The rare and pre-eminent collection of periodicals and cultural artefacts are part of the State Library’s regional storage centre, which boats the largest archived collection in the state. 

In fact, if all the pieces of the historic treasures were laid out, the collection would span more than 50 kilometres long.

Tucked away in the sublime collection is everything from Captain James Cook’s waistcoat, the first ever sketches of the Ballarat Base Hospital hidden beside a bright blue millennium top hat. 

The state government recently announced more than $23 million would be pumped into protecting Victoria’s most precious treasures with storage centre expansion in Ballarat.

Master plans have already been canvassed to double the size of the Ballarat storage centre through attaching another collection storage module.

SEE SOME OF THE HIDDEN TREASURES HERE

Demand for space means it has outgrown the existing centre in a trend which has also seen storage in Victorian galleries and museums bursting at the seams.

State Library manager of storage and digital services, Sarah Slade said the boost was part of a $23 billion investment into arts and culture dubbed the Creative State by Minister for Creative Industries Martin Foley.

“The really interesting thing with state libraries and Victoria and the collection is that they continue to grow to reflect to what society is producing and what they want to have access to now and into the future,” she said.

Ms Slade said although there has been a shift from physical to digital collections, people are still producing objects they want to preserve into the future. 

Ms Slade also weighed in the multi-million dollar mega library complex proposed at the derelict Civic Hall site. 

She said a library in the heart of the Central Business District had the ability to transform a city centre and maximise public space.  

“The fact that the state library’s main building is in the centre of Melbourne means that it is regarded as almost like the community’s library, the community’s lounge room,” she said.

“People feel a strong personal connection to it, as though it is their own space.”

“I think it’s important to for a city like Ballarat to have something like that in the centre of the city so people see it constantly when they are in the city, they can use it as their own, they feel personally connected to it.”

Storage space always has to be considered alongside preservation, conservation and environmental needs. 

Climate conditions inside the storage centre are critical to preserving the collection, Ms Slade said.

Temperature helps to determine the rate of chemical change in materials and is also an important factor in biological and physical deterioration. For this reason, the temperature is permanently set at 21 degrees Celsius, while humidity inside the centre never surpasses 55 per cent.

The new centre will be completed by 2018.