MOE LIBRARY

This post is part of the Weekend in Black and White,
and also part of the My Sunday Best meme

DONCASTER PUBLIC LIBRARY

A beautiful library and gallery in Doncaster, an outer suburb of Melbourne. This library is part of the Whitehorse Manningham Libraries group, which services several neighbouring suburbs.

This post is part of the Travel Tuesday meme

STATE LIBRARY VICTORIA

State Library Victoria (SLV) is the state library of Victoria, Australia. Located in Melbourne, it was established in 1854 as the Melbourne Public Library, making it Australia's oldest public library and one of the first free libraries in the world. It is also Australia's busiest public library and, as of 2023, the third busiest library globally.

The library's first stage (the central part of the Swanston Street wing) opened on 11 February 1856, with a collection of 3,800 books chosen by Mr Justice Barry, the President of Trustees. The library has remained on the same site in the central business district since it was established fronting Swanston Street, and over time has expanded to cover a block bounded also by La Trobe, Russell, and Little Lonsdale streets.

The library's collection consists of over five million items, which in addition to books includes manuscripts, paintings, maps, photographs and newspapers, with a special focus on material from Victoria, including the diaries of the European founders of present-day Melbourne John Batman and John Pascoe Fawkner, the folios of colonial explorer James Cook, and items related to Ned Kelly, notably his armour and the original Jerilderie Letter.

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme

SMALL TOWN VICTORIA

In Moe, Gippsland, as Autumn turns to Winter.

This post is part of the Travel Tuesday meme

STONNINGTON HISTORY CENTRE

The Stonnington History Centre is dedicated to preserving and interpreting the history of the City of Stonnington and the former cities of Malvern and Prahran. The Centre is a branch of the Stonnington Library and Information Service. More information about the centre can be found here.

This post is part of the Wordless Wednesday meme,
and also part of the Nature Notes meme.

IVANHOE LIBRARY

The Ivanhoe Library and Cultural Hub is a state of the art public building offering access to 200,000 library items, several exhibition spaces, meeting rooms, artists' studio spaces and access to Banyule Council services. A great place to take part in all sorts of activities and then relax with a coffee or lunch at the attached café.

This post is part of the Travel Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Blue Monday meme.

FORTHCOMING EXHIBITION

My solo art exhibition "Seasons in the Garden" will open in the Northcote Public Library Exhibition Space at 32-38 Separation St, Northcote 3070 Victoria, on June 1st, 2023. Entry is free and the exhibition is open until June 30th. Here is a small sample of what is on show.

This post is part of the Mosaic Monday meme,
and also part of the Blue Monday meme,

and also part of the Ruby Tuesday meme.
and also part of the Seasons meme.

BOROONDARA CIVIC CENTRE

The Boroondara Civic Centre in Camberwell: Next to the original Victorian Town Hall (not in photo) are the new Council buildings and Library. In 1975 planning began for these new council offices with the second and third buildings opening in 1978, designed by mid-century modern architects Mockridge Stahle and Mitchell. The striking precast white reconstructed stone structural frames and round header windows are a reference to the original town hall (and perhaps a passing nod to the Fascist architecture of the Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana in Rome).

The Camberwell Library (with multicoloured glass windows), whose official opening in September 2012 redeveloped an old tired building into a new vibrant and functional building. With the $21 million Camberwell Library and Office Project, Abigroup together with it’s consultants, contractors and suppliers have transformed this aged facility into a sustainable new asset for the citizens and staff of The City of Boroondara.

This post is part of the Travel Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Ruby Tuesday meme.

TO THE LIBRARY!

One of the things I have sorely missed during our lockdown is the inability to go to public libraries. Taking prize position amongst these institutions is the State Library of Victoria (illustrated above). This is one of my favourite haunts in the City and whenever I can I duck in, even if it just for a few minutes. Better of course to be able to spend the whole day there!

There is always something going on in there, special exhibitions, books displays, cultural events, art exhibitions, but also of course the books themselves! The great Dome Reading Room is a magnificent temple of knowledge and sitting in the midst of it, seeing all of the galleries of books around, one feels warm, content and secure. And the joy of having all those billions of printed words just screaming out to be read is beyond compare!

Tomorrow, I'll be in the City for work and guess where I shall go when I finish my work!

This post is part of the Our World Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Ruby Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Travel Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme.

OLD BOOKS

Books deemed to be too old to be useful any more, hence culled from the library collection. Scientific monographs tend to age fairly rapidly, hence the publication of revised and improved, up to date editions...

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme.

LETTER 4

"Culture is the way for a country to know itself." - Peter Carey

Peter Philip Carey AO (born 7 May 1943, in Bacchus Marsh, Victoria) is an Australian novelist. Carey has won the Miles Franklin Award three times and is frequently named as Australia's next contender for the Nobel Prize in Literature. Carey is one of only four writers to have won the Booker Prize twice—the others being J. G. Farrell, J. M. Coetzee and Hilary Mantel. Carey won his first Booker Prize in 1988 for Oscar and Lucinda, and won for the second time in 2001 with True History of the Kelly Gang.

In May 2008 he was nominated for the Best of the Booker Prize. In addition to writing fiction, he collaborated on the screenplay of the film Until the End of the World with Wim Wenders and is executive director of the Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing program at Hunter College, part of the City University of New York.

The State Library of Victoria is the central library of the state of Victoria, located in the Melbourne CBD. It is on the block bounded by Swanston, La Trobe, Russell, and Little Lonsdale streets, in the northern centre of the central business district. The library holds over 2 million books and 16,000 serials, including the diaries of the city's founders, John Batman and John Pascoe Fawkner, and the folios of Captain James Cook. It also houses the original armour of Ned Kelly.

This post is part of the Wordless Wednesday meme,

and also part of the ABC Wednesday meme.

LIBRARY

The State Library of Victoria is the central library of the state of Victoria, Australia, located in Melbourne. It is on the block bounded by Swanston, La Trobe, Russell, and Little Lonsdale streets, in the northern centre of the CBD. The library holds over 2 million books and 16,000 serials, including the diaries of the city's founders, John Batman and John Pascoe Fawkner, and the folios of Captain James Cook, R.N.. It also houses the original armour of Ned Kelly.

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme,
and also part of the My Sunday Photo meme,
and also part of the Photo Sunday meme.

DONCASTER LIBRARY

Doncaster is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 17 km East of Melbourne's Central Business District. Its local government area is the City of Manningham. At the 2011 Census, Doncaster had a population of 18,359. The suburb, locally known as "Donny", just as its namesake in the UK, is situated on 8.9 km2 of land, around the top of the 120 m high Doncaster Hill.

The suburb consists of a central area along the top of Doncaster Hill, which includes several historical buildings along Doncaster Road, the Westfield Doncaster Shopping Centre and surrounding high-rise apartments, while the rest of the suburb is typical of many of Melbourne's eastern suburbs, with extensive low-density housing. Today the suburb is perhaps most notable for its shopping centre, one of the largest in Australia.

The modern MC2 (Manningham City Square) building complex houses the Doncaster City Library, which is well appointed and offers many services including book, DVD, CD lending, a home library service, free WiFi, computers and printing facilities as well as meeting rooms for booking. Material in several community languages is also available, including Chinese, Greek and Arabic. More information is available from the library website.

The sculpture outside the library is by Deborah Halpern and is the 2006 "Water Creature" in ceramic mosaic, fibreglass and steel.

This post is part of the Outdoor Wednesday meme,
and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme,
and also part of the ABC Wednesday meme.

QUESTIONS AT THE LIBRARY

The State Library of Victoria is the central library of the state of Victoria, Australia, located in Melbourne. It is on the block bounded by Swanston, La Trobe, Russell, and Little Lonsdale streets, in the northern centre of the central business district. The library holds over 2 million books and 16,000 serials, including the diaries of the city's founders, John Batman and John Pascoe Fawkner, and the folios of Captain James Cook, R.N.. It also houses the original armour of Ned Kelly.

A good place to find answers to your QUESTIONS!

This post is part of the Wordless Wednesday meme,
and also part of the ABC Wednesday meme.

GEELONG'S DOME

Geelong is a port city located on Corio Bay and the Barwon River, in the state of Victoria, Australia, 75 kilometres south-west of the state capital, Melbourne. It is the second largest Victorian city, with an estimated urban population of 187,417 as at June 2015, having grown 1.8 percent since June 2014.

Geelong runs from the plains of Lara in the north to the rolling hills of Waurn Ponds to the south, with Corio Bay to the east and hills to the west. Geelong is the administrative centre for the City of Greater Geelong municipality, which covers urban, rural and coastal areas surrounding the city, including the Bellarine Peninsula.

Geelong City is also known as the 'Gateway City' due to its central location to surrounding Victorian regional centres like Ballarat in the north west, Torquay, Great Ocean Road and Warrnambool in the southwest, Hamilton, Colac and Winchelsea to the west, and the state capital of Melbourne in the north east.

The new Geelong Library and Heritage Centre ('The Dome'), was erected on the site of the former Geelong Volunteer Fire Brigade Station (which was demolished in 1918) and the former library adjacent to the Geelong War Memorial and Geelong Art Gallery. The centre's new building, which has been designed by the Melbourne architectural firm, ARM Architecture, features a unique geodesic dome constructed of glass and reinforced concrete, has been described as "... an iconic addition to Geelong’s architectural and cultural landscape".

The centre covers over 6,000 square metres, and includes a children’s exploration and discovery zone, a youth area, as well as a heritage centre repository, which will hold 120,000 print and multimedia collection items. The cost of the redevelopment has been put at A$45 million. The fractured dome design uses over 400 prefabricated glass-reinforced concrete tiles, which make up the sphere roof, which was described by ARM Architecture technical director Wayne Sanderson as having been "...modelled on the domes of great historical buildings." 

The design of the building references the domes of the great libraries of the world, Library of Congress and the State Library domed reading room. Clad in 332 panels of glass reinforced concrete, which reinforce the appearance of a geodesic domes and allow the building to harmonise with its surrounding masonry neighbours. These included the classical Geelong Art Gallery and old Geelong Town Hall, the Art Deco courthouse and the brutalist State Government Offices. The new building was opened by Geelong Mayor Darryn Lyons on November 21, 2015.

This post is part of the Our World Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Ruby Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Travel Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme.

GEELONG LIBRARY FAÇADE

The new Geelong Public Library is an amazing building. I'll be shortly publishing many more photos of it, but here is a little teaser, looking up at the wonderful glass façade.

This post is part of the My Sunday Photo meme,
and also part of the Photo Sunday meme,
and also part of the Weekend Reflections meme.

STATE LIBRARY OF VICTORIA

The State Library of Victoria is the central library of the state of Victoria, Australia, located in Melbourne. It is on the block bounded by Swanston, La Trobe, Russell, and Little Lonsdale streets, in the northern centre of the central business district. The library holds over 2 million books and 16,000 serials, including the diaries of the city's founders, John Batman and John Pascoe Fawkner, and the folios of Captain James Cook, R.N. It also houses the original armour of Ned Kelly.

The landmark Domed Reading Room, which opened in 1913 and was designed by Norman G. Peebles. Its octagonal space was designed to hold over a million books and up to 600 readers. It is 34.75 m in both diameter and height, and its oculus is nearly 5 m wide. The dome was the largest of its type in the world on completion.

This post is part of the Our World Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Travel Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme.