50th Anniversary of Public Libraries

It was a great day to celebrate 50 years of public libraries at the Fremantle Esplanade on Sunday 21 November 2004. The festivities ranged from a party picnic, celebrity readings from local celebrities Monika Kos, Kate Lamont, Nathan Hobby, a speaker's corner as well as free entertainment, face painting and a sausage sizzle. It was great to see the number of red balloons saying "I love my library" walking or floating around Fremantle.

The very first West Australian public library service commenced at York in 1954. Today there are 238 public libraries around the state. They vary from a few shelves in council shire offices through to state of the art buildings in metropolitan Perth. All of them aspire to the same principle; the freedom to read.

Thank you to everyone who came and big thanks to the working group who worked tirelessly to make this event a success. Sister events in Geraldton, Bunbury and Rockingham were also well attended.

Michelle Ledger

50th anniversary of public libraries

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