State+Library+Items+of+Interest

Items of Interest

Victoria's State Library holds over two million books and hundreds and thousands of other items, including newspapers, paintings, maps and manuscripts. More than 90% of these collections are stored away, which gives us an insight of how vast the Library's range of items really is. Of course, no matter how large the project, you wouldn't be able to cover all of this material on the one wiki page. So instead, I've researched a few items of interest relevant to Melbourne's history. First of all, the most relevant piece to this topic, and also to Melbourne would be the 19th century painting of Victoria's State Library. Depicted in the ink and wash painting by Nicholas Hevalier, 1860, the artwork show us the State Library (then known as Melbourne’s Public Library), and the structure of the building as it was at the time, four years after its completion. Another painting in the Library’s collection is a View of Batman’s Hill from the south-east, 22nd of October 1884. Painted by Robert Russell, a Port Phillip District surveyor, this watercolour painting is one of several pieces that provide a topographical feature survey of Melbourne. An amateur artist, Russell produced a series of watercolour and pencil sketches of Melbourne in its early years, giving us a valuable insight and record of this era.

One of the three original sets of Melbourne and Geelong’s deeds, John Batman’s Deed for Melbourne is symbolic to us all. In this deed Batman records that eight ‘chiefs’ agreed to sell him 500,000 acres of their land in the north-western region of Port Phillip Bay, and 100,000 acres of land in what is now Geelong. In return, the aboriginals would receive an immediate payment comprising clothing, flour, weapons and trinkets, plus annual supplies of these items. However, the colonial government did not accept the validity of Batman’s treaty, and the man didn’t live long enough to see Melbourne grow to even a fraction of the size that it is today.

A particular interest of many, the Melbourne Advertiser was Melbourne’s very first newspaper. Published by John Pascoe Fawkner, the State Library holds issue number ten of this paper, written by Fawkner himself on the 5th of March 1836. Issue ten was printed using the printing press, but all issues before this were handwritten by the newspaper’s publisher (i.e. Fawkner). Accordingly, all issues after ten were just printed. Unfortunately, Melbourne’s first newspaper was not successful, ceasing publication after its seventeenth issue. In all his excitement, Fawkner hadn’t taken the time to obtain a licence.

Another of the Library’s items is a pencil drawing of Victoria’s first Parliament. A semi elective legislative council was formed in 1851, but only in 1856 was it finally fully-elective. This drawing by William Strutt is just one of the many historical paintings of Victorian events that he produced in his lifetime.

By Nicola

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