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78-566: LPL provides many services to its patrons, such as the following: In order to borrow materials from the library, both physically and electronically, a membership is needed to the London Public Library. The library card provides access to materials at any of the 16 branches in the city, as well as access to many digital resources through the library's website. Borrowing privileges are as follows: Materials which can be borrowed include: *Wireless Hotspots and Laptops must be returned within

156-651: A charge of blasphemy. In Australia, the first mechanics' institute was established in Hobart in 1827, followed by the Sydney Mechanics' School of Arts in 1833, Newcastle School of Arts in 1835, then the Melbourne Mechanics' Institute established in 1839 (renamed the Melbourne Athenaeum in 1872 ). From the 1850s, mechanics' institutes quickly spread throughout Victoria wherever a hall, library or school

234-728: A child, 307 convicts, 17 convicts' wives, and seven children). They had been sent from England in HMS ; Calcutta under the command of Captain Daniel Woodriff , principally out of fear that the French, who had been exploring the area, might establish their own settlement and thereby challenge British rights to the continent. In 1826, Colonel Stewart, Captain Samuel Wright, and Lieutenant Burchell were sent in HMS  Fly (Captain Wetherall) and

312-778: A cooler, mountain climate in the centre of the state. Winters along the coast of the state, particularly around Melbourne , are relatively mild ( see chart ). The coastal plain south of the Great Dividing Range has Victoria's mildest climate. Air from the Southern Ocean helps reduce the heat of summer and the cold of winter. Melbourne and other large cities are located in this temperate region. The Mallee and upper Wimmera are Victoria's warmest regions with hot winds blowing from nearby semi-deserts. Average temperatures exceed 32 °C (90 °F) during summer and 15 °C (59 °F) in winter. Except at cool mountain elevations,

390-460: A land area of 227,444 km (87,817 sq mi); the second-most-populated state (after New South Wales ), with a population of over 6.9 million; and the most densely populated state in Australia (30.6 per km ). Victoria's economy is the second-largest among Australian states and is highly diversified, with service sectors predominating. Victoria is bordered by New South Wales to

468-569: A new multi-member proportional representation system. The State of Victoria was divided into eight electorates with each electorate represented by five representatives elected by Single Transferable Vote . The total number of upper house members was reduced from 44 to 40 and their term of office is now the same as the lower house members—four years. Elections for the Victorian Parliament are now fixed and occur in November every four years. Prior to

546-759: A number of museums, art galleries, and theatres; in 2016 a sports marketing company named it the world's sporting capital. Victoria has 38 seats in the Australian House of Representatives and 12 seats in the Australian Senate . At state level, the Parliament of Victoria consists of the Legislative Assembly and the Legislative Council . The Labor Party , led by Jacinta Allan as premier , has governed Victoria since 2014. The Governor of Victoria ,

624-532: A quarterly subscription fee. This new model of technical educational institution gave classes for working men, and included libraries as well as apparatus to be used for experiments and technical education. Its purpose was to "address societal needs by incorporating fundamental scientific thinking and research into engineering solutions". The school revolutionised access to education in science and technology for ordinary people. The first mechanics' institute in England

702-583: A rate of 8,227 per 100,000 people, up 4.4% on the previous year. While there have been some dips along the way, the rate of recorded offences have increased year on year since 2011, when the figure was 6,937.7 offences per 100,000 people. Victoria has a parliamentary form of government based on the Westminster System . Legislative power resides in the Parliament consisting of the Governor (the representative of

780-525: A semi-nomadic existence of fishing, hunting and gathering, and farming eels. At the Keilor Archaeological Site , a human hearth excavated in 1971 was radiocarbon-dated to about 31,000 years BP , making Keilor one of the earliest sites of human habitation in Australia. A cranium found at the site has been dated at between 12,000 and 14,700 years BP . Archaeological sites in Tasmania and on

858-934: Is also home to four of Australia's 20 largest cities : Melbourne , Geelong , Ballarat and Bendigo . Victoria is home to numerous Aboriginal groups, including the Boonwurrung , the Bratauolung , the Djadjawurrung , the Gunai , the Gunditjmara , the Taungurung , the Wathaurong , the Wurundjeri , and the Yorta Yorta . There were more than 30 Aboriginal languages spoken in the area prior to European colonisation. In 1770 James Cook claimed

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936-614: Is also home to the Reading Garden which is equipped with seating and multiple water features. From 2016 to 2017, the Central Branch was extensively renovated, its first major overhaul since it moved into CitiPlaza. As part of this renovation, a portion of the branch's northern section was remodelled to become CBC Radio One 's CBCL-FM 's new broadcast studio for new local and regional programming such as London Morning and Afternoon Drive and as well as digital content. Michael Ciccone

1014-512: Is at 39°12' S, which passes through Boundary Islet in the Bass Strait for 85 metres. Victoria contains many topographically, geologically and climatically diverse areas, ranging from the wet, temperate climate of Gippsland in the southeast to the snow-covered Victorian alpine areas which rise to almost 2,000 m (6,600 ft), with Mount Bogong the highest peak at 1,986 m (6,516 ft). There are extensive semi-arid plains to

1092-523: Is currently the 12th CEO of the London Public Library, succeeding Susanna Hubbard Krimmer in August 2019. Ciccone had earlier been executive director of the Centre for Equitable Library Access and, before that, director of collections at Hamilton Public Library . On the morning of 13 December 2023, the London Public Library was the subject of a cyberattack that resulted in a major system outage. On 3 January, 2024, it

1170-399: Is divided into distinct geographic regions , most commonly for the purposes of economic development , while others for land management (agriculture or conservation) and for censusing (statistical or meteorological) or electoral purposes. The most commonly used regions are those created by the state government for the purposes of economic development . In addition to Greater Melbourne ,

1248-802: Is heavier. Rainfall is most reliable in Gippsland and the Western District , making them both leading farming areas. Victoria's highest recorded daily rainfall was 377.8 mm (14.87 in) at Tidal River in Wilsons Promontory National Park on 23 March 2011. At March 2024 Victoria had a population of 6,959,200. The Australian Bureau of Statistics estimates that the population may well reach 10.3 million by 2051. Victoria's founding Anglo-Celtic population has been supplemented by successive waves of migrants from Southern and Eastern Europe , Asia and, most recently, Africa and

1326-425: Is located 10 km (6 mi) south of Bendigo . Due to its central location and the region's historical ties to the gold rush, the town is widely regarded as the "Heart of Gold". The state's capital, Melbourne, contains about 70% of the state's population and dominates its economy, media, and culture. For other cities and towns, see list of localities (Victoria) and local government areas of Victoria . Victoria

1404-454: Is particularly strong in Bendigo and its environs. In 1854 at Ballarat, an armed rebellion against the government of Victoria was made by miners protesting against mining taxes (the " Eureka Stockade "). This was crushed by British troops, but the confrontation persuaded the colonial authorities to reform the administration of mining concessions (reducing the hated mining licence fees) and extend

1482-813: Is the oldest school of arts still operating and the largest institute in Australia. Others in NSW include the Moruya Mechanics' Institute and the Scone School of Arts . In South Australia , the South Australian Institute (1838, then 1847–), was the forerunner of the State Library of South Australia , the South Australian Museum , and the Art Gallery of South Australia . The first institute in

1560-661: The Andersonian Institute in Glasgow. His fourth annual lecture attracted a crowd of 500, and became an annual occurrence after his departure for London in 1804, leading to the eventual formation on 16 October 1821 of the first mechanics' institute in Edinburgh , the Edinburgh School of Arts (later Heriot-Watt University ). Its first lecture was on chemistry , and within a month it was subscribed to by 452 men who each paid

1638-463: The Australian Bureau of Statistics as being a population cluster of 1,000 or more people. The below figures broadly represent the populations of the contiguous built-up areas of each city: Victoria has a varied climate that ranges from semi-arid temperate with hot summers in the north-west, to temperate and cool along the coast. Victoria's main land feature, the Great Dividing Range, produces

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1716-528: The Australian colonies ), were educational establishments originally formed to provide adult education , particularly in technical subjects, to working men in Victorian-era Britain and its colonies . They were often funded by local industrialists on the grounds that they would ultimately benefit from having more knowledgeable and skilled employees. The mechanics' institutes often included libraries for

1794-738: The Australian colonies , Mechanics' Institutes were often called Schools of Arts, and they were more likely to be run by the middle-classes. The provision of reading rooms, museums, lectures and classes were still important, but the Australian schools were also more likely to include a social programme in their calendar of events. The earliest and most prominent institute in Tasmania was Van Diemen's Land Mechanics' Institution , also known as Hobart Town Mechanics' Institute, Hobart (1827–1871), co-founded by George Augustus Robinson . The Sydney Mechanics' School of Arts (1833), in Sydney , New South Wales ,

1872-577: The Bass Strait Islands have been dated to between 20,000 to 35,000 years ago when sea levels were 130 metres below present level allowing First Nations Peoples to move across the region of southern Victoria and onto the land bridge of the Bassian plain to Tasmania by at least 35,000 years ago. During the Ice Age about 20,000 years BP , the area now the bay of Port Phillip would have been dry land, and

1950-530: The Middle East . Victoria's population is ageing in proportion with the average of the remainder of the Australian population. About 72% of Victorians are Australian-born. This figure falls to around 66% in Melbourne but rises to higher than 95% in some rural areas in the north west of the state. Less than 1% of Victorians identify themselves as Aboriginal . More than 75% of Victorians live in Melbourne, located in

2028-540: The Victoria State Government has divided Victoria into five regions covering all parts of the state. The five regional Victoria divisions are: The Australian Bureau of Meteorology defines regions for its own purposes, some of which share names with the economic regions, even though the exact boundaries may not correlate. As of November 2014, they are: This is a list of places in the Australian state of Victoria by population. Urban centres are defined by

2106-573: The Victorian Alps in the northeast and the semi-arid northwest. The majority of the Victorian population is concentrated in the central-south area surrounding Port Phillip , and in particular within the metropolitan area of Greater Melbourne , Victoria's state capital and largest city and also Australia's second-largest city , where over three-quarters of the culturally diverse population live (35.1% of inhabitants being immigrants ). The state

2184-554: The Wada wurrung , Woiwurrung and Bun wurrung languages describe the flooding of the bay. Hobsons Bay was once a kangaroo hunting ground. Creation stories describe how Bunjil was responsible for the formation of the bay, or the bay was flooded when the Yarra River was created. Victoria, like Queensland , was named after Queen Victoria , who had been on the British throne for 14 years when

2262-566: The Yarra and Werribee rivers would have joined to flow through the heads then south and south west through the Bassian plain before meeting the ocean to the west. Tasmania and the Bass Strait islands became separated from mainland Australia around 12,000 BP, when the sea level was approximately 50m below present levels. Port Phillip was flooded by post-glacial rising sea levels between 8,000 and 6,000 years ago. Oral history and creation stories from

2340-527: The colony of Victoria was the Melbourne Mechanics' Institute , created in 1839. It was renamed The Melbourne Athenaeum in 1872, and continues to operate a library, theatres and shops in the original building. Many mechanics' institutes, athenaeums, schools of arts and related institutions in the state of Victoria are well documented by the Mechanics' Institutes of Victoria, Inc., whose members range from

2418-657: The electoral franchise . The following year, the Imperial Parliament granted Victoria responsible government with the passage of the Colony of Victoria Act 1855. Some of the leaders of the Eureka rebellion went on to become members of the Victorian Parliament. In 1857, reflecting the growing presence of Irish Catholic immigrants, John O'Shanassy became the colony's second Premier with the former Young Irelander , Charles Gavan Duffy as his deputy. Melbourne's Protestant establishment

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2496-500: The pink heath (state flower), Leadbeater's possum (state animal) and the helmeted honeyeater (state bird). Ecological communities include Victorian Volcanic Plain grasslands , Northern Plains Grassland and Gippsland Plains Grassy Woodland , all of which are critically endangered. According to Geoscience Australia , the geographic centre of Victoria is located in Mandurang at 36° 51' 15"S, 144° 16' 52" E. The small rural locality

2574-541: The population growth peak of 1969–72. In 2017, Victoria recorded a TFR of 1.724. The "average Victorian" according to the demographic statistics may be described as follows: In the year ending September 2020, the statistics were skewed by the introduction of six new public safety offences relating to the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia . Total offences numbered 551,710, with 32,713 of these being breaches of Chief Health Officer Directions. The total offences occurred at

2652-497: The 1850s and 1860s significantly increased Victoria's population and wealth. By the time of Australian Federation in 1901, Melbourne had become the largest city in Australasia , and was the seat of Federal government until Canberra became the national capital in 1927. The state continued to grow strongly through various periods of the 20th and 21st centuries due to high levels of international and interstate migration. Melbourne hosts

2730-410: The 2016 census, 72.2% of Victorians speak English at home. Speakers of other languages include Mandarin (3.2%), Italian (1.9%), Greek (1.9%), Vietnamese (1.7%), and Arabic (1.3%). In the 2016 Census, 47.9% of Victorians described themselves as Christian , 10.6% stated that they followed other religions and 32.1% stated that they had no religion or held secular or other spiritual beliefs. In

2808-440: The 2016 census, the most commonly nominated ancestries were: 0.8% of the population, or 47,788 people, identified as Indigenous Australians ( Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islanders ) in 2016. At the 2016 census, 64.9% of residents were born in Australia. The other most common countries of birth were England (2.9%), India (2.9%), Mainland China (2.7%), New Zealand (1.6%) and Vietnam (1.4%). As of

2886-637: The King), the executive (the Government), and two legislative chambers. The Parliament of Victoria consists of the lower house Legislative Assembly , the upper house Legislative Council and the monarch . Eighty-eight members of the Legislative Assembly are elected to four-year terms from single-member electorates. In November 2006, the Victorian Legislative Council elections were held under

2964-620: The LPL creates over $ 102 million in total economic impact for the city each year. London Mechanics' Institute was one of a series of Mechanic's Institutes that were set up around the world after becoming popular in Britain. It housed a subscription library that allowed members who paid a fee to borrow books. The Mechanic's Institutes libraries eventually became public libraries when the establishment of free libraries occurred. The London Public Library opened in November 1896. The present-day Central Library

3042-540: The Mechanics' Institute. He was appointed director of the institute, which he had originally endowed with the sum of £3700, and held the office till his death in 1841. The London Mechanics' Institute (later Birkbeck College ) was opened in December 1823, and the mechanics' institutes in Ipswich and Manchester (later to become UMIST ) in 1824. By the mid-19th century, there were over 700 institutes in towns and cities across

3120-437: The Mechanics' Worldwide Conference, of representatives of, or people who have an interest in, mechanics' institutes. As of 2021, there have been five such conferences: Thousands of mechanics' institutes buildings still operate throughout the world, mostly now used as libraries, parts of universities, adult education facilities, and a few still use their original names and function as a society or other type of organisation. In

3198-672: The Perth Literary Institute. In Queensland , the Brisbane School of Arts was created in 1873, in a former servants' home. The building was added to the Queensland Heritage Register in 1992. Over time, as local and state governments started providing libraries, community centres and other types of educational facilities, mechanics' institutes became less important in communities. (alphabetical order by town or city) In addition, each state and territory in

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3276-581: The UK and overseas, some of which became the early roots of other colleges and universities. For example, the University of Gloucestershire , has the Cheltenham Mechanics' Institute (1834) and Gloucester Mechanics' Institute (1840) within its history timeline. It was as a result of delivering a lecture series at the Cheltenham Mechanics' Institute that the radical George Holyoake was arrested and then convicted on

3354-542: The US has at least one land grant university that includes a college of agriculture and a college of engineering, as provided for by the Morrill Land-Grant Acts to teach agriculture, military tactics, and the mechanic arts as well as classical studies. Victoria, Australia Victoria , commonly abbreviated as Vic , is a state in southeastern Australia. It is the second-smallest state (after Tasmania ), with

3432-459: The adult working class , and were said to provide them with an alternative pastime to gambling and drinking in pubs. Many of the original institutes included lending libraries , and the buildings of some continue to be used as libraries. Others have evolved into parts of universities, adult education facilities, theatres, cinemas, museums, recreational facilities, or community halls. Few are still referred to as mechanics' institutes, but some retain

3510-414: The brigs Dragon and Amity , took a number of convicts and a small force composed of detachments of the 3rd and 93rd regiments. The expedition landed at Settlement Point (now Corinella ), on the eastern side of Western Port Bay, which was the headquarters until the abandonment of Western Port at the insistence of Governor Darling about 12 months afterwards. Victoria's next settlement was at Portland , on

3588-479: The centre of Victoria. Average temperatures are less than 9 °C (48 °F) in winter and below 0 °C (32 °F) in the highest parts of the ranges. The state's lowest minimum temperature of −11.7 °C (10.9 °F) was recorded at Omeo on 15 June 1965, and again at Falls Creek on 3 July 1970. Temperature extremes for the state are listed in the table below: Rainfall in Victoria increases from south to

3666-677: The colony was established in 1851. After the founding of the colony of New South Wales in 1788, Australia was divided into an eastern half named New South Wales and a western half named New Holland , under the administration of the colonial government in Sydney. The first British settlement in the area later known as Victoria was established in October 1803 under Lieutenant-Governor David Collins at Sullivan Bay on Port Phillip. It consisted of 402 people (five government officials, nine officers of marines, two drummers, and 39 privates, five soldiers' wives and

3744-423: The country's first federal capital. Victoria's northern border follows a straight line from Cape Howe to the start of the Murray River and then follows the Murray River as the remainder of the northern border. On the Murray River, the border is the southern bank of the river. This precise definition was not established until 1980, when a ruling by Justice Ninian Stephen of the High Court of Australia settled

3822-420: The demand and need for members to use the books. Some mechanics' institutes also offered a programme from the arts; Wisbech Mechanics' institute booked Mrs Butler to give readings from Shakespeare 's plays and Milton 's Paradise Lost to audiences of nearly a thousand. G. Jefferson explains: The first phase, the Mechanics Institute movement, grew in an atmosphere of interest by a greater proportion of

3900-458: The east coast of the Australian continent for the Kingdom of Great Britain . The first European settlement in the area occurred in 1803 at Sullivan Bay . Much of Victoria was included in 1836 in the Port Phillip District of New South Wales. Named in honour of Queen Victoria , Victoria was separated from New South Wales and established as a separate Crown colony in 1851, achieving responsible government in 1855. The Victorian gold rush in

3978-418: The inadequate old apprentice system and threw into relief the connection between material advancement and the necessity of education to take part in its advantages. Across the world, there is a move to sustain and revive mechanics' institutes and related institutions as subscription libraries , sometimes incorporating or expanding their earlier functions. There have been several worldwide conferences, known as

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4056-437: The inland monthly temperatures are 2–7 °C (4–13 °F) warmer than around Melbourne (see chart). Victoria's highest maximum temperature of 48.8 °C (119.8 °F) was recorded in Hopetoun on 7 February 2009, during the 2009 southeastern Australia heat wave . The Victorian Alps in the northeast are the coldest part of Victoria. The Alps are part of the Great Dividing Range mountain system extending east–west through

4134-428: The name and focus as centre of intellectual and cultural advancement. A 21st-century movement, originating in Victoria, Australia , has organised a series of conferences known as Mechanics' Institutes Worldwide Conferences, at which information and ideas for the future of mechanics' institutes are discussed. The foundations of the movement which created mechanics' institutes were in lectures given by George Birkbeck at

4212-470: The north and South Australia to the west and is bounded by the Bass Strait to the south (with the exception of a small land border with Tasmania located along Boundary Islet ), the Great Australian Bight portion of the Southern Ocean to the southwest, and the Tasman Sea (a marginal sea of the South Pacific Ocean ) to the southeast. The state encompasses a range of climates and geographical features from its temperate coastal and central regions to

4290-461: The northeast, with higher averages in areas of high altitude. Mean annual rainfall exceeds 1,800 millimetres (71 inches) in some parts of the northeast but is less than 280 mm (11 in) in the Mallee. Rain is heaviest in the Otway Ranges and Gippsland in southern Victoria and in the mountainous northeast. Snow generally falls only in the mountains and hills in the centre of the state. Rain falls most frequently in winter, but summer precipitation

4368-433: The population in scientific matters revealed in the public lectures of famous scientists such as Faraday. More precisely, as a consequence of the introduction of machinery a class workmen emerged to build, maintain and repair, the machines on which the blessing of progress depended, at a time when population shifts and the dissolving influences of industrialization in the new urban areas, where these were concentrated, destroyed

4446-490: The question as to which state had jurisdiction in the unlawful death of a man on an island in the middle of the river. The ruling clarified that no part of the watercourse is in Victoria. The border also rests at the southern end of the Great Dividing Range , which stretches along the east coast and terminates west of Ballarat. It is bordered by South Australia to the west and shares Australia's shortest land border with Tasmania . The official border between Victoria and Tasmania

4524-481: The representative of the monarch in the state, is currently Margaret Gardner . Victoria is divided into 79 local government areas , as well as several unincorporated areas which the state administers directly. The state of Victoria was home to many Aboriginal Australian nations that had occupied the land for tens of thousands of years before European settlement . According to Gary Presland , Aboriginal people have lived in Victoria for about 40,000 years, living

4602-402: The seven-day loan period to ensure charges for the device are not applied to account. In addition to over 140 scheduled programs, the LPL offers year-round programming as well. Some these programs include: Based on an economic impact model developed by the Martin Prosperity Institute, the London Public Library estimates that for every dollar invested, Londoners receive $ 6.68 in value. In total,

4680-487: The south west coast of what is now Victoria. Edward Henty settled Portland Bay in 1834. Melbourne was founded in 1835 by John Batman , who set up a base in Indented Head , and John Pascoe Fawkner . From settlement, the region around Melbourne was known as the Port Phillip District, a separately administered part of New South Wales. Shortly after, the site now known as Geelong was surveyed by Assistant Surveyor W. H. Smythe, three weeks after Melbourne. And in 1838, Geelong

4758-603: The state's south. The greater Melbourne metropolitan area is home to an estimated 5,207,145 people. Urban centres outside Melbourne include Geelong , Ballarat , Bendigo , Shepparton , Mildura , Warrnambool , Wodonga and the Latrobe Valley . Victoria is Australia's most urbanised state: nearly 90% of residents living in cities and towns. State Government efforts to decentralise population have included an official campaign run since 2003 to encourage Victorians to settle in regional areas, however Melbourne continues to rapidly outpace these areas in terms of population growth. At

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4836-523: The survey, 31.7% of Victorians stated they had no religion, Roman Catholics were 23.2%, 9.4% did not answer the question, 9% were Anglican and 3.5% were Eastern Orthodox . In 2017 the proportion of couples marrying in a civil ceremony in Victoria was 77.3%; the other 22.7% were married in a religious ceremony. The government predicts that nearly a quarter of Victorians will be aged over 60 by 2021. The 2016 census revealed that Australian median age has crept upward from 35 to 37 since 2001, which reflects

4914-455: The treaty is unknown, although it is believed to have been by the Merri Creek . According to historian Meyer Eidelson, it is generally believed to have occurred on the Merri near modern-day Rushall Station. On 1 July 1851, writs were issued for the election of the first Victorian Legislative Council, and the absolute independence of Victoria from New South Wales was established proclaiming a new Colony of Victoria. Days later, still in 1851 gold

4992-426: The well-resourced Melbourne Athenaeum to the tiny Moonambel Mechanics' Institute in Moonambel . In the following decades, almost every town in Victoria had a mechanics' institute, usually including a hall, library and reading rooms, games facilities, and both educational programs and entertainment. The first Western Australian institute was the Swan River Mechanics' Institute , established in 1851, later renamed

5070-469: The west and northwest. There is an extensive series of river systems in Victoria. Most notable is the Murray River system. Other rivers include: Ovens River , Goulburn River , Patterson River , King River , Campaspe River , Loddon River , Wimmera River , Elgin River, Barwon River , Thomson River , Snowy River , Latrobe River , Yarra River , Maribyrnong River , Mitta River , Hopkins River , Merri River and Kiewa River . The state symbols include

5148-428: The world" and the largest gold nugget . In the decade 1851–1860 Victoria produced 20 million ounces of gold, one-third of the world's output. In 1855 the Geological Survey collected and determined the major ion chemistry for groundwater in Victoria. Immigrants arrived from all over the world to search for gold, especially from Ireland and China. By 1857, 26,000 Chinese miners worked in Victoria, and their legacy

5226-424: The world. Beyond a lending library , mechanics' institutes also provided lecture courses, laboratories, and in some cases contained a museum for the members' entertainment and education. The Glasgow Institute, founded in 1823, not only had all three, it was also provided free light on two evenings a week from the local gas light company . The London Mechanics' Institute installed gas illumination by 1825, revealing

5304-437: Was briefly Premier. In 1893 widespread bank failures brought to an end a sustained period of prosperity and of increasingly wild speculation in land and construction. Melbourne nonetheless retained, as the legacy of the gold rush, its status as Australia's primary financial centre and largest city. In 1901, Victoria became a state in the Commonwealth of Australia . While Canberra was being built, Melbourne served until 1927 as

5382-451: Was built in a remodelled space that formerly housed a Hudson's Bay outlet. The Central library opened in this location on August 25, 2002. This not only allowed for an economical expansion of the branch, but also offered the library a more central location in the city's downtown core. Additional outside donations enabled the construction of the Wolf Performance Hall, a concert hall which hosts music and theatre performances. The Central Library

5460-419: Was declared void as Batman did not have permission from the Crown to establish Melbourne. Today, the meaning and interpretation of this treaty is contested. Some argue it was a pretence for taking Aboriginal land in exchange for trinkets, while others argue it was significant in that it sought to recognise Aboriginal land rights . The exact location of the meeting between Batman and the Kulin men with whom he made

5538-434: Was discovered near Ballarat , and subsequently at Bendigo . Later discoveries occurred at many sites across Victoria. This triggered one of the largest gold rushes the world has ever seen. The colony grew rapidly in both population and economic power. In 10 years, the population of Victoria increased sevenfold from 76,000 to 540,000. All sorts of gold records were produced, including the "richest shallow alluvial goldfield in

5616-523: Was ill-prepared "to countenance so startling a novelty". In 1858–59, Melbourne Punch cartoons linked Duffy and O'Shanassy to the terrors of the French Revolution . In 1862 Duffy's Land Act attempted, but failed, through a system of extended pastoral licences, to break the land-holding monopoly of the so-called "squatter" class . In 1871, having led, on behalf of small farmers, opposition to Premier Sir James McCulloch 's land tax , Duffy, himself,

5694-423: Was needed. Over 1200 mechanics' institutes were built in Victoria and just over 500 remain today, and only six still operate their lending library services. The Industrial Revolution created a new class of reader in Britain by the end of the 18th century, "mechanics", who were civil and mechanical engineers in reality. The Birmingham Brotherly Society was founded in 1796 by local mechanics to fill this need, and

5772-643: Was officially declared a town, despite earlier European settlements dating back to 1826. On 6 June 1835, just under two years before Melbourne was officially recognised as a settlement, John Batman, the leader of the Port Phillip Association presented Wurundjeri Elders with a land use agreement. This document, now referred to as the Batman treaty , was later given to the British government to claim that local Aboriginal people had given Batman access to their land in exchange for goods and rations. The treaty itself

5850-692: Was opened at Liverpool in July 1823. The second institute in Scotland was incorporated in Glasgow in November 1823, built on the foundations of a group started by Birkbeck. Under the auspices of the Andersonian Institute , where Birkbeck had been chair of natural philosophy from 1799 to 1804 and instituted free lectures on arts, science and technical subjects from 1800. This mechanics' class continued to meet after he moved to London in 1804, and in 1823 they decided to formalise their organisation by incorporating themselves as

5928-749: Was revealed that employee data had been compromised during the attack. The London Public Library has 16 branches. The branches are: One Book, One London is a region-wide book club that celebrates reading and brings people together as a community. The London Public Library spearheads this program annually. It was temporarily suspended for 2021, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 42°59′11.8″N 81°14′41.3″W  /  42.986611°N 81.244806°W  / 42.986611; -81.244806 Mechanic%27s Institutes Mechanics' institutes , also known as mechanics' institutions , sometimes simply known as institutes , and also called schools of arts (especially in

6006-648: Was the Birmingham Artisans' Library, formed in 1823. Some mechanics' libraries lasted only a decade or two, and many eventually became public libraries or (in the United States) were given to local public libraries after the Public Libraries Act 1850 passed. Though use of the mechanics' libraries was limited, the majority of the users were favourable towards the idea of free public libraries. However, by 1900 there were over 9,000 mechanics institutes around

6084-465: Was the forerunner of mechanics' institutes, which grew in England to over seven hundred in number by 1850. Small tradesmen and workers could not afford subscription libraries, so for their benefit, benevolent groups and individuals created mechanics' institutes that contained inspirational and vocational reading matter, for a small rental fee. Later popular non-fiction and fiction books were added to these collections. The first known library of this type

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