Name: University of Queensland and its Libraries (Gardens Point)
Time: 1911 - 1950
Epoch: Early 20th Century
Category: University Library
Institution Category: Education
Institution Group: Public Community Education
Coordinates: -27.4772783333333, 153.029055
Street Address: University of Queensland, Gardens Point
Suburb: Brisbane City (CBD)
Sector: State
Local Study Area: Spring Hill-CBD-Fortitude Valley-New Farm (Inner City)
Study Stage: MBNH Stage 9 Local Study Areas
The first classes for the university began in March 1911 at the Old Government House, now the new university campus at Gardens Point. The first registrar, Cumbrae Stewart, was the part-time librarian, who oversaw a very limited collection in a confided space. The lack of having important texts and the size of the reading room (accommodating fewer than 24 persons) marked the early challenges. By the end of 1916 the library had 15,000 volumes. The establishment of the university’s small Department of Correspondence Studies furthered the work of expanding a literary and reading culture across the state. The beginnings were modest. In 1912 twenty-one external students had been enrolled, and twenty were examined. The first permanent library collection and building was opened in 1938, thanks to the Darnell Bequest of £5,000 and the Forsyth Gift of £10,000. The most significant collection for the university was the Fryer Memorial Library of Australian Literature. In 1929 the Fryer Library began as a reading room off from the study of its founder, F.W. Robinson. Geographic Description 1: Inside The Green Belt Geographic Description 2: Brisbane River Geographic Description 3: Flood Plains (Major); High River Banks (still floods); Ridgeline (Slopes off Wickham Tce)
Fitzgerald, Ross; Megarrity, Lyndon; Symons, David. Made in Queensland : a New History, Special Q150 commemorative edition, University of Queensland Press, St Lucia, Qld, 2009.
Helen Gregory, Vivant Professores: Distinguished Members of the University of Queensland, 1910-1940. University of Queensland Library, St. Lucia, Qld, 1987.
Johnston, W. (William) Ross. The Call of the Land: a History of Queensland to the Present Day, Jacaranda Wiley, Brisbane, 1982.
Shaw, Barry; Metcalf, William James. (ed) Brisbane: Training, Teaching and Turmoil: Tertiary Education 1825-2018, Brisbane History Group, Salisbury, Qld, Boolarong Press, Moorooka, Qld, 2018.
Story, John D. The Spirit of Caledonia in the Formation of the University of Queensland, Emmanuel College, St. Lucia, Qld, 2011.
Malcolm I Thomis, A Place of Light & Learning: the University of Queensland's first seventy-five years, University of Queensland Press, St. Lucia, Qld, 1985.
Unnamed. The University of Queensland, 1910-1935, Published by Authority of the Senate, Brisbane Qld, 1935.