In one of its earliest decisions, the first Queensland Parliament voted in 1860 to begin a Parliamentary Library with an initial establishment cost of 1300 pounds. Books dating back to this initial purchase are housed in the Parliament’s O'Donovan Library. This collection of rare and historical books includes the journals of Captain James Cook's various voyages 1768-1780, early Australian sea and land expedition publications (Darwin, Mitchell, Flinders, Oxley, Leichhardt, Jardine, La Perouse), a Spanish English dictionary from 1599, the Complete Works of Voltaire (70 volumes, 1784) and Diggles, S. Ornithology of Australia (1866-70). The O'Donovan collection was opened to the public for the first time on Saturday 17 May 2003.
