Recent Acquisition Highlights

December 2005

Background

This report offers a review of recent major acquisitions of significance and trends in collection development activity in the National Library. It covers the period from May 2005 to October 2005. 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 2005-2006 it is estimated that the Library will acquire over 380,000 collection items in a wide range of formats.

Ducie Collection

The highlight of the Library’s acquisitions for the period was the acquisition of 56 rare and exquisite First Fleet watercolours from their British owners, the Ducie/Moreton family. This is the largest and most significant collection of First Fleet art to have come on the market since 1953, when the collector Rex Nan Kivell purchased at a London auction a sketchbook by Captain John Hunter, later Governor of New South Wales.

Drawn in exquisite detail, in many cases the paintings are the first visual record of certain Australian plant and animal species by a European artist. Attributed to George Raper, a midshipman on the Sirius, they show the birds and flowers of the Port Jackson area as he would have seen them between 1788 and 1790. The species depicted include the crimson rosella, the now-endangered swift parrot, a kookaburra and a fairy wren. The flower paintings include a waratah, fringed lily, swamp lily, Boronia, Crowea and Dendrobium.

The Ducie Collection complements the Library’s acquisition in 2000 of maps, landscapes and a manuscript by George Raper, as well as previous acquisitions such as the First Fleet journal of Arthur Bowes Smythe.

Australian Printed Materials

A major collecting priority for the National Library is literature on Pacific voyages, and on the major figures involved in the European discovery and exploration of Australia and the Pacific. During the period covered by the report a number of important items were acquired by purchase from antiquarian dealers and at auction.

Other acquisitions of early Australian titles or editions not previously held by the Library include:

The National Library collects posters and ephemera as part of the Australian documentary heritage. Items acquired during the previous six months include:

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 in the PANDORA Archive.

In June and July 2005 the National Library of Australia conducted a project to undertake the first large scale harvest of the Australian web domain. The objective was to collect, for preservation purposes, as much, in terms of breadth and depth, of the .au domain as possible within a defined and limited crawl duration and to gain more understanding of the issues associated with this approach to digital archiving. The Internet Archive, being the only agency experienced is such large scale web harvesting for preservation purposes, was contracted to undertake the crawl on behalf of the Library. The harvest crawl was run continuously for six weeks and captured more than 185 million documents, or files, the equivalent of 6.69 terabytes of data. The domain harvest provides a valuable benchmark and foundation for the National Library to develop future web archiving strategies and also provides the basis for the development of a significant collection of Australia’s documentary heritage for future generations. A more detailed report on the domain harvest will be provided to a future meeting of Council.

Manuscripts

In the last six months, the Library has acquired a number of personal and organisational archives which are likely to be of considerable research value to political historians. The diaries of Don Watson are an extraordinary record of the workings of the Prime Minister’s private office and of Watson’s perceptions of the character, moods and preoccupations of Paul Keating. Written in 1992-96, when Watson was Keating’s speechwriter, they formed the basis of his award-winning book Recollections of a bleeding heart. Another writer, Craig McGregor, has donated papers he assembled when writing a biography of a later Labor leader, Mark Latham. Papers have also been received from David Thomson, a National Party parliamentarian and minister in the Fraser Government, and Brian Harradine, the long-term Independent Senator. The National Secretariat of the Australian Labor Party has made a very large addition to its archives, while for the first time records have been received from the Australian Democrats. The latter consist of a meticulous record of meetings of the Australian Democrat senators from 1983 to 1997, as well as files on several major policy issues. They may soon be complemented by records of the organisational wing of the party.

The Library has a strong collection of papers of diplomats, extending back to early figures such as Sir Keith Officer and Sir Alan Watt. An important addition is the collection bequeathed by Noel Deschamps, who died earlier this year. He served in many posts over a period of 36 years and in particular had a lengthy term as Ambassador to Cambodia, where he was a close friend of Prince Sihanouk. In addition to letters, diaries, cutting books and photographs, Deschamps left the Library a number of silver trays, cups and other objects presented to him in Cambodia, Chile and other countries.

Another individual with a strong interest in South East Asia is John Legge, the foundation Professor of History at Monash University. The first instalment of his papers include material on Indonesian history and the life of President Sukarno, as well as correspondence and files on various organisations concerned with South East Asia. Merrelyn Emery has presented the archives of her husband, Fred Emery, an influential social scientist who taught in Australia, Britain and the United States. Jim Kerr has donated the extensive files which his wife, the art historian Professor Joan Kerr, assembled when she was writing her Dictionary of australian artists and other works. This will be one of the finest archives on Australian painters, printmakers, photographers and architects from 1788 to 2003.

Papers and manuscripts have been received of two leading poets, Robert Gray and Gary Catalano. Catalano, who died in 2002, was also an art critic and art historian and his well-ordered papers are a good record of his life and cultural interests. Literary papers have been received from the novelist Sally Morrison, the poet Alan Gould, the historian and folklorist Hugh Anderson, and the children’s writer and biographer Nadia Wheatley. The papers of another writer, Robert Raymond, document his life as a journalist, television producer and filmmaker, as well as his writings on scientific subjects.

Among older acquisitions in the last six months, three deserve mention. The diary of Robert Wrede describes his voyage to Sydney in 1838 and the two years he spent travelling to Port Phillip, Van Diemen’s Land and South Australia, selling pianos and other musical instruments and engaging in various social and sporting activities. Jonathan Hodgkin was another visitor to Australia who kept a diary. A member of a well-known Quaker family, he travelled throughout eastern Australia and New Zealand in 1896-97 attending meetings of the Society of Friends. His 14 diaries are very detailed and also include sketches, maps, plans and photographs of places visited. J. Northcote Deck was a missionary with the South Sea Evangelical Mission in the Solomon Islands in the early 20th century. The papers received from his family include letters, notebooks, circulars, books and a large collection of photographs and are a notable addition to the Pacific collections of the Library.

Maps

The last six months have seen some outstanding acquisitions of world maps complementing the Cushee Globes acquired last January. Two items in particular add to the Library’s growing collection of significant world and region maps by Asian cartographers, giving added depth to the collection.

Music and Dance

A new consignment of unpublished Australian instrumental and orchestral works was recently donated by Symphony Australia, adding to this major collection of unique material. In addition, an original set and copy of microfiche that document the history of performances under the auspices of the ABC was given to the Library for preservation and access purposes. This is a rich resource for Australian music history research.

Acquisitions of Australian sheet music published in 19th and early 20th Century in the past six months have included: music for marches, dances and waltzes such as Civil service waltz composed by Jeanette Brooks in the 1890s; songs and music about war, patriotism and Australian places; songs for pantomimes and stage, including songs written by Miss Lizzie Watson, a burlesque actress, titled Miss Lizzie Watson’s serio-comic casket, Book 1: containing six of her original and copyright songs never before published arranged for the voice and pianoforte by Professor Hughes, published in Melbourne in 1872.

Materials relating to the Wentzel family of musicians were deposited by composer Ann Carr Boyd when she visited the Library.

An unpublished score of an original musical on the history of Australia titled January the twenty sixth was donated by Crawford Productions in Sydney. This score was accompanied by a 45rpm vinyl disc which was released in 1967 by the Bank of New South Wales.

Dance acquisitions over the past six months have reflected the diversity of Australia’s dance culture and, as set out in the Library’s Collection Development Policy, have been representative of the historical, contemporary, Indigenous and multicultural settings in which dance is and has been performed in Australia. Highlights include an oral history interview with Djakpurra Munyarryun, cultural elder, dancer and songman of the Munyarryum tribe, and a commissioned collection of photographic portraits of dancers, teachers and choreographers who were participants in the ‘Creative Pathways’ symposium held at the National Museum of Australia. Both the oral history and the photographic collection were made in collaboration with the peak industry body Ausdance, which facilitated the symposium.

Two collections of Ballets Russes material were received: an album of photographs of dancers from the Monte Carlo Russian Ballet, who visited Australia between 1936 and 1937, and a collection of letters. The album was assembled by Sydney-based dermatologist Dr Ewan Murray-Will who hosted the dancers during many of their leisure moments during Sydney seasons of the ballet. The letters were written by dancer Betty Frank (stage name Elisabeth Souvorova) who toured Australia with the Monte Carlo Russian Ballet to her mother in England and record a dancer’s impressions of life on tour.

A collection of photographs by Jim Hooper, which record seasons of contemporary Indian and Asian fusion dance in Melbourne during the 1990s, was also received.

Oral History

During the period under review interviews were conducted with distinguished Australians in a wide range of fields. Perhaps the most notable was an interview recorded in May by Dr Peter Pockley with Western Australian pathologist Dr Robin Warren who was awarded a Nobel Prize in October. Other leading scientists interviewed by Dr Pockley included Professor Fiona Stanley, Professor Fiona Wood, Sir Peter Morris and Emeritus Professor Priscilla Kincaid-Smith. Dr Pockley also recorded interviews with leading science broadcasters Robin Williams and Dr Norman Swan.

In politics and government Rob Linn interviewed the Lieutenant Governor of South Australia, Bruno Krummins; Daniel Connell interviewed Peter Howson, former Minister for the Environment, Aboriginals and the Arts; and Sara Dowse interviewed former diplomat Dr Richard Broinowski. Interviews relating to the environment were recorded with marine scientist Dr Edward Hegerl and educator Allan Fox by Gregg Borschmann and landscape architect Professor Ken Taylor by Dr Margaret Park.

In academic and intellectual life Dr Ann Moyal recorded an interview with Egyptologist Professor Naguib Kanawati; Ann-Mari Jordens with social scientist Professor Peter Spearritt, Dr Nikki Henningham with social scientist Professor Meredith Edwards for a new Australian Research Council funded project with Melbourne University documenting the history of the social sciences; and Dr Daniel Connell interviewed Emeritus Professor John Williams, a member of the Wentworth Group 'think tank'.

In the arts, interviews were recorded with writers Emeritus Professor Tom Shapcott by Ann-Mari Jordens; Alison Broinowski by Sara Dowse; the former General Manager of the Sydney Opera House, Lloyd Martin by James Waites; dancers Robina Beard and Cecil Bates by Dr Michelle Potter; theatrical identities John Frost, Lola Nixon, Edgar Metcalfe, Trisha Noble, Ken Horler and Lillian Horler by Bill Stephens and James Waites; and musical identities Ann Carr-Boyd and Ruth Llewellyn by Dr Ruth Lee Martin and Professor Larry Sitsky).

Interviews were received for several social history projects including the Canberra Bushfires recorded by Dr Mary Hutchison; twenty ‘Boss Drovers’ interviewed in the Alice Springs district by Professor Bill Gammage and former drover Bruce Simpson; and for a new project on Refugees which has to date interviewed the out-going Afghan ambassador, a seventeen year old girl who fled Afghanistan with her family to escape Taliban persecution, a Chilean workforce organizer who fled from the Pinochet regime and a long-serving counsellor of refugees.

The Folklore Collection was strengthened by materials received from field collectors working in New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria. Rob Willis, in particular, continues to be extremely productive and mobile, completing field trips to Forbes, Coonabarabran, the Blue Mountains, Sydney, Bourke and the Eumundi community markets in Queensland.

Dr Gwenda Davey contributed interviews on coopering, social dancing and illegal hunting and fishing practices. Veteran collectors Alex and Annette Hood continued to collect in the Northern Rivers district of New South Wales contributing interviews with members of long-established farming families. Dr Karl Neuenfeldt completed his project Sweet Sounds Of A Sugar Town, based on daily life in Bundaberg, and a significant collection of Torres Strait Islander songs was acquired from the Cairns-based collectors Ron and Anne Edwards.

Pictures

The Library embarked on a major project to update its photographs of the Australian aviation industry. In the first stages of the project, funded by the Crome Trust Fund, National Library photographers recorded the work of airports in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, MacAir, Virgin Blue and the Royal Flying Doctor Service’s clinics in Georgetown and Croydon in Queensland’s gulf country. Over 400 images from the first stages of the project can be seen on the Internet on PictureAustralia, and many more images will be added as captioning is completed.

The archive of approximately 5000 cartoons by cartoonist Stan Cross was purchased from his family and strengthens the Library’s collection of early 20th century cartoons documenting aspects of Australian social and political life. Stan Cross made a significant contribution to the introduction and popularity of Australian comic strips. In 1920 Cross created one of Australia’s first and longest running comic strips Wally and the Major which was published for over thirty years.  

Other important acquisitions have included: 72 digital photographs of the Australian tsunami relief effort in Aceh, Indonesia; a self portrait by artist Penleigh Boyd 1890-1923, filling a significant gap in the collection as no photographs of Boyd are held by the Library or recorded on PictureAustralia; an album of 15 sketches and photographs by Henry Charles Prinsep, documenting a trip in Western Australia in 1876 by Henry Prinsep, his wife, and an adventurous Miss Hocking; the tone of the drawings is set by the titles of a hand-drawn map at the beginning of the album: Map showing explorations in Western Australia by Miss Hocking without government authority, 1876; a collection of 238 glass plate negatives of Darwin following cyclone damage in 1897 by Florenz A. K. Bleezer, received as a donation under the Cultural Gifts Program.

Asian Publications

The Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Thai and Indonesian collections are a national resource, and in building on the strengths of the collections the Library makes a valuable contribution to scholars, the Australian library community and the national collection.

Other Overseas Publications

In addition to collecting a wide range of books and journals published overseas the Library also acquires electronic and microform research collections to complement and enhance the print collection. During the last 6 months, the following resources have been made available:

The Library continues to acquire a small number of items for the Rare Books Collection which fill gaps or which otherwise make a substantial contribution to an area of existing strength within the present collection. Acquisitions during the previous 6 months include:

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