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Applications for the 2009 - 2010 James Sykes Battye Memorial Fellowship are now closed.

An announcement of the winner will be posted shortly.

To commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the Battye Library, the Library Board of Western Australia established the James Sykes Battye Memorial Fellowship. 

The Fellowship, up to the value of $20 000, has been established through the Leah Jane Cohen Library Bequest. Leah Jane Cohen was a keen supporter of the Library and her enduring generosity will enable others to use the Battye collections to further our understanding of Western Australia. 

The aims of the Fellowship are to:

• Promote the Battye Library as a centre of original research and scholarship in Western Australia;
• Encourage use of the unique collections of the Battye Library; and
• Encourage research, publication, presentation and discussion based on them.
  

James Sykes Battye and the J S Battye Library of West Australian History

On 1 August 1894 James Sykes Battye commenced duty as Librarian of the Victoria Public Library, which had been established in Perth to mark the 1887 Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria. Dr Battye died in office on 15 July 1954 aged 83, having occupied the post for 60 years. An historian who wrote and compiled several books on the history of Western Australia, Dr Battye was an avid collector of Western Australian historical material. He ensured that both archival and printed materials were acquired and preserved, and was responsible for the formation of an Archives Branch of the Public Library in 1945.

The Library Board of Western Australia was established in 1951 and the first State Librarian, Francis Aubie (Ali) Sharr, was appointed in 1953. Plans were made to allow Dr Battye to retire from his position and a retirement package was being drawn up, but he died before it could be formalised.

After Dr Battye’s death, Sharr oversaw a reorganisation of the Public Library of Western Australia into subject divisions. The State Library of Western Australia, as it was renamed, opened on 14 December 1956 with a new section devoted to Western Australian materials. This was named the J S Battye Library of West Australian History and State Archives in honour of the role played by Dr Battye in the collection of Western Australian heritage materials. The adjective ‘West’ was deliberately chosen instead of ‘Western’ to indicate that the focus of the Library went further back than 1829, when Western Australia officially came into existence. Mollie Lukis, who had been head of the Archives Branch, was appointed the first Principal Librarian of the Battye Library, followed by Margaret Medcalf in 1971.

To the present day the Battye Library is the section of the State Library of Western Australia that deals with Westraliana. This includes the collection and preservation of materials such as books, serials, newspapers, maps, ephemera, photographs, oral history, private archives, film, video, websites and other electronic records, and the provision of a reference service based on the collections. Western Australia’s music heritage forms part of the Music Library.

The J S Battye Library of West Australian History is an integral part of the State Library that has a mission to collect and preserve our social and documentary heritage for current and future generations.

Enquiries:

Sarah Brown
Battye Historian
State Library of Western Australia
Phone: 08 9427 3165
Email: sarah.brown@slwa.wa.gov.au