Libraries are Great Mate!

Sue Thompson

Lilydale may have been a small town in 1880s but in September 1880 the people held a public meeting and established the town’s first library: the Lilydale Mechanics’ Institute and Free Lending Library. [1]

At the time, the Lilydale township was just 20 years old– the first land auction being in May 1861. The town in 1881 had a population of 363 people (194 males and 169 females) and the whole Shire of Lillydale 2,543 people.

In her research paper, Helen Munro established the following description of the town:

There were:

• 14 shops – 14 individual shopkeepers
• 29 individual tradesmen
• 9 individuals offering profession services
• 8 hotel and hospitality establishments.
• And 6 individuals offering transport services.[2]

Based on the British Mechanics’ Institute movement, mechanics’ institutes provided people, particularly tradesmen with the opportunity to increase their scientific knowledge through lectures and so improve their life opportunities.

Once established the library needed to raise funds to purchase books. It held its first bazaar just three months after being formed. It was held in the Lilydale Rechabite Hall in Castella Street and was opened by Colonel Hutton of Cooring Yering. The bazaar featured “fancy and useful articles given by a number of ladies of the district” and ran from Thursday to Saturday and raised £113 17s. A large amount considering there were about 2500 people in the shire.[3]

Members were charged a subscription which helped provide funds for the book stock. The institute also employed a librarian paying a small wage.

By 1884 the institute has assets including books of about £150 and £87 in its building fund. The committee comprised Messrs J. Kerr, T. McIntyre, R.T. Kings, G. Brown, D. McNab and Rev A. Mackie.[4]

In 1885, the annual subscription fee was dropped to 10 shillings and the following year to 5 shillings. In 1886, the library boasted 600 volumes. [5]

The institute had land in Main Street (exact location unknown) and it wanted to build both a public hall and mechanics’ institute. However, the committee were divided on whether to build on their own site or move to the Lilydale Reserve in Castella Street. The council were opposed to the Lilydale Reserve site  being used, but the committee proceeded and eventually the Athenaeum Mechanics’ Institute and Free Lending Library was built by local builder Sam Dornom for £1070 based on Melbourne architect Philip Treeby’s design. The hall had seating for 600 people and two rooms at the front were for the library and reading room.

It was officially opened by Healesville Shire President Major Blannin on October18, 1888.[6]

Even before opening in its new home, the library had amassed more than 1,000 volumes with 355 more volumes being added during its first year. Also the reading room contained all Melbourne’s daily newspapers as well as various magazines. [7]

Throughout the years, the hall became a focal point for the community and hosted many events, concerts, productions, visiting professional entertainers, lectures, talks and displays.

However its role as a library and place for people to read and learn remained unchanged and the institute continued to serve its community as the Lilydale Public and Lending Library.

However, by the 1970s, changes were afoot which greatly impacted the library.

References

[1] Lilydale Icon A History of Lilydale’s Athenaeum Building Vol 1 1888-1919, Anthony McAleer, pgs 11-18.

[2] Appendix 3 based on Victoria Census and Lillydale Rate Books. Published in Shops and shopkeepers in a Victorian country town: A study of Lilydale, Victoria, 1880-1900.  by Helen Munro.

[3] Argus December 24, 1880 pg6.

[4] Evelyn Observer October 17, 1884 pg2.

[5] Evelyn Observer and South and East Bourke Record April 2, 1886 pg3.

[6] Lilydale Icon A History of Lilydale’s Athenaeum Building Vol 1 1888-1919, Anthony McAleer, pgs 11-18.

[7] Lilydale Icon A History of Lilydale’s Athenaeum Building Vol 1 1888-1919, Anthony McAleer, pg 24.

Moves to establish a municipal library

The story of the birth of the Lillydale Municipal Library Service can be traced back to the Federal Labour Party’s 1972 election victory.
Under Prime Minister Gough Whitlam, the government launched a massive social services agenda and he felt we were over governed with three tiers of government and set about delivering federal money on a regional level.

In the outer east this led to the establishment of the Outer Eastern Council for Social Development (Access) under the leadership of Sid Spindler who later became a leading light in the formation of the Australian Democrats and a Senator.
Local government saw this new body through which the feds channeled funds as a serious threat to their own power and areas of responsibility.

On the one hand we have the federal government’s move to channel funds into the community via various means, not just local government and on the other hand we had massive residential expansion as the baby boomers married and moved eastwards to buy housing they could afford.
In the 1971 census just before Whitlam was elected the former Shire of Lillydale had a population of about 36,000 and in just four years, this had grown to 55,000.

Of these 43 per cent were aged 0 to 20 years.
To cater for their new families, schools were built and pre-schools erected but there were no “support” structures so the community created their own.

At the time the shire’s total expenditure for the1974/75 year was $4.6m.

Lilydale Community Group

We moved into our Kilsyth home on Australia Day 1972. When I had my first son the following year, I was totally isolated – no car, no phone and no one to talk to. I would put him in the pram and push him over a rough track that was called a footpath to the local shop to buy something, anything, just so I could talk to someone.

Like many other people, we decided to become involved in things so we joined the local kindergarten which was just opening and I joined the Mothers’ Club at the local primary school.

With the creation of Access and the possibility of working towards more services for our kids, a group of parents formed a group called the Lillydale Community Group on April 22, 1976 as they believed there was funding available and we should lobby the shire to apply for the funds to provide services.

The community group had simple aims:
* To assist and promote sporting, recreational and community groups and their facilities.
* To provide a forum to discuss issues relating to the whole shire.

In true socialist style, the group wrote to the council seeking funding – a mere $50.00 to cover printing expenses to produce a small flyer promoting the group and its activities.
The group was told it must prove its worth. One councillor went further and stated: “although the group was formed to benefit the community it was not a council responsibility to pick up the tab.”

Undeterred and using Kilsyth East Primary School as a base, we established a parent run after schools program for one day a week – as much for the kids as the adults. We also established the first holiday program in the shire and worked for and secured the appointment of a community development officer shared with the Shire of Upper Yarra, who could work on these projects.

At one of our meetings we had a resident/ librarian raise the issue of the lack of a free shire-based public library service.
In its 1975 budget, the shire had put aside $50,000 ($1 per head of population) into a special library account but to qualify for the state government funding, needed to put aside the same amount in the 1976 budget and as the shire had been talking about a free public library service for 25 years, that second year funding wasn’t a given.

Until this time, the only library service was at the Mechanics Institute – Athenaeum Hall in Lilydale. You subscribed to the institute which bought books for which you paid a small fee to borrow.

Lobbying for a public library service

The shire was concerned about the one issue – delivering a library service to each of its 17 townships.

One was to upgrade and expand the existing school libraries but this wouldn’t attract the government subsidy. The State Government subsidy and grant at the time was