John Oxley Library Blog

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Deliveries from our Closed Access repositories

Posted on Friday, September 18, 2009 by JOL Admin.

The collection on display in the John Oxley reading room on level 4 is only a small percentage of our total collections. The State Library building at South Bank has repositories containing around 24 km of shelving. You can order items from this Closed Access collection, and view them in the reading rooms. Orders can be placed through our OneSearch catalogue or ask our staff to help you find what you want.

Views of the South Bank repository

From Monday to Friday, requests submitted before half past the hour are delivered on the next hour when the library is open. Did you know that we keep your requests for you for 3 days? This means you can plan your visit to the library, and order in advance.

Changes in delivery times on weekends

On weekends there will be fewer delivery times, starting from 3rd October.
The new delivery times:
11am (order by 10.30am)
12 noon (order by 11:30am)
2pm (order by 1:30pm)
3pm (order by 2:30pm)

To avoid having to wait for a delivery, simply order ahead! Orders for the weekend can be placed as early as Thursday. This will ensure that the items you want are available for you over the weekend.

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Searching for the Longreach Leader 1923-1924

Posted on Wednesday, September 9, 2009 by JOL Admin.

John Oxley Library is searching for The Longreach Leader 1923 and 1924.

The State Library of Queensland is taking part in the Australian Newspapers Digitisation Program which is being coordinated by the National Library of Australia. As part of this program the Courier Mail 1846-1899 and 28 Aug 1933-30 Apr 1934 is now freely available online. The Courier Mail will soon be online up to 1954. The Queenslander newspaper (3 Feb 1866 to 22 Feb 1939) has also been digitised and will soon be available online.

Longreach Regional Council is working with State Library and National Library to commence the digitisation of The Longreach Leader newspaper. The first step involves the microfilming of the first 10 years of this newspaper, but we are missing the years 1923 and 1924.

Can you help us to find issues of The Longreach Leader for the period 1923 and 1924?

If you can help us, please email us at heritage@slq.qld.gov.au or phone (07) 3840 7880.

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Queensland authors talk this Friday, 11 September

Posted on Tuesday, September 8, 2009 by JOL Admin.

Queensland Authors & Legal Deposit Librarian, Dr Leanne Day, will present a talk on the two Queensland novels: The Curse and Its Cure (1893) by Thomas Pennington Lucas, and Last Drinks (2000) by Andrew McGahan. Both novels were set in Brisbane during significant historical periods and both authors drew on contemporary events to shape their stories.

The Curse and its cure

In his speech commemorating the 20^th anniversary of his corruption report, Tony Fitzgerald questioned whether anything has really changed. Leanne will stretch this question to examine not just the last 20 years, but the last century of Queensland’s history by comparing the authors’ perspectives and reactions to the events of their respective periods.

Last drinks

The talks will be accompanied by a display of resources from the John Oxley Library’s collection, which will provide historical context to her talk.

When: Friday 11 September, 11.00am and repeated 2.00pm.

Where: Fox Family White Gloves Room, level 4, South Bank building

See the ‘Talks’ page on the State Library website for further information.

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Five new digital stories available

Posted on Monday, September 7, 2009 by JOL Admin.

Discover five stories made by Q150 digital story workshop participants.

As part of the Storylines – Q150 digital stories project, five members of the community conducted a two-day digital story workshop and created their own stories. Tying in with 50^th anniversary of the closure of the Peel
Island lazaret (see post from 14 August), a member of the Friends of Peel Island developed a story on the history of the island.

You can listen to Dr. Mohamad Abdalla as he recounts the formation of the Griffith Islamic Research Unit (GIRU), Queensland’s first centre for Islamic studies and also follow the experiences of those people who moved from war-torn Asia-Minor to Australia: Tony Miller, Leonidas Naoumis, Mark and Ourania Girdis.

Leonidas Naoumis

You can view the stories here:

A slice of Peel Island’s history

GIRU – Griffith Islamic Research Unit

Retire to inspire - Tony Miller

The family of Leonidas Naoumis

The story of Mark and Ourania Girdis

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Medical Librarianship Conference Delegates tour the State Library

Posted on Friday, September 4, 2009 by JOL Admin.

The 10th International Congress on Medical Librarianship was held in Brisbane at the University of Queensland from 31 August - 4 September.

Conference delegates at the State Library

On Tuesday 1st September conference delegates from around the world toured the State Library of Queensland and viewed a display of medical related collection items from the John Oxley Library.

This collection comprises interesting material on the subject, including photographs under various catagories such as “Health in Queensland” or “Brisbane - Hospitals”, or “Dentistry” as well as an array of books, journals, posters and boxes of Health Department ephemera.

Sister Kenny demonstrates her methods. Image no. 54002

Of particular interest to the delegates were archival collections such as the personal papers of the first woman to study medicine in Queensland, Dr Eleanor Bourne and original documents and reports relating to the work of Sister Elizabeth Kenny and her controversial methods for curing polio.

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The White Gloves Tour continues in the Granite Belt region

Posted on Sunday, August 23, 2009 by JOL Admin.

The John Oxley Library 75th anniversary white gloves tour continues with our latest trip to the Granite Belt region. Timed to coincide with the “At Our Table” event at the Queensland College of Wine Tourism at Stanthorpe, a range of treasures from the library’s collections were on display for the day.

Amongst the items of local interest on display were an early album of images of Warwick, a register of plantings in the gardens of Talgai Station and early registers of the Allora School of Arts and the Warwick Hotel.

In line with the “At Our Table” theme, recipes were a focus in the selection of items. The earliest known handwritten notebook of recipes and remedies was on display and will be included in all future white gloves tours. Kept by Phillis Clark at East Talgai Station in the 1860s, it is one of our most important treasures. Also able to be viewed was an early register kept at the Warwick Hotel, containing various recipes used by the hotel.

The tour continues on 24th and 25th August with presentations at the Stanthorpe, Allora and Warwick libraries.

Recipe and Remedy Book by Phillis Clark

Items on display at Stanthorpe

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Send us your photos of big things, floods and pubs

Posted on Wednesday, August 19, 2009 by JOL Admin.

You’re invited to contribute iconic photos about Queensland for Storylines – Q150 digital stories.

Storylines is a Q150 and State Library of Queensland project which captures Queensland’s unique stories and shares them with the world through 2-3 minute videos documenting and celebrating our state’s distinctive identity. We are looking for members of the public to contribute their photos towards the making of three digital stories. The themes of these stories will be:

Big things - From pineapples, to gumboots and barramundis, big things dot the Queensland landscape. This digital story will bring together our love of big things and all they have to offer.

Floods - Floods are markers in our water ways and in our lives. Taken by those most affected, flood pictures can tell a thousand words.

Pubs - There are many pub stories and stories told in pubs. Whether it is long gone or a firm favourite, the Queensland pub has become part of our way of life.

Club Hotel, Croydon, 1984. Image No: 44812

If you own a photograph in digital form (JPEG) that fits into one of these three themes and you would like to contribute to the making of a digital story, please send your image/s to heritage@slq.qld.gov.au by Friday 4 September 2009.

For more information, please visit the Storylines website http://qldstories.slq.qld.gov.au/home/storylines/submission

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Eleven new Digital Stories now available

Posted on Monday, August 10, 2009 by JOL Admin.

We are pleased to announce that 11 new digital stories are now online at Queensland Stories.

These stories were created as part of the State Library’s Regional Apology Project, an Online Public Access in Libraries (OPAL) funded initiative. These stories record Queenslanders’ responses to the Prime Minister’s 2008 Apology to Australia’s Indigenous Peoples.

The participants involved in this project were from Cairns, Cooktown and Hope Vale. The eleven people interviewed were: Angeline Stevens, Des Bowen, Dora Gibson, Estelle Bowen, Frankie Deemal, Herman Bambie, John Wenitong, Dr Mark Wenitong, Peter Scott, Terry O’Shane and Val Schier.

You can access these digital stories online via this link: http://qldstories.slq.qld.gov.au/home/digital_stories/fnq_responses.

You can also view each digital story via State Library’s YouTube account on the following links: Angeline Stevens, Des Bowen, Dora Gibson, Estelle Bowen, Frankie Deemal, Herman Bambie, John Wenitong, Dr Mark Wenitong, Peter Scott, Terry O’Shane and Val Schier.

A total of 25 stories have now been created by the State Library, to capture a snapshot of responses to this historic occasion. You can view all 25 stories here.

A big thank you to everyone involved in this project – the participants, the community members in Cairns, Cooktown, Hope Vale and Mount Isa, and the hardworking State Library staff involved.

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Manifesto of the Queensland Labour Party recognised internationally

Posted on Monday, August 10, 2009 by JOL Admin.

The Manifesto of the Queensland Labour Party, dated 9 September 1892 (the Manifesto), held in the collections of the John Oxley Library, already registered by UNESCO for its national cultural significance has now been recorded as being of international cultural significance.

The Manifesto, one of the formative documents of the present Australian Labor Party, was written at a time of political and social upheaval in Queensland, with the labour movement seeking alternatives to industrial action to progress its aims. It provides a detailed coverage of the party’s grievances, with a focus upon the ruling class of the time, including squatters, employers, the government and others, which it saw as opposing what it aspired to in terms of working benefits. Electoral and land reform as well as social equity are specific themes.

According to labour folklore, early versions or excerpts of the Manifesto were read out or discussed under the so called Tree of Knowledge at Barcaldine following the Great Shearer’s Strike, Barcaldine being at the centre of the industrial strife that took place in the early 1890s. The town was the centre point for contact and communication for the strikers, who were later to form the vanguard of the labour movement. Whether or not this event actually took place, the Manifesto stands as one of the planks upon which the labour movement based its aims of the attainment of political power and parliamentary representation.

Subsequently, Barcaldine has become known as the birthplace of the Labor Party in Queensland with the Tree of Knowledge surviving until recently as a physical reminder of the events of the time. The Manifesto was an important link in the chain of actions and events in Queensland that culminated in the formation of the first Labor government in the world. This was the short-lived Anderson Dawson Labor Government that came to power in 1899.

The Manifesto was written by Charles Seymour, who was heavily involved in the formative years of the labour movement in Queensland. It was signed by the party’s president, Thomas Glassey, who was also the first person to be popularly elected on a labour platform in Queensland.