David Metzenthen and Libraries

“Open books in an open library open minds in a community open to education and imagination – one hundred and fifty years of library service is a priceless gift of enduring benefit

Thank you to all.’’

David Metzenthen is a local author and one of Australia's top writers for young people. His novels have been universally acclaimed and many have won prizes.

Find out more about David Metzenthen here

or here

Inga Clendinnen and Boroondara Libraries

"When I was small I thought that books were strangely-constructed magic boxes secreted in odd, below-eye-level places (an old bird-cage, the potato basket) where people under three feet in height could discover them and remove them to the placid silence of under-the-dining-room-table for close consultation.

Thus my artful mother secured her undisturbed afternoons.

Later I would find whole wallfuls of those magic boxes and exactly the same sense of luxurious isolation in the private pools of light in the Reading Room of the State Library of Victoria.

Nowadays my favourite library is the Kew branch of Boorondara : a scatter of computer-yoked adolescents, but mainly old greyheads and wildly bobbing younger ones joyfully pillaging bright shelves, and decamping with armfuls of magic boxes, every one of them holding a world.

Bravo, Boorondara, and happy 150th birthday! "

Dr. Inga Clendinnen (AO) is is an Australian author and historian, anthropologist and academic.

She is a regular borrower from Boroondara Libraries.

Carole Wilkinson and Kew Library

Anyone who says people don’t read as much as they used to hasn’t been in a public library lately. They are busy, vibrant, multi-functional places.

Kew Library Recollection

"I started going to the Kew Library about 20 years ago. It isn’t my local library, and that was back in the days when you usually had to prove you lived or worked in the area to join a public library. Kew Library, however, had a specialist Genealogy section, and people out of the area were permitted to join. Being a keen family historian, I joined up. The great thing was, that all the books usually reserved as reference books at the State Library or the Genealogical Society Library were borrowable at Kew, which was great for me as I had a small child and couldn’t study the books in the library.

While I was there, my daughter, Lili, climbed on the big bear, I borrowed books for myself, and for her. So it wasn’t unusual for me to emerge with a stack of books.

Once I became a writer, I need books for research and I’ve borrowed books from Kew on many diverse subjects such as Ned Kelly, the Olympic Games and Russian folk tales.

Through inter-library loans, Kew Library has also been my gateway to books in libraries in other suburbs, other states and even other countries. Nowadays, you can join any public library, but Kew is still my borrowing library of choice."

Carole Wilkinson is an award-winning author of books for children. She has a longstanding fascination with dragons and is interested in the history of everything.

Carmel Bird and Balwyn Library

"For a long time I lived within a few minutes' walk from the Balwyn branch of the Boroondara Library, on Whitehorse Road. Many years ago my publisher had asked me to write a book about how to write fiction, and the deadline was looming. I wanted to construct the book with a short story at the end, while the chapters leading up to this would refer to the issues involved in writing that story. I wanted the discussion of writing the story to be authentic in the sense that I wanted to be really writing it at the same time as I was commenting on it. I had absolutely no idea what the story would be about.

I booked a small room high above Weir street in the Balwyn Library for a few days. With just notebook and pen and portable typewriter I sat there looking down into the gum trees, and onto the road, and at the medical centre across the street. Beneath and behind me was the weight and inspiration of rows and rows of shelves of books. I seemed to be floating above the books, and looking lordly down on the world outside.

I observed the arrival of a red car at the medical centre, and suddenly there was my story. The title of the story is simply 'The Man in the Red Car' and the book is 'Not Now Jack - I'm Writing a Novel'.

The Balwyn Library is deeply implicated in the very fabric of the book, and I recall the experience with great affection and a kind of wonder."

Carmel Bird is a primarily a writer of fiction. Her first collection of short stories was published in 1983, since when she has published novels, essays, anthologies, and also books on how to write.

Visit her website at : http://www.carmelbird.com/

Stephanie Alexander on Libraries

‘My interest in a career in libraries commenced when I was about thirteen.

My father, Winston Burchett, worked very hard with the initial committee to establish the first ratepayer-funded public libraries in Victoria.

One of the first was the Peninsula Regional Library. In its early days there was not enough council funds to open the library on a Saturday night. My father decided that he would man the library at this time for no cost and invited me to help.

I loved handling the shiny new books, and stamping the pages when someone came to borrow a book.

Several years later I decided to train as a librarian and worked in a number of different libraries before forsaking library work for hospitality’.

Stephanie Alexander is a cook, restaurateur, food writer and champion of the quality & diversity of Australian food.

Ted Baillieu on Boroondara Libraries

The Leader of the Victorian Liberal Nationals Coalition and Liberal Member for Hawthorn, Ted Baillieu had this to say about libraries:

"A good library is the heart of a good society.

"Libraries, in all their contemporary forms, nurture knowledge, exploration and dreams.

"The better the library, the better the future.

"Public libraries put everyone within reach of their goals.

"I am proud that my own family has long supported Victoria's libraries."



Ted Baillieu is the Leader of the Victorian Liberal Nationals Coalition and Liberal Member for Hawthorn.

Phillip Adams and Boroondara Libraries

Phillip Adams on Boroondara Libraries

Phillip Adams (AO) has fond memories of Boroondara Libraries. Here is what he had to say as part of our sesquicentenary celebrations.

"My formal education was exceedingly brief and seemed to compound my ignorance.

But the local library?

The East Kew sub branch of the Kew Municipal Library?

That's where I really learned. That's where the world was revealed. That's where I learnt the power and magic of books. I owe that little local library everything and continue to regard the public library service as one of Australia's greatest achievements.

So happy 150th to Boroondara!"

Phillip Adams is a broadcaster, social commentator, film producer, writer and satirist.

Who is in the photo?

Many people have been asking who is in the photo on the front of the five favourite books nomination form.

The woman featured in the photograph on the front of the nomination form is Mrs Carbines who was appointed as the Hawthorn Library Manager during WW2, when it was decided that she'd be "okay" until a man was available to take over.





Not only was Mrs Carbines "okay", she was an innovative forward thinker and luckily for Boroondara she stayed in the position for over 10 years and helped develop the library service into what it is today.