Treasures From The Rare Book Room

Newcastle Library’s heritage collection contains more than 440,000 items in various formats, from mayoral portraits and Snowball’s plate glass negatives to the original Menzies' declaration and the Creer and Berkeley archive of subdivision maps. In these podcasts we explore some of the Treasures from the Rare Book Room. A wide range of Newcastle’s stories have been digitised and can be found online at Newcastle Collections Online.

Episode One: In this episode, Kerrie Shaw our resident Digitisation Specialist is joined by Dr Anne Llewellyn and Vera Deacon to explore Australian Lepidoptera and their transformations drawn from the life and the Scott family who created this natural history work.

Episode Two : Join us in the this podcast as we discuss two topics many of us find close to our hearts, food, and cocktails. The two Newcastle Libraries treasures which inspire this chat are - The Savoy Cocktail Book by Harry Craddock, published in 1933 and 500 Sandwiches by Florence A Cowles, published in 1929 . Both books are part of the Roland Pope bequest of the library’s collection. Join Amorelle from Slow Foods and Carl Kenzler brewer and spirit maker as they discuss cocktails and sandwiches.

Episode Three: In 1922, Florence made her début with the British National Opera Company. At short notice, without stage or orchestral rehearsal, she replaced the lead singer as Brünnhilde in Wagner's The Valkyrie. She was an instant and lasting success. In 1952 she moved to Newcastle and took up a teaching position at the newly formed Newcastle branch of the New South Wales State Conservatorium of Music.

Episode Four: Bees for Dummies. In this podcast, Danielle Lloydd-Prichard of Time to Bee and Mark Page from the NSW Department of Primary Industries will discuss why the bees need help, what you need to know to get started on your bee journey and the action you can take in your own backyard to help keep our bees alive and well in the environment.

Australian Orchids podcast

Welcome to our Australian Orchids podcast as part of Treasures from The Rare Bookroom. A three-part mini-series on the 19th century publication Australian Orchids that put our native varieties of Orchidaceae on the international stage. You can explore this exquisite publication further over on our Treasures from the Rare Book Room page. This podcast mini-series is a part of Treasures from The Rare Bookroom podcast.

Episode One: This episode Sally Stewart, Library at the Royal Botanic Gardens (Melbourne), and Peter Weston, Honorary Research Associate at the National Herbarium of NSW (New South Wales) help us to explore the life and times of ‘Gentleman Botanist’ R.D. Fitzgerald and how his role as the Deputy General Surveyor for the NSW government supported the making of this collection.

Episode Two: This episode Lachlan Copeland from Ego Logical Australia, Doug Beckers from NSW (New South Wales) National Parks and Wildlife joins Peter Weston from the National Herbarium of NSW in explaining why our native orchids are so intrinsically linked to their pollinators. So, what does the world’s kinkiest orchids have to do with a book? Sally Stewart, Librarian from the Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria helps us dive deeper into the evolutionary research correspondence between Fitzgerald, Charles Darwin and Ferdinand von Mueller.

Episode Three: The final episode explores the diversity of landscapes within the Hunter Valley that are conducive to orchids. Lynda McPherson (author, botanical illustrator, and volunteer at the Hunter Region Botanic Garden) joins Lachlan Copeland (Eco Logical Australia) and Doug Beckers (NSW National Parks and Wildlife) to discuss surveys and conservation practices. Peter Weston (National Herbarium of NSW) and Sally Stewart (Librarian at the Royal Botanic Garden Victoria) discuss plant taxonomy and identification, whilst Tony Clark from the Australian Native Orchid Society offers a great community-based way to get involved and learn more.

Love Lambton podcast

Welcome to our Love Lambton Podcast series as part of Treasures from The Rare Bookroom. A three part series based on the published works by Local Historian Julie Keating in conversation style with Robert Watson from Love Lambton and Kerrie Shaw.

Episode One:

Episode Two:

Episode Three: