South Australian Parliament Research Library in Adelaide, South Australia | Government organisation

South Australian Parliament Research Library

Locality: Adelaide, South Australia

Address: Parliament House, North Terrace 5000 Adelaide, SA, Australia

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25.01.2022 Our second and final flat-map cabinet is now under construction. We have some very large portfolios - Ordnance Survey maps, architectural plans etc - which spread out to what feels like a table cloth! We have them in custom-made boxes for safe storage but to minimise the folding (and, therefore, creasing) these boxes can be relatively largely and now need a secure home. A few photos from Lance's workshop of the work in progress.

24.01.2022 A short documentary is being made about the Library’s rare book collection and the importance of books to our holdings more broadly. A few snaps of the filming.look at the cameradon’t look at the camera.smile.stop..truly, stop.! I think filming is about the only time the ladders get climbed. Some of the items featured include Commodore Perry’s maps of the Japanese coastline, our volumes on the Indian Tribes of North America and Bligh's account of the voyages in the South Seas of the Bounty. Aubrey hopes to edit and get an early version back to us next week and then we can settle on a final version for posting. It was enormously good fun - and we thank him for his time - and can't wait to see the results! Australian Library and Information Association

24.01.2022 Given how cold it has been, it did make for a warm and glowing start to the day as the morning sun crept along the rim of our 1854 celestial globe.

24.01.2022 With the final stages of conservation work on our architectural plans, ordnance surveys and other map holdings nearing completion, we need a final flat map cabinet for long-term storage. Spent part of a morning with Lance (and Many Happy Returns of the Day!) setting out some preliminary sketches and measurements. Hope to have the work completed and on-site before year’s end - will post some photos of work-in-progress, too.

23.01.2022 These sunny days in winter do cast a beautiful light across the Library admittedly helped by some equally lovely pieces of furniture. To ratchet things up a step (or two), Aubrey is coming in later this day to film a short documentary on our rare book restoration programme. Once finished, we will load up to our site for everyone to see, too.

22.01.2022 Public tours are back on as of 14th September on non-sitting days - welcome back!

22.01.2022 ‘ The Sunny South’ 53 Magnificent Views of South Australia. No idea when the photos were taken as no publication date. Fun question: why undated? The problem was that if it were published in 1926 would you buy it 1931? Dated (literally) the publication has a shelf life. Solution: slow something being dated by never giving a date in the first instance.fresher for longer! Many thanks to The Hon. John Dawkins MLC for donating this copy to the Library which was originally boug...ht for his grandfather (also undated!). Some photos of old King William St, Port Wakefield, a very old gum tree at Marion, Port Noarlunga, Mt Gambier, Hindley St and Bridgewater. City of Marion Port Noarlunga SA City of Adelaide Discover Mount Gambier Bridgewater Adelaide Hills Community Josh Teague - Member for Heysen Troy Bell, Member for Mount Gambier Katrine Hildyard MP Rachel Sanderson - Member for AdelaideFraser Ellis MP - Member for Narungga See more

21.01.2022 Fairy bread for docky time in the SA Parliament Library..because, to-day is Fairy Bread Day. So if you like your food to be colourful.tuck in! ReachOut.com Australia

20.01.2022 A very special visitor for to-day, the 23rd day of Advent.and en route to delivering an early and sneaky lump of coal to my office, no doubt.Father Christmas (aka Craig from Building Services) and Rudolph came to make a selection. Craig’s mystery title turned out to be a copy of Scott Brodie’s ‘Statesmen, Leaders and Losers: The Twenty Three Prime Ministers of Australia’, published in 1984. Two more to go!!!

20.01.2022 The Library has a number of items related to World War One obviously these include battalion histories and our copy of Dyson’s Lithographs. We also have a bayonet from the battlefields of Pozieres, one of six gifted to each State by the Mayor of Pozieres. The bayonet in turn was presented in South Australia by the Pozieres’ Remembrance Association and made over to the Parliament Library where it is on constant display. The fighting at Pozieres cost the lives of over 5,000 Australian servicemen, 800 of whom were South Australian. The accompanying certificate reads Your young may rest in our fields, but they are always in our Hearts, Thoughts, and Prayers.

20.01.2022 The Library recently featured in SA Life. I look at the photo, I look at the mirror, I look at the photo, I look at the mirror.good luck to the stunt double they brought in for the shoot! A lovely article by Kate, great photos by Aubrey and I appreciate SA Life’s permission to re-publish here. The only regret is that due to the virus the Parliament is closed to tours it would have been great to welcome people on the back of the article.next time! https://salife.com.au//beyond-the-bookshelves-sas-parliam/

20.01.2022 Our five volumes of Charles Darwin’s account of his voyages on the Beagle (published 1839-43) are back from restoration. The transformation is remarkable. The leather covers were brought back to life (the middle two in photo 1 are restored; the paler are the sun- & passing-of-time-drenched versions we worked from), the white cardboard inset is a ‘shoe’ to support the weight of the pages (‘text bloc’) so they don’t pull down from the spine; each volume is now encased in a hard-case sleeve; the final image is just delightful and show what all of this is to protect. Volume Five, shown here, was prepared by George R Waterhouse who for South Australians - was the elder brother of Frederick G Waterhouse a founder of the South Australian Museum (1856) and curator (1860) he is buried at St Georges Cemetery, Magill. South Australian Museum

19.01.2022 We are gradually welcoming people, albeit with more stringent conditions than hitherto, back into the Parliament. This afternoon the Library hosted the Ashbrook Apartments Social Committee as the guests of The Hon. John Dawkins MLC, President of the Legislative Council. We had just received back a set of volumes from the conservator so timing was perfect for show-and-tell. Will post more specifically on these conservation works later this week.

17.01.2022 This morning we welcomed back the ABC for Annabel Crabb’s Women in Parliament programme for some additional filming. Also welcomed Annabel in person in the Muriel Matters Room! In the Library, we are, despite the photo, chatterboxes, really and showed Annabel two interactive dashboards the Library has created. One is on the history of elected female MPs to the SA Parliament, and the other maps those who signed the 1894 petition for female suffrage surprised to see people ...from Western Australia signed it (they must have been visiting..)! Annabel Crabb Frances Bedford - Independent State M.P. for Florey Zoe Bettison MP Vickie Chapman MP Susan Close MP Nat Cook MP Katrine Hildyard MP Paula Luethen MP - Member for KING Andrea Michaels MP Dana Wortley MP - Member for Torrens Connie Bonaros MLC Emily Bourke - Labor MLC Nicola Centofanti MLCTammy Franks Greens MLC Jing Lee, MLC (South Australia) Hon Michelle Lensink MLC Irene Pnevmatikos Clare Scriven Labor MLC Muriel Matters Society See more

16.01.2022 We've been asked to post some photos of the Library souvenirs on offer. To whet your appetites!

16.01.2022 The Conservator gasped something about a break. Unconscionable. The mind boggles. However, before he fled the scene, we had our six-volume set on the Indian Tribes of the United States (published 1853-60) brought back to a beautiful condition. From what we can tell, it is the only copy held in any Australian Library. You can see in the first photo how age has seen glues and stitching come away as the pages (text bloc) came free from the spine. All fixed. Solid cloth-covered boxes and the ‘shoe’ to support the internal weight are now in place you can pull these out in the year 2120 (or 2220, frankly) and they will be as they are now, which is the aim. Finally, a few images of the gorgeous content.

15.01.2022 Our Christmas decorations are up! As always, Anna has done an amazing job and this year’s twist is a book-themed Library advent calendar. Anna combed the collection to produce 25 volumes which have a corresponding date/number in the title. Each day we invite MPs and Parliament House staff (we are still closed to the public) to unveil that day’s tome.

15.01.2022 The penultimate pick.goes to the Parliamentary Librarianas his birthday present.24th Day of Advent, ‘24’ in the book title and then another one with the price tag on - $24there is meaning in there somewherebut not my age! ‘The 2024 Report: A Concise History of the Future’ by Norman Macrae and published in 1984. Two years to go before we can see if he got it right. And one more post to-morrow for Christmas Day!

15.01.2022 A new donation to the Library a ballot box! Thank you to Lili (and Lili’s mum) for putting it in our direction. Can’t find anything to indicate exactly how old, but certainly has the rustic look and feel. We normally vote on a location for Library Christmas lunch with buttons on an email, but I think we can be a bit more classy and theatrical in the future!

14.01.2022 Celebrations! 1,000 people now follow the Parliament Library site! The clock actually ticked over yesterday, but just in case someone inexplicably stopped following us overnight I allowed a bit of wriggle roomnot counting your chickens etc! And, as you can see from this photo of my work-in-progress of an office, there is plenty yet to come.the trolley is filled with 150 years of ‘stuff’ that is lined up for sorting nextthere has to be something fun in that somewhereand thank you to all for your interest so far!

14.01.2022 Aubrey has completed his filming and, once you get passed me (and it is well worth the momentary pain!), there is some gorgeous footage of the Library and our collection. The afternoon light is really sumptuous, and is shown to wonderful effect on some of the bookcases and items from our rare book collection, including Commodore Perry’s account of opening Japan to Western trade, Bligh’s account of the Bounty and Indian Tribes of North America. A few stills below and also the video which runs for four minutes. We are very grateful to Aubrey for his time and skill. Australian Library and Information Association

13.01.2022 It is Twelfth Night so all the decorations and book advent calender displays are being put away....so a bit of a cheat, but a brief montage of each day's book and our guest unveiler to start the year with. Now to work out what we do for 2021.... Also just to add that public tours are now running again: 10.00am and 2.00pm on non-sitting days so hope to see you here. And, of course, a happy new year to all!

13.01.2022 Our two very heavy volumes of the Hundreds of South Australia Index (Surveyor-General’s Office, 1898) are back. Hundreds and Counties constitute the lands administrative divisions of South Australia. We have 535 hundreds which come together to form 49 counties. Some examples: the first listed being Adelaide, the last Younghusband, plus a few others. One to note is the Hundred of Beatty it was originally named Krichauff (after Friedrich Krichauff born in Schleswig [Denmark] ...in 1824 Schleswig and Holstein were lost to Prussia and Austria in 1865, and then both to Prussia in 1866. Krichauff arrived in South Australian in 1848 and was later Member of Parliament for Mt Barker and later again, Onkaparinga, and even later Victoria, before finally entering the Legislative Council in 1890). In January 1918, under the Nomenclature Act, the Danish-cum-German name was removed and replaced with Beatty, after Admiral Beatty. You can see the hand-written amendment in the photo. David Basham - Member for Finniss Fraser Ellis MP - Member for Narungga Rachel Sanderson - Member for Adelaide Tim Whetstone - Member for Chaffey Chris Picton MP City of Victor Harbor Yorke Peninsula Council City of Adelaide Regional Council of Goyder Northern Areas Council Mount Barker District Council See more

13.01.2022 Just finished our first week of being open for public tours and school visits. Fun to guide people through again and was doing my "mock turtle soup - what do you chop up and cook it with?" story and was struck the number of rather startled expressions. I thought I was out of practice. Afterwards someone was kind enough to spell out 'Mark Oliphant College' and suggest a hint may lie in the acronym....I promise the Library has not been reading Hansel and Gretel over the interregnum. Tony Piccolo MPMark Oliphant College

12.01.2022 Good Morning! Firstly, just to confirm that with the current situation Parliament is now closed to public tours. We all hope it is a short interregnum. Once we are advised it is safe and responsible to re-open to the public, we will post to that effect. AND, when tours re-commence, there will be the added thrill of the opportunity for all who visit to purchase Library souvenirs!! Yesterday morning, we had our first very happy customer, seen here sporting a range of Library postcards! Those located in the Parliament are still able to shop and Library services continue to operate as normal. We hope all keep well and take care. See you soon, Parliament Library.

11.01.2022 An all too brief a visit to the Library by a former Australian senator, Natasha Stott Despoja. Natasha has just been voted on to the United Nations’ Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women and is the first Australian to be so in 28 years. Open welcome for a longer visit next time!

11.01.2022 Sign of the times.we bought a sample of COVID-related badges who knows how they will be looked at in the future, but are another way of recording these times. We have a collection of badges on political themes so these will help develop that branch of the ephemera collection nicely.

11.01.2022 Obviously a lot of interest in when sports, whether they be at the community or the national level, will be on again. The difference a century makesbecause, in that light, as this set of photos from our 8th May 1920 edition of The Observer shows, a 100 years ago the opening round of the SA football season had only just been held. Games were played at Adelaide, Unley and Norwood. Interesting English expression, too, The South Adelaide who defeated the West Adelaide.

10.01.2022 Our final flat-map cabinet was due for delivery last week, but is now going to have sit a tad longer and rest in Lance’s workshop. Hope to get it in later this week, but will wait and see. On the plus side, it means I can avoid a decision for a bit longer as to where exactly it will goam waiting for on-site inspiration. Lance did not seem entirely convinced....!

09.01.2022 Over 3-5 May 2005, the SA Parliament held a regional sitting at Mount Gambier. As a memento, a limited number (60) of pottery bowls were produced by a local potter, one of which has just been donated to the Parliamentary Library. It is a lovely piece and is the first item of pottery to hold a place in the Library’s collection a new line of collecting is something I am always pleased to see! A big thank you to Shane for the very generous donation this one is even better for being in the original packaging and containing a full set of correspondence and notes pertaining to the gift. It will be looked after! City of Mount Gambier Limestone Coast Community News Border Watch Mount Gambier Troy Bell, Member for Mount Gambier

09.01.2022 We are promised rain for to-morrow though we probably won’t see flooding like this... These photographs from our newspaper archives are of Henley Beach Road and Lockleys a century ago. Once referred to as the Reedbeds a term which has fallen out of currency the floodplains of the Torrens now make up the suburbs of Cowandilla, Fullham, Lockleys and Underdale. Source: The Adelaide Observer, 14th August 1920, p. 24. Matt Cowdrey MP - Member for Colton Dana Wortley MP - Member for Torrens City of West Torrens

07.01.2022 This is becoming something of a temporal cross-stitch but briefly back back to 19th Dec before heading back forwards to the 23rd later this afternoon. Peta, a former legal research officer in the Library, did the honours for Saturday, 19th December. As you can see, Peta is always the very model of high fashion and effortlessly chic accessorising. And as to the book.’Nineteen Centuries of Drink in England’ by Richard Valpy French (and published in 1884). Cheers!

07.01.2022 Late last week the Library was donated a set of cloth-backed maps of the Pastoral Lands of South Australia. Two are particularly interesting for having been hand-coloured. Both are undated though the oldest, I think, would likely be 1922. This one has been water coloured by hand and the second (much harder to guess the date) has been attended to with colour pencil. At a guess, given the effort to colour them in, they would have been intended for regular use. Both are Plan 5, ‘Bibliando NSW border Broken Hill line’. The remaining six each depict a different area of South Australian pastoral lands. The condition is generally very good though of course our conservator will give them the once over. Many thanks to Janet for her kind donation and also for the good offices of The Hon. John Dawkins MLC in making the introduction.

07.01.2022 I said in Tuesday’s post how material had come back from our Conservator. So, first ‘show-and-tell’! For ages we have displayed our 1823 proof edition of Blaxland’s 'A journal of a tour of discovery across the Blue Mountains in New South Wales'. However, it is now time for a rest. The book is very small (think postage stamp in search of a vitamin injection) and I was worried it could easily slip down the back of a shelf, fall to the ground and be trod on etc. Some photos of Anthony’s very (as always) elegant and practical solution to the problem. Hope you agree! Blue Mountains Australia Blue Mountains Gazette The Blue Mountains Times Blue Mountains City Council Memories of Blue Mountains and surrounding suburbs

04.01.2022 To-day is World Parliament Day. We have 4 volumes of material from the March 1898 Federal Convention (which agreed to a draft Federal Constitution) signed and given to the Library by Sir Richard Chaffey Baker, one of the SA representatives. Sir Richard was the first SA-born Member of the Colonial Legislature (Barossa). Another first Chaffey was also the first President of the Federal Senate. He died in 1911 and is buried at the North Rd Cemetery. Inter-Parliamentary Union Stephan Knoll The Barossa Council Museum of Australian Democracy at Old Parliament House

03.01.2022 There was a comment on the site about missing various tours of public sites, cultural events and so on. From the reverse end, I do miss people coming here and the life visitors bring to a building, a corridor of cacophonic children and pondering fight or flight mode.! As part compensation, the Library has been helping MPs with their virtual tours and this week assisted Emily Bourke - Labor MLC with three of hers. The disembodied voices from a phone take a bit to get use to though the first photo would suggest they can still manage to be deliciously cheeky and good fun either way!

02.01.2022 An ABC film crew has been in this afternoon filming for Annabel Crabb’s forthcoming programme on a 100 years of women in parliament. No spoilers (of course!). but a few shots of the crew filming in, appropriately enough, the Muriel Matters’ Room and also the Library’s main room where we house our Hansard collection 1894 being the year in focus! Annabel Crabb Frances Bedford - Independent State M.P. for Florey Zoe Bettison MP Vickie Chapman MP Susan Close MP Nat Cook MP Ka...trine Hildyard MP Paula Luethen MP - Member for KING Andrea Michaels MP Carolyn Power MPRachel Sanderson - Member for Adelaide Jayne Stinson MP Member for Badcoe Dana Wortley MP - Member for Torrens Connie Bonaros MLC Emily Bourke - Labor MLC Nicola Centofanti MLC Tammy Franks Greens MLCJing Lee, MLC (South Australia) Hon Michelle Lensink MLCIrene PnevmatikosClare Scriven Labor MLC Muriel Matters Society See more

01.01.2022 The Library has a number of old-fashion roller calendars, which we still use. I discovered one had a loose base. Several seconds of thoughtless curiosity and a handful of busy fingers later it all accidentally opened upwho knew! One of the rolls has torn so a good opportunity for the lot to visit Lance for a tidy-up, a bit of repair work and a varnish.

01.01.2022 The final honours for the 25th day rightly go to Anna, the brains behind the Library book advent calendar. It's been a great success and we have all had some good fun along the way. And while we are dedicated in the Library, we did cheat a little with some pre-emptive photography and Anna is not slaving away in the Library this morning! At least not last I checked.... Last post for 2020 - however it is you celebrate the end of one year and welcome in the new year all at the Parliamentary Library of South Australia trust it will be safe and rewarding. See you in 2021!