The State Library Of New South Wales underwent a multi-million dollar renovation to make it fit for the 21st century.
Not only did it make the Library fully accessible it also added a state of the art 350 seat auditorium as well as a much needed photographic gallery to highlight some of the 2,000,000 photographs which has in its archives.
In the yet unnamed auditorium former MLC member George Souris was a genial host for the evening.
Guest of Honour John Graham, the Minister fof the Arts was special guest and spoke of how important a State Library was as the bedrock of Australian culture, civilisation and knowledge.
It was announced that State Librarian Johh Vallance was retiring to be succeeded by Dr Caroline Butler Bowden.
Dr Valance arranged for a screening about the construction of the renovations which was highly sped up to demonstrate the complexity, difficulty and innovation to bring the project to fruition.
After a didgeridoo performance by William Barton and a rousing brass fanfare from a portion of the Sydney Youth Orchestra it was revealed that the auditorium was directly underneath the Library’s main reading room whose visitors were unable to hear anything emanating from below. Furthermore, with the state of the art sound system and projector it was anticipated that this new venue would host some of the events of the annual Sydney Writer’s and Film’s festivals.
Afer a ribbon cutting ceremony all the guests were invited to view an exhibition called ‘Shots’, comprising of 400 images shot by 200 photographers in the new photographic gallery;.
Of special historical interest was a rare viewing of a portrait of Dr William Bland, a daguerrotype image created in 1845 and Australia’s oldest photograph.
It is anticipated that the Gallery will rotate its exhibitions to highlight as many photos in its vast collection.
This celebratory gala event took place on the 23rd October, 2023.
Featured image : Retiring State Librarian John Vallance. Text and images by Ben Apfelbaum
