Cultural Building sights in Australia
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A
State Library of NSW
The estimable State Library holds over five million tomes, including Captain Cook’s and Joseph Banks’ journals and Captain (later Governor) Bligh’s log from the mutinous HMAV Bounty. Also worth checking out are innovative temporary exhibitions in the galleries, and the elaborately sculpted bronze doors and grand atrium of the neoclassical Mitchell Wing (1910) – an elegant temple of knowledge clad in milky marble, with a map of Tasman’s journeys in the mosaic floor. Beneath one of the windows on the Macquarie St side of the building is a sculpture of explorer Matthew Flinders, with his intrepid cat Trim on hand. Disabled access is excellent.
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B
Customs House
This cavernous harbourside edifice (1885) houses the three-level Customs House Library. There’s a great selection of international newspapers and magazines to scan, as well as internet access and interesting temporary exhibitions. In the lobby, look for the swastikas in the tiling (and the scratched-to-oblivion plaque explaining their symbolism); and a charmingly geeky 1:500 Sydney model under a glass floor. The fab Café Sydney is on the top floor.
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C
Allport Library & Museum of Fine Arts
The Allport Library & Museum of Fine Arts is inside the State Library. It has a collection of rare books on Australasia and the Pacific region, as well as colonial paintings, antiques, and a collection of artworks that it displays several times a year.
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D
State Library of South Australia
The newspaper reading room in the State Library has publications from around the world - these come by surface mail, so don't expect yesterday's (or even last week's) editions.
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