Public Library and Museum of Art, Melbou…

During the 1860s, an art collection was established at the Melbourne Public Library to educate public taste and instruct the worker. The Museum of Art was launched in 1861, and the picture Gallery opened to the public in 1864. When the Public Library Trust was enlarged and the colony’s public collections of literature, art and science were unified in 1870, the public art collections were united to form the National Gallery.