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Dictionary of Sydney

The Dictionary of Sydney
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Staff of the Free Public Library c1885

The Dictionary of Sydney was archived in 2021.

Staff of the Free Public Library c1885

From the collections of the

State Library of New South Wales

(Mitchell Library)

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Free Public Library

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Libraries Public building

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Australian Subscription Library State Library of New South Wales

Buildings

Australian Subscription Library and Reading Room

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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

Public building

Australian Subscription Library

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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.

Australian Subscription Library and Reading Room

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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.

State Library of New South Wales

The State Library of NSW is the oldest library in Australia. In 1869 the NSW Government purchased the Australian Subscription Library, which had been established in 1826, to form the Sydney Free Public Library, the first truly public library for the people of NSW. The Mitchell Library, the first library in the country to concentrate entirely on Australian content, opened in 1910.

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