines Early English and Decorative Gothic styles. Highlights include the fine polychromatic brickwork, beautifully patterned floor and wall tiles and mosaics, banded masonry stonework, exquisitely timbered roof and tiled dado walls.

The cathedral’s nave

It has played host to many prime ministers, premiers, governors, governors-general and other significant people; hosted many significant occasions in national, Commonwealth and international history; and continues to be the choice venue for many state funerals.

The north aisle

Here’s the historical timeline of the cathedral:

  • In 1880, the foundation stone was laid by the Governor of Victoria, John, Earl of Hopetoun (later Marquess of Linlithgow), in the presence of the Rt Revd Charles Perry, Bishop of Melbourne.
  • In 1884, Butterfield resigned due to disputes between him and the church authorities in Melbourne. The job was then awarded to a local architect, Joseph Reed (of the Australian firm Reed, Henderson and Smart), who completed the building generally faithfully to Butterfield’s design
  • In 1889, Reed designed the attached chapter house in a style matching Butterfield’s.
  • On November 15, 1889, the cathedral’s bells were dedicated and first rung for the departure of Sir Henry Loch (later Baron Loch), the Governor of Victoria.
  • On January 22, 1891, the cathedral (without the spires) was consecrated by the Rt Revd Field Flowers Goe, Bishop of Melbourne.
  • In 1926, construction of the spires began to a new design by John Barr of Sydney, in a more traditional Gothic Revival style and with different stone from the Sydney area. It was also much taller than Butterfield’s original design.
  • In 1929, the pipe organ was rebuilt by Hill, Norman & Beard when the action was electrified and a new console supplied.
  • In 1932, the spires reached their full height
  • On April 30, 1933 a service of thanksgiving was held for their completion.
  • The 1960s saw extensive work completed to the exterior of the cathedral
  • On November 28, 1986, on his arrival in Melbourne, Pope John Paul II paid a visit to St Paul’s Cathedral in recognition of the dialogue between the Anglican and Roman Catholic churches in Melbourne fostered by their respective former archbishops, the Most Reverend Sir Frank Woods (Anglican) and the Most Reverend Sir Frank Little (Roman Catholic).  As the Pope entered the cathedral, the choir sang “Ecce vicit Leo.” After this, the Pope prayed for Christian unity and lit a meter-long candle.
  • From 1989 – 90, the $726,000 restoration work of the organwas completed, by Harrison & Harrison Ltd, Durham, with the help of a major National Trust The façade pipe stenciling was done by Marc Nobel, Christine Holmes and John Dale after a design by Lyon, Cottier, Wells & Company.
  • On November 28, 2007, a carol service called Carols from St Paul’s Cathedral Melbourne featuring the cathedral choir, was recorded by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and broadcast Australia-wide on Christmas Eve.
  • In 2009, the A$18 million, seven-year major restoration works, under the guidance of Falkinger Andronas Architects and Heritage Consultants (now Andronas Conservation Architecture) and undertaken by Cathedral Stone, were completed. Significant repairs were done to restore the spires. Stone heads of the former dean David Richardson and the philanthropist Dame Elisabeth Murdoch, created by Melbourne sculptor Smiley Williams and carved by stonemason Daryl Gilbert, were added to the spires.  Also installed were the colored glass “Eighth Day” lantern, in the Moorhouse Tower, and  new dalle de verre colored glass doors, created by Janusz and Magda Kuszbicki, and a glass walled airlock for the west Great West door.

The south aisle

The interior, compared to the exterior, feature rich colors and strident color contrasts, characteristic of Butterfield’s work, with all the stonework constructed using Waurn Ponds limestone, its stripes contrasting with the very dark-colored local bluestone.

Chancel and High Altar

The dado (created with patterned glazed tiles), floor (entirely paved with encaustic tile imported from the English firm of Maw & Co., featuring both patterned layouts and patterns within the tiles), high altar and reredos (made from Devonshire marble, alabaster and glittering Venetian glass mosaics) are outstanding examples of High Victorian Gothic polychromy.

The narthex

In Persian tile, on the rear wall of the narthex, is a replica of an 8-pointed star found in two churches of the Anglican Diocese of Iran (the church of St. Simon the Zealot in Shiraz and St. Luke’s Church in Isfahan).  There are two baptismal fonts – a round font of Harcourt granite (installed when the cathedral was first built) and a cruciform immersion font (built in 1912 in memory of Field Flowers Goe, third Bishop of Melbourne). One of the carved figures on the pulpit is said to be the image of a daughter, who died in infancy, of the former Mayor of Melbourne.

Baptismal Font (South Aisle)

The Chapel of Unity, a memorial chapel, commemorates the historic visit of Pope John Paul II: only the third time in four centuries when a reigning Pope had made an official visit to an Anglican cathedral.

Immersion Font

The pipe organ, commissioned from English builder T. C. Lewis and Co  (one of the most prominent organ builders of the 19th century) of Brixton, England, cost over 6,500 pounds for its construction, shipping and installation before it was played at the cathedral’s 1891 inaugural service .

Interior from the south aisle

Since then, various modifications and maintenance works have been carried out. After the 1989 -90 restoration, the organ, housed in the cathedral’s south transept behind newly stenciled façade pipes, now has four manuals and pedals with 53 stops, all with electro-pneumatic action.

Commemorative plaques along the wall

St. Paul’s ring of 13 bells, a gift from Thomas Dyer Edwardes and all cast by Mears & Stainbank of Whitechapel Bell Foundry in 1889, consists of 12 bells set for change ringing in the key of C♯, plus an extra bell to allow different subsets of the full number to be rung still to a diatonic scale.  The tenor originally weighed 31 cwt but, after the whole set was sent to Taylor’s Bell Foundry in 1963 for retuning, it now weighs 29cwt.

One of the cathedral’s stained glass windows

St. Paul’s Cathedral : 198 -206 Flinders Street cor. Swanston Street, Melbourne, Victoria 3000, Australia. Tel: 9653 4333. E-mail: welcome@stpaulscathedral.org.au. Website: www.stpaulscathedral.org.au. Open Mondays to Fridays, 8 AM – 6 PM; Saturdays, 9 AM – 4 PM and Sundays, 7:30 AM – 7:30 PM.  Masses: Sundays (8 AM, 9 AM, 10.30 AM, 6 PM), Mondays to Saturdays (12.15 PM).

Federation Square (Melbourne, Australia)

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Federation Square

Federation Square, a venue for arts, culture and public events on the edge of the Melbourne central business district, covers an area of 3.2 ha (7.9 acres) and was built above busy railway lines and across the road from Flinders Street station.

It incorporates major cultural institutions (Ian Potter Centre, ACMI, Koorie Heritage Trust, etc.) as well as cafes and bars, in a series of buildings centered around a large paved square, and a glass walled atrium.

Check out “Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia“

Melbourne’s central city grid was designed without a central public square, long seen as a missing element. From the 1920s there were proposals to roof the railway yards on the southeast corner of Flinders and Swanston Streets for a public square, with more detailed proposals prepared in the 1950s and 1960s.

In the 1960s, the Melbourne City Council decided that the best place for the City Square was the corner of Swanston and Collins Streets, opposite the town hall. The first temporary square opened in 1968, and a permanent version opened in 1981. It was however not considered a great success, and was redeveloped in the 1990s as a smaller simpler space in front of a new large hotel.

Meanwhile, in the late 1960s, a small part of the railway lines had been partly roofed by the construction of the Princes Gate Towers, known as the Gas & Fuel Buildings after their major tenant, the Gas and Fuel Corporation, over the old Princes Bridge station.

This included a plaza on the corner, which was elevated above the street and little used. Between the plaza and Batman Avenue, which ran along the north bank of the Yarra River, were the extensive Jolimont Railway Yards, and the through train lines running into Flinders Street station under Swanston Street.

This open public square had its beginnings in 1996 when the then Premier Jeff Kennett announced that the Gas & Fuel Buildings would be demolished, the rail yards roofed and a complex including arts facilities and a large public space to be named Federation Square would be built.

Lobby of Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia

It was opened in 2001, in time to celebrate the centenary of Australia’s Federation, and included performing arts facilities, a gallery, a cinemedia center, the public space, a glazed winter garden, and ancillary cafe and retail spaces.

Built at a cost of approximately $467 million (over four times the original estimate of between $110 and $128 million), its main funding came primarily from the state government, some from the federal government, $64 million from the City of Melbourne while private operators and sponsors paid for fit outs or naming rights. The square was opened on October 26, 2002.

Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) – Australia’s national museum of film, video games, digital culture and art

In 2006, the vaults under Princes Walk (a former roadway) were redeveloped by Federation Wharf into a large bar, with extensive outdoor areas on the Yarra riverbank, with elevator access to Federation Square.

In October 2011, Elizabeth II visited Federation Square. On October 2018, an interim decision to list Fed Square to the Victorian Heritage Register resulted in the square being formally listed in August 2019.

Occupying roughly a whole urban block bounded by Swanston, Flinders, and Russell Streets and the Yarra River, Federation Square is directly opposite Flinders Street station and St Paul’s Cathedral.

The precinct’s layout was designed to connect Melbourne’s historical central district with the Yarra River and Birrarung Marr, a new park.

Its complex and irregular design had gently angled ‘cranked’ geometries (predominating in both the planning and the facade treatment of the various buildings and the winter gardens that surrounded and defined the open spaces) while a series of ‘shards’ provided vertical accents.

Interconnected laneways and stairways and the winter garden connects Flinders Street to the Yarra River. The open square, arranged as a gently sloping amphitheater, is focused on a large viewing screen for public events, with a secondary sloped plaza area on the main corner.

The 1.3 m. high bronze statue of the Fearless Girl by Kristen Visbal

Federation Square: intersection of Flinders and Swanston Streets.

Ian Potter Center: NGV Australia (Melbourne)

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Ian Potter Centre – NGV Australia

The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia, an  art gallery that houses the Australian part of the art collection of the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV), is a legacy of the businessman and philanthropist Sir Ian Potter. It presents the story of Australian art through a comprehensive program of temporary exhibitions and extensive displays.

Check out “Federation Square”

Museum entrance

The country’s first public art museum dedicated to Australian art, it houses one of the oldest and most well known art collections in the country and has almost 25,000 Australian artworks, including paintings, sculpture, prints, photography, fashion and textiles.

Museum lobby

At one time, approximately 800 works are displayed in the new building and many of these are rotated frequently to show the full breadth and diversity of Australian art, and to provide visitors with fresh insights. The NGV’s international works are displayed at the NGV International on St Kilda Road.

The author at the museum

The collection, also acknowledging the power, primacy and cultural diversity of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art, presents some of Indigenous art’s major historical and contemporary works. The collection includes works in a range of media by male and female artists, including William Barak, Judy Watson, Emily Kngwarray and Uta Uta Tjangala.

Autumn Memories (Frederick McCubbin)

Well-known and superb works featured at the Ian Potter Centre include  non-Indigenous art, from the Colonial period to the present day, including some of the genre’s most iconic paintings such as Frederick McCubbin‘s poignant triptych The Pioneer (1904), Tom Roberts‘ Shearing the Rams (1890), and works from Sidney Nolan, Arthur Boyd, Albert Tucker, Arthur Streeton, John Perceval, Margaret Preston, Bill Henson, Howard Arkley and Fred Williams.

The Bathers (E. Phillips Fox)

The Ian Potter Centre, designed by Lab Architecture Studio in association with Bates Smart of Melbourne, headed by Peter Davidson and Donald Bates, has earned the designers the RAIA National Award for Interior Architecture as well as the Marion Mahony Interior Architecture Award.

Black Sun (Inge King)

There was plenty to see in the normal free exhibitions so, unless you have a particular interest in the special ones, you’ll still see lots and enjoy the visit.

Faun and Nymph (Rayner Hoff, bronze)

As we arrived just a little over an hour before closing time during our visit, we just saw the free exhibits which were Lucy McRae Body Architect, Petrina Hicks: Bleached Gothic, Olympia: Photographs by Polixeni Papapetrou, Marking Time: Indigenous Art from the NGV, Roger Kemp: Visionary Modernist, The Joseph Brown Collection, Civilization: The Way We Live Now, 20th Century Australian Art and Late 20th and 21st Century Australian Art.

Check out “Lucy McRae Body Architect Exhibit,” “Petrina Hicks: Bleached Gothic Exhibit,” “Olympia: Photographs by Polixeni Papapetrou Exhibit,” “Marking Time: Indigenous Art from the NGV Exhibit,” “Roger Kemp: Visionary Modernist Exhibit,” The Joseph Brown Collection Exhibit,” “Civilization: The Way We Live Now Exhibit,” “20th Century Australian Art Exhibit” and “Late 20th and 21st Century Australian Art Exhibit.”

Marking Time: Indigenous Art From the NGV (Level 3, August 17, 20 19 – June 14, 2020) explores drawings and markings of figures, signs or text made on public surfaces across Indigenous Australia, from rock face to now.

Marking Time

Reko Rennie and Brook Andrew translated incisions, on carved trees or shields, into bold neon icons, whereas Josh Muir and Hannah Brontë used video art to communicate voices of dissent, create dialogue between groups and to effect change.

Marking Time

The Joseph Brown Collection (Level 2) displays the outstanding private collection of Australian art of artist, soldier, scholar, connoisseur, successful businessman and art dealer Dr Joseph Brown AO OBE, donated in May 2004, the most generous single gift of works of art ever made to a public gallery in Australia.

The Joseph Brown Collection

The Joseph Brown Collection

Civilization: The Way We Live Now (Ground Level, September 13, 2019 – February 2, 2020), an international photography exhibition of monumental scale, exhibits over 200 original photographs of over 100 contemporary photographers from Africa, the Americas, Asia, Australia and Europe.

Civilization – The Way We Live Now

In this increasingly globalized world, the exhibition explores photographers’ representations of life in cities as its key theme and presents a journey through the shared aspects of life in the urban environment.

Bryan, Cheska and Kyle at the Civilization: The Way We Live Now exhibit

The modern and bright Crossbar Café, on Level 3, has lovely views of the Yarra River.

White Sacred Baboon (Brett Whiteley)

Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia: Federation Square, Flinders St. and Russell St., Melbourne, Victoria 3000, Australia. Open daily, 10 AM- 5 PM. Closed Christmas Day and Good Friday. Admission to the permanent collection is free. Fees may apply to special exhibitions, as advertized. Tel: 8620 2222. E-mail: enquiries@ngv.vic.gov.au. Website: www.ngv.vic.gov.au.

State Library Victoria (Melbourne, Australia)

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State Library Victoria

On our fifth day in Melbourne, the first item in our city tour itinerary was the nearby State Library Victoria, the state‘s premier reference and research library, a gateway to the world’s information and a Melbourne landmark and cultural icon.

The library, located in the northern center of the central business district, comprises 23 individual buildings ((including the magnificent, 19th century building) and occupies an entire city block bounded by Swanston, La Trobe, Russell, and Little Lonsdale streets.

The Classic colonnade completed in 1870. In front is the statue of Sir Redmond Barry

During our visit, the grassy lawn, in front of the library’s grand entrance along Swanston Street, was filled the city’s workers and students from the adjacent RMIT University.  Originally, the lawn was enclosed by a picket fence and, in the 1870s, by a wrought iron fence and gates.  In 1939, with the removal of the fence and the creation of diagonal paths, the space was opened up and is now a popular lunch-spot.

Here are some interesting trivia regarding this library:

  • It is Australia’s oldest public library
  • The Melbourne Public Library, as it was then known, was one of the first free libraries in the world,, open to anyone over 14 years of age, so long as they had clean hands.
  • It also houses some of the original armor of Ned Kelly.
  • As a result of the 1990 to 2004 redevelopment, the State Library Victoria can now be considered one of the largest exhibiting libraries in the world.
  • On completion, the dome of the Domed Reading Room was the largest in the world.
  • The library forecourt, a popular location for protest meetings and a rallying point for marches, is also the site of a speakers’ forum where orators, on Sundays, between 2:30 PM and 5:30 PM, take turns in speaking on various subjects.
  • The exterior of the library is prominently featured at the conclusion of the post-World War III movie On the Beach.

The Library’s vast collection includes more than five million items, reflecting the culture of Victoria over the past 150 years. There are over two million books and more than a million photographs; journals and magazines; manuscripts; maps; hundreds of thousands of newspapers, with a special focus on material from Victoria, including the diaries of the city’s founders, John Batman and John Pascoe Fawkner, and the folios of Captain James Cook.

They also house audio, video and digital material.  The complex of buildings that now houses the Library were built in numerous stages, housing various library spaces, art galleries and museum displays.

Many of the library’s electronic databases, including the full Encyclopædia Britannica; Oxford Reference dictionaries and encyclopedias; multi-subject magazine and journal article databases; newspaper archives of most major Australian and international papers from 2000 onwards; and specialist subject databases, are available from home to any Victorian registered as a State Library User.

Sir Redmond Barry (John Botterill, 1875)

The library’s collection includes 70,000 photographs in 2,000 rolls of film containing photographs of Melbourne and country Victoria from the early 1970s that are in the process of being digitized and made available to the public.

Charles La Trobe (Sir Francis Grant)

Here is the historical timeline of the library:

  • In 1853, at the instigation of Lieutenant-Governor Charles La Trobe and  Justice Redmond Barry, Q.C. (Sir Redmond from 1860), the decision to build a combined library, museum and gallery was made. A competition was held, won by the recently arrived architect Joseph Reed, whose firm and its successors went on to design most of the later extensions, as well as numerous 19th-century landmarks such as the Melbourne Town Hall, and the Royal Exhibition Building.
  • On July 3, 1854, the recently inaugurated Governor Sir Charles Hotham laid the foundation stone of both the new library complex and the University of Melbourne.
  • On February 11, 1856, the library’s first stage (the central part of the Swanston Street wing) was opened with a collection of 3,800 books chosen by Mr. Justice Barry, the President of Trustees.
  • On May 1856, Augustus H. Tulk, the first librarian, was appointed.
  • In 1860, Joseph Reed designed a grand complex for the whole block including a domed section facing Russell Street to house the Museum and Gallery.
  • In 1859, the south part of the front wing, including the elaborate first floor Queen’s Reading Room (now Queen’s Hall), was opened.
  • In 1864, the northern part, added by Abraham Linacre, was completed.
  • In 1866, a number of halls, just behind the front wing and meant to be temporary, were built for the Intercolonial Exhibition of Australasia. They remained in use until 1909.
  • In 1870, the classical portico was completed.
  • In 1886, Barry Hall, along Little Lonsdale Street, was completed.
  • In 1887, a memorial statue of Mr Justice Sir Redmond Barry, C., by James Gilbert and built by Percival Ball, was installed on the central landing of the main stairs.
  • In 1889, the National Museum of Victoria moved to library site.
  • In 1889, the statue of Saint George and the Dragon (flanking the entrance plaza), by the English sculptor Sir Joseph Edgar Boehm, was installed.
  • In 1892,the McCoy Hall, now the Redmond Barry Reading Room, was completed
  • In 1907, the statue of Jeanne d’Arc (Joan of Arc), a replica of the statue by French sculptor Emmanuel Frémiet, was installed.
  • In 1909, work began on the library’s famed Domed Reading Room
  • In 1909, the Baldwin Spencer Hall, facing Russell Street, was completed.
  • In 1913, the Domed Reading Room was opened
  • In 1932, the McAllan Gallery, along the LaTrobe Street side, was completed.
  • In 1937, due to deterioration, a pair of bronze lions flanking the entry from the 1860s, were removed.
  • In 1959, due to water leakage, the dome’s skylights were covered in copper sheets, creating the dim atmosphere that characterized the Library for decades.
  • In 1968, the National Gallery of Victoria moved to its new purpose built home in St Kilda Road
  • In 1971, the Lending Library closed.
  • From 1990 to 2004, the library underwent an approximately A$200 million major refurbishment designed by architects Ancher Mortlock & Woolley. It included the creation of a number of exhibition spaces, some of which are used to house permanent exhibitions – “The Mirror of the World: Books and Ideas,” “The Changing Face of Victoria” and the “Pictures Collection” (Cowen Gallery).
  • In 1992, the library finally filled the entire block
  • In 1998, the World War I commemorative statues “Wipers” and “The Driver,” at the center points of the 1939 diagonal paths, were relocated to the ground of the Shrine of Remembrance.
  • From 1999-2002, during renovations of its buildings, National Galley of Victoria returned to its original library home briefly, occupying the Russell Street halls.
  • In 1999, the reading room closed to allow for renovation, when the skylights were reinstated.
  • In 2003, the renamed La Trobe Reading Room was reopened.
  • In February 2010, the southern wing of the library, along Little Lonsdale Street, was reopened as the Wheeler Centre, part of Melbourne’s city of literature
  • In 2006, a statue of Charles La Trobe, by Australian sculptor Peter Corlett, was installed in the north east corner of the lawn.
  • In 2015, better meet the changing needs of the community, the Library embarked on a five-year, $88.1 million redevelopment project (Vision 2020), designed by Danish architectural firm Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects and Australian architecture and design studio Architectus, to transform its public spaces, programs and facilities.
  • On April 29, 2015, Martin Foley (Minister for Creative Industries) announced that the 2015–16 State Budget would provide $55.4 million towards the redevelopment of State Library Victoria, including the restoration of the Queen’s Hall, the creation of a rooftop garden terrace, a dedicated children’s and youth space, and the opening up 40% more of the building to the public.
  • In late 2017, the library’s contribution of $27 million from donations was eventually raised.
  • In September 2018, the main Swanston Street entrance was temporarily closed and replaced by the newly refurbished Russell Street and La Trobe Street entrances.

Check out “Shrine of Remembrance” and “Royal Exhibition Building“

Grace exploring Victoria Gallery

Upon entry, the first area we visited was the newly refurbished Victoria Gallery.  The interactive Velvet, Iron, Ashes exhibition, opened on October 24, 2019, was ongoing (until July 12, 2020).

Centenary of Victoria Costume

Its showcases more than 200 items from the Library’s own collection plus additions from other major institutions and private collections. The exhibition was open to all ages and free to attend.

Ned Kelly’s Armor

Here, we learned some illustrious stories about Ned Kelly, the Ashes Urn (exclusively loaned from Marylebone Cricket Club in London and displayed from November 2019 until February 2020), Yallourn Power Station and even Nappie Wash, how fairy floss is linked to fancy dress, how the Freddo the Frog is tied to one of the greatest air races in history, and what the Ashes Urn and Ned Kelly’s armor have in common.

Map-O-Matic device in the foreground

A retro-style Map-o-Matic device, which allows visitors to print out a map, opened up a world of storytelling to a new generation of Victorians.

North Rotunda

At the North Rotunda are exhibits (September 2, 2019-September 2, 2020) of a selection of the Library’s 21st-century paintings, by living Australian artists, of Melbourne cityscapes.

Across the city, Rick Amor’s work, shows distant views of the city from remote hills, the Yarra River and docklands, and across rooftops. Abstracted views of urban sites and landmarks, which provoke reflection on our interaction with the built environment, are presented by Tony Lloyd’s Skystone, William Mackinnon’s Exit and Louise Forthun’s Toffee and Ice.

Exit (William Mackinnon)

Toffee and Ice (Louise Forthun)

There are also depictions of Melbourne’s hallowed sporting grounds – Josie Kunoth Petyarre’s view of the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground, the home of Australian Rules Football, Shane Jones’s Flemington Racecourse (showing the birthplace of the internationally renowned Melbourne Cup horse race), etc..

Cowen Gallery

The Cowen Gallery, refreshed In 2018, features a permanent display of more than 40 works of art from the State Library’s 2003–18 Cowen Gallery exhibition, which included colonial and modern portraits, paintings of Victorian landscapes, iconic Melbourne landmarks and artists’ impressions of events from Victoria’s history.

Black Thursday (William Strutt)

The rehung exhibition includes a greater representation of 20th-century artists such as Eric Thake, Arthur Boyd, Fred Williams and Juan Davila. The northern end of the room is framed by William Strutt’s Black Thursday  February 6th, 1851 (1864) and Juan Davila’s Churchill National Park  (2009) while the southern end of the room features Reinhold Hofmann’s Melbourne 1836  (c. 1886) and Jan Senbergs’  Melbourne 1998-99 which explores the city and urbanization. 

Churchill National Park (Juan Davila)

The adjacent Blue and Red Rotundas house portraits and busts of Victorians. 

Redmond Barry Reading Room

The Redmond Barry Reading Room, at the eastern end of the Library, is easily the busiest room during pre-exam period in Victoria. It houses a contemporary collection of books, magazines, and periodicals. The center of the room has internet-enabled computers and shared desks while the mezzanine has folio-size books and more independent study desks. The ceiling has glass panels.

The Heritage Collections Reading Room (HCRR), though it does not hold any collections (save for map bags consisting of copies of maps of Metropolitan Melbourne, between the 1800s to 1900s), is a place to view heritage collection materials. Entry here is by appointment (however, no appointment is required to see the maps). It has 14 historical pendant lamps hanging off the ceiling plus a detailed ceramic embossed wall and ceiling.

The Heritage Collections Reading Room

The Arts Collection Reading Room, built in a courtyard (hence the angular shape of the room), maintains an extensive, world-class collection of books, periodicals, recordings and other materials pertaining to art, music and the performing arts.  The main room, housing computer workstations (which provide access to the Library’s catalog, databases and the web), reading tables, laser printer, photocopier and a microfiche reader, also has an audio visual room and listening posts.

The Herald and Weekly Times Newspaper Reading Room

The Genealogy Reading Room, located in one of the courtyards, has an extensive collection of microfilms and microfiche, printed references, databases, and biographies. There are many facilities available such as computers and a laser printer.

The Herald and Weekly Times Newspaper Reading Room

The Newspaper Reading Room, located in one of the courtyards, keeps three months’ worth of physical copies of Victorian newspapers; holds microfilm of Victorian, interstate, and some international newspapers; and has modern microfilm and scanner readers (enabling patrons to save images of newspapers to USB memory stick) and facilities to help with research.

La Trobe Reading Room

Our visit to the library was highlighted by the landmark La Trobe Reading Room (formerly the Domed Reading Room). Designed by Norman G. Peebles of Bates Smart, it houses the Library’s Australiana collection, previously in the 1965 La Trobe Building annex.

The dome and its oculus

Its octagonal space, designed to hold over a million books and up to 600 readers, is 34.75 m. in both diameter and height, and its oculus is nearly 5 m. wide. The balconies overlooking the beautiful La Trobe Reading Room have now been transformed into exhibition areas.

Jandy and Grace at The Changing Face of Victoria exhibit

At the Changing Face of Victoria, in the Dome Galleries, Level 5, we explored the state’s history, discovering the people, places and events that have shaped Victoria.

Here, we encountered explorers, gain insights into life on the goldfields, and explore life in Victoria in the 20th and 21st centuries from Bells Beach to Black Saturday. Twice yearly, new items and stories are added to this exhibition, revealing different aspects of the Library’s historic collection.

Death Mask of Ned Kelly

Just one level below is the World of the Book, Australia’s largest exhibition dedicated to books that celebrates the unique place books have in our hearts and minds.  This one-of-a-kind exhibition showcased the history of book design, production and illustration, from the Middle Ages to today.

World of the Book

Here, we saw rare medieval manuscripts and sacred texts, magnificent natural history and botanical illustration, stunning modern artist books and fine press editions, as well as pioneering Australian classics, children’s books, graphic novels and comics.

Australian Gothic – Picnic at Hanging Rock

The Books and Ideas section exhibits medieval manuscripts and early printed books; sacred texts from around the world and from different religious traditions;, key works of astronomy, and a special display exploring the historical “restricted books” section of the State Library Victoria.

Religions of the Book

The Books and imagination section displays famous works from the literary canon, including the Second Folio of William Shakespeare’s plays (1632); modernist masterpieces by Virginia Woolf, countercultural classics from the New Journalism group of American writers; the writings of Australian author Gerald Murnane, and 1960s Western pulp fiction.

Pulp Fiction

The Exploring the World section features atlases, maps and travel journals from European voyages of discovery, from the 16th century onwards, with a special focus on mythical animals and costumes of the world; and richly illustrated works of natural history, including a special display called “The Mystery of the Missing Beetles,” a detective story uniting the collections of this library and Museums Victoria.

Recording Nature

The Art and Nature section displays botanical art and landscape design from the 16th century to today, with a special focus on the work of female Australian botanical artists.

The John Emmerson Collection

The Artist and Books section includes fine bindings from the John Emmerson Collection, Japanese woodblock printed books about textiles, glamorous Art Deco graphic design, contemporary Australian photo books, and archival material from the Wayzgoose Press Archive, an Australian fine press.

The Art of the Book in Japan

The South Rotunda (formerly Blue Rotunda), built in 1928, is an intimate gallery space that was formerly part of the McArthur Gallery (now the Newspapers and Family History Reading Rooms), linking to the Cowen Gallery.  It hosts small exhibitions and provides access to both the Heritage Collections Reading Room and the Newspapers and Family History Reading Rooms.

South Rotunda

The current exhibition during our visit was Peter Wille: Out Driving, a photographic survey of Melbourne’s modernist architecture from the 1950s and ’60s.  Wille amassed a collection of more than 6,000 color photographs of Melbourne’s architectural wonders throughout the 1950s and 1960s.

The exhibition includes works by groundbreaking architects Robin Boyd, Peter McIntyre, Kevin Borland, and John and Phillis Murphy. The exhibit runs from December 1, 2018 –  April 30, 2020.

State Library Victoria: 328 Swanton St., Melbourne, Victoria 3000, Australia. Tel: 8664 7000.  E-mail: inquiries@slv.vic.gov.au. Website: www.slv.vic.gov.au.  Open Mondays to Thursdays, 10 AM – 9 PM, and Fridays to Sundays, 10 AM – 6 PM. Closed Good Friday, Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day.