One of nation's biggest rare books collections in Royal Geographical Society of South Australia's library
Colonel William Light's surveying equipment (inset) are among items with the mass of are geographical books and manuscripts at the Royal Geographical Society of South Australia library in the Mortlock wing of the State Library of South Australia.
Images courtesy Royal Geographical Society of South Australia
Royal Geographical Society of South Australia library in the Mortlock wing of the State Library of South Australia, with more than 25,000 volumes, became one of the most significant collections of rare geographical books and manuscripts in Australia.
The society was founded in Adelaide in 1885 with Samuel Davenport its first president. It was originally intended as a branch of the Geographical Society of Australasia, founded in Sydney two years earlier. But the “parent” organisation never developed, while the South Australian branch went from strength to strength. In 1996, the society adopted its present name and separate status.
The society had a role in major Elder and Calvert expeditions at the end of the 19th Century.
In 1905, the society bought the York Gate Library: a major private collection, amassed by a London merchant, on geography, exploration and colonisation. Through this, the society gained a permanent home through links to the public library, now the State Library of South Australia. The society’s extensive library was built around this core, and the books were made available to the public in return for accommodation in the public/state library.
Initially housed in purpose-built premises in the institute building, on the corner of North terrace and Kintore Avenue, Adelaide city, the society library moved into the Mortlock wing of the main state library building on North Terrace.
The society library’s oldest book was a beautifully bound version of Ptolemy’s Geographia from 1482, along with 26 other books from before 1599 including two Ortelius atlases (1571 and 1598). Other rare atlases include two Colom atlases (c.1650 and 1670) and Mercator’s atlas (1635). The manuscript collection had many significant items including three Joseph Banks’ manuscripts (1766, 1768, 1811), John McDouall Stuart’s diary of his fifth expedition (1861-62) and two letters by Colonel William Light.
The society’s library was largely based on four private collections, giving it a broad base in historical geography, colonial history, anthropology and travel. The private collections were: York Gate library (acquired 1905, about 7,500 titles), Thomas Gill’s library (1923, about. 2,400 titles), Dr. F. L. Benham’s library (bequeathed 1939, about. 4,000 titles) and Jim Faull’s local history collection (donated 1990, about 100 titles).
Tours of the library were available by arrangement. A general tour usually included rare books on discovery and exploration with some dating back to the 16the Century, examples of early natural history books (for example, two books on Australian insects with hand-coloured illustrations both published in 1805), early South Australian maps, artefacts including Light’s surveying level and furniture made by John McDouall Stuart.
Many of the library’s items were in the state library’s rare and restricted room and only included in tours by prior arrangement. Examples include: Joseph Banks’ manuscripts, John Gould’s famous volumes on the birds and mammals of Australia and original watercolours of George French Angas. The Royal Geographic Society also had a collection of relics pertaining to Australian explorers.