Chronology

1856      
The Library opens for the first time.

1859-65
Queen's Hall, Monash Hall and Palmer Hall are constructed.

1880s   
The Library faces mounting challenges to store its collections and provide space for users. Barry Hall and Verdon Hall extensions are built in 1886 to help to alleviate conditions. However the President of the Trustees of the Library noted that further buildings would probably be needed within two years.

1892     
The Library Trustees appeal to the Government for funds for a new library building, but the appeal is rejected largely due to the poor position of government finances during the economic depression of the early 1890s.

1905      
Chief Librarian, E. La T. Armstrong, suggests a commission by the Library trustees for a new Reading Room be built to commemorate the Library's golden jubilee.

1907      
The trustees commission the building of a new Reading Room. Premier of Victoria, Sir Thomas Bent promised £10,000 for the commencement of the new building, to cost a further £50,000 over the next few years. Rough plans of the building, in which the main feature was a great octagonal Reading Room surrounded by galleries for storage of books, were prepared by Armstrong, approved by the trustees and submitted to architect Norman G. Peebles of the firm Bates, Peebles and Smart.

1908      
In February, Armstrong goes abroad to inspect libraries at the request of the Library trustees. He visits the British Museum in London and the Library of Congress in Washington, both of which inspired the design of the dome.

1908      
The decision is taken to demolish sections of the library, including the old Rotunda and the Lending Library buildings, in preparation for building of the dome.

1909      
In June, the trustees appoint J.W. and D.A. Swanson to build the new Reading Room for a tender of £66,914.

1909      
The foundation stone is laid by the Governor of Victoria, Sir Thomas Gibson-Carmichael on 26 October.

1911      
In May the form of the dome itself becomes dramatically visible to the public. The huge shape is outlined by the necessary timbers, and hundreds of loads of concrete materials are stored in readiness for commencement. For a short time, it is the largest concrete dome in the world.

Specifications for adjustable steel shelving are obtained for the domed Reading Room. A tender from Cubb’s Co. for £2,216 is accepted.

1912      
Tenders for electric lighting £2,103, electric lifts £1,462 and chairs and fittings £4,113 are accepted.

1913      
Extensive coverage of the ‘vast dome’ and ‘new public library’ is published in the 6 November Melbourne Argus. Final construction costs are reported as £75,000 by the Argus.

1913      
Possession of the domed Reading Room takes place in October and it is officially opened by the Governor-General Lord Denman on 14 November.

1914      
Hairline cracks make their first appearance in the dome. These give rise to exaggerated notions and statements about the threatened collapse of the dome.

1917      
A piece of plaster falls from the roof and knocks a visitor unconscious, when he recovered sufficiently to look for his assailant he was barely able to be restrained from assaulting the Chief Librarian, E. La T. Armstrong.

1933      
In June repairs to the dome of the Public Library and the roof of the National Gallery are in progress. This is one of the largest renovation projects in Melbourne for many years. Owing to the size of the dome, the stresses caused by expansion and contraction due to temperature changes are exceptionally heavy and extensive cracking results. The minute cracks leak when it rains heavily.

1934      
The Reading Room is closed for two weeks to be repainted.

1947      
Paint used during the wartime blackout is believed to have contributed to the deterioration of many of the 180 large sheets of glass in the dome that are cleaned and replaced by glaziers.

1948      
Plaster weighing 1 1/2lb falls 100 feet from the dome and deeply dents the linoleum covered floor. The Reading Room is forced to close for 4-6 weeks.

1948      
An attempt is made to waterproof the dome with bitumen paint.  This is the first post war cleaning of the 12,000 square yards roof area of the Library.

1949      
Ray Lawler begins writing two plays in the dome, one of which is ‘Summer of the Seventeenth Doll’.

1954      
In December, heavy rain pouring through the leaking dome damages hundreds of valuable books, many of them irreplaceable.

1955      
In January, the State Government grants £24,000 to the Public Library for urgent repair of the dome after an inspection by the Public Works Minister, Mr Merrifield.

1955      
On January 24, 1955 the Melbourne Herald reports that cameras and bags will not be allowed into the Reading Rooms of the Library.

1959      
Due to recurrent water leakage problems, the original skylights in the dome are covered with fibrous sheets on the inside and copper sheathing on the outside. Works are completed in May 1959. As a result the Reading Room assumes the darkness which becomes its signature for the next 43 years.

1980s  
A mummified bat is discovered wedged between two book cases.

1988      
The 75th anniversary of the domed Reading Room is marked on 14 November.

1995-97
Annulus spaces are refurbished.

1999      
The dome is closed for a major refurbishment in early 1999. Thousands of books are relocated into temporary storage over a 14 week period.

1999      
‘The Terms and Grammar of Creation’, a play written by Sue Gore and Bill Garner, focusing on the events leading up to, and including the conflict between Chief Librarian E. La T. Armstrong  and his deputy Amos Brazier, is staged in the domed Reading Room from 2-13 March.

1999      
Renovations commence as part of the Library’s major redevelopment program, including the creation of exhibition galleries and reinstatement of glass to skylights in the dome.

2001      
The public are given the opportunity to buy a glass panel for $2500, ensuring their name is displayed in the library beside a map showing placement of their piece of glass in the dome.

2003      
The domed Reading Room is officially reopened by Premier Steve Bracks on 8 July and renamed the La Trobe Reading Room, after Victoria’s first Lieutenant-Governor Charles Joseph La Trobe. It now houses the Library’s Australiana collection. Included in the dome redevelopment is a band of quotations circling the room known as the ‘Ribbon of Words’.  Originally known as the Dome Words Project, these literary quotations are unveiled at the reopening.

2004      
The Kelly armour is installed in the Dome Gallery as part of the permanent exhibition, The changing face of Victoria, which opened on 26 November.

2005      
The permanent exhibition, Mirror of the world: books and ideas, focusing on the history of rare and significant books opened in the Dome Gallery on 8 December.

2006      
Renowned Australian playwright Joanna Murray-Smith writes a serial in The Age featuring a fictional character who is the result of her parents meeting in the dome.

2010      
As part of a creative fellowship through the Library, Ross Coulter releases 10,000 hand-folded paper planes from the balconies of the Library's La Trobe Reading Room to create a visual representation of thought patterns that may have occurred in the room.

2012      
The official celebrations of the centenary of the dome begin, 14 November.

2013      
The centenary of the dome is marked, 14 November.