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Newsflash:

Opening hours will change over the holiday period. We're open every day except Christmas Day, Tuesday 25 December. Normal hours and services will resume on Wednesday 2 January. Find our holiday opening hours here ›

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What’s got us talking

School holiday fun

Keep the kids entertained these holidays with a range of great Library activities for all ages.

School holiday kids activities

80Hz: Part 2 - Sound and Tech

Julian Wessels from Sonar Sound talks about the process of turning paintings into audio for the architectural sound experience 80Hz Sound Lab.

The Molly Trolley

Do you know what a 'Molly Trolley' is? It originated here, at the State Library of New South Wales.

A Molly Trolley in the Mitchell Library Reading Room.

80Hz: Part 1 - Research

The research behind the architectural sound experience 80Hz Sound Lab.

80Hz Sketch Grid

Collection buzz

Places of Industry - works by Jeff Rigby

The Library has recently acquired a series of 25 works by Blue Mountains-based artist Jeff Rigby.

Delprats Mine

One hundred years of Snugglepot and Cuddlepie

It’s one hundred years since May Gibbs’ much loved gumnut brothers, Snugglepot and Cuddlepie found their way into the hearts and homes of Australians.

Cover for Snugglepot and Cuddlepie : their Adventures Wonderful

Rose de Freycinet poem

A recent addition to the collection, a poem dedicated to Rose de Freycinet, shows us how this remarkable woman was perceived by those she met on her voyage around the world.

Text of a poem in French

Who was Kath?

The Library recently acquired an album of photographs, with no details of the owner or the subjects of the photographs – except for one named person. But who was Kath?

Austinmer 1930

F. S. Burnell's album

Australian journalist and radio presenter, Frederick Spencer Burnell's (1880-1958) was as a special correspondent with the Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force during World War One. His recently digitised album contains 99 black & white photographs that documenting this experience.

Burnell WW1 PXA 2165 SLNSW 009

Mallarmé publications that broke the mould

It seemed to me that I was looking at the form and pattern of a thought, placed for the first time in finite space. 

Front Matter: un coup de dés jamais n'abolira de hasard, par Stéphane Mallarmé, Ed́itions de la Nouvelle revue française, 1914, State Library of New South Wales RHQ/1003

Across the curator’s desk: Elizabeth Gould letters, 1828-1839

Elizabeth Gould was the wife of ornithologist and artist, John Gould, and a talented natural history artist.

Crosshatched letters written in brown ink

Growing community gardens

The Library recently acquired a collection of 60 digital photographs documenting the growing trend of community-run gardens across Sydney.

Camperdown community garden

A plan for the Espresso Rialto Coffee Lounge

The Library has acquired the architectural plan for one of Sydney's first Italian style coffee bars. 

Espresso Rialto Coffee Lounge

Capturing counter-culture

These recently digitised photographs by Roger Marchant from the 1970s and 80s are a time capsule of the early alternative lifestyle movement in Australia.

Rainbow Archives - Roger Marchant

Featured events

Scholar Talk: William Macarthur and the empire of science

Scholar Talks
Tuesday 5 February 2019 - 11am to 12pm
Talk

William Macarthur played an important role in the emergence of science for industry. Born in NSW in 1800, Macarthur’s many interests, whether classing wool, making wine or classifying eucalypts, led him to connect with a community of international thinkers transcending the politics of nation states: the so-called empire of science.

photo album of various black and white images