Honouring the man behind the O’Donovan Collection

Denis O’Donovan served as Queensland Parliamentary Librarian from 1874 to 1902. The collection of books, serials, and maps he acquired and catalogued during his tenure is now known as the O’Donovan Collection, which also includes items from the library’s inception in 1860.

Born on 23 August 1836 in County Cork, Ireland, Denis O’Donovan was the son of William and Anne. He claimed noble ancestry through the O’Donovan family. He was educated in Ireland and France, gaining recognition for his published articles and poems.

After completing his degree, O’Donovan toured Europe extensively, developing a passion for languages, particularly French and Italian. He became a professor of modern languages at the French College des Hautes Etudes, lecturing in art appreciation, architecture, and the classics. His intellectual pursuits brought him into the company of notable figures, including French Emperor Napoleon III, and earned him memberships in numerous learned societies across Europe, such as the Royal Society of Literature and the Royal Geographical Society of England.

O’Donovan wrote extensively, notably for L’ami de la religion, and served as its editor for a time. In 1859, he published “Memories of Rome,” discussing Italian art and antiquities, earning accolades from Pope Pius IX and the Queen of Spain.

In 1864, O’Donovan returned to England for two years before moving to Melbourne in 1866. Though he had not planned to stay, he was captivated by the climate and the city’s intellectual life. He voiced his opinions on various topics, including architecture, industrial design, and art education, through widely published articles.

On 1 May 1867, O’Donovan married Aimee Besson, a widow and daughter of the Grand Maison of the castle of Beausejour, France. They had two sons and three daughters.

From 1871 to 1874, O’Donovan was in charge of a school at Emerald Hill in Victoria. In 1874, he applied for and was appointed as librarian at the Queensland Parliament.

O’Donovan worked diligently, leveraging his European intellectual connections to enhance the resources of Queensland’s parliamentary library. His most notable achievement was the production of a printed analytical and classified catalogue in 1883, which was advanced for its time. 

He quadrupled the Library contents from an estimated 8,000 to some 32,000 volumes. He also compiled an ‘encyclopedic’ dictionary catalogue of the Library’s collections which was ‘universally applauded as a scholarly work ranking with the best in the world’. 

The collection is recognised as an irreplaceable heritage asset. The collection features a large number of Australian explorers’ journals such as the journals of Captain James Cook’s various voyages 1768-1780, as well as those of other early Australian sea and land expeditions by Darwin, Mitchell, Flinders, Oxley, Leichhardt, Jardine and La Perouse.

His contributions earned him honours from various European institutions, including the la croix du chevalier de la legion d’honneur, and he was appointed a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (C.M.G) in 1894.

After his wife’s death in 1892, O’Donovan retired from the library in June 1902 at the age of sixty-five. He returned to France but died in Claremont, Western Australia, on 30 April 1911, during a visit to see his son in Perth.

The Queensland Parliament named the library’s colonial collection and the room it is housed within after Denis O’Donovan.