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Australian Library and Literary Institution 1868

Australian Library and Literary Institution 1868

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From the collections of the

State Library of New South Wales

(Mitchell Library)

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Free Public Library

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Colonial architecture Libraries Public building

Buildings

Australian Subscription Library and Reading Room

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Australian Subscription Library

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Hawley, E

E. Hawley is possibly related to the Australian Library and Literary Institution's principal Librarian in the 1860s, Dr Richard Hawley.

State Library of New South Wales

Free Public Library

The Free Public Library - which we now know as the State Library of NSW - arose from the ashes of the Australian Library and Literary Institution and its immediate predecessor, the Australian Subscription Library.

Libraries

Colonial architecture

Public building

Australian Subscription Library and Reading Room

full record »

Building on the corner of Bent and Macquarie Streets constructed in 1845 to house the Australian Subscription Library. The subscription library ran into financial difficulties and was taken over by the state government to became the Sydney Free Public Library in 1869. An addition to the building was made in the 1880s as the collection and number of readers grew. In 1895 the name changed again to the Public Library of New South Wales. The Public Library collection and staff moved to the new extension of the Mitchell Library building in June 1942. The building on Bent Street was demolished in 1969.

Australian Subscription Library

full record »

Sydney's first major public library. The organisation formed in 1826 and the Library opened in rented rooms in Pitt Street, 1 December 1827, with 1,000 volumes. In 1845 the Library moved into a purpose built building on the corner of Bent and Macquarie Streets. The organisation was renamed the Australian Library and Literary Institution in 1853. After financial difficulties, in 1869 the collection and building was bought by the colonial government and became the first Free Public Library of Sydney and has since evolved into the State Library of New South Wales.