By Lillian Radulova A new app, put together by the State Library of Victoria, allows users to virtually step back onto the city streets of Melbourne in the 1800s to experience the city's rich history and the majesty behind some of its old architecture. The mobile phone program was developed in a bid to engage the Library's audience in a new way while making a fraction of their collection of 300,000 photographs more accessible. Using up to 300 photographs, Street History: Hoddle's Grid uses your location to show nearby buildings, street views and aerial photographs -  as well as the stories of each location- from as early as 1840.
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The State Library of Victoria has begun digitising their collection of 300,000 images to make them more accessible
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Street History: Hoddle's Grid, the library's new app, has 300 photographs of Melbourne's CBD dating back to 1840
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Using people's location, it shows images of nearby buildings, street views and aerial photographs alongside stories
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The State Library plans to extend the project to suburbs, with plans to digitise at least 75,000 more photographs in the next year
'The reason it's called @placeholder is because we started with intentions of extending it into a series,' Mr McMahon said.