Members are warmly invited to attend the 2025 Gary Morgan oration, which will be delivered by Simon Plant, a Melbourne writer and researcher with a special interest in Australian performing arts history.

George Coppin and Barry Humphries: How two great showmen made Melbourne marvellous is the title for the oration, a Rare Books Melbourne event being held in the library on March 5.

Simon holds a Masters Degree in Australian History and his first book is titled Entertaining Mr Coppin: An Antipodean Showman in Civil War America (Theatre Heritage Australia, 2025).

Simon’s journalism career spanned 30 years, during which he covered every facet of arts and entertainment. He has also co-curated three exhibitions including Making a Song and Dance: The History of the Australian Musical at Arts Centre Melbourne.

Simon has written two plays, acted with the Goodfa Business Theatre Company (with speechmaker Campbell McComas) and is a long-standing member of the Melbourne Savage Club.

The performance will be held on Thursday 5 March with doors opening at 6:00pm for a 6:30pm start. This event is free for both members and non-members. Bookings can be made through Trybooking using this link.

Ernie Gruner (violin, mandolin, vocals) and Phil Carroll (accordion, vocals, ney) play Gypsy, Klezmer, Turkish, French, Italian, Russian, jazz and tango music, which ranges from soulful to wild.

They have both played and recorded together in larger bands, and have studied overseas in Montreal, Istanbul, New York, Cracow and Budapest. As well as recording two CDs (Bohemian Nights in 2005 and Brothers in Borscht in 2010), they have performed at various festivals, including the National Multicultural Festival, the Wellington and Dunedin folk festivals, and the Christchurch Jazz Festival.

Ernie specialises in Jewish music and Phil specialises in Middle Eastern music. They have worked together with theatre and dance events for Russian, Armenian, Jewish, Turkish, French and Italian and other productions and communities since 1999.

The performance will be held on Friday 27 February with doors opening at 5:40pm for a 6:00pm start. This event is free for members and $25 for non-members. Bookings can be made through Trybooking using this link.

Author John Arnold will be in conversation with Simon Farley about his book Eric Partridge and the Scholartis Press on Thursday 19th February – and members are invited to attend.

The Scholartis Press was founded in London in 1927 by future lexicographer Eric Partridge (pictured). During its eight-year existence, the press published 126 titles, including contemporary fiction, the scholarly translation of classic texts and edited editions of pre-19th century English literature.
Scholartis also published several titles edited by Eric Partridge, being the catalyst for his latter distinguished career as the chronicler of slang and compiler of various dictionaries and word-related books.

Simon Farley is the immediate past president of the Bibliographical Society of Australia and New Zealand, and is the University of Queensland’s Fryer Librarian. John Arnold is an author and also a former president of the Bibliographical Society.

A Melbourne Rare Book Week Event.

The performance will be held on Thursday 19 February with doors opening at 6:00pm for a 6:30pm start. This event is free for both members and non-members. Bookings can be made through Trybooking using this link.

Join the Wattleseed Ensemble of Meg Cohen (violin), Katie Yap (viola) and David Moran (cello) for a celebration of nature’s beauty.

Wattleseed Ensemble weaves together music of the baroque period with folk music and contemporary Australian music in a confluence of styles, finding cohesion in the telling of a story.

Their stories take you back to our scrappy, beautiful, astonishing Aussie environment, and combine a celebration of local South Australian composers with their unique melding of styles.

The performance will be held on Friday 13 February with doors opening at 5:40pm for a 6:00pm performance. This event is free for members and $25 for non-members. Bookings can be made through Trybooking using this link.