Before moving to its current building, the State Library existed in many locations around Sydney. Its earliest origins trace back to 1826 when it was a privately owned lending library, which was purchased by the government when it ran into some serious debt.
The library first moved into the Mitchell Wing, a purpose built building in 1910. As the library continued to grow, more wings were built, until the library reached its current size. Some people still refer to the State Library as the Mitchell Library.
There are over 4.7 million items in the library including over 2 million books. Some of the most important documents and records of the colonization of Australia can be found here.
There are regular exhibition at the library of artwork, photography and of history documents.
This is the oldest research library in Australia and it has an extensive collection of Australian manuscripts, including eight of the ten diaries written by those who arrived in the first fleet.
The Mitchell Library has a mosaic depicting the voyages of Abel Tasman in 1642 - 1643. Admission to the library is free.
There are also free exhibitions held in the Mitchell Galleries. Located at Macquarie Street. Take the train to Martin Place or Sydney Explorer, Stop 4. (02 9273 1414).
