Established in 1854 as the Melbourne Public Library, State Library Victoria is Australia’s oldest public library and one of the first free libraries in the world. With over 2million annual visitors to the iconic Melbourne building, it’s also one of the busiest libraries in the world. As the custodian of Victoria’s history, each year the library adds more than 70,000 heritage items to its rich collection of articles, artworks, manuscripts, books, journals, artefacts and much more.