DEAKIN UNIVERSITY PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN BALLARAT: 1851-1900 by PETER GERALD MANSFIELD B.Ec (La Trobe), Grad Dip Lib (RMIT) M.A. (Deakin) A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of Arts in Total Fulfilment of the Requirements of the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Deakin University, Geelong, Victoria March 2000 ii CONTENTS Contents...........................................ii Appendices........................................iii Tables.............................................iv Bibliography.......................................iv Abstract............................................v 1. Introduction...................................... 1 2. Books and Self-improvement: The Transfer of the Public Library Model to the Colony of Victoria.....33 3. Civic Mindedness: Establishing Libraries in Ballarat in the 1850-60s.......................... 63 4. Expanding Public Access: the Development of Libraries in Ballarat in the 1870s................ 99 5. The Marginalisation of the Library Committee......129 6. Aging Custodians: Library Management..............154 7. Education or Recreation: Book Collection Policies.173 8. Long Term Implications of the Management Policies of Library Committees in Ballarat.................202 APPENDICES 1 Formation of Mechanics’ Institute libraries and townships in Victoria - 1850-60s............ 220 iii 2 Victorian government grants to Public Libraries - 1867-1900........................... 221 3 Ballarat East Free Library - Statement of Receipts and Expenditure - 1880, 1884/85........ 222 4 Ballarat East Free Library - Committee members 1860-1900....................................... 223 5 Ballarat East Free Library - Declining book budget, 1868-1902............................... 225 6 Selected townships in the Colony of Victoria: the year in which the township was incorporated and the municipal population in 1862............ 226 7 Resolutions of the Deputation that waited on the Chief Secretary on 2 July 1884.................. 227 8 Testimonial to the late John Fitzherbert, Librarian at the Ballarat East Free Library..... 229 9 Bendigo (sandhurst) Mechanics’ Institute - estimated Male and Female Book borrowings in 1881 and 1896................................... 230 10 Maps and Illustrations.......................... 231 iv TABLES 1. Ballarat Mechanics’ Institute - Membership in 1873-74... 106 2. Victorian government grants to public libraries - 1880-90............................................... 116 3. Ballarat East Free library - Bookstock classification and number of volumes in 1899........................... 180 4. Castlemaine Mechanics’ Institute - Bookstock by category in 1869........................................ 181 5. Bendigo (Sandhurst) Mechanics’ Institute - Bookstock circulation in 1869 and 1881............................ 192 6. Ballarat East Free Library - multiple titles by author in 1899.......................................... 194 7. The most popular books at the Bendigo (Sandhurst) Mechanics’ Institute library in 1894.................... 195 8. Ballarat Mechanics’ Institute library - Circulation of bookstock between 1870-1901.......................... 197 9. Bookstock and Library Visits to Victorian Libraries between 1875 and 1910................................... 198 10. Ballarat Mechanics’ Institute - Bookstock Circulation and Victorian Public Libraries - Total Expenditure between 1870-1905...................................... 199 BIBLIOGRAPHY Bibliography 232 ABSTRACT v This thesis analyses the development of the Ballarat East Free Library (1859), the Ballarat Mechanics’ Institute Library (1859) and the City of Ballaarat Free Library (1878) within the broader context of public librarianship in Victoria between 1851-1900. Mechanics’ Institute libraries and free libraries represent the major derivatives of a nineteenth-century library model that emphasised the pursuit of lifelong learning, private reading and the enjoyment of genteel recreational facilities. The circumstances that led to the formation of an Institute and a free library in Ballarat in 1859 provide a unique opportunity to analyse the public library model for two reasons. These libraries were established in a remarkable goldfield city that enjoyed a number of economic and cultural advantages and secondly, the Ballarat Mechanics’ Institute Library and the Ballarat East Free Library experienced such spectacular growth that by 1880 they were two of the largest public libraries in Australia. However, it is argued that this growth cycle could not be sustained due to a combination of factors including low membership levels, limited funding for recurrent expenditure purposes, and heightened dissatisfaction with the book collections. Libraries began to stagnate in the late-1880s and the magnitude of this collapse in Ballarat, and throughout the colony, was subsequently confirmed with the publication of a national survey of Australian libraries in 1935. The ‘Munn-Pitt’ report found that public libraries had provided a better service in 1880 than at any other time in the next six decades. Four conclusions are drawn in this comparative analysis of the Ballarat Mechanics’ Institute Library, the Ballarat East Free Library, and to a lesser extent, the City of Ballaarat Free Library, between 1851-1900. Firstly, is it shown that the literature places considerable emphasis on the formation of public libraries but is far less critical of the long- term viability of the public library model as it evolved in Ballarat and vi throughout the colony in the nineteenth century. Secondly, whilst Ballarat and its library committees benefited from the city’s prosperity and the entrepreneurial zeal of its pioneers, these same library committees were unable to overcome the structural flaws in the public library model or to dispel the widespread belief that libraries were elitist organisations. As a consequence, membership of the major libraries in Ballarat never exceeded 4% of the total population. Thirdly, it is acknowledged that an absence of records relating to book borrowing habits by individuals limits is a limiting factor, but this problem has been addressed, in part, by undertaking a comparative analysis of collection development policies, invoices, lists of popular authors and books, public comment and the book borrowing patterns of a number of comparable libraries in central Victoria. These resources provide a number of insights into the reading habits of library patrons in Ballarat in the late-nineteenth century. Finally, this thesis focuses on the management policies and practices of each library committee in Ballarat in order to move beyond the traditional explanation for the demise of nineteenth-century libraries and to propose an alternative explanation for the stagnation of public libraries in Ballarat in the mid-1880s. The traditional explanation for the demise of colonial libraries was the sudden reduction in government funding in the 1890s, whereas this thesis argues that a combination of factors, including the unresolved tensions with regard to libraries collection development policies, committee and municipal rivalry, and increasing conservatism, had already damaged the credibility of Ballarat’s libraries by the mid-1880s. It is argued that the intense rivalry between library committees resulted in an unnecessary duplication of services and an inadequate membership base. It is also argued that the increasingly conservative, un-cooperative and uninviting attitudes of these library committees discouraged patronage and as a direct consequence, membership and daily visitor rates of the free and Institute libraries in Ballarat plummeted by 80% between 1880-1900. vii SUMMARY Name of Candidate: Peter Gerald Mansfield Name of thesis: Public Libraries in Ballarat: 1851-1900 Degree: Doctor of Philosophy Supervisors: Assoc. Professor Renate Howe Professor David Walker Summary: This thesis analyses the development of the Ballarat East Free Library, the Ballarat Mechanics’ Institute Library and the City of Ballaarat Free Library within the broader context of public librarianship in Victoria between 1851-1900. Mechanics’ Institutes and Free Libraries were derivatives of a public library model that originated in Britain and was enthusiastically adopted by Victorian colonists in the 1850s. In Ballarat, two rival committees formed the Institute library and the free library in 1859, and both libraries were so successful within two decades they were recognised as two of the largest public libraries in Australia. Another library, the City of Ballaarat Library, had been established in 1878, but by this time there were clear signs that the public library model was not capable of meeting the expectations of committees or of readers. By the mid-1880s all public libraries were stagnating. It is acknowledged that the low level of funding by the colonial government, municipal councils and individual subscribers, was an important factor in the failure of libraries to realise their full potential. However, in this thesis, it is argued that the major problems facing Ballarat’s library committees were largely self-inflicted. The intense rivalry between library committees resulted in an unnecessary viii duplication of services and an inadequate funding base and the disputes about the suitability of the book and journal collection remained unresolved. Finally, the increasingly conservative attitude of library committees discouraged library patronage. This thesis analyses both the period of rapid growth and the stagnation of libraries in Ballarat in the