Free, secular and democratic

Discover the cultural centrepiece of 19th-centuryMelbourne and the grand vision that inspired it. This free exhibition traces the first 60 years of the Melbourne Public Library (as the State Library of Victoria was first known), from its founding in 1853 to the opening of the magnificent domed reading room in 1913.

The Library and the cultural institutions that shared its site – the museum, gallery and art schools – were known collectively as 'the Institution' and were established and nurtured by a group of colonial liberals including judge Sir Redmond Barry and architect Joseph Reed. They aimed to create a civic centre that was secular, democratic and enlightened, giving people free access to self-improvement through learning. Their dream was a new society in which everyone could participate. As another liberal, politician and journalist Charles Pearson, stated, ‘an educated community is on the whole more moral, more law-abiding, and more capable of work’.

Free, secular and democratic tells the inspiring story of this grand vision forMelbourne, and reflects on its legacy today in our city’s continuing cultural growth. It examines the building’s architecture, including the classically inspired Queen’s Hall with its interior by pre-Raphaelite designer Edward La Trobe Bateman, and the great domed reading room which completed the vision in 1913. It also reveals how the Library’s collection was developed, and who used it – from members of the general reading public to well-known contributors like writer Marcus Clarke.

The exhibition revisits the Intercolonial Exhibition of 1866–67, held on the Library site in the newly built Great Hall (where the dome now stands). This major event, part of a global program of great exhibitions, allowed Victoria to participate in a worldwide network of knowledge creation and scholarship and to showcase colonial advances in science, industry and the arts.

The exhibition also celebrates the stories of the institutions that shared the Library’s site between 1854 and 1913. The Industrial and Technological Museum and Natural History Museum fulfilled the twofold purpose of the 19th-century museum: public education and scientific research. Free, secular and democratic will include former museum exhibits such as John Gould’s taxidermied hummingbirds and a Victorian timber sample decorated by artist May Vale. The exhibition will also trace the early days of what became the National Gallery of Victoria, with its first collections inspired by London’s Victoria and Albert Museum, as well as the Schools of Art and Design, where Bernard Hall and Frederick McCubbin were key figures.

Free, secular and democratic is presented in seven themed sections:

• The architectural frame

• Queen’s Hall: the ideal classic library

• Building the Library’s collection

• The Intercolonial Exhibition, 1866–67

• The Technological Museum and the Natural HistoryMuseum

• The Art Museum and Gallery and the Schools of Design and Art

• The domed reading room: completing the vision

The exhibition features original architectural drawings and designs, documents, pictures and objects from the State Library’s collection as well as significant items on loan from other institutions, including the Public Record Office Victoria, National Gallery of Victoria, Museum Victoria, University of Melbourne, RMIT and the Bates Smart Archive.

Free, secular and democratic is curated by Harriet Edquist, Professor of Architectural History at RMIT and Director of RMIT Design Archives.

This free exhibition will be open 30 May 2013–2 February 2014 in the Keith Murdoch Gallery.

Exhibition sponsor:
BATESSMART