The two messages below, arising from Michael Talbot's enquiry previously
posted, may not have reached all lis-libhistorians but both are of some
interest.

Peter Hoare
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Peter Hoare, 21 Oundle Drive, Wollaton Park, Nottingham NG8 1BN
Tel/fax 0115 978 5297           E-mail [log in to unmask]
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Subject:  Re: [Fwd: Probability and nineteenth century short titles.]
Date:     Thu, 28 Feb 2002 12:29:29 +1030
From:     "Talbot, Michael (SLSA)" <[log in to unmask]>
Reply-To: "SHARP-L Society for the History of Authorship, Reading &
Publishing" <[log in to unmask]>
To:       [log in to unmask]

Peter Hoare writes:

> I'm also intrigued at the idea of a library being set up *in London*
> for the young South Australian colony = were there any similar
> examples?

The only other example I have is a Western Australian one.

In 1839 the Western Australian Company proposed a colonisation scheme
for a settlement to be named Australind [a combination reflecting the
expectation of Australian trade with India by the company]. The
settlement was surveyed and laid out, but withdrawal of investments by
English shareholders saw the project largely collapsed by 1843. An
advertisement in the Colonial Gazette (London) 23 September 1840 refers
to a meeting of persons intending to settle passing - among other
resolutions - 'that it is expedient to form a library to be hereafter
circulated on loan to the settlers.'

Any other examples would be most welcome.

South Australia is interesting for the widespread persistence of the
idea. The earliest 'Plan of a company to be established for the purpose
of founding a colony in Southern Australia' (1831) argued the need for
providing teachers and spreading knowledge useful to the settlers' new
state. 'To assist in promoting this object it is proposed, that the
Company should furnish the colony with a Circulating Library selected
with these views.'

While the need for a library was not included in the legislation
establishing the colony, there was some activity by both the South
Australian Commisioners and the South Australian Company. The South
Australian Literary and Scientific Association's library has been
widely discussed as a 'library for the colony', but I think there is at
least some doubt of an intended more general role given it was the
library of a reasonably exclusive association charging quite a high
membership fee. The association did not formally regroup in South
Australia. The collection is supposed to have been water damaged in a
shipping accident on arrival, stored in the iron trunk it was sent out
in for two years, and then used to form the basis of the Adelaide
Mechanics' Institute library. The collection passed through the hands
of a number of short-lived institutions, resting finally with the
ancestor of the State Library of South Australia, the South Australian
Institute (1856).

Michael Talbot
State Library of South Australia
Email: [log in to unmask]
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Subject: Military Library in Gibralter
Date:    Thu, 28 Feb 2002 19:36:26 -0500
From:    v r hunt <[log in to unmask]>
Reply-To: "SHARP-L Society for the History of Authorship, Reading &
                Publishing" <[log in to unmask]>
To:      [log in to unmask]

Though not a colonial library the library in Gibralter is a gem that
served as the resource for those on their way to further parts of the
British Empire.  We visited Gibralter for family reasons (early 19th
century) about twelve years ago. The library was closed due to the
administrative, military and economic changes being wrought by Prime
Minister Margaret Thatcher. The Museum had already been taken over by a
private/local organization and there were hopes for the beautiful
library building.  When we were there it was "permanently" closed and
unstaffed - future unknown.

The Gibralter newspaper was housed in an adjoining annex and they stored
their newspaper rolls in the basement. Two young reporters ((interested
in history) offered to let us into the building and show us around.  We
had already perused the catalogue in the British Museum and found the
entry for a manuscript we knew to have been written before 1850. The
reporters diligently searched and found it for us to read.  The array of
old books was amazing, and would have been started as a collection
possibly before 1800.

An interested person could well check the catalogue (I do not recall its
date) in London for what was being read by British military officers as
they went back and forth to colonies and outposts. As important would be
to learn if the beautiful building has been turned to a good use. For us
it was like stepping into a past we could never have imagined - a giant
set for a period movie waiting for the actors to walk in.

Vilma R. Hunt
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