Welcome

We hope that the New Year will be the start of great things to come for you and your families, your ambitions and aspirations. 

We started the New Year with positive feedback on the newly launched Juniper App that we wanted to share with you. This is an extract from a letter written by Dr Peter Williams to the State Library:

“I now see the power of digital technology.  I now know the beauty of what that technology can do … what I saw was startlingly beautiful …”

He writes that he was “simply blown away” by the way the story of Robert Juniper, Juniper’s paintings and the story of Mason Judy have come together.  
Dr Peter Williams, is a Fellow of the Library Board of WA and has donated an extensive collection of original children’s book illustrations to the Library.

Download the Juniper App for yourself and see if you agree with Dr Williams that he “could almost smell the landscape with its diversity of grasses and trees and bushes and the earth itself … see trees bend as the breeze wanders across the landscape.”

You can find the link to the App on the State Library WA www.slwa.wa.gov.au Or from the Google Play Store and iTunes

In December 2015 - The App won a Silver Award in the 2015 AUS [App] Design Awards, Government Services category. This success was made possible with funding from BHP Billiton Iron Ore and is an outstanding achievement for the funding outcome.

Happy viewing - remember to share your thoughts on the Juniper App with others … follow us on Twitter and Facebook ….

On the Homefront

Can you help us to reach the target for the On the Homefront appeal - to digistise some of WA's regional newspapers from the World War 1 period? Thanks to your generosity you have helped us to raise more than three quarters of our target – with 19 of the 26 newspapers now available on Trove. The Tambellup Times is one of the newspapers recently digitised:

Extracts from the Tambellup Times. Published Wednesdays and Saturday. Price One Penny.
February 9, 1918 - News in Brief
“Lord Robert Cecil states he agrees with President Wilson that this year will decide the war, and considers that February; March and April will be the testing months.”
Meanwhile at home:
 “The authorities notify that it is an infringement of the Rabbit Act for any person to be found in possession of a live rabbit. The fine attachable to the offence is 100 [pounds], and proceedings are to be taken against anyone so offending.”

And life in Tambellup continues...

Picnic at Tambellup, 22 November 1917. At far left: Mary Ellen Bradshaw.
Image provided courtesy of State Library WA Call#117379PD

You can visit the On the Homefront page which gives the background to the project and the full list of newspapers.  

Your donation now will help us complete our target so that even more of our precious stories can be preserved for posterity and accessed electronically.  To donate please click on the GiveNow button below.  
Every donation, no matter the amount, will help us in this endeavour to preserve our important stories.  

Thank you for your generous support.

What's On in the Library

The Seymour Biography Lecture, + Our Love Affair with the Beach, Sunday 14 February

For information and tickets to The Seymour Biography Lecture book now via eventbrite.com.au 

Join one of our favourite authors and The West Australian’s weekly columnist Robert Drewe at the State Library for his presentation of The Seymour Biography Lecture. The Lecture is supported by Dr John and Mrs Heather Seymour AO, in association with the National Library of Australia.

Robert Drewe is one of Australia’s most prominent literary authors. His writing has been shaped by the Swan River and the Indian Ocean coast. The Seymour Biography Lecture is titled “Who, Me?” and reflects on the Memoir in Literature.

11:00am Robert Drewe delivers the The Seymour Biography Lecture

12:30pm Join in the panel discussion with Robert Drewe, Brett McCarthy and Gemma Tognini to discuss “How much does the beach influence the lives of West Australians?” 

For more information on the lecture and afternoon panel discussions click here and for tickets to The Seymour Biography Lecture go to Eventbrite.

We hope to see you there. 

Jane King 
Executive Director