Parliament research library on North Terrace, Adelaide, the oldest set up in South Australia from 1850s
South Australian Parliament Research Library in the old parliament house (right) on North Terrace, Adelaide city, and transferred to the new parliament house with its tomes of Hansard speeches and rare books plus curios such as an 1868 orrorey, a rifle presented to premier Charles Cameron Kingston and an old papier mache globe showing South Australia with its original western border and Adelaide's location gouged out.
Images courtesy State Records and by Sia Duff for SA LIfe, Solstice Media, Adelaide.
South Australian Parliament Research Library in parliament house, on North Terrace, Adelaide city, became the province/state’s oldest established library.
The library was set up in the early 1850s by George Strickland Kingston, assistant to founding surveyor general William Light, colonial architect, member of parliament and father of premier Charles Cameron Kingston. Although the origins of its collection date from 1834 in England, the State library of South Australia didn’t find a permanent home further down North Terrace until 1861.
The parliament research library was on two levels on the northern side of parliament house, after it moved from the old original parliament house. The main reading rooms were on the ground floor, conveniently close to the two chambers (House of Assembly and Legislative Council) of parliament .
The parliament research library had a specific and narrow role: to provide research and reference support to members of parliament and their staff in their parliamentary duties. Starting with books – many of them later rarities – the library’s 600,000-strong collection grew with eclectic items ranging from parliamentary dinner menus to a hunting rifle presented to Charles Cameron Kingston to political pamphlets and material (1937 anti-communism, 1967 referendum) to plans for government buildings. These plans included, mysteriously, the beautifully hand-coloured design of South Australia’s parliament house from the 1930s – discovered by a dog, on an early morning walk in Melbourne with his owner, inside a pile of metal tubes in a skip bin.
The library retained shelves stocked with book volumes but around 90% of the collection was transferred to digital in the 21st Century. Another 21st Century innovation by parliamentary librarian Dr John Weste was to let the public see its many curios, rare books and documents by opening it to public tours on parliament’s non-sitting days.