The Ferguson Collection

The Ferguson Collection comprises some 34,000 items and is the largest private collection in the National Library's possession. The collection contains a wide range of Australiana and includes many rare and unique items.

(Sir) John Alexander Ferguson (1881-1969) - pictured right - was a judge of the New South Wales Industrial Commission whose associations with the Library dated from 1909. He was a man who spent a lifetime collecting and describing library materials - a New Zealand-born bibliophile brought up in Australia from the age of 13, and with a fascination for Australiana.

The transfer of Ferguson's collection to the National Library began in 1937 with the presentation of "newspapers and periodicals illustrating the growth of all forms of political, social, economic and industrial thought in the Commonwealth". From 1946 the books, manuscripts, and pictures relating to Australia and the Pacific were systematically transferred to the National Library's collection. After Sir John's death in 1969, the remaining material was purchased from his trustees to make the Library's collection complete.

The riches of the Ferguson Collection include works described in his seven volume Bibliography of Australia, with strengths in the areas of sociology, economics, Australasian poetry, church history, publications of Angus & Robertson, material in the vernacular languages of the Pacific islands and material relating to Australia at war. One of the rarer items in the collection is the manuscript of the of the journals kept by James Burney during Cook's second voyage to the Pacific.

The Ferguson Collection is available for use through the Petherick Reading Room

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