What We Collect
Australiana
See also: Find Australiana | Using the Collection
In the years since its establishment as the Commonwealth Parliamentary Library in 1901, the Library's Australian collections have developed into the nation's most important resource of materials recording the Australian cultural heritage. Several great Formed Collections relating to Australia and the Pacific, among them those of Edward Augustus Petherick, Sir John Ferguson and Sir Rex Nan Kivell, along with the passage of the Copyright Act, 1912, containing legal deposit provisions, laid the basis for the collection.
Copies of all works published in Australia are received by the Library under the legal deposit provisions. This includes all books, journals, maps, newspapers and printed music. Material by, for or about Australia is also acquired in microform (fiche, film and card), and electronic formats. Unpublished materials such as manuscripts, pictures and oral histories are also acquired. Full details of the Australian materials we acquire are outlined in our Collection Development Policy.
The collection includes rare and exquisite items such as Captain Cook's Endeavour Journal, now also digitised and available on CD-ROM., and Australia's largest collections of maps, oral history and folklore. The Library houses over 40,000 original works of art and over 500,000 photographs illustrating the historical, cultural and social development of Australia.
Of particular note is the Library's fascinating collection of ephemera - flyers, posters, menus - drawn from significant moments in Australian history. The Library holds memorabilia from royal visits, Federation invitations c.1900 and posters depicting a range of social issues.
The theatre collection is also a favourite haunt as it features prominent Australian performers, including Dame Joan Sutherland, J.C. Williamson and Barry Humphries, and early entrepreneurs such as Garnet H. Carroll. The creative "voice" of the nation is captured in our music collection, letters, diaries, papers and other memorabilia - acquired from ordinary and extraordinary Australians - also form part of the vast manuscript collection.
The Library recognises the importance of multicultural publications as part of Australias heritage and, in association with each state library, has launched an ongoing initiative called Collecting Multicultural Australia (CMA).
The National Library welcomes donations under the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.
You may be able to help us acquire wanted items: see Book Search.
The Australian collections are made available via our Catalogue and may be accessed by the public through the various Reading Rooms, and a range of Document Supply Services. Rare items of Australiana must, however, be used only in the Petherick Reading Room.
