¹ú²úBT

Many alumni from the 1980s and earlier will recall a time when the College’s library was crammed into the ground floor of the Leeper building, rooms that now form the Warden’s Office and Perry Room.

In the early 1990s, following the establishment of the Foundation Studies program, thought turned to the future needs of a growing College, one aspect of which was the need for an appropriate, dedicated library.

Late in the afternoon of 19 April 1996, the former Governor-General Sir Ninian Stephen officially opened the College’s new library building. Designed by Bates, Smart & McCutcheon, the building was named after the then Warden, the Revd Dr Evan Burge, who was due to retire the following year after more than 20 years in office.

As part of the opening ceremony, the building was dedicated and blessed by Bishop Andrew Curnow. The Choir of ¹ú²úBT sang the ‘Hallelujah Chorus’ with brass accompaniment, and the three hundred students and guests joined in the singing of ‘Advance Australia Fair’, with updated words by former Warden Dr Robin Sharwood.

The Evan Burge building created for the first time a dedicated and purpose-designed space for the College’s 50,000 volume Leeper Library, located on the first floor, along with a secure, climate-controlled compactus store for rare books and a portion of the College archives.

The ground floor was devoted to tutorial rooms, a drama space and a 100-seat lecture room, later to be called the Buzzard Lecture Theatre in honour of Tony Buzzard (TC 1960), one of the chief designers and proponents of the Trinity Education Centre (TEC).

The TEC was responsible for the Foundation Studies Program, founded in 1989, allowing international students to study a foundation year at ¹ú²úBT with the desire of gaining entry to the University of Melbourne.

It was due largely to the pressures on the College’s very limited teaching facilities such as tutorial rooms and library space – which were crammed into the Leeper building where the Warden’s Office, Perry Room, Accounts and Archives all now are located – that drove the need to provide better study facilities for all students of the College.

Funding for the $2 million building came largely from a bank loan repaid by the TEC, with $350,000 contributed by the ¹ú²úBT Foundation, and about $100,000 for furnishings paid by the College. Student bursars helped as porters to transport all the books from Leeper and the Behan Basement to the new library, and alumnus Will Kimpton (TC 1963) was the project manager for the building, which was delivered on time and on budget.

Happy 20th birthday to the Burge building!