Kathleen Syme Library reaches a major milestone

The Kathleen Syme Library and Community Centre will celebrate its 10th anniversary this June, with the legacy of of Miss Syme continuing to loom large over the city.

To mark the occasion, on Saturday, June 21, the City of Melbourne will host a celebratory event featuring music, interactive drumming workshops, face painting, and other children’s activities.

Lord Mayor Nick Reece said, “since 2015, the community has embraced the centre as a second home, with more than two million visits and 19,000 bookings by more than 4000 local groups and organisations.”

Kathleen Syme OBE was an Australian journalist, businesswoman and welfare worker who played a pivotal role in the establishment of the University of Melbourne’s Women’s College and the growth of the Royal Women’s Hospital.

In 1972, the library building at 251 Faraday St, Carlton, became the Kathleen Syme Education Centre, a highly respected training facility for Royal Women’s Hospital nurses.

It wasn’t until 2015 that it was transformed into the library and community hub that is loved by Carlton residents today, with the legacy of Miss Syme living on despite its new purpose.

The venue has provided the community with an extensive catalogue of borrowable items, a creative technology Makerspace, meeting and multipurpose rooms, a recording studio, garden spaces, and a commercial kitchen.

However, before all this, the building began its life as an independent school in the 1850s and became the very first government school in Carlton in the late 1860s.

Despite serving many purposes throughout the building’s 150-year history, it has always supported the residents of Carlton.

The council’s community, health and city services portfolio head Cr Gladys Liu said, “In this beautiful 150-year-old building, we honour the legacy of Kathleen Syme – a woman who devoted her life to public service and community welfare.”

“It feels especially fitting that her name lives on in a place dedicated to inclusion and support.” •