The Geelong Library and Heritage Centre is a regional library, archive and resource facility in the city of Geelong, Victoria, Australia. Geelong Free Library was begun in 1858. The Geelong Historical Records Centre was established in 1979 as a depository for significant historical records and archives from the district. The centre is a Place of Deposit, as part of the

Public Record Office Victoria Public Record Office Victoria (PROV) is the government archives of the Australian State of Victoria. PROV was created by the Victorian Public Records Act 1973 with responsibility for the better preservation management and utilization of the public ...

network of community archives designated for the preservation of Victoria's history. It is described as ''...the largest regional archive in Victoria.''

Geelong Regional Library

The Geelong Library began in 1858 as part of the Mechanics Institute. It expanded in 1876, when it relocated to a large neoclassical building in Moorabool Street, formerly owned by the Geelong Chamber of commerce. The library moved to a new building in Johnstone Park, designed by Buchan, Laird & Buchan, which opened in 1962.

Geelong Historical Records Centre

Formerly known as the Geelong Historical Records Section, its name was changed in 2003 to the Geelong Heritage Centre. The Geelong Heritage Centre also holds archival and historical records gathered by the Geelong Historical Society, which has also been involved in numerous commemorative events and dedicating monuments and is often cited as the authoritative source on early Geelong people and history. including the commemoration of the 150th anniversary of Matthew Flinders exploration of the district and climbing of

Station Peak The You Yangs are a series of granite ridges that rise up to above the flat and low-lying Werribee Plain in southern Victoria, Australia, approximately due west of the rural town of Little River, southwest of Melbourne CBD and north of Ge ...

Geelong Historical Society

The Geelong Historical Society was instrumental in the establishment of the Geelong Historical Records Centre as an approved place of deposit for historic local government records, through a partnership with the Geelong local government and

in 1979. The Geelong Historical Society traces its foundation to 1944 when the organisation was established to preserve the history of Geelong and district. However, earlier attemptes were made to establish an historical society such as a proclamation in 1938. It is likely that the War delayed its formal commencement. It was the third historical society of its type to be established in Victoria, representing the state's second city both in size and period of establishment. It is also among the most prolific in terms of size of its collection, quantity of research, and number of publications. Its role in preserving and documenting the history of Geelong was recognized in the Geelong sesquicentennial history. A meeting aimed at establishing a historical society in Geelong was held in November 1923, when C. R. Long and J. A. Laird from the ( Gordon Institute) called a meeting of prominent local citizens. The Geelong Mayor,

Howard Hitchcock Howard Hitchcock (31 March 1866 – 22 August 1932) was mayor of the City of Geelong in Victoria, Australia from 1917 to 1922, and a member of the Victorian Legislative Council for South Western Province from 1925 until 1931. He was also a phi ...

, proposed an exhibition at the Geelong City Hall of "relics and historical records", which was opened on 27 September 1921 by the famous anthropologist Sir Baldwin Spencer and ran until 14 October 1921. The exhibition material later became the nucleus of the Geelong Historical Society collection. In 1938 a public meeting chaired by L. Bechervaise passed a motion to form the Geelong and District Historical Society. and the sopciety was formally established in 1944. However, records held by the society dating to the early 1920s, including council minute books and financial accounts, suggest the collection function of the society may have commenced much earlier than its official formation. A local historian, Norm Houghton, played a major role in organising the collection while its past president, the late Peter F. B. Alsop, was one of a number of members who published prolifically on local historical matters. Other prominent members include Mr William James Morrow, DFC, who was awarded an OAM for service to the Geelong Historical Society and to historical research and prolific historian and writer Peter Mansfield, winner of the Victorian History Library Short History Prize. The society has organised presentations and excursions since the 1950s, and has previously worked in conjunction with the

Geelong Heritage Centre The Geelong Library and Heritage Centre is a regional library, archive and resource facility in the city of Geelong, Victoria, Australia. Geelong Free Library was begun in 1858. The Geelong Historical Records Centre was established in 1979 as a ...

(formerly Geelong Historical Records Section), which holds the archival and historical records gathered by the society. It has also been involved in numerous commemorative events and dedicating monuments, and is often cited as the authoritative source on early Geelong people and history., including the commemoration of the 150th anniversary of Matthew Flinders exploration of the district and climbing of

. It has also played a major role in the preservation of Geelong's historic monuments such as the

Barwon Sewer Aqueduct The Barwon Sewer Aqueduct is a heritage-listed aqueduct across the Barwon River at Goat Island, Breakwater, Victoria, Australia. It was designed by engineer E. G. Stone and was erected between 1913-1915. It would appear to be the only one of ...

. The Geelong Historical Records Centre was created as a result of significant effort by the Geelong Historical Society, and in 1979, was made ''an approved place of deposit for historic local government records'' under the Public Records Act. It is second only to the

for the size of a public archive in Victoria, The society publishes the quarterly magazine ''Investigator'' () in March, June, September and December each year. There is a cumulative index for 1965 - 1984 and an updated digitised index on CD from 1965 up to 2009.

Redevelopment

The Geelong Heritage Centre was temporarily housed in the

National Wool Museum The National Wool Museum, located in Drefach Felindre, Llandysul, Carmarthenshire is part of Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales. Background Historically and into the 19th century, the woollen industry in Wales, including spinning and we ...

, while the new Geelong Library and Heritage Centre was being rebuilt. The new Geelong Library and Heritage Centre, was erected on the site of the former Geelong Volunteer Fire Brigade Station (which was demolished in 1918) and the former library adjacent to the Geelong War Memorial and

Geelong Art Gallery The Geelong Art Gallery, currently known as Geelong Gallery, is a major regional gallery in the city of Geelong in Victoria, Australia. The gallery has over 6,000 works of art in its collection. The Gallery forms Geelong's Cultural Precinct wit ...

. The centre's new building, which has been designed by the Melbourne architectural firm, ARM Architecture, features a unique geodesic dome constructed of glass and reinforced concrete, has been described as "... an iconic addition to Geelong's architectural and cultural landscape". The centre covers over 6,000 square metres, and includes a children's exploration and discovery zone, a youth area, as well as a heritage centre repository, which w will hold 120,000 print and multimedia collection items. The cost of the redevelopment has been put at A$45 million. The fractured dome design uses over 400 prefabricated glass-reinforced concrete tiles, which make up the sphere roof, which was described by ARM Architecture technical director Wayne Sanderson as having been ''... modelled on the domes of great historical buildings''. The design of the building references the domes of the great libraries of the world,

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library ...

and the State Library domed reading room. Clad in 332 panels of glass reinforced concrete, which ''...reinforce the appearance of a geodesic dome and allow the building to harmonise with its surrounding masonry neighbours''. These included the classical Geelong Art Gallery and old

Geelong Town Hall Geelong Town Hall is a civic building located on Gheringhap Street in central Geelong, Victoria. It was originally built for the City of Geelong, which became the City of Greater Geelong in 1993. Construction The land for the Town Hall was f ...

, the Art Deco courthouse and the brutalist State Government Offices. The new building was opened by Geelong Mayor

Darryn Lyons Darryn Lyons (born 19 August 1965) is an Australian media personality, entrepreneur and politician, who rose to prominence in Australia and the United Kingdom as a paparazzo. He held the position of Mayor of Geelong from 2013 to 2016. Early li ...

on 21 November 2015.

Holdings and exhibits

The Library and Heritage Centre contains over 1 million items, including a large lending and reference collection and specialist scientific collections such as the John Raddenberry Fern and Lycopod collection. the local history collection is housed in the Vault ''Kim barne thaliyu'' on level 3, a dedicated space housing specialist resources for the local history of Geelong and surrounds.

Opening and reception

The opening exhibition in the gallery space was 21,000 visitors attended the building in the first week of opening, and 10,000 per week subsequently. The opening was noted in print and electronic media with the focus on the role of the unusual architecture in the revitalisation in Geelong. The building won the 2015 State Award for Excellence by the Concrete Institute of Australia, which recognises significant contributions to technology and design innovation. Additionally, The designing architectural firm, ARM, was praised by the design and architectural community for their work on the Geelong Library and was awarded the Victorian Architecture Medal, the William Wardell Award for Public Architecture and the Marion Mahoney Award in 2016.Atkar Group "ARM wins Victorian Architecture Medal for Geelong Library"
/ref>

References

External links

Geelong Heritage Centre

Photographs by Graeme Butler
*
Alternative website
{{Authority control Buildings and structures in Geelong Tourist attractions in Geelong 1979 establishments in Australia Museums in Victoria (Australia) Geelong Historical Society 1858 establishments in Australia Public libraries in Australia Historical societies of Australia Libraries in Victoria (Australia) Archives in Australia