Books That Defined Language: A journey through the Supreme Court Library’s rare and historic dictionaries

Explore the rich history of dictionaries held in the Supreme Court Library and discover fascinating insights into the evolving craft of defining words. Among the Library’s treasures is one of the oldest dictionaries in the collection, dating back to 1541, as well as an early legal dictionary from 1607, offering a glimpse into how legal terminology was once understood. The Library’s significant collection was established by Sir Redmond Barry, then Acting Chief Justice and founder of the Library, and added to by later Supreme Court librarians.

Extra Bonus

A display of books from the library’s collection that relate to this topic will be on display in the Supreme Court Library until 21 August 2026. The display can be visited during the normal opening hours of the library. Entry is free and no bookings are required.The Supreme Court Library (Law Library of Victoria) is at 210 William Street, Melbourne. The opening hours are Monday to Friday from 8.30am to 5pm.

SpeakersAlissa Duke

I didn’t sketch at my own event, so here are some photos. Yes, this is the magnificent LIbrary I work in.

When Wrong Becomes Right in the English Language

For centuries, English has been polished, prodded and policed. But it was the late 18th and early 19th centuries that mark the true golden age of linguistic control, when the urge to perfect and protect the language reached its height. It was also the time when English began to be written about in earnest and complained about in earnest as well. This talk explores the lively industry of late modern grammarians and commentators who identified “errors” in words and sounds that had long been part of everyday speech. Professor Kate Burridge will reveal how these shifting judgements point to a persistent tension: attempts to fix the language are continually undercut by the very dynamism they seek to contain.

Speakers

Professor Kate Burridge

The Poet Who Never Was and (Perhaps) Always Will Be: Ern Malley

In 1943, two bored but talented soldiers in wartime Victoria Barracks Melbourne – James McAuley and Harold Stewart – decided to strike a blow against modernist poetry by submitting a series of poems, purportedly penned by Ern Malley, to literary editors Max Harris and John Reed. The Ern Malley saga links the literary journal Angry Penguins, the Adelaide literary establishment, General Blamey and a future governor-general. Join Michael O’Brien as he unravels the complex story and colourful characters involved in Australia’s greatest literary hoax.

Speakers

Michael O’Brien

Melbourne Rare Book Week

There are over 45 events between 23 July and 1 August in the 12th year of the Melbourne Rare Book Week, culminating in the Melbourne Rare Book Fair, in its 52nd year. All events are free. I have been the official sketcher on location since 2016. Each year I take the week off work and sketch at as many events as I can, sharing my sketches with the MRBW and MRBR Teams and the organisations that I sketch at for them to use in any social media.

I will be posting everyday this week as I share them with everyone as well as keepimg my own personal record of the events. On my sketchbook pages I sketch on location, and write the event name, place, organisation etc. I will also add the information about the session from the MRBW program descriptions.

I sketched at 18 events. There are often four events spread over the day, but sometimes three at the same time. They are all generally within Melbourne CBD, but not always easy to get from one to another . Tough decisions must be made !

Each event is at a different venue, with different rooms,surrounds an attendees. This often inspires the sketch!

I began with …

Sketches of Early Melbourne

Victoria’s Parliamentary Library is the second oldest library in Victoria. The highlight of the Library’s rare book collection is William Strutt’s illustrated album Victoria the Golden. Strutt arrived in Melbourne in 1850 and captured key events in the embryonic colony, from the goldrush to the departure of the Burke and Wills expedition. In later years in England, he compiled his skilful sketches into albums, aware of their historical importance. Join Alisa Bunbury, art historian and curator, to learn about Strutt and his years in Victoria, followed by a rare viewing of the album, alongside other Strutt material held in the Library’s collection.

Suppression of Australian Literature in the Nineteenth Century

The nineteenth century in Australia is particularly interesting from the literary suppression point of view. In this talk, Dr Cains addresses suppression – items of literature withdrawn from the market and not available to the general reader – rather than censorship, a State based activity often invoked to protect the morals of the population. During this period, the Port Phillip colony moved with increasing confidence to self-government and federation, and there were tentative shoots of a domestic literature. But as a young boisterous colony, the excesses of expression and behaviour were curbed, often by legal means and occasionally by literary suppression: some of these instances are the subject of this lecture.

Speakers

Dr  Geoffrey Cains