APLA Chair, Nicole Hunt, shares the key messages from the ALIA Australian Public Libraries Alliance Meeting held in Darwin, 28 August 2025, including key activities from each state.
It was a privilege to visit a number of libraries in Darwin and surrounding areas. A big thank you to all staff at each location – they were so accommodating.
Casuarina Library is the largest and busiest of Darwin’s libraries, located around 12 mins drive from the City.
We then headed out of town around 25 mins up the highway to the new Litchfield Library which is located in the local shopping centre – this branch has only been open in this location for 3 weeks, after being relocated from a joint-use library at Humpty Doo High School. The staff have gone through 3 boxes of new membership cards in the three weeks since opening – which is usually their full annual card supply proving this has been a great move for the library and community.
City of Palmerston Library is located around 30 minutes from Darwin City and is also a well utilised space in the City centre featuring a fantastic recording studio space. The room is large enough to fit in a full band. This library is located in the Piazza and is a quiet refuge from the very busy city markets held on a Friday evening with the branch open until 7pm. Sadly the Manager of this service passed away at work around four weeks ago and this really highlighted the need for CPR for all staff and Defibrillators in all public library spaces. The mural in the photos below has a small wizard added to it in memory of Hayley and a lovely reminder for all of the staff.
Our APLA meeting was held at Libraries and Archives Northern Territory located on Level 1, Charles Darwin University – a stunning new building which features a permanent exhibition Meeting Ground highlighting many stories of the Northern Territory.
