Time Travellers in Essendon, Flemington and the Keilor Plains

Libraries - Hygienic, Public, Circulating

Girdwood's Hygienic Library sign at 44 Pinoak Crescent.  Photo: Lenore Frost, 2015.

Known local circulating libraries

Flemington

134 Bellair St,

V Rule, 1935

1 Gower St

Regent, 1944/45

170 Gower St

Precedent, 1940

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95 Macaulay Rd  (now No 475)

W A Sharp, Authorised Newsagency and Circulating Library, 1907

W A Sharp had run a newsagency in  Kensington from as early as 1897 when his agency in Macaulay Road was listed as an agent for 'Tocsin'.  He may have been there some years earlier if 'over a score of years' cited in his obituary was accurate.  The signwork on his shop gave prominence to his circulating library, but it never appeared in the advertising. This photo appeared in The Story of The Trams edited by James McJunkin in 1907, and more recently in Federation Times of Essendon and Flemington, published by the Essendon Historical Society in 2001, edited by Lenore Frost.

The promotional material in The Story of the Trams indicated that books for the circulating library were selected carefully from the 'best authors'.  New books were added every month and the subscription cost two shillings and sixpence.

Obituary.

Widespread regret has been expressed, especially in the Newmarket  and Kensington district, at the demise of Mr. W. A. Sharp, who was  well-known and  respected as a business man and citizen by all who came in contact with him. For over a score of years, Mr. Sharp was associated with the newsagency so well known at Kensington and almost up to the time  of his death which occurred at a private hospital on 30th May, he personally looked after his business, which had grown to large dimensions. Much sympathy is felt for his widow and daughter in their loss of a loving husband and father. Mr. Sharp is greatly missed by a large coterie of  friends,  not only in the district in which he lived, but by his numerous acquaintances in other parts.

Obituary. (1914, June 18). The Essendon Gazette and Keilor, Bulla and Broadmeadows Reporter (Moonee Ponds, Vic. : 1914 - 1918), p. 2 (Morning.). Retrieved December 26, 2016, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article74493401

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489 Macaulay Rd

• ·        Cobb's, 1940, 1944/45, 1951
• ·        Cullen's, 1955, 1957, 1960

530 Macaulay Rd, Kensington

'The Hilltop' Library, 1936 (Trove)

Advertising. (1936, December 5). The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957), p. 41 Supplement: Week-End Magazine. Retrieved August 1, 2015, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article11944215

268 Racecourse Rd

Mrs P Rigg, 1935

290 Racecourse Rd

• ·        Miss M Looby, 1940, 1944/45
• ·        Mrs M Barrow, 1951, 1955, 1957

315 Racecourse Rd

• ·        D Mashford, 1935
• ·        Don Book Club, 1940, 1944/45

18 Railway Place

Newmarket, 1960

44 Railway Place

Girdwood's newsagency, from about 1943 to 1954.

72 Railway Place

S F Harrison, 1935

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