Recent Acquisition Highlights
June 2005
Background
This report to Council offers a review of recent major acquisitions of significance and trends in collection development activity in the National Library. It covers the period from June 2004 to November 2004. It does not describe the large volume of acquisitions of both Australian and overseas materials that are routinely acquired through deposit, purchase or donation to build the collections. During the financial year 2004-2005 it is estimated that the Library will acquire over 380,000 collection items in a wide range of formats.
Australian Printed Materials
The Library’s collection of early books and maps relating to Pacific exploration and the discovery and settlement of Australia is exceptionally strong. However, from time to time new collections or individual items come onto the market that fill gaps in the collection or provide the opportunity to collect variant editions of important works. The Rodney Davidson collection of pre-19 th century material relating to Australia and Pacific exploration was auctioned in Melbourne on 7 March. The Davidson Collection is regarded as one of the last great collections of its type and one of the most significant ever to be offered for sale in Australia. The Library was successful with fifteen out of eighteen bids placed, at a total cost of $376,458 (excluding GST). Of the material being offered at auction, the Library already held 90%, including four major works which were estimated to sell for up to $500,000 each. This indicates the strength of the Library’s collections in early Australiana. Three of the works acquired have no other recorded holdings in Australia and two of the four variant editions purchased are the only known copies in existence. The items acquired by the Library were:
- Officer. An authentic and interesting narrative of the late expedition to Botany Bay: as performed by Commodore Phillips and the fleet of seven transport under his command: containing a circumstantial account of their perillous [sic] voyage, dissentions on board and safe arrival on the coast of New Holland: with particular descriptions of Jackson’s Bay & Lord Howe’s Island. London : Printed by W. Bailey, H. Lemoine and J. Parsons, 1789. An unrecorded variant regarded as the first and earliest issue of the first work to record the foundation of Australia. The Library holds three other variants of this work. The acquired copy is the only known copy in existence and completes the acquisition of the currently known four variants.
- Bancarel, F. Collection abrégée des voyages anciens et modernes autour du monde : avec des extraits des autres voyageurs les plus célèbres … principaux navigateurs. Paris : De l’imprimerie de F. Dufort, père, 1808-1809. 12 volumes. A scarce and important collection of Pacific voyages including all three Cook voyages (v. 8-10). No recorded Australian holdings.
- Rickman, John. Journal of Captain Cook’s last voyage to the Pacific Ocean on Discovery: performed in the years 1776, 1777, 1778, 1779, illustrated with cuts, and a chart, shewing the tracts of the ships employed in this expedition. London : Printed for E. Newbery, 1781. The bibliographer David Forbes identified several states of the 1 st edition. AA state is the earliest known state of the 1 st edition. The Library’s AA state includes the uncancelled leaf D4 (p.xxxix-xl) and the cancelled leaves (p.xxxix-xlvi). The acquired copy is the only known copy.
- Parkinson, Sydney. A journal of a voyage to the South Seas, in His Majesty’s ship, the Endeavour. London : Printed for Stanfield Parkinson, 1773. First edition with the extremely rare Gomeldon variant which includes an additional four pages that contain a letter from Sydney Parkinson written from Batavia to his cousin Jane Gomeldon, together with her letter in reply, and her poem addressed to him. The purpose of these pages appears to be to justify Stanfield Parkinson in his dispute with Joseph Banks “over the return of various shells and drawings which seem to have been promised by Sydney Parkinson to some friends and particularly his cousin, Mrs Gomeldon”. Library holds copies of both editions (1773, 1784) without the Gomeldon variant. There are no recorded copies in public institutions in Australia of the 1 st edition (1773) with the Gomeldon variant.
- Life of George Barrington the celebrated English pickpocket. New York, 1846. In the National police gazette (New York, N. Y.) Volume 1, no. 9 ( Jan. 17 1846) p. [169]-176. An extract and late account showing one of a handful of American perspectives on Barrington. This acquisition complements the Library’s three other American imprints. No recorded Australian holdings.
- Bontekoe, Willem Ysbrandsz. Relation ov iovrnaldv voyage de Bontekoe avx Indes Orientales. Paris : De l’imprimerie de lacqves Langlois, 1666. This work includes the corrected or second state of the Thevenot map showing the line of the Tropic of Capricorn. Regarded as the first printed map devoted to the Australian continent and one of the earliest to show Tasman’s discoveries. The Thevenot work was printed in sections and parts and issued at different periods. The Library holds the first, third, fourth and fifth states and was missing this second state.
- Relation d’un voyage du Pole Arctique au Pole Antarctique par le centre du monde: avec la description de ce perilleux passage, & des choses merveilleuses & etonnantes qu’on a d’ecouvertes sous le Pole Antarctique… Paris : Chez Robert Marc-d’Espilly, 1723.First French edition of this early imaginary voyage. Possibly the first Antarctic novel and one of the earliest imaginary subterranean voyages. Complements the Library’s seventeen other imaginary voyages published earlier than 1800.
- La Barbinais, Le Gentil de. Voyage dans les mers de l’Inde, fait par ordre du roi: a l’occasion du passage de Venus sur le disque du soleil le 6 juin 1761, & le 3 du meme mois 1769. Paris : De L’Imprimerie Royale, 1779-1781. 2 volumes. 1 st edition providing the French perspective on the two transits of Venus, 1761, 1769 – the latter involving James Cook and British scientists on board the Endeavour. Complements collection items on the British perspective on the Transit of Venus.
- Cook, James. A voyage round the world, in the years 1772, 1773, 1774 and 1775. London : Printed for W. Lane, 1781. First edition, second issue, a remaindered issue of the first edition. A rare, unauthorised or surreptitious account of Cook’s second voyage. This edition complements the Library’s first edition.
- Barrington, George. Memoirs of George Barrington: from his birth in MDCCLV, to his last conviction at the Old Bailey on Friday, the 17 th of September, MDCCXC. London: Printed for M. Smith, 1790. New edition.
- Fairburn, John. Fairburn’s edition of the life, amours, and wonderful adventures of that notorious pickpocket, George Barrington, giving a full account of his trial, and conviction, with many curious anecdotes of this notorious character. London : J. Fairburn, [1804].
- Barrington, George. A voyage to New South Wales: with a description of the country; the manners, customs, religion, etc. of the natives in the vicinity of Botany Bay. London : Printed and sold by J. Sadler, M. Clements, [1795?]
- Home, Everard. Some observations on the mode of generation of the kanguroo [i.e. kangaroo]: with a particular description of the organs themselves. In Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London for the year 1795, pp. 221-238.
- A general collection of voyages and discoveries, made by the Portuguese and the Spaniards, : during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Containing the interesting and entertaining voyages of the celebrated Gonzalez and Vaz, Gonzalez Zarco, Lanzerota ... With other voyages, to the East-Indies, the West-Indies, round the world, &c. ... London : Published by W. Richardson; J. Bew; T. Hookham; J. and T. Egerton; and C. Stalker, 1789.
- Voyages autour du monde, et vers les deux poles, par terre et par mer : pendant les années 1767, 1768, 1769, 1770, 1771, 1773, 1774, & 1776 / par M. de Pagès, capitaine des vaisseaux du roi, chevalier de l'Ordre royal & militaire de Saint-Louis, correspondant de l'Académie des Sciences de Paris. Berne : Chez la nouvelle société typographique, 1783.
Other acquisitions of early Australian titles or editions not previously held by the Library include:
- Bligh, William. William Blighs Reise til Sydhavet. Ki obenhavn : Trykt paa Oversaetterens Forlag hos Sebastien Popp, 1800. Danish translation of A voyage to the SouthSea. Only one recorded copy in Australia.
- Freycinet, M. Louis. Rapport des Commissaires du Bureau des Longitudes, sure la partie geographique et nautique du voyage de decouvertes aux Terres Australes… Mai 1816. [ Paris], 1816. This pamphlet is a report by the Commissioners of the French Bureau of Longitude commenting on the volume Geographique et nautique which was part of a multivolume official account entitled Voyage de decouvertes aux Terres Australes… by Freycinet. These comments by another party on some of the results of the voyage are significant. The voyage was a scientific success and it first published one of the most detailed maps of Australia. This pamphlet is extremely rare and cannot be traced through any specialised bibliographies. It is not recorded in Australia or overseas. The Library tried to obtain this same item at an auction in Britain in 1998 but was unsuccessful.
- James, G. P. R. The Convict; a tale. Leipzig : Bernhard Tauchnitz Jun., 1847. 2 volumes. Copyright edition for Continental circulation. Partly set in Van Diemens Land. No holdings on Kinetica. Library holds the London 1849 three volume edition.
- Korensky, Josef. Australie : kulturní obrázky pro mládez. Parze : A Storch Sym, 1903. First edition. Only one holding on Kinetica. A survey of Australian history and culture written by a visitor specifically for Czech children. It also includes a history of Czech settlement in Australia and traces some Czech immigration to Australia from the United States during the Gold Rush. This acquisition improves the Library’s very poor holdings of Czech imprints on Australia. The second enlarged edition published in 1922 was also acquired.
- Rickman, John. Troisieme voyage de Cook, ou, Journal d’une expedition faite dans la Mer Pacifique du Sud & du Nord, en 1776, 1778, 1779 & 1780. Seconde edition. Paris : Chez Belin Libraire, 1783. Translation into French of Journal of Captain Cook’s last voyage to the Pacific Ocean on Discovery. Library holds the 1 st and 3 rd editions of this work.
- Thomas, Isaac. Dychweliad morgan bach o Australia: a’i fam (Gwen o’r Gyrnos) yn methu ei adnabod. Llanrwst : Argraffwyd gan John Jones, ca. 1870. A Welsh broadside in verse about migrating to Australia.
- Van der Byl, P.L. A colonist’s tour in Australasia, the United States and England. Cape Town : J. C. Juta & Co. 1887. An account of a South African Boer farmer of his travels to Tasmania, Victoria, New South Wales, New Zealand as well as the United States and England to gain knowledge of advanced systems of farming and agriculture.
The National Library collects posters as part of the Australian documentary heritage.
- Australia: lifeguards at Sydney’s BondiBeach. San Francisco : Australian National Travel Association, [between 1958 and 1960]. Poster featuring a photograph of three bronzed Aussie life savers, promoting Australia as a tourist destination for Americans.
- Australia. Melbourne : Australian National Travel Association, [between 1930 and 1935]. Photomontage using one of Max Dupain’s black and white photographs of a young woman in a bathing suit walking along a beach, silhouetted against the sky. The work is a collaboration with Douglas Annand.
- Annand, Douglas. Australia. Melbourne : Australian Tourist Commission, ca. 1969.Black swan against a blue background with three lotus flowers in top right hand corner. Annand won a silver medal for his black swan poster at the 7 th International Tourist Exhibition in Milan which adds to the significance of this acquisition.
- Fletcher, N. Victorian Railways centenary, 1854-1954: 200 years of service. Melbourne : W. M. Houston, Govt Printer, 1954. No holdings on Kinetica.
- Northfield, James. Australia. Melbourne : Australian National Travel Association, ca. 1930s. Pastoral scene of a man and a woman on horses flanked by trees with mountain scenery as a backdrop, riding the high country.
- Northfield, James. Try Wangaratta, Victoria, Australia: where you will stay longer. Melbourne: Victorian Railways, ca. 1950s. Poster promoting Wangaratta in Victoria as a tourist destination.
- Trompf, Percy. St. Paul’s Melbourne, Australia: Victorian and Melbourne Centenary, 1934-35 commencing October. Melbourne : Australian National Travel Association, [1934]. No holdings on Kinetica.
Australian Electronic Publications
The Library’s Digital Archiving Section seeks out and archives significant Australian websites and other electronic documents as a way of preserving this aspect of Australia ’s published heritage material. The following examples of items recently archived show the diversity of the material being collected and preserved.
- Asia tsunami disaster, 26 December 2004. A collection of 12 Australian websites documenting the Asia tsunami disaster. Includes government sites, news and media sites, and aid and charity organisations sites.
- InquiryProtest. An Australian Capital Territory community website set up in response to the issues surrounding the Coronial Inquiry into the 2003 Canberra bushfires and in support of Coroner Maria Doogan.
- Warren Fahey : Australian Folklore Unit. The website of the renowned folklorist, musician and author Warren Fahey. It includes many online resources from Fahey’s folkloric collecting activities.
- Recognising the growing proliferation and importance of weblogs (blogs) the Digital Archiving Section is undertaking a project to identify and archive a broad selection of these sites in the PANDORA Archive. A blog is a type of website that consists of periodic time-stamped posts by the author(s) and often incorporating comments in response to these posts from the general public. Most commonly blogs are run by individuals but may also be run by organisations or community groups. A number of blogs by prominent Australians have already been archived in PANDORA including those by Tim Blair, John Quiggin, Margo Kingston, and Senator Andrew Bartlett. A recent addition to the PANDORA Archive is the weblog of Anne Summers, author, journalist and commentator on political, social and women's issues, News from the front : an opportunity to discuss the status of women from an Australian perspective. Her personal papers are held in the Manuscripts Collection.
Asian Collections
Works acquired by Asian Collections in the period illustrate the range of items normally added to the collection: contemporary politics in Thailand , Islam in Indonesia , rare Japanese maps and historical resources on Korea . This year the Library was again pleased to receive a large donation of current Chinese books (selected by our subject specialists) from the Chinese government.
- Thaksin kin muang [Thaksin eats the country]. Bangkok : Wan Woel, 2004. A best-seller in Thailand written by various authors, those both vehemently pro and violently anti Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and his family. The authors cover Thaksin's political party, his wife and children, his forebears, the connection between his economic success and political networking. One of many books on Thaksin and Thaksinomics published in Thailand and purchased for the Library.
- A. Mahtuh Abegebriel. Negara Tuhan : the thematic encyclopaedia. Jakarta : SR-Ins Publishing, 2004. Translated as 'God's country', in the sense of the religious state. A frank and thorough analysis of Al Qaedah, Jamaah Islaamiyah and other radical Islamic organisations, including a section on how these relate to terrorist causes in Indonesia . The authors are scholars of world standing in their field.
- Hishu Nagasaki zu [Map of Nagasaki]. Nagasaki , 1778. Woodblock print 16.5 cm by 9 cm. A beautiful and detailed map of the foreign trading port of Nagasaki , made in 1778 when the Tokugawa Shogunate government had approved trading with other countries. Japanese maps were very accurate and often designed for travellers. The Japanese characters on this sheet contain details of the distance to other cities of Japan . Purchased from Isseido, a Japanese book dealer.
- Son, Sung-chol. Han Il Kwangyesa saryo chipsong [Collection of historical resources on Korean-Japanese relations: from B.C.50-1861] Seoul : Kyongin Munhwasa, 2004. 32 Vols.
- The Information Office, State Council of the People's Republic of China government donated a total of 176 books to the Library. The donation is worth over A$8,000. Similar donations have been made to libraries in North America and Europe but the National Library is the only Australian recipient.
Overseas Materials
The provision of access to electronic resources continues to be a priority. During the last six months, the following resources have been made available:
- Early American Imprints, Series 1. Evans Digital Edition (1639-1800) is a major digital collection containing the text of more than 36,000 works covering virtually every book, pamphlet and broadside published in America over the 160 year period. It is a full text digitisation of the microform set Early American Imprints, Series 1 (1639-1800) based on Charles Evans’ bibliography, and also contains extra titles not in Evans’ original work. The digital version offers fully searchable text and a browse feature with topical indexes. This digital collection is an important resource for research into 17 th and 18 th century America including the subject areas of history, literature, philosophy and religion. The collection complements Eighteenth Century Collections Online (ECCO) acquired earlier this year.
- Early English Books Online (EEBO). This collection comprises the full text of more than 125,000 titles and includes virtually every work printed in England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and British North America and works in English printed elsewhere from 1473-1700. The Library holds part of the microfilm version. Early English Books Online contains digital facsimile page images, and has powerful search and browse capabilities. It also complements Eighteenth Century Collections Online, and together these collections provide scholars with access to a comprehensive full text record of English publishing from 1475-1800.
Microform collections acquired or added to during this period include:
- Great Britain. Foreign Office. Embassy and Consular Archives. China correspondence [FO 228]. The Library already held parts FO 228/1-1150, and has now acquired FO 228/1151-1201. These 28 reels of microfilm cover the period 1894-1895.
- Foreign Office Files for Japan and the Far East , series 2: British Foreign Office Files for Post-War Japan , 1952-1980 . This collection currently contains 162 reels of microfilm, and covers the period of Japanese development from the end of the Allied Occupation in 1952 to the establishment of Japan as a major economic power in the 1960s and early 1970s. The acquisition complements series 1 and series 3 of the title which are already held.
- Pacific Island culture & society : the papers of the Reverend George Brown (1835-1917), Methodist missionary . This collection of 22 reels of microfilm provides coverage of missionary work in Papua New Guinea and the surrounding islands. George Brown devoted most of his life to work in the Pacific islands, and the collection includes his journals and diaries of 1860-1897, as well as letterbooks from 1876-1909, further letters and more than 1000 photographs.
Although the Library no longer has an active rare book acquisition program, material for the collection is still acquired, either through purchase or donation, where it augments existing collections and when resources permit. Titles acquired for the Rare Books Collection in this period include:
- La liberté des mers, ou le gouvernement anglais dévoilé / Bertrand Barere. Published in Paris in 1798. Barere was an orator, lawyer and journalist who changed his political allegiance when it suited him, and was a notorious member of the French National Convention. His work is a condemnation of British maritime policy and also accuses the British of responsibility for the evils of the French Revolution. It complements the large collection of French revolutionary pamphlets held by the Library and also includes a reference to Botany Bay in connection with the exile of Irish and Scottish political prisoners.
- Spiritual journey : sacred art from the Musée Guime. This splendid book is a limited edition and presents essays and magnificent photographs of 240 treasures from India , Afghanistan , Southeast Asia , and Central Asia . The Musée Guimet is a prestigious museum of Asian art located in Paris .
Manuscripts
The painter Nora Heysen bequeathed her papers to the Library, where they will complement the papers of her father, Sir Hans Heysen. The archive is rich in family correspondence, as well as photographs, slides, cuttings and art catalogues.
Additions to literary collections have included correspondence of the novelist Murray Bail and papers of the poet Chris Mansell, the prison writer Max Williams and the children’s writer Joan Phipson. The Bail correspondence is quite extraordinary, with letters from many of Australia’s most famous writers of the last 40 years and also several overseas writers. Dr Jean Battersby has donated the first instalment of her papers, documenting her work as Chief Executive Director of the Australian Council for the Arts and the Australia Council between 1968 and 1982. It will be a fine source on arts policy and the promotion of the arts both in Australia and overseas.
The Library’s holdings of papers of scientists are limited, but there have recently been a few notable additions. A large collection of papers of E. Gordon Hallsworth have been presented by his wife. They record his work as an agricultural scientist, as Head of the CSIRO Division of Soils, and as Project Director of the International Federation of Institutes of Advanced Study. Geoffrey Loftus-Hills was also an agricultural scientist and his papers deal with his career in the CSIRO Division of Dairy Research as well as his later activities in the Australian Democrats and the peace movement. The Melbourne zoologist Sam Lake has presented the first instalment of his papers, relating in particular to his involvement in the Lake Pedder campaign and other conservation campaigns in Tasmania .
Other acquisitions highlight the variety of personal archives held in the Library. Brigadier Geoffrey Solomon was a lifelong diarist and shortly before his death he passed over 58 volumes, extending from 1944 to 2001. The detailed entries will provide a remarkable resource for social and military historians. Jean Lester worked at Yarralumla as the personal assistant to the wives of several Governors-General and her collection of invitations, programs, speeches and photographs give an interesting picture of vice-regal life and travels. Ted Flowers, the Librarian at the University of Newcastle from 1961 to 1988, has donated papers dealing with his career and many of the major changes in the library profession in that period. The papers of Frank Gare, the husband of the novelist Nene Gare, deal in particular with his work as Director of Native Welfare in Western Australia. Hugh Gilchrist has presented further files assembled while writing his monumental study Australians and Greeks. Another instalment has been received of papers of the barrister Bryan Keon-Cohen, QC recording major cases on land rights like the Wik and Yorta Yorta cases, as well as his early career in lecturing and writing on legal history.
While the Library has often sought the papers of expatriates in Britain and Europe , it has only occasionally received papers of Australians who lived for long periods in Asia . Jean Walters married Lieutenant Julius Tahija in 1946 and they lived in Indonesia for over fifty years. Near the end of her life, she wrote an autobiography An Unconventional Woman. With the help of Oliver Mann, the Library’s representative in Jakarta , her children assembled and presented an interesting collection of correspondence, photographs and drafts of the book.
While most of the acquisitions have been of modern papers, the Library has acquired a few items dating from the 19th and early 20th centuries. Thomas Suckling was a lieutenant serving on the British gunboat Renard on the Australian Station in 1874. A volume of his letters, written to his fiancée from Fiji, shortly before it was annexed, was bought from a London dealer. Another traveller was Ferdinand Karoly who came to Australia in 1905-06 as the sales representative of a Leipzig firm. His diary, written in German, records his impressions of all the capital cities. Another diary was kept by the actress Rose Quong, who left Melbourne in 1924 and later achieved some fame on the London stage. George Montefiore was a Sydney merchant and his letterbooks contain both personal and business letters in the period 1881-86. Finally, the Library has purchased at auction several books of the ornithologist Gregory Mathews, written between 1912 and 1947 and heavily annotated by the author. They are useful additions to the splendid Mathews Collection.
There have been only a few transfers of organisational archives. The most notable was the archives of the Children’s Book Council of Australia. Dating from 1946 to 2004, they include correspondence, minutes, reports, papers relating to awards, photographs, memorabilia and artwork. The Council arranged for a team of 30 volunteers to cull duplicates and organise the archives.
Maps
The last six months have seen some outstanding cartographic items added to the collection. The most significant is a pair of early eighteenth century globes produced by the British globemaker, Richard Cushee, which were published 1731. The terrestrial globe depicts a speculative east coast of Australia, anticipated nearly forty years before Cook’s Endeavour voyage and survey along the coastline. The globes are accompanied by a treatise by the noted British globemaker, John Harris: The description and use of the globes and the orrery. To which is prefix’d by way of introduction, a brief account of the solar system, published by Cushee in 1740. The globes emphasise the intense competition between the French and British up to Cook’s voyages of exploration. On a much smaller scale a Dutch double hemispherical world map by the minor cartographer Jan de Lat, De wareld in een ronde gedaante van de noord pool te zien … showing a hypothetical east coast, was also added to the collection.
Another significant item is a manuscript map of Australia compiled by the noted French cartographer, Charles Francois Beautemp-Beaupre showing the state of knowledge of the area and the new discoveries at the time of the D’Entrecasteaux voyage. Additional pencilling of the route of the Baudin voyage to Tasmania has been added in by an unknown hand.
An interesting and unusual educational jigsaw puzzle was acquired for the collection. Published in Paris in 1841, Geographie comprises six jigsaw puzzles, each puzzle representing major continents or regions of the world. Descriptive text and engraved vignettes accompany the puzzles.
Dancker Danckerts’ rare and only recently recorded world map, published in 1658, was also acquired. Titled Orbis terrarium typus de integro in plurimis emendatus auctus et icunculis illustratus, the map was issued in a Dutch Bible published in 1660. The central part of the map has been obtained from an earlier plate which has been amended to show Tasman’s voyages.
Amongst the significant Australian maps acquired was the relatively rare Map shewing the alienation and present occupation of lands in the colony of Victoria issued by the Victorian Department of Crown Lands and Survey in 1875. Issued on 16 sheets the maps include references to land sold, leased or licensed as well as state forests and timber reserves.
Music and Dance
The papers, sheet music and sound recordings relating to the internationally celebrated Australian accompanist Geoffrey Parsons were donated by his brother Frank Parsons, who has systematically organised and described the collection. Frank also spent several days at the Library helping to describe the archival sound recordings which document Parsons’ career spent mainly in London accompanying many of the great singers from the mid-late 20th century such as Dame Janet Baker, Jessye Norman, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Barbara Bonney, Thomas Allen and Yvonne Kenny.
Following on from the acquisition of the papers of Peter Sculthorpe and James Penberthy, the Library has purchased the papers, manuscripts and printed music of another composer of the same generation, Richard Meale. As a composer, pianist, lecture, broadcaster and conductor, Richard Meale played a crucial part in the propagation of avant-garde music in Australia from the 1960s, from his early days working with the ABC in Sydney through his years spent as Reader in Composition at the University of Adelaide. He is perhaps best known to the public through his opera Voss, with libretto by Patrick White, and through his many commissions for the major orchestras and professional ensembles in Australia .
Max Lambert, composer, arranger and musical director, was interviewed for the Oral History collection. During his visit he donated the musical manuscripts and recordings for the 2000 Sydney Olympics opening and closing ceremonies, for which he was the musical director. Rob Linn interviewed John Schumann, the Adelaide-based former lead singer of the rock group Redgum for the Oral History collection.
A substantial addition to the collection of composer and performer Keith Humble was donated by his widow, Jill. This comprised a major collection of archival sound recordings documenting the history of contemporary classical music performance in Australia from the 1960s to the 90s. This archival collection will be used in forthcoming ABC radio programs on the music collections, together with oral history interviews from the period.
Amongst a wide range of historically interesting sheet music acquisitions acquired through the antiquarian market was Wonder Boy Charlton, a song about the world record breaker swimmer Andrew “Boy” Charlton, composed by Reg M Thompson and published in Sydney by the Manly Daily in 1924. This, like other recent pre-1930 sheet music acquisitions, has been digitised on acquisition.
Dance material was acquired across the range of the Library’s special collecting areas and in both contemporary dance and ballet. Several items will feed into the Ballets Russes project being undertaken by the Library with the Australian Ballet. They include oral history interviews with Valrene Tweedie and Anna Volkova, both formerly dancers with the Ballets Russes companies, a collection of photographs from Valrene Tweedie of her colleagues in the Ballets Russes, and paintings and costumes designs purchased from Tamara Finch. Interviews were also recorded with Eleanor Brickhill, a leading contemporary dancer-choreographer and Ted Brandsen, formerly Director of the West Australian Ballet and currently Director of the Dutch National Ballet
The acquisition of the papers of Ross Stretton, former artistic director of the Australian Ballet and the Royal Ballet, Covent Garden , was finalised. Another manuscript collection was acquired from Hanny Exiner, former dancer with the Bodenwieser ballet and an early practitioner in Australia of dance therapy.
Oral History
During the period under review, a diverse range of distinguished Australians were interviewed for the Oral History Collection in locations ranging from Alice Springs to Amsterdam . The diversity of the materials, and their research potential, is exemplified in two interviews recorded in the fields of politics and government. The first of these is a lengthy interview recorded in Perth with Sir William Heseltine, former long-serving Private Secretary to the Queen. The second is an interview recorded in Alice Springs with the Administrator of the Northern Territory , and sometime folksinger, Ted Egan.
In the arts, the literary scholar and administrator Professor Ian Donaldson was interviewed by Professor Bruce Bennett; the writer and critic Helen Garner, was interviewed by Sara Dowse; the playwright Alan Hopgood was interviewed by Bill Stephens. In the field of historical studies, Professor Jill Roe was interviewed by Dr Susan Marsden and Dr Patricia Clarke was interviewed by Dr Ann Moyal.
The most prolific interviewer during the period was the science writer and broadcaster Dr Peter Pockley, who recorded five interviews with eminent Australian scientists. His interviewees included gastroenterologist Professor Barry Marshall, molecular virologist Dr Graeme Laver, microbiologist, virologist and immunologist Professor Gordon Ada, medical scientist and physiologist Professor Robert Porter and immunologist Professor Robert Blanden.
Other interviews were recorded with the early childhood development specialist Professor Freda Briggs; barrister and former Commonwealth Attorney-General, the Hon. R.J. Ellicott; and with expatriate anthropologist and former Harold White Fellow Roslyn Poignant. Dr. Peter Read and Jackie Huggins recorded interviews with university lecturer Malcolm Lane and youth workers Layla Yu and Natalie Davey for their ongoing Indigenous leadership project Seven Years On.
The Folklore Collection was strengthened by materials received from field collectors working in NSW, Victoria , Queensland and the ACT. Rob and Olya Willis recorded material from nurses, farmers, former paddlewheeler operators, singer-songwriters, bush workers and a quilt-maker. In March, they spent several days in the Library's Recording Studio, recording the songs, poetry and music of three Indigenous Tasmanian performers: Ronnie Summers, Dianne Summers and Melinda Sainty. The Willis Collection now totals 776 recorded hours and is the largest collection of its type in the Library.
In Queensland , the Townsville-based musicologist Dr. Karl Neuenfeldt commenced his latest project Sweet Sounds of a Sugar Town. The first recordings arrived in February. Described as “soundscapes of sunrises, sunsets and sounds in between”, they include the sounds from the Bundaberg region of sugar cane burning, sugar mills working, railway trucks in motion as well as songs.
Former Harold White Fellow Keith McKenry completed his series of interviews People who knew John Meredith. Recorded to assist with his biography of Meredith, these interviews are very well-researched and comprehensive and will benefit other researchers.
Pictures
Important acquisitions during the period were a drawing by Conrad Martens of the artist’s home in St Leonards, NSW purchased from a Sydney dealer and a collection of five pen and ink sketches of Brisbane, Moreton Bay and towns in Northern New South Wales, all circa 1860, acquired by donation. The sketches are unsigned but are the work of a competent sketcher, who has included good topographic detail. The acquisition helps fill a gap in views of this period of northern New South Wales and Queensland.
The Cultural Gifts Program continues to be an avenue for welcome donations of cartoons. Three donations were received in March: 251 cartoons by Arthur Horner, 218 by Ward O’Neill and 277 by Alan Moir.
The subject matter covered in Pictures photographic acquisitions is, as always, highly varied. As a sample, topics of recent photographic acquisitions have included roadside memorials; the Abrolhos Islands off the Western Australian coast; life on ‘The Block’ in the inner Sydney suburb of Redfern; the 1936 wedding of the year when Australian actor Cyril Ritchard married actress Madge Elliott at St Mary’s Cathedral; Alfred Hitchcock entwined with a koala; observance of a Rains Retreat at the Thai Buddhist Temple at Box Hill, and the visit to Australia of Crown Princess Mary of Denmark.
