Late Bloomers

A late bloomer is defined as one whose talents are not visible to others until later in life. So in honour of Seniors Week, let's consider some well known literary late bloomers.

• Laure Ingalls Wilder became a newspaper columnist in her forties but did not publish the first book in the Little House series until her sixties.
• The first volume of Flora Thompson's Lark Rise to Candleford trilogy was published when she was 63.
• The Pulitzer Prize winning Angela's Ashes was published when Frank McCourt was in his 66th year.
• Mary Wesley's writing career didn't take off until after her first novel was published at age 70 (but she had written two children's books in her late fifties).
• Jean Rhys' best known work Wild Sargasso Sea was first published in 1976 when she was 76.

So celebrate Seniors Week by trying these and other "late bloomers" available from Hurstville Library.

IF THESE WALLS COULD TALK

Stories from 14 MacMahon Street – How it all began

The land where our Museum & Gallery is located today was part of a large block of land, owned by the MacMahon family. Irish migrant Patrick MacMahon and his wife Dora McDonough purchased it in the 1880s, with the boundaries being today MacMahon, Dora and Patrick Streets and Stoney Creek Road. The estate was gradually subdivided between the late 19th century and 1939.

In the late 1920s, young doctor John Saxon Crakanthorp, residing at 1 Butler Street in Hurstville, was looking for a place to build his new family home and doctor’s practice. He bought parts of the MacMahon’s estate. The doctor chose the location well to establish a doctor’s practice – just across the road of Hurstville and District United Friendly Society Pharmacy. The dispensary has been located at 17 MacMahon Street since 1915.

The image below was taken in 1923, depicting the candidates for the Hospital and Ambulance Queen Competition parading through MacMahon Street. The background reveals the pharmacy building.

Courtesy of Hurstville City Library Museum & Gallery collection

These are just some of the stories of 14 MacMahon Street. Come and visit the multisensory exhibition IF THESE WALLS COULD TALK to find out more about the building’s past.

Exhibition is proudly sponsored by

Library Lover's Day

If kicking back watching a romantic movie is your favourite way of spending Valentine's Day, then we recommend:

Silver Linings Play Book
The Vow
The Notebook
Restless
The Holiday
Breakfast At Tiffany's
Water For Elephants
Must Love Dogs
When Harry Met Sally
Sleepless in Seattle
An Officer and A Gentleman

But love doesn't always have a Hollywood ending so here are some of our favourite stories of love gone wrong 

Transtalanticism - Death Cab for Cutie (CD)

Red Taylor - Swift (CD)
No More Shall We Part - NickCave (CD)
Carmen - Georges Bizet (CD)
Madam Bovary - Gustave Flaubert(Bk)
Never Let Me Go - Kazuo Ishigura(Bk, DVD)
Rough Music - Patrick Gale (Bk)
Past the Shallows - FavelParrett (Bk)
A Separation - Asghar Farhadi(DVD)
Brokeback Mountain - Ang Lee(DVD, Bk)
The Return - Anrey Zvyagintsev
Jude the Obscure (or almostanything else by..) - Thomas Hardy (eBk)
The Age of Innocence - EdithWharton (audioBk)
Idiot Wind - Bob Dylan (songdownload)

and you can borrow or download everything for free from Hurstville LMG

Valentines and Library Lovers Day

"Today is Valentine's Day - or, as men like to call it, Extortion Day!"

Jay Leno

Valentines Day; a celebration of all things romantic. But what form can romance take? Traditional? Or something more, shall we say, adventurous?  Mr Darcy? Or Christian Grey? Fifty Shades of Grey was our most popular romance title in the last twelve months followed by the venerable Pride and Prejudice so maybe we prefer a bit of both.

In any event the 14th of February is also Library Lovers Day, a day for celebrating all things that we love about libraries. And we even have a book on that subject too, appropriately called The Library Book. So whatever takes your fancy, come to Hurstville Library and you may find a new reading partner to celebrate the day with.

 

AACTA Awards - Free Movies

The 3rd AACTA Awards were held on Thursday 30 January in Sydney. The awards recognise the best Australian movies and television programs of the previous year.

If you missed any of these great Aussie films on the big or small screen, check out Hurstville City Library's DVD collection and borrow a copy. It's free to join and borrow from the library.

The big winner for 2014 was The Great Gatsby winning for Best Film; Best Direction; Best Original Screenplay; Best Adapted Screenplay; Best Cinematography; Best Editing and Best Sound.

Dead Europe - nominated for Best Film and Best Adapted Screenplay
Mystery Road - nominated for Best Film; Best Direction; Best Original Screenplay; Best Editing and  Best Sound - this item is on order
The Rocket - winner of Best Original Screenplay; nominated for Best Film;Best Direction; Best Cinematography; Best Editing and Best Sound this item is on order
Satellite Boy - nominated for Best Film and Best Sound
Tim Winton's The Turning - nominated for Best Film; Best Direction; Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Editing - this item is on order
Top of the Lake won Best Television Feature/Mini Series
Please Like Me won Best Comedy or Light Entertainment -this item is on order 
Mrs Biggs won Best Editing in Television
Lachy Hulme won Best Lead Actor and Luke Ford for Best Guest or Supporting Actor in a Television Drama in Power Games: the Packer-Murdoch Story
Shaun Micallef won Best Performance in a Television Comedy for Mad As Hell - this item is on order
Redfern Now series 2 won Best Television Drama this item is on order
Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries series 2 episode 1 won Best Costume Design in Television
Resdesign My Brain won Best Documentary Television Program and nominated for Best Direction in a Documentary
Kakadu episode 4 won Best Cinematography in A Documentary - this item is on order
Red Obsession won Best Feature Length Documentary and Best Direction in a Documentary
100 Bloody Acres nominated for Best Original Screenplay - this item is on order
Drift nominated for Best Original Screenplay and Best Cinematography
I Am A Girl nominated for Best Feature Length Documentary; Best Direction in a Documentary and Best Cinematography in a Documentary - this item is on order
Accidental Soldier nominated for Best Television Feature or Mini Series
Adoration nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay - this item is on order
Goddess nominated for Best Cinematography
Jabbed - Love, Fear and Vaccines - nominated for Best Documentary Television Program
First Footprints nominated for Best Documentary Television Program
Aim High In Creation  nominated for Best Direction in a Documentary
Wentworth series 1 nominated for Best Television Drama Series this item is on order