BACKWARD GLANCE: Nambour Library

With the closure of the Nambour and Heritage Library for refurbishment this week, Monday 18 October to Sunday 24 October, we are reminded just how much the library space and location has changed over the years.

Many may be surprised that the library was officially opened in the present building on 23 December 1986 and this year celebrates its 35th anniversary on the site.

Nambour Library opened in 1913 as a Library & Public Reading Room in the Nambour Town Hall (where Centenary Square now stands).

In 1925 it moved into its own premises adjacent to the Town Hall. When fire destroyed the building in 1929, the Library temporarily relocated to Chadwick Chambers. It re-opened in a new brick building on its former site in October 1930.

Maroochy Shire Council officially took over control of the Nambour Town Library in December 1960 and renamed it the ‘Maroochy Municipal Library. In 1968 the Shire Chairman, Ed De Vere described the Library as "the shabbiest building in Nambour”. It was some 13 years later when the Library moved into the old Commonwealth Bank building in Currie Street where it remained till moving to the present site.

As in the past, it is with ‘great excitement’ that we look forward to the re-opening of the library – this time on Monday 25 October to an enhanced and refurbished space.

Thanks to Sunshine Coast Council’s Heritage Library and Picture Sunshine Coast.

Library and Reading Room located in the upper storey of the Town Hall and Council Chambers adjacent to the Empire Hall, Nambour, 1920

Excavator at work on the construction site for the Nambour Library, Currie Street, Nambour, April 1986 

Nambour Library in the former Commonwealth Bank building Currie Street, Nambour, 20 June 1986

Artist working on a relief sculpture 'From the mountains to the sea' on the external wall of Nambour Library, Currie Street, Nambour, 1992

Nambour Public Library, Bury Street, Nambour, ca 2000