May 1, 2014

98 years of historic Illawarra paper now online

Wollongong City Council Libraries in conjunction with the University of Wollongong have now made 98 years of the Illawarra Mercury available online.

Council Library staff and University staff have been working to digitise more than 60,000 pages of the Illawarra Mercury from 1856 to 1954.

The pages have been scanned from copies of the paper held by the State Library of New South Wales and are now freely available for searching and download through the National Library of Australia’s TROVE database.

“Free online access to copies of the Illawarra Mercury from the 1850s to the 1950s will greatly assist researchers, students and family historians,” said Margie Jantti, Director Library Services at the University of Wollongong.

Council’s Manager Library and Community Services Neroli Blakeman said the Illawarra Mercury is a significant historic resource, covering news and events for the city over an extensive, uninterrupted period.

“This will be a great service not only to historians but to other people who are interested in their family background or what was happening in their own village over those 98 years,” Ms Blakeman said.

The digitised Illawarra Mercury 1856 – 1950 is available at http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/title/669 and from 1950 – 1954 at http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/title/670

Copies of the Illawarra Mercury from 1954 to the present day are available in the Reference section of the Central Library.

Media contact: Jacqueline Wales, UOW Media & PR Officer, 4221 4582 or jwales@uow.edu.au