Burnley Campus: Rare Book Collection

The Burnley Rare Books Collection comprises horticultural books, documents, journals, handwritten ledgers and collections of individual supplements and tables relating to the history of the University of Melbourne's Burnley Campus since its establishment as a horticultural teaching college in 1891. Since its establishment to the present day, the Burnley Campus has remained a continuous place of horticultural education and its Rare Book Collection is the only known horticultural collection that remains on the site it was established.

With publication dates ranging from 1782 to 2012, the Collection is a valuable source of information on the history of horticultural development in Australia, horticultural and agricultural education and plant development and experimentation. The Collection also records environmental changes and land development in Victoria over the past century, and contains much data on plant varieties and species. In addition the Collection contains items that outline the layout and history of the horticultural development at the site, and items that give a valuable and unique insight into life as a student, educational culture, horticultural practice and society from the late 1800s.

For further information on the collection contact Special Collections.