The Melbourne Athenaeum Library will be closed on Monday January 27 for the public holiday.
The library will be open regular hours on Saturday January 25 and Tuesday January 28.
It's difficult to believe, when you step into the brightly lit, welcoming foyer of the Athenaeum Theatre that the first building on this site was a modest, Georgian-style brick building of two storeys, set back from the footpath, with a green lawn and cast-iron, picket fence. In those days Collins Street was a muddy road, with trees and tree stumps growing along it that made it dangerous to travellers at night, even those with a sturdy carriage and reliable horses.
The colony was still part of New South Wales and no official name had been proclaimed for the settlement at that time. Squatters, social and religious groups, societies, such as the Debating Society and the Philosophical Institute (later named the Royal Society of Victoria) took place. Lectures on a wide variety of topics, were organised by the committee, and these continued for many years. The hall and rooms were also rented out to teachers for classes, such as drawing, music, languages, and science. Concerts, given by the music students, were popular. The Liedertafel and the Philharmonic Society gave concerts. Mr George Allan's singing classes were well attended by both men and women.
The picture shows the hall on the first floor of the original building. The display cases, which can be seen at the back of the room, held some of the hundreds of donated items in the museum collection.
Typical events held in the Mechanics Institution Hall:
In 1872 a new hall was built, this is covered in the main building timeline on this site.
