Media Release

Double Act for the Library's 150th: Bracks and Barry!

The Premier of Victoria Steve Bracks MP will be joined by the founding President of the State Library of Victoria, Sir Redmond Barry to launch the Library’s 150th Anniversary Program this Thursday. 

Sir Redmond Barry, who was also the judge who sentenced Ned Kelly to death, will link up with Premier Bracks as he launches the 150th Program and an impressive book, Treasures of the State Library of Victoria. The book showcases many items of the Library’s collections.

The State Library of Victoria was Australia’s first free public library. The year-long program celebrates 150 years since the laying of the Library’s foundation stone on 3 July 1854 by Governor Sir Charles Hotham. Part of Thursday’s launch proceedings will include a display of rare collection items: Ned Kelly’s famous Jerilderie Letter, one of Burke and Wills' dramatic last notes and the Latin and German editions of the extraordinary Nuremberg Chronicle published in 1493.

CEO and State Librarian Anne-Marie Schwirtlich says, ‘The Library has come a long way since 1856 when it was lit only by skylights and had one staff member working “with the assistance of a constable at the front door.’' The Trustees were determined that the Library should be as accessible as possible from the outset, so admission was free to anyone over 14 years of age without the need for any introduction or guarantee as long as you had clean hands!’

The Melbourne Public Library as it was known then, was opened on 11 February 1856 by Major General Edward McArthur, acting Governor of Victoria. It opened with 3846 volumes in the collection. Fifteen decades on, the Library is the state’s premier reference and research library, the hub of a statewide information and communications network and a gateway to the world’s information. The Library now has a total of almost 2 million books, serials and newspaper volumes, not including maps, pictures, manuscripts, sound and video recordings.

The launch of the Library’s Anniversary Program which is proudly sponsored by AAMI, The City of Melbourne, Optus, Network Ten and 774 ABC Melbourne begins at 11am, Thursday 26 February in the Library’s Redmond Barry Reading Room.