Commonwealth Parliamentary Library Reading Room, 1956
The origins of the National Library of Australia go back to the early years after Australian Federation in 1901, when the Commonwealth Parliamentary Library served both Federal Parliament and the nation. In 1927 the Library was moved from Melbourne to Canberra with the relocation of Parliament.
An Act of Parliament in 1960 formally separated the National Library from the Parliamentary Library and a new building for the National Library’s growing collections and services was opened on the shores of Lake Burley Griffin, Canberra in August 1968.
In 2001 the Library celebrated its centenary by publishing Our Nation s Album, a website portraying the Library s first one hundred years in text and pictures, and the book
Commonwealth Parliamentary Library Reading Room, 1956
The origins of the National Library of Australia go back to the early years after Australian Federation in 1901, when the Commonwealth Parliamentary Library served both Federal Parliament and the nation. In 1927 the Library was moved from Melbourne to Canberra with the relocation of Parliament.
An Act of Parliament in 1960 formally separated the National Library from the Parliamentary Library and a new building for the National Library’s growing collections and services was opened on the shores of Lake Burley Griffin, Canberra in August 1968.
In 2001 the Library celebrated its centenary by publishing Our Nation s Album, a website portraying the Library s first one hundred years in text and pictures, and the book
Origin of the Library
Our collection originated with the formation of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Library in 1901. The Joint Parliamentary Library Committee responsible for establishing the Parliamentary Library stated its objective as
‘keeping before it the ideal of building up, for the time when Parliament shall be established in the Federal Capital, a great Public Library on the lines of the world-famed Library of Congress at Washington; such a library, indeed, as shall be worthy of the Australian Nation; the home of the literature, not of a State, or of a period, but of the world, and of all time.’
The passage in 1912 of the