" PAST " STIMULATED BY LIBRARY EXPERIENCES

 

 

Long before my time - the Western side of the Queen Victoria Markets as it was originally known, the York Street frontage looking South to the Town Hall.

 

 

Also long before my time- the Assembly Hall Building on Margaret St viewed from across York Street .The picture evidently taken from near the entrance to the present Wynyard Station..The picture is full of interesting detail, note the early 1800's residences next door.These are occupying the site where new buildings were to later receive as tenants the USIS LIBRARY and the always exotic ( in my youthful mind )PFAHLERTS HOTEL. Note also in the R.H. corner the paling fence(!) - this suggests that the "cut and cover"excavation and construction for Wynyard Station had begun ( early 1920's).

 

 

 Yesterday's post "1955 -1956 LIBRARY EXPERIENCES"stirred up a few quite varied thoughts:

THE QUEEN VICTORIA BUILDING

For all of my childhood and youth, the QVB stood virtually empty, save for the City of Sydney Library and their Cellar at the Northern end and a few shops and a Cafe on the George Street frontage. Access to the interior was not available to the public.

The great building, originally the Queen Victoria Markets, had not been a commercial success and , no doubt, the Great Depression finally set the seal on that. So it stood there like a great sandstone question - "what will you do with me?". There were many answers as I was growing up - most of them not respectful.

 Like its rival Melbourne, Sydney lacked, and still lacks , a fitting civic Square ( Melbourne's recently fabricated "Federation Square" still doesn't fill the bill and is just an eyesore.) Numerous "visionaries" wanted to demolish the QVB to create a Civic Square beside the Town Hall!Fortunately the inherent good sense of Sydneysiders of the time rejected the idea, besides, the suggestion crystallised in the public mind the thought that we really liked and admired the old girl, We just needed to find a suitable use for her! Urban shopping was evolving and in due course, that evolution and the QVB's potential crossed paths.

To-day the QVB with improved access via a Tunnel to Town Hall Station and under George Street at either end of the building, has created a pulsing, vibrant shopping heart thronged by local and overseas tourists alike.It is always great fun for a wander  each time we return to Sydney for a visit. The Metropolitan Museum of Art Shop on the top level is always a favourite and on several occasions our daughter Justine has taken us to High Tea in the grand restaurant in what was originally a Ballroom on the upper level at the Northern end.

MARGARET STREET

The sandstone houses in Margaret Street in the ASSEMBLY HALL  photograph above, were typical of houses of the vintage of 1840 onwards that were still common around Sydney into my early twenties  and could still be spotted here and there in one or two places until much later, I am thinking of Castlereagh Street near Park Street for example. Earlier a very nice group on the corner of Phillip Street,King Street and Macquarie Street was demolished to make way for the ugly multi storey Courts Building.

LIBRARY IN MY POCKET?

Reflecting on those Libraries and their influence on my development, I came again to marvel at the phenomenon of the Kindle 3G E Reader which holds thousands of books in the size and weight of a small paperback, and offers the capacity to search in a particular book or across its whole library and make notes! The impact of this on my work will be brilliant, when I realise my goal and get one. How much more brilliant for a student in secondary studies  and tertiary studies. No doubt many not limited to a Retiree's means will even have the greater capacities of an I Pad! The acceleration in the rate of learning should be immense - but what of the depth of learning?Will they use the full potential of the E-Reader? Or simply skim further and faster?

Despite all the advances in technology, and the changes in the patterns of teaching, it is surprising how little many young people to-day know about history, even the modern history of our own society.And relatively few seem interested to find out.

" PAST " 1955-1956 LIBRARY EXPERIENCES

QUEEN VICTORIA BUILDING TODAY (Photo Dietmar Rabich)

 

 In 1955 and 1956 I went to finish my Secondary Schooling at Marist Brothers'College Darlinghurst - that will be the subject of a later post. My purpose on this occasion is to mention visits I started making to the City of Sydney Library which occupied two levels at the end of the Queen Victoria Building  shown in the photograph above. That Northern end on Market Street, across George Street from GOWINGS menswear store - famous for its location and its quirky , rather old-world stock and presentation, and its slogan "Gone to Gowings"was a landmark well into the 1990's when newer management had tried to modernise and popularise the brand. They finally failed  - things had moved on and they never did succeed in re-invention.

 The library was reached by climbing the broad stairs or riding the ancient lift cage to the first or second floor. Neither option would avoid the heavy odour of ancient wines from the City Council's Cellar in the Basement- a heavy mustiness that was not pleasant but not revolting either . It simply suggested something - in quantity - that was"off".!

The library itself was not impressive in its reception or counters , everything suggested lack of money, care or attention.The collection however was full of items of interest. I usually visited with my classmate Tony Hannon, now my longtime Brother-in Law. We shared many interests in common especially history. We got a lot of satisfaction out of copies of The Illustrated London News, which were kept tolerably up-to-date. Both older copies and more recent ones were full of interest, especially when they did major photo essays on particular events or places. I regretted its passing in later years. The library also gave access to "Jane's All the World's Fighting Ships"editions from recent times back to the First World War. These were a remarkable source of FACTS and, if you know ANYTHING about teenage males, you will know that they are very keen on facts.The opportunity to absorb all of the interesting information from this large library's extensive collections was giving us a horse and buggy equivalent of the self education the Internet now provides at home. We, or at least I, did not use the library for study purposes on many occasions. For Tony it was a twenty-five minutes bus trip home on the little blue private bus from Bathurst Street to his home. For me it was a train trip to Lidcombe, change for Berala often, then a ten minute walk home - all up about an hour and ten minutes allowing for connections.

A few years later , Tony discovered the United States Information Service Library in Margaret Street. It was rather a different experience. In a smallish very modern building just down from the Assembly Rooms which contained the Scots Church where my Mum's sister Mable had married Robert Campbell Kerr before the War ( WW II).
 

The USIS Library was the very model of modernity and efficiency and its carefully planned collection was recent and regularly up-dated with the latest books and selected magazines, all breathing  a healthy, happy optimism.By this time Tony was at University I think and I had left the Seminary ( another future post) and , due to an "accident "I was working for the Commonwealth Bank of Australia.
I had for a very long time been interested in steam locomotives and railways 

( this is not so much an intellectual exercise- an act of the will- no, it is in some way " in the blood "or in the spirit - a type of romantic enthusiasm defying logic. Anyway, I particularly remember a very large format new book that the library took into its collection crammed with fantastic photography on the New York Central Railroad's newest ( and as it turned out, last) mighty steam locomotives the huge 4-8-4 "NIAGARA"Class with their massive 10 Wheel (I think) Tenders. They were the very last word( too true) in post war modern locomotive design, roller bearings on every turning surface and massive boilers to the very limit of the loading gauge , mission : beat the diesels for efficiency.They did well , but it was not "mission accomplished". How I would love to have a copy of that book. A Niagara is one of my 4 locomotive model collection , which I hope my Grandsons may  appreciate in due course. 4 Locomotive models, 3 Grandsons....Hmmmm!

Sadly, in one of those periodic expansion/contraction spasms that American short-term financial reporting recurringly causes, a whole host of USIS Libraries around the world was closed in the 1960s or 70s and the poor old Aussies "who are our Allies anyway" lost their USIS Library for a few years . In a later spasm it was re-opened up in Park St in the City - I never have been there - very big on security I believe. Sometimes I think the best times are behind us all, at least in that regard