Ashburton Library
Ashburton Library was officially opened by the Mayor of Camberwell, Councillor J. W. Rumpf, on Friday 14 March 1980. The opening day programme included hourly tours of the library which ended with refreshments in the community meeting room. Book bags, library stickers, balloons and certificates signed by the Mayor were handed out to borrowers.
The architect was Daryl Jackson of Daryl Jackson Architects Pty Ltd who is now one of Australia's leading architects. The project architect was John Niemann and the builder was McCorkell Construction Co Ltd. of Hawthorn. The final cost of the building project was approximately $790,500 (including furnishings!).
Ashburton Library was built to serve the residents to the south of Camberwell who relied on the Bookmobile service. With the opening of the Ashburton Branch Library the Bookmobile service ended and the Bookmobile bookstock of approximately 14,000 items was incorporated into Ashburton Library's basic collection of books.
At opening Ashburton Library had a collection of approximately 31,000 items. It was staffed by Lydia Klimonvitch as Branch Manager, three librarians and six library assistants. Ruth Cameron was the Regional librarian.
