Fraser, Hannah and Hattie discovered a fantasy world full of activities through the “Hobbit Door” at Orange City Library these school holidays. We are celebrating 130 years of JRR Tolkien and are inviting children to try our Eye Spy Test, make Elven Crowns, try the Lord of the Rings Library Scurry and take the Middle Earth Quest.

The epic fantasy Eye Spy tests your knowledge of Hobbits, while the Lord of the Rings Library Scurry will have you searching high and low, and the Middle Earth Quest requires more detailed combing of books on the shelves, and look out for Librarians with elf ears!!! See you in Middle Earth (Orange City Library) during the school holidays.

Celebrate the 130^th anniversary of John Ronald Reuel or JRR Tolkien – an English writer, poet and academic famous for penning The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. We will be celebrating all things fantasy with lots of activities. Tolkien is regarded as the father of modern fantasy literature.

Check out our epic fantasy Eye Spy, Library Scurry, Middle Earth Quest, Dungeons and Dragons for beginners, Lego Club, and a Lego LOTR/Hobbit session featuring miniature construction.

Please book your place online https://tinyurl.com/5fwsf3cz or call us on 6393 8132.

See you in Middle Earth!

Australia will hold a National Day of Mourning to observe Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, tomorrow – Thursday 22 September 2022. Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese said, “It will be a one-off national public holiday to allow people to pay their respects for the passing of Queen Elizabeth.”

All our Libraries will be closed for the day – Blayney, Canowindra, Cowra, Forbes, Manildra, Molong and Orange. Usual hours resume on Friday 23 September – thank you.

We have a new date for our author visit with Adam Courtenay launching his latest book Three Sheets to the Wind: Why a motley crew of merchant seamen walked 600 miles to save 7,000 gallons of rum at  Cowra Library on Thursday 29 September at 2pm, and Orange City Library from 5.30pm to 7pm.  The date was changed from 22 September due to the Queen’s Memorial Public Holiday. 

When in 1796, Calcutta-based Scottish merchants Campbell & Clark dispatched an Indian ship hurriedly renamed the Sydney Cove to the colony of New South Wales, they were hoping to make their fortune. But when the Sydney Cove went down north of Van Dieman’s Land, cargo master William Clark and sixteen other crew members were compelled to walk 600 miles to Sydney Town to get help to save the rest of the crew and the precious goods. Assisted by at least six Indigenous clans on his journey, Clark saw far more country than Joseph Banks ever did, and his eventual report to Governor Hunter led to far-reaching consequences for the colony. And the rum? Find out more about this true story when Adam is our guest at Orange City Library. Please book your place online for Cowra or call us on 6340 2180, or Orange City Library online or call 6393 8132. 

It is History Week and Central West Libraries is celebrating the theme Hands on History with the success of Recollect Central West – a digital platform where collections can be shared online.

Statistics show a total of 7,558 items including 767 documents and 6,646 photographs are on the Recollect site and there have been more than half a million hits since the March launch!!!!

The Top 10 items viewed were:

1. CWD Negatives
2. Orange & District Historical Society
3. Tourist Hotel
4. Construction of Orange Olympic Pool
5. Summer Street
6. Emmco Cadet Engineer
7. Maps and Plans
8. Celebrating Orange 75 years of Orange as a city and 175 years of Orange as a village
9. [email protected]
10. Orange Small Schools Association presents 2013 OSSA Schools Spectacular Mamma Mia, Not Another Musical

The community can register with the site, become a member, and contribute photos, stories and memories about the Central West as well as update information about who is in a photo or where it was taken. Or they can just search the site. Visit Recollect at https://centralwest.recollect.net.au/ It is a free community resource.