This report is one of a regular series intended to give Council members information about the National Librarys acquisition and collection development program. These reports are prepared twice yearly, in April and October, and offer an overview of acquisitions activity in each of the preceding six month periods. The report is not intended to be comprehensive. Rather, it highlights major or unusual acquisitions or material which contributes in some special way to the Librarys priority collecting areas. Special emphasis in reporting is given to the Librarys Australian acquisitions recognising the core responsibility to build a comprehensive collection of library materials relating to Australia and the Australian people. Reporting varies in detail depending on the level of activity during the reporting period. Over time, Council members may expect to see greater or less detail for some areas and forms of material. At the same time, the report highlights notable or otherwise important overseas acquisitions while at the same time noting issues or trends which influence collecting. This report places emphasis on problems and aspects of collecting in two important regional areas (Papua New Guinea and Indonesia) which have been assigned high priority in the overseas collecting program which places an emphasis on countries in close proximity to Australia.
While the Library places a high priority on the collection and acquisition of Australian print and electronic publications, Council members are reminded that the previous report dealt in substantial detail with themes, issues and collection development strategies in this key collecting area.. No major acquisitions are reported on this occasion. But reflecting community debate and discussion on the Commonwealth Governments proposed Native Title reforms in response to the High Courts so-called Wik Judgement, the Library has invested considerable effort in acquiring materials which document this issue. A similar effort has been made to collect material relating to the recent Constitutional Convention and to the on-going Republican debate in Australia. Materials of various kinds were acquired from the Constitutional Convention secretariat as well as from many of the candidates who took part in the debates or who originally stood for election to the Convention.
The Library gives particular attention to the acquisition of materials which document Australian popular culture and social history but which may not be readily available commercially or through traditional sources of supply. Recent examples of this kind of material include the donation of a large collection of Australian Star Trek Fanzines which ensures the survival in a major institutional collection of a body of highly ephemeral material. Holdings of such material in other Australian libraries are thought to be poor. The Library has also acquired a collection of Skippy comics which give it a near complete holding of the titles in this series.
The Library has been successful at two overseas auctions. At a Sothebys sale in London, it purchased a detailed journal kept by the Reverend Peter Levesque on the ship Duff in 1797. The Duff was the first missionary ship to visit the Pacific Islands. Its second voyage, recorded by Levesque, was a disaster as it was captured by a French privateer and then by a Portuguese man-of-war and the expedition had to be abandoned. At the New York sale of the possessions and personal effects of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, the Library bought the diary of the then Prince of Wales and his entourage on their visit to Australia and New Zealand in 1920. The diary, which seems to have been mostly written by Lord Louis Mountbatten, was printed in instalments on HMS Renown. A few copies are known to exist, but none had previously been held in Australia. The diary provides a very detailed account of the seven month tour and an interesting and amusing view of Australian society from a royal perspective. The sale attracted considerable attention and the National Librarys success in purchasing the diary was widely reported in the Australian media and in the New York Times.
Most other recent acquisitions have been of modern and contemporary papers. The historian and publicist Professor Geoffrey Blainey has donated an important group of papers. They include the drafts of eleven of his books, correspondence with Patrick White concerning the Patrick White Award and an extensive correspondence arising from his controversial comments on immigration in the 1980s. The family of C.P. Fitzgerald, the first Professor of Far Eastern History at the Australian National University, have presented a substantial collection of drafts of books, articles and lectures together with diaries and publications. Two younger cultural historians have donated papers to the Library. Dr Peter Cochrane, who was a 1996 Harold White Fellow, has donated the research material and papers concerning his book Simpson and the donkey; the making of a legend. The papers of Dr Noris Ioannou consist of manuscripts, correspondence and research notes, especially dealing with ceramics, glass and other crafts in Australia.
Mrs Heather Henderson, the daughter of Sir Robert Menzies, has added a number of items of special significance to the existing holding of the Menzies Papers. They comprise certificates and commissions, photographs, letters and an extraordinary collection of Christmas cards which Sir Robert and Dame Pattie received from members of the Royal Family, Prime Ministers of Australia and Britain, Presidents of the United States and other dignitaries. The Christmas cards date from 1939 to 1995 and include a long series from Queen Elizabeth and Prince Charles. There is also a photograph of President Charles De Gaulle inscribed to Menzies.
Among literary collections acquired have been the papers of the poet and novelist Ernest Moll, who died in California in 1997 at the age of ninety six. Although he had lived overseas since 1928, Moll had retained a strong interest in and affection for Australia and had corresponded with other Australian writers. The playwright and critic Alex Buzo has added a small but useful collection of scripts, programs, letters and photographs to his existing collection in the National Library. In particular, it is pleasing that the drafts of some of his well-known plays of the 1970s, such as Rooted and Coralie Lansdowne Says No have recently been discovered. Other writers who have added material to their collections include Judith Wright, David Rowbotham, Sara Dowse, Donald Crick and Alan Gould. Among the papers of Wright are the early sections of her unpublished autobiography and correspondence with her biographer Veronica Brady.
Four new collections document aspects of multiculturalism. Diana Giese has transferred the papers that she assembled when she was writing her books Beyond Chinatown and Astronauts, lost souls and dragons. They include transcripts of interviews, correspondence with Chinese Australians and many photographs. The Italian-born writer and academic Giovanni Andreoni has donated the manuscript of his novel Zucchero and drafts of articles on Italian Australians. Professor Jerzy Zubrzycki has added a substantial collection comprising papers on the foreign press in Australia, papers on migration and multiculturalism, and files on Australian aid to Poland and various Polish organisations. Finally, the painter Judy Cassab has presented several files of correspondence which will join the diaries that she has written over the last fifty years. The files include letters from other artists, such as Elwyn Lynn and Jeffrey Smart and also letters referring to her experiences in Hungary during World War II and her emigration to Australia.
Two collections will be of interest to students of the history of Papua New Guinea, a collecting area in which the Library has considerable strength. Dr Ed Tscharke has presented an extensive group of records relating to his work in primary health care from the 1940s to the 1980s. He and his wife were in charge of the Lutheran hospital at Karkar Island, near Madang, and the correspondence, medical records, photographs and other papers are a major source on the social history of the region and on evolving ideas about primary health care in developing countries. The Canberra lawyer John Ley has given a collection of papers relating to his work for the Constitutional Planning Committee in Port Moresby in 1972-75
Other acquisitions of note are a series of letters from the theatre director Dame Doris Fitton to Joyce Gibson, papers of the political activist Denis Freney, further diaries and papers of the Australian constitutional lawyer, the late Professor Geoffrey Sawer, music manuscripts of Dulcie Holland and papers of the Antarctic expeditioner Robert Summers. The Federal Secretariat of the Australian Labor Party has transferred a large instalment of files, mostly dating from the 1980s. Another organisational archive is the records of the Australian Committee of the Harkness Fellowships, dating from the 1950s to the 1990s. These records include files on all the Australians who were awarded Fellowships and who were thus able to study at institutions in the United States. Harkness Fellows from Australia have included Sidney Nolan, Stuart Devlin, Tim Burstall, Peter Sculthorpe, Brett Whiteley, Michael LEstrange and Graham Koehne.
An active program of collecting has continued in the Librarys Map Section with emphasis being given to both retrospective and current mapping. Acquisitions have ranged from traditional chart formats of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries to modern CD ROM formats containing digitally mastered images of hydrographic charts issued by the Royal Australian Navy.
Items of particular interest include:
Efforts to record and document the recent Constitutional Convention have figured prominently in the collection development program of the Pictorial Section. The following items are of special interest:
As part of the Librarys efforts to document the Convention, delegates were invited to have their portraits taken by a Library staff photographer during the Convention at Old Parliament House. Selected events and proceedings were also photographed.
Australian participation in the Olympic Games: The Library has commenced a project to concentrate on building a collection of visual images which record Australian participation in Olympic competition over the years. This is an area of recording and documentation which has been poorly developed. Three older items of note have recently been acquired.
A key purpose of the Library in developing a collection of visual records is to document with some accuracy the appearance of the natural and man-made landscape. In accordance with this objective, the following acquisitions are of special note:
Wolfgang Sievers is one of Australias most significant and influential photographers. Born in Germany in 1913, he trained at the Contempora School for Applied Arts in Berlin (an off shoot of the famous Bauhaus) and took architectural photographs for his fathers books on Berlins historical buildings before emigrating to Australia in 1938. The photographs acquired are Sievers own selection of documentary images from his archive of photographs taken over a thirty-year period.
Among the subjects documented in the collection are the construction of important public buildings including colleges and universities, hospitals, factories and arts, sporting and entertainment centres. The development of office towers is recorded in photographs of the construction of ICI House, the first sky-scraper in Melbourne. Modern domestic design is documented in photographs of private homes by leading Australian architects of the period, as well as the dream homes and house of tomorrow of 1948.
The collection includes images of interiors and people using and working in the buildings. These images are important for researchers as they record not only changes in architectural styles but the working and living conditions of Australians.
The collection documents trends in architecture and design which have had a profound impact on the appearance of the built environment throughout Australia, as well as documenting the works of a number of nationally significant Australian architects.. some of the landmark buildings which Sievers photographed during construction and in pristine condition on completion are: the Myer Music Bowl; the National Gallery of Victoria; Essendon Airport; and the RACV Building. Architects represented include Robin Boyd, Sir Roy Grounds and Frederick Romberg. Walter Burley Griffins work is recorded in photographs of the Capitol Theatre in Melbourne and Newman College at Melbourne University.
In addition to photographing the construction of new buildings, Sievers also recorded the buildings which demolished to make way for them. The collection includes photographs of a number of beautiful and historic Melbourne buildings in various stages of demolition and the modern office towers which replaced them, some of which have themselves been demolished or substantially altered in recent years.
The acquisition includes an important collection of photographs of the Methodist Mission for Aborigines at Weipa in Cape York. These photographs were taken during Sievers visit to the Mission in 1957, one year prior to the expropriation of the Aboriginal reserve for bauxite mining. Photographs recording conditions at Aboriginal missions are rare, and Sievers required special permission from the administrator to photograph the area.
Bush fires, as they do for Australian communities today, had a profound impact on white settlers in colonial times. Images such as Overtaken by Fire, Forest of fire - scene on the Echuca line and Driven from his Selection which are already in the Librarys collection, offer evidence of the physical and psychological impact of bush fires on the lives of early settlers. unlike many early paintings of bush fires which are representational works, the Wingate documents an actual bush fire in a specific location and at a particular date.
On his return to England in 1805, Bauer began the task of publishing his paintings. The project was never completed, with only a small number of botanical plates being prepared. Bauers original water colour drawings, amongst the finest botanical drawings in existence, were bequeathed to the British Museum of Natural History.
The Alecto portfolio comprises zoological studies of rosellas, parakeets, koalas, fish, crustaceans, sea horses and what is reputed to be the first scientific study of the duck-billed platypus. The acquisition complements the Librarys previous acquisition of the facsimile edition of Bauers Florae Novae Hollandiae.
Two older items of interest have been acquired adding to the Librarys strength of holdings of works which pre-date photography as the principal means of visually recording aspects of Australian life.
The maritime painter Frederick Garling was renowned for the attention to detail and the accuracy of his representations of ships. His study of the European presents the ship in close detail. This painting will be of interest to researchers interested in themes of ships and shipping, migration and travel and the advances made in the improvement of the mail service between England and the Australian colonies. This acquisition adds to the strength of the Librarys holding of images which document the important nineteenth and early twentieth century shipping links between Australia and England.
As part of its on-going efforts to secure portraits of prominent Australians in various walks of life, the Library acquired the following:
Acquisitions during the period were steady rather than spectacular with the following additions being made to the collection:
This section of the report is not intended to report comprehensively on the Librarys overseas collecting program. Rather, it highlights aspects of that program which fall within areas of collecting to which the Library attaches high priority, notably Asia and the Pacific.
Special efforts continue to be made to acquire materials relating to Indonesia through the Librarys Regional Office based in Jakarta. Indonesia has entered its most testing period since the 1960s. It is a country very close to Australia which is facing great challenges as it grapples with the ramifications of a currency which has lost three-quarters of its value in a year, the continuing effects of the El Nino drought and forest fires in various parts of the country., and the prospect of a period of political transition during the fifth term of the incumbent President.. In this context, the role of the Librarys Regional Officer in maintaining the acquisition of publications which portray the condition of the country and the attitudes of its writers in this critical phase of the countrys history has assumed particular significance.
The Regional Officer is currently working to establish links with more non-commercial publishers such as the Jakarta Office of the World Bank and key non government organisations. The World Bank has provided many of its current and background reports on Indonesia, while non-government organisations are an important source of alternative opinion on the current state of Indonesian society. Other recent acquisitions relevant to the current situation include: Government statement on the draft state budget for 1998-1999 to the House of the Peoples Representatives, a copy of the second IMF package Indonesia - Memorandum of Economic and Financial Policies, the Presidents Accountability Address to the Peoples Consultative Assembly, 1 March 1998, publications relating to prominent political figures such as Megawati Sukarnoputri and Amien Rais, and views on the role and place of the ethnic Chinese in Indonesian society. The quest for publications is often convoluted, for example, seeking a copy of the paper prepared by currency board protagonist Professor Steven Hanke in which he essentially absolves President Suharto of blame for the countrys economic crisis. At the same time, the Regional Office continues to acquire a comprehensive range of Indonesian newspapers and weekly news magazines which provide timely and often sharply perceptive comments on politics and government of the day.
Another of the Librarys priority overseas collecting countries is our other near neighbour, Papua New Guinea. prior to Independence in 1975, the Library received PNG publications under legal deposit. In the post-Independence period, acquisition by this means is no longer possible though the Library continues to acquire substantial materials through purchase and gift and exchange arrangements.
A review of exchange arrangements in 1992 revealed that many of these had broken down and were no longer being honoured. It also became clear that local publishing was increasingly erratic and that as a consequence, material was difficult to acquire.. One of the vendors used by the Library for the supply of Australian serial publications, International Subscription Agencies (ISA) has a representative with a good knowledge of the PNG publishing scene and has been able to advise the Library on how best to maximise the acquisition of serials from Papua New Guinea. The Library has identified the titles it wishes to obtain and has entered into an arrangement with ISA to supply these titles as well as to claim and follow up any missing issues. This arrangement has yielded a reasonable coverage of mainstream titles. In addition, the Library has continued to order books published in Papua New Guinea and to manage some gift and exchange arrangements.
These acquisition activities are augmented by personal visits. Two such visits have taken place in recent years, one by a Library staff member in 1994 and another in 1997 by an ISA staff member. The most recent visit highlighted a number of practical problems which will continue to affect the Librarys collecting program in Papua New Guinea:
The Library is also seeking to build a good collection of newspapers with reasonable supply being achieved of titles such as the Papua New Guinea Post Courier, Wantok, the National and the Independent all of which are published in Port Moresby.
The collecting and acquisition of publications from Papua New Guinea remains difficult because of the decline in the government and local organisational infrastructure. Notwithstanding, the Library has sought to develop innovative ways to continue and maintain an acquisitions program and the resulting collection has been able to benefit from the skills and expertise of a reliable person with good local knowledge who is able to make regular personal visits to the region.
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