This photo taken on April 21, 2026 shows an interior view of the Thames Street Library in Sydney, Australia. (Xinhua/Ma Ping)

SYDNEY, April 22 (Xinhua) -- From the bustling crowds at Sydney's Circular Quay, the F8 ferry pulls away. Ten minutes later, the noise fades. The boat glides into Thames Street Wharf in the suburb of Balmain, quiet, unhurried, tucked away from the city's rush.

Passengers step off. A few look at their phones. Some gaze out at the water. But there are always those who pause, bending down to browse the bookshelves inside the ferry shelter. Some take a book, or leave one behind.

There's no check-out, no obligation to return a book, not even a lock or a door -- just an unspoken understanding: take one if you like, leave one if you can.

This is the Thames Street Library, a tiny street library hidden inside a red wooden ferry shelter, with blue water stretching out behind it. Running entirely on trust, it has become a beloved landmark in this part of Sydney.

Its founder and sole librarian is Imma Thiel, 88, a retired English teacher who lives nearby. A lifelong reader, she had too many books which were taking over her home. So about seven years ago, she had an idea: people were always passing through the wharf; why not put the books there?

Thiel painted a small bookshelf red, filled it with books, and left it inside the ferry shelter. The next day, a pile of books appeared next to it. So she painted another shelf red. Soon, that one was full too.

"No, I haven't got any more shelves," she remembered thinking.

So she put the books on a wharf bench, and then a neighbor gave her a pink shelf.

"It just got out of hand," she recalled, "and then all the boxes started filling up. People come through here, they bring books and they take books."

Like ripples spreading across water, the entire ferry shelter had turned into a library.

Small as it is -- just over a dozen shelves -- the library holds an impressive range: history, biography, fiction, poetry, cookbooks, crafts, gardening, and children's stories.

"I used to read a lot, though at the moment my eyes are very bad," Thiel said. "Reading stimulates the mind, and widens one's horizons."

"Each shelf has a history," she said.

Wendy Morgan, 73, has been coming to the library since it established.

"We take our grandchildren out on the ferries," she said, "and they just love rummaging around looking at the books."

"This is just a great way of reading a book, giving it back. And occasionally, if I do drop off any books from somewhere else, I'll drop it here," she added after browsing the shelves and picking out four books.

The library has also changed the way local residents travel, as it has for Morgan.

"I sometimes read on the ferry if I'm by myself," she said. "So I take the book with me. And I've done that with the grandkids, too. If we're going on a fairly long ferry ride, we'll get a couple of books for them. If they get sick of looking out the window, they can read a book."

"It gets them off the screens. Reading a book is a different sort of activity," she added.

Thiel comes to the library twice a day -- dusting, tidying, sorting. She has seen "nasty" young kids throwing books in the water. But far more often, she has witnessed kindness.

"I've met lots of people because of the library. All Balmain practically knows me," she said.

"I hadn't been down here for four weeks because I was too sick to leave the house. The good thing is, while I was sick, somebody must have cleaned, because yesterday a broom was hidden behind here."

The octogenarian librarian sounded reassured. "If I can't do it [look after the library] one day, someone else will. Because it's become a Balmain thing."

Dorothy Lincoln, a visitor from Hobart, Tasmania, knew she had found something special the moment she stepped inside.

"I came with my friend off the ferry and then suddenly entered this cave of books, which was absolutely wonderful," she said as she looked around the shelves. "By putting books here, it'll bring people together. And when you're choosing a book, sometimes you might be standing next to somebody and you might talk to people. That's good for community and connecting to people, because being isolated is a common thing in cities."

Lately, Thiel has noticed more Chinese tourists discovering the library through social media platforms. She studied a little Mandarin when she was younger, so she gathered the books left by local Chinese residents and placed them at the entrance. The Chinese books were gone quickly.

To Thiel, reading is like "entering another world", and by guarding the wharf library, she has been ferrying readers to such journeys. No ticket needed. All they have to do is turn the pages in the sea breeze.

This photo taken on April 21, 2026 shows a view outside the Thames Street Library in Sydney, Australia. (Xinhua/Ma Ping)

A child picks books at the Thames Street Library in Sydney, Australia, April 21, 2026. (Xinhua/Ma Ping)

Founder Imma Thiel is pictured at the Thames Street Library in Sydney, Australia, April 21, 2026. (Xinhua/Ma Ping)

Founder Imma Thiel speaks during an interview with Xinhua at the Thames Street Library in Sydney, Australia, April 21, 2026. (Xinhua/Ma Ping)

This photo taken on April 21, 2026 shows a view outside the Thames Street Library in Sydney, Australia. (Xinhua/Ma Ping)