The Royal United Services Institute of Victoria (RUSI Victoria) seeks to encourage the discussion of National Security and Defence matters, and to improve public awareness and understanding of them.

Our military Library, recognised as a collection of national importance, is focussed on Australia and New Zealand and our regions. It extensively covers Army, Navy and Air Force from both historical and strategic perspectives. Among our 30,000 items are many rare and unique items including unpublished manuscripts, letters, military instructional pamphlets, sheet music, maps and diaries.

The library encourages use by the public. Entry is free. Members of RUSI may borrow books. We can mail books to you. We have wifi & copying facilities available. Our librarians will advise and assist your research and are experts in their fields.

RUSI Victoria has an active intern program. We welcome enquiries from undergraduate and post-graduate students wishing to obtain credits for outposted study. Fields of study include history; defence strategy; international relations; media studies & librarianship.

 We always welcome donations: please contact our secretary.

Location:    B Block, Victoria Barracks

                    256-310 St Kilda Rd

                    Southbank  Victoria 3006

                       Australia

Visits:         Contact us on 03 9282 5918 or email [email protected]

Our Library began its collection in 1890, the year of the founding of what was then called the United Service Institution of Victoria. One of our early Honorary Secretaries was John Monash.

Many of Victoria's eminent military collectors have given us their books and associated items, adding to the depth of our library.

We welcome visitors and researchers. You will need to bring photo ID (such as a driver's licence) and give us at least 24 hours notice.

We're open on Mondays and Thursdays between 9.30 & 4.30

Email [email protected] to arrange individual or group visits

We are actively collecting in the following areas:

Children's books on war

The music of the world wars

'Silk' maps

Transcriptions of diaries and letters of both world wars

Australian war poetry, both by men and women

Maps of the Gallipoli campaign

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders in the Armed Forces

Military maps of the First a& Second World Wars and the Korean and Vietnam wars

Australian military instructional pamphlets

Volunteering

Our Library is exclusively run by voluntary help. Please contact our Secretary if you would like to assist in this interesting and rewarding work.

Currently being catalogued

We are currently cataloguing:

*  a large number of pdf books from the Emperor's Library (see: https://www.emperorslibrary.com)

*  a large proportion of our collection of the publications of the Allied          Geographical Section

*  our collection of magazines

*  the majority of our map collection

Research Opportunities

Help us 'bring to life' items in our rich collection! Many books, maps and archives in our library need to have their story researched and told. Would you like to help? Contact our Secretary at [email protected] for further details.

Book Illustrations

To assist our users, we have illustrated many of the items in our collection. Sometimes the illustration may not correspond exactly with the item we hold. Sadly, it was early library practice to remove dustwrappers.