Sutherland Shire Libraries News

All are sad to see the old Cronulla library go, we have had some great times. As we get ready to make the move to a new home in Croydon Street we look back fondly on our little cosy library.It hasn’t always been a library; the building was built back in 1908 as the first Methodist church in Cronulla.

Cronulla was booming by the 1950’s, so in 1955 council decided to open a branch library at Cronulla. A portion of the School of arts building (1912) in Surf road was leased for this purpose. However, by 1962 the premises was considered to be inadequate and it wasn’t until 1969 that the old church was used for a separate children’s library with the adult library following in 1975.

Cronulla Library will continue to occupy the current building until September 19th 2009. (For more information about Cronulla’s and it's old buildings view them online or contact our Local Studies section at Sutherland Library Ph. 9710 0225).

It is time to say goodbye and to move on to bigger and better things. So farewell to Cronulla Library as we know it, your memory will live on in us. Please share your memories by commenting, so they can live on long after it has moved.

Two new Trails have been added to Picture Sutherland Shire, our online collection of historical images of the Sutherland Shire.

Business in the Sutherland Shire revisits some of the shops and streetscapes of the early days of the Sutherland Shire. Who knows, perhaps you might recognise one of the staff of Vallance's Stores?

Leisure in the Sutherland Shire brings together a collection of images showing what people did and where they went to spend their leisure time in the first 50 years or so of the Sutherland Shire.

Do you have old photos of the Shire?
The Library actively collects photographs of the Sutherland Shire which are of historical interest. Enquiries regarding the donation of local history material should be directed to the Local Studies Librarian at Sutherland Library.

The Sutherland Shire Heritage Festival is on now and if you're looking for something to do this weekend why not give find our a bit about the history of our local area. The full program of events is available from the Sutherland Shire Council web site but forgive me if I focus on one of the events that are being run by our own Local Studies Librarian.

Cronulla Walking Tour

Sunday 1 April, 9.30am - 11.30am
Take a guided walk from Cronulla Beach around the foreshore of Port Hacking, visiting some of the historically significant sites in the area. The walk finishes back at the Cronulla Surf Life Saving Club where there is an exhibition of historic photographs of the Cronulla Area. Telephone 9710 0225 for more information or to make a booking. (limit of 25 places)

Once you've had a wander through the exhibition make your way up the hill to Cronulla Park and enjoy the sounds of the Symphony by the Sea, a free performance by the Sutherland Shire Symphony Orchestra.

We flagged the redesign of our online collection of historical photographs in this New Year post. Well, the redesign is complete and the new version, dubbed Picture Sutherland Shire, is now live.


The original set of historical photographs is held in the Library's Local Studies collection. To improve access to the photos and to limit the handling of the originals we have scanned the majority of the collection and made them available online. You can search the collection by keyword but if you're stuck for ideas we have put together a couple of picture trails to get you started. Try our Beaches trail for instance...

If you are interested in historical photos and other archival images you might also like to dig around in Picture Australia, the National Library's image searching service. Picture Australia is a search service that provides access to the collections of many other institutions such as the State Library of NSW.

Now it's your turn.

Upload your photos of the Sutherland Shire to Flickr and tag them with SutherlandProject. Let's see whether we can create a contemporary record of the Sutherland Shire in pictures.

Just in time for christmas the latest book on the history of the Sutherland Shire is now available. Called, Sutherland Shire: A History, the new publication was commisioned by Council to celebrate the Centenary of the Sutherland Shire.

All Sutherland Shire Libraries have copies of the book for loan. It is also available for purchase from
Dymocks Miranda, Unleashed Books at Miranda, Engadine Book Centre, Hazelhurst Regional Gallery and Council's customer service centre for $39.95.

The book will be officially launched in December as part of the Centenary Celebrations. Visit the Sutherland Shire Council web site for more information about the Centenary of the Shire celebrations.

Welcome to the new Sutherland Shire Libraries Weblog. The blog is where we will be posting all the news about what's going on in the libraries around the Shire. You can find out about special events, new additions to the library collection and the web site, get tips on searching for information and generally keep up to date with with news from your local library.

We'd love to hear what you think so please comment on the posts we write and let us know how we're doing.