In the 1950s when I was growing up in the Housing Commission area of West Ivanhoe we received most of our services in place. There was the horse drawn bread cart which daily promised fresh warm crusts for the sibling who could get to the driver first. Vegetables came each Thursday on Joe’s canvas enclosed Truck and the Ice Man on weekends. But the highlight for me was the arrival of the City of Heidelberg Mobile Library which dispensed nourishment for the imagination and dreams for the pubescent mind.
Climbing into the shelf lined bus I loved the feel and smell of each book and the excitement generated by the purple date stamp, firmly imprinted on the back page by a friendly Librarian. This authorised my ownership of all contained in the book until the purple date arrived and the Mobile Library was to round, yet again, the corner of my street
But, between the date of acquisition and return of the Mobile Library, untold joys, adventures, mysteries and characters inhabited my world and moulded my views; gifts from talented and creative writer’s minds that gave life to each book.
And, now as a Senior, I’ve lived my life here and abroad according to the stories provided by that Mobile Library and the Librarians of my childhood. The City of Heidelberg has been swallowed up by the City of Banyule and I now live in Rosanna, a few kilometres from my childhood home and visit Rosanna Library for the ongoing nourishment of my worldly and experienced mind.
And, it came to pass, that at Rosanna Library, my life was destined for another significant change. Returning home in 2012 after an extended stay overseas I asked the Librarian, on my visit to the Library, if she had ‘ever met anyone who stood in Buckingham Palace in her underwear’?
The amused Librarian asked me to explain and then exclaimed “why don’t you deliver a Talk and tell us about it”. It’s Seniors Week soon and would make such a change from our usual Superannuation Talk”. “Oh, I couldn’t do that’ I replied”. “Yes you can” said the Librarian. “I will book you in”. And, so, this week, six years later, I delivered a Talk, No. 220, through word of mouth. A public Speaker I’ve now become.
Thank you Rosanna Librarians for the contribution you have made to the achievement of my colourful life.
Beverley Moss
June 2019
Photo: City of Heidelberg Mobile Library, ca 1959, Yarra Plenty Regional Library collection
