X-Nico

8 unusual facts about State Library of New South Wales


Alan Moir

His work is held in several collections including the National Library of Australia, the National Museum of Australia, the National Library of New Zealand, the State Library of New South Wales, the State Library of Queensland, the State Library of Victoria, and the Private Collection of Kofi Annan (the former Secretary- General of the UN).

Henri Tebbitt

Speaking of his own work in his manuscript autobiography at the Mitchell library, Sydney, he said: "I have simply endeavoured, perhaps with a vision obscured, to reproduce as faithfully as I could, nature as I see it, and if my efforts are indifferent, no one regrets it more than I do."

Library Council of New South Wales

The Library Council of New South Wales is the governing body of the State Library of New South Wales, as described in The Library Act 1939 (NSW).

When the Library Act 1969 amendment came into effect on 1 July 1969, The Board of Trustees who had overseen the operation of the two parts of the State Library of New South Wales, the Public Library and the Mitchell Library, was replaced by a newly established Library Council.

Melvin Vaniman

The State Library of New South Wales has the world's most extensive collection of his panoramas.

State Library of New South Wales

Andrew Andersons was the design architect for the Macquarie Street Wing.

The stimulus for this was David Scott Mitchell's offer of his extensive collection of Australiana, including the original journals of Abel Tasman and Matthew Flinders, to the people of New South Wales.

Woodcourt College

It closed in 1935 and its records are held by the State Library of New South Wales.


John Radecki

A window for the reading room of the Mitchell Library, signed 'John Radecki, Sydney 1941', depicted the printer William Caxton with the first book printed in English.

Joseph Lycett

A penciled note in a copy of his Views in the State Library of New South Wales, states that, when he was living near Bath, he was again arrested for forgery of some notes on the Stourbridge Bank.

Mary Jane Cain

Mary Jane Cain spoke a local indigenous language, possibly Gamilaraay, and a manuscript compiled by Mary is held at the State Library of New South Wales containing wordlists of place names and the natural environment.

Parliament House, Sydney

The building has a power co-generation unit that serves Sydney Hospital and the State Library of New South Wales as well as Parliament House.

Poldek Pfefferberg

In April 2009 a carbon copy of the original list (including 801 names) was found in Sydney among the documentation Thomas Keneally gave as a donation to the State Library of New South Wales.

Sydney central business district

There is a large concentration of cultural institutions within the CBD including: the Museum of Sydney, the State Library of New South Wales, the Customs House branch of the City of Sydney Library, the Theatre Royal, the City Recital Hall and the Japan Foundation.


see also