Recent Acquisition Highlights

August 2008

Background

This report offers a review of recent significant acquisitions by the National Library and collecting activities. It does not describe the large volume of acquisitions of both Australian and overseas materials that are routinely acquired through deposit, purchase or donation. During the 2007/2008 financial year the Library acquired over 265,000 collection items in a wide range of formats. 1

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. A biography of John Weber who was the artist on Cook’s third voyage was acquired and is a valuable addition to the Library’s extensive holdings of material relating to Captain James Cook.

Wagner, Sigmund von. Enthaltend das Leben des Malers Johann Weber von Bern. Zurich, Kunstler-Gesellschaft in Zurich, 1821.

During this period the Library acquired a much sought-after publication which had been listed on the Library’s 2001 Centenary Booksearch list of key items not held in the National Library’s collection.

Ireland, John. The shipwrecked orphans: a true narrative, detailing the shipwreck and sufferings of John Ireland and two little boys, George and William Doyley, who, with their father and mother and thirty-two other persons, were wrecked in the Charles Eaton in the year 1834, on an island in the South Seas, inhabited by savages. London, Dean and Munday, [1838]. The 1st edition of the only first-hand account of the tragic shipwreck of the Charles Eaton on a voyage from Hobart to Canton. The shipwreck occurred on the Torres Strait Islands. No other copy is known to be held by an Australian library.

The Library acquires artists’ books on a selective basis as examples of the art and craft of book production. A significant work, Under the Act, by Judy Watson published by Numero Uno Publications in 2007 was acquired in the period under review. Judy Watson has drawn on letters, papers and official documents from the Queensland State Archives, as well as personal family photographs as a base for Under the Act. The documents pertain to her great-grandmother and grandmother who lived under the Aboriginal Protection and Restriction of Sale of Opium Act of 1897. Using etching and lithographic techniques this work makes a powerful statement about life under the Act.

Australian documentary heritage is also represented by more ephemeral and insubstantial material. The three items listed represent the diversity of early Australian ephemera which is sought out for the collection

Keep this as a Memento of the War. If you were hit by a bomb from an enemy aeroplane, you would realise that we are at War! This leaflet, dropped from a friendly ‘plane is intended to touch your heart, not to mutilate your body! Men are wanted at the Front to relieve our war-torn defenders. Enlist! Adelaide, 27th October, 1917. A recruiting leaflet dropped over Adelaide by pioneer aviator Robert Graham Carey.

Greetings from Melbourne Air Service, pioneers of civil aviation; passenger flights…aeroplanes for everybody…aerial advertising…aerial photography…aerial tuition. Port Melbourne, 1920. Advertising leaflets publicising Melbourne Air Service located then at Port Melbourne.

Australien. Germany, Liebig’s Fleisch-Extract, 1910. A set of six Oxo Bouillon advertising cards issued gratis by Liebig’s Extract of Meat Company advertising their meat extract product. The cards are individually titled: Westaustralien; Neusudwales; Victoria; Ostaustralien; Sudaustralien; Tasmanien and feature Australian images. The Australian Meat Co. was established in New South Wales in 1865 was producing Liebig meat extract by 1871.

The following three items are excellent examples of very early broadsides acquired for the collection:

Granua’s lament for the loss of her Blackbird Mitchel: the Irish patriot. England, published between 1848 and 1850. Street literature referring to the transportation of John Mitchel, the renowned Irish nationalist. Mitchel was charged with treason in 1848 and sentenced to 14 years transportation. He arrived in Van Diemen’s Land in 1850 from where he escaped in 1853 and made his way to the United States.

The convict maid [with] The little farm, or, The wearey ploughman. London, Paul Printer, ca. 1850. One broadside handbill. The convict maid in the title refers to a young girl convicted of stealing and transported to Botany Bay for seven years.

Obiavlenie: k no. 102 Moskovskikh viedomostei 1833 goda = [Advertisement in the Moscow Times, no. 102, 1833] Moscow, 1833. Broadside handbill advertising an exhibition of wild animals in Moscow, Christmas week 1833 including two kangaroos. The Library has three handbills/broadsides advertising kangaroos being shown in England. This example provides evidence of the wide distribution of the kangaroo throughout Europe, even reaching Moscow.

Australian Online Publications

To provide on-going access to documentary heritage material in digital form the Library collects significant Australian websites and other online documents and makes them available for use through the PANDORA archive. The following examples of online resources recently archived show the diversity of the material being collected.

The Apology (ABC news) (http://nla.gov.au/nla.arc-81551) – The ABC website of the national Apology delivered to Parliament by Kevin Rudd and Brendan Nelson. The archived website contains video, audio and transcripts of the Apology speeches.

Australia 2020 (http://nla.gov.au/nla.arc-81461) – The website of the national forum convened by the Prime Minister. The archived copies contain the draft and final reports, as well as the transcripts of the proceedings.

Garnaut Climate Change Review (http://nla.gov.au/nla.arc-79906) – The website of the states and territories sponsored environmental review. Contained within the archived gathers are the review reports, lectures and forums.

ACT Government web publications – After gaining a blanket permission licence to archive ACT Government web content in late 2007, 172 titles have been identified and archived from ACT Government websites.

Dance collection (http://pandora.nla.gov.au/subject/42) – To support the Library’s Australia Dancing initiative, from May 2008 a collection of dance videos (from YouTube) and websites has been curated. Archived websites include those of choreographers and dancers including: Padma Menon, Rosalind Crisp, Perth swing, David and Jacob, Australian Ballet School, Swing Patrol and Quantum Leap (Canberra youth dance ensemble).

Manuscripts

The Australian Democrats recently concluded more than 30 years of Senate representation when the four remaining Democrats left Parliament for the last time. The records of the Democrats Parliamentary Party and National Executive were packed, listed and moved to the Library just a few days before the Senators’ departure. The records cover many aspects of the Democrat’s Parliamentary activities, including work by the Honourable Aiden Ridgeway on Indigenous intellectual property rights.

Two outstanding literary collections were added in this period. The papers of the late Ninette Dutton, acquired from her children, document the pivotal role Ninette and her former husband Geoffrey Dutton played in Australia’s cultural life. A substantial and rich run of correspondence includes numerous letters from Patrick White, Bruce Chatwin and a host of other Australian and international writers. The papers of the late Elyne Mitchell – best known for her Silver brumby series for children – yield unexpected insights into Mitchell’s long-standing advocacy for environmental issues, in addition to a hitherto unknown correspondence between Mitchell and her contemporary, Judith Wright. A fragment of a Christina Stead typescript acquired from her great-nephew proved to be a missing ‘part’ of an incomplete typescript already held by the Library. The fragment was titled ‘Emily Evans, or, The Humorist’, and is a fusion of journal and creative work.

Actress Kate Fitzpatrick has deposited rich documentation of her professional life, including scripts, photographs and even a theatrical corset worn throughout her career, together with substantial correspondence with many leaders of Australian theatre. Among these is a long running correspondence with Patrick White, together with an important White annotated script of Big Toys.

A rare and beautiful archive made its way to the Library after travelling from Australia and England and eventually back again. Hans Lindau was a German sent to Australia on the Dunera and interned at Hay during World War II. During his internment, Lindau wrote thousands of botanical descriptions on pieces of what is clearly toilet paper. These include copies of others’ writings, sometimes of European species, together with his own botanical observations of the new Australian plants he saw around him. The contents are beautifully housed in a purpose-built wooden case, contained within ingenious folders made from packaging material used for Dunlop shoe soles.

Archival holdings of leading Australian scientists were strengthened through the donation of the papers of Professor Ben Gascoigne, Professor in Astronomy at the Australian National University, 1964-1980 and Principal Scientist at the Commonwealth Observatory from 1941 to 1957, and of Dr Ralph Reader, a past Director of the National Heart Foundation. Professor Graeme Clark donated his extensive and very impressive collection of medals and other honours awarded for his development of the cochlear ear, together with further personal papers.

An intriguing acquisition is the papers of the London based journalist Stephen Claypole concerning the disappearance of Frances James in China between 1969-1973. It is likely that James – an Australian publisher, journalist and eccentric widely regarded by diplomats as an inveterate and very skilled liar and manipulator – was imprisoned in China during this period as a spy. Journalist and businesswoman Anne Summers has transferred further papers, including those relating to her time as a special advisor to Paul Keating on women’s issues.

Two important Russell Drysdale diaries and associated material were acquired during this period from Lou Klepac. The diaries cover a lengthy 1956 car trip through outback Australia, a period later reflected in an important set of paintings undertaken in London. Lou Klepac also enriched the Library’s Donald Friend holdings by adding a set of 1938-1940 letters from Friend to his mother. This earlier period of Friend’s life is relatively undocumented, and the letters sent from Nigeria add substantially to our understanding of his development.

A collection of very significant and rare material relating to nuclear weapons testing at Maralinga, Montebello Islands and Emu Fields was donated by historian Roger Cross. This collection includes taped interviews and correspondence with veterans present at the testing.

The Library acquired the first in what is likely to be a series of transfers from Larissa Behrendt, Professor of Law and Director of Research at the Jumbunna Indigenous House of Learning, University of Technology, Sydney; member of the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies Board and winner of the 2005 Commonwealth Writers Prize for Best First Novel. Professor Behrendt’s papers record her untiring work for many Indigenous organisations.

The Australian Academy of the Humanities has placed its spectacular Grant of Arms and Royal Charter with the Library for safe-keeping. These illuminated manuscripts are attached to a series of beautiful seals. This arrangement reflects the long-standing and very productive relationship between the Library and the Academy, which counts among its Fellows the Director-General, Jan Fullerton.

Maps

Two remarkable maps acquisitions were purchased in April. The first is a folio of selected published Victorian maps produced by the noted Australian printer Thomas Ham while he was lithographer for the Victorian Geological Survey Office from 1857-1860. It is believed that this collection of cadastral and geological maps was intended as a representative sample of Ham’s printing during the period. Each map is individually numbered, annotated in pen and usually dated.

The second is a dissected puzzle (jigsaw) map of the world, measuring 365mm x 650mm, engraved by William Palmer (1739-1812). Maps were perhaps the first items to be dissected as puzzles, and this is a very early example. Novelty items surviving from this era intact are very rare, as their use as children’s puzzles or games did not encourage longevity. The double hemisphere world map was the first jigsaw to feature all three of Captain Cook’s voyages, not surprisingly perhaps, as the map was engraved by William Palmer who was also responsible for the “General Chart” in the official account of Cook’s third voyage.

The Library purchased a collection of 38 maps of Australia by the German print-maker Augustus Petermann. The maps are a virtually comprehensive record of Australian mapping which appeared in Petermann’s Geographical journal from 1855 to 1900. Through his association with the Royal Geographical Society in London and later as the first head of the Geographical Institute in Gotha, Petermann had extensive correspondence with a large number of explorers and travellers, who contributed the very latest information for the journal, often exclusively. Petermann’s maps typically included much detail about topography and water systems. All the maps are lithographs printed in colour.

Another outstanding acquisition was a hand drawn chart by cartographer Abraham Anias, dating back to the late 1720s and showing part of the Australian west coast, including reference to the recently wrecked Zeewijk, off Houtman’s Abrolhos. Charts such as this which include details of Australia drawn by the cartographers of the Dutch East India Company are extremely rare, and no other examples drawn on vellum are to be found in Australia. This chart brings into sharp relief the view of the Dutch that ‘Eeendracht Land’ was a place to be avoided, and the Company gave specific instructions to ship captains to this effect. It is thus a hazard chart, detailing obstacles and the course to be sailed across the Indian Ocean from the Cape of Good Hope to Batavia. Remarkably, faint traces of a plotted pencil track of the voyage survive on the chart.

The collecting interests of Sir John Ferguson resulted in the Library holding Australia’s pre-eminent collection of land exploration maps and sales plans. The acquisition of several hundred more plans of the Illawarra, southern New South Wales and Victoria represents a significant and valuable addition. Some of the plans are hand executed and date from the earliest period of popular settlement for particular regions (1840s); others trace the subsequent sale of land into the early twentieth century. Most of the plans were from a lot acquired through the estate of a firm of solicitors which closed several years ago.

A printed map was acquired with unusually clear provenance, attributed to a sporting ‘great’ David William Gregory, the Australian cricket captain under whose leadership Australians first won a victory at Lords, establishing the reputation of our cricketers in England. The item, Railway map of the British Isles and part of France, was donated by Vera Stutchbury, Gregory’s granddaughter. Gregory’s annotations and signature appear on the map, revealing its use on the 1878 tour.

Highlights of recent hydrographical, geological and other recently acquired maps of the Asia-Pacific region include a new series of detailed topographic maps of Bandung (West Java) obtained from the Indonesian national mapping agency, Badan Koordinasi Survei dan Pemetaan Nasional. This is the latest mapping completed by the Indonesian government, based on Landsat-7 radar images taken during and after 2004. An atlas of the December 2004 tsunami, entitled Atlas tsunami di Aceh was also acquired.

A useful consignment from the family of geologist and vulcanologist Charles Grover OBE, included geological maps and topographical sketches of the Solomon Islands drawn and printed during the 1950s as part of the British Geological Survey. Recent mapping for the Solomon Islands is relatively meagre, and these were the last geological maps showing details of gold and other mining in the islands to be commissioned prior to independence.

At the other end of the spectrum, the Library acquired something of a mystery item. This anonymous, very large manuscript nautical wall chart of the Indian Ocean includes a hand drawn track of a voyage from India to Australia. The chart is untitled and undated, but incorporates Flinders’ ‘Terra Australis’ (1814), and was most probably drawn in the 1820s for the British Admiralty. The base chart extends from Formosa in the north (Taiwan) to Kerguelen’s Island, and from the Cape of Good Hope in the west to Tanna (New Hebrides) in the east. A journey from Madras to Swan River to Van Dieman’s Land and then to Batavia has been annotated in pencil, possibly indicating a reconnaissance and supply voyage to the southern colonies during the height of British-French rivalry.

The Library has now taken receipt of an important piece of Cook realia acquired in London at auction. The item, a silver salver belonging to Elizabeth Cook, was engraved on the death of her husband with the newly minted Cook coat-of-arms, to commemorate ‘Cook the Navigator’. The salver incorporates a terrestrial globe centred on the Pacific Ocean, showing the east coast of New Holland and tracks of Cook’s Pacific expeditions. The coat-of-arms was awarded posthumously by the British Crown and is the only one known to include a globe. It includes the now famous epithet, NIL INTENTATEM RELIQUIT (“He left nothing unattempted”). Although engraved between 1785-90, the salver may have been in the Cook household prior to the engraving, and was among the effects of Mrs Cook left to her sole residuary beneficiary (and legatee), John Leach Bennett of Merton, the husband of her second cousin Ursula Cragg.

Music and Dance

The Library’s documentation of the Waltzing Matilda story strengthened still further with the donation of a second manuscript copy of the national song. The 1895 manuscript was donated by Mrs Barbara Roulston, after the closure of Richard Magoffin’s Waltzing Matilda museum at Kynuna where it had been exhibited. Careful examination of the manuscript suggests that this draft was created after the pencil draft but before the pen draft already contained in the papers of Christina Macpherson; it is therefore a missing link between these two manuscripts.

The donation by Eric Tomkins of sheet music and documentation by his grandfather Thomas Bulch, a prominent Australian brass band leader and composer at the turn of the 19-20th century, also provided surprising new evidence about Waltzing Matilda. Bulch’s Craigielee march, long recognised as the source of Christina Macpherson’s Waltzing Matilda tune, was always thought to be a Scottish song but now appears more likely an original composition by Bulch. The acquisition also assisted the Library to identify other of Bulch’s works in the collection as the new documentation shows he published under up to 40 pseudonyms.

The personal papers of Graeme Murphy and Janet Vernon, founders and long-time artistic directors of the Sydney Dance Company, were packed and transferred to the Library just before Murphy and Vernon stepped down from their positions in May. The records of the Canberra based Australian Choreographic Centre were also acquired early in 2008, further strengthening the Library’s archival documentation of Australian dance culture.

Shirley McKechnie donated a parcel of some 20 letters written by Peggy Van Praagh to Victoria Simon, a member of the George Balanchine Trust, New York. Modeste Gentile, once Van Praagh’s secretary and long-time friend, donated letters she received from Van Praagh over 20 years, including correspondence from Van Praagh’s estate trustees.

A significant number of music manuscript collections were acquired from notable Australian composers including those of Roger Smalley, recently retired Professor of Composition at the University of Western Australia, and expatriates Edith Harrhy and David Lumsdaine. Composer and broadcaster Andrew Ford also added substantial new material to his collection.

Retrospective Australian sheet music acquired at auction and through dealers included topical songs such as the 1932 celebration To the bridge, location songs like Blossom town about Shepparton in 1938 and a ‘Proposing song’ from “F.F.F” an Australian mystery musical comedy that was most likely the first professional Australian musical produced by the Tivoli Circuit in 1920. Rare 19th century items continue to be discovered, such as Dig, Dig, Dig! (London 1855), “composed & dedicated to all gold diggers ...”. The annotation states “This song may serve to shed a gleam of satisfaction to our Australian friends ...we hope it may find its way to Geelong ...”. Historic publications of hymns, songs of praise and jubilee Sunday School songs filled in collection gaps. A rare hard bound copy, bought at auction, of Some children’s songs by Marion Alsop and Dorothy Frances McCrae, with wonderful illustrations by Edith Alsop, added to the Library’s major holdings of music for children.

Three rare early editions of Georg Frederic Handel’s works, published in London, Jephtha [ca. 1752], Sosarme [1788] and a bound volume of The songs in Messiah [ca. 1769] were acquired to complement the Helm collection of 18th British music.

Collector and music theatre composer Peter Pinne added substantial new material to his extensive collection of sheet music from Broadway and West End productions, music theatre, musicals, movies and television shows.

Collections pertaining to the Ballets Russes legacy continue to grow. Mrs. Patricia Coulthard, a dance teacher who studied in the United States and Soviet Union in the 1960s, donated a rare program of the Ballets Russes June-August 1939 London season. An oral history was recorded with Kenneth Gillespie, a Tasmanian boy who joined Borovansky Ballet at 16 and whose international career included the Royal, London Festival and New York City Ballets and the Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo in America; he founded the Tasmanian Ballet and school in Launceston in the 1960s.

Dance notation scores are being acquired more regularly, including some that form an historical record of original choreography for Australian ballet companies that emerged after the Ballets Russes visits. A highlight was Meg Abbie Denton’s notation for the famous ballet The eternal lovers, choreographed for the Borovansky Ballet by Paul Grinwis, a Belgian member of that company and one of its most important choreographers. The score is accompanied by Ray Cook’s floor plan notation of the ballet, with designs by J C Williamson designer William Constable. Two Benesh notation scores were donated by choreologist JoAnne Page, including notation for Laurel Martyn’s historic ballet Voyageur for the Ballet Guild, Melbourne, with music by Dorienne Le Galliene.

Oral History and Folklore

The Oral History and Folklore collection is being enriched through a number of specialist interviewing projects, some of which are being guided by specially convened expert advisory panels.  Several projects are also being supported with financial contributions in partnership with other interested organisations.  

A Sports oral history project, being supported with funding from the Australian Sports Commission, recorded interviews with a range of high profile people involved in different roles across varied sports. Highlights include AFL players John Kennedy, and Tom Hafey MBE, Indigenous footballer Joe Mawunhdjil Garawirrtja, athletes Marjorie Jackson Nelson AC, Herb Elliott and Nick Green; cricketer Ann Mitchell OAM, tennis player Wendy Turnbull MBE, equestrian Bill Roycroft OBE, boxer John Famechon and golfer Jane Lock MBE.  Pioneer swimming trainers Forbes and Ursula Carlisle, motor sports expert Bob Jane and commentator Norman May were also interviewed.  

There has been a focus on rural and regional Australia in three projects. Dr Daniel Connell, Rob Linn, Rob Willis and Bill Bunbury conducted interviews with farmers, rural workers, landowners, shop keepers, social workers and many more about the impact of drought on their lives. Historian Professor Bill Gammage partnered with drover Bruce Simpson to add another 47 interviews with drovers and rural workers who remember the days of the big drives. Dr Daniel Connell interviewed microbiologist Professor Frank Fenner, environmental law and policy specialist John Scanlon and water resources expert Brian Haisman for a project on water and shifting cultural values.

Oral historian Jonathon Ritchie, advised by Professors Bill Gammage and Hank Nelson, conducted interviews with Australians who contributed to the shaping of Papua New Guinea in 1942 -1975, the time leading up to independence. Interviewees included archaeologist Emeritus Professor Jim Allen, journalist Sean Dorney AM, MBE, patrol officer/magistrate Rick Giddings MBE and teacher Lynn Giddings, pioneer farmer Lady Barbara Jephcott, farmer, politician and miner, Tom Leahy, and Emeritus Professor Ian Maddocks AM.

Former Council Chairman Jim Bain is generously supporting a program of interviews with twenty people associated with the Australian finance sector. Peter Donovan has recently conducted interviews with banker Charles Rennie, former managing director of the ANZ banking group, and Robert White, banker and company director, and former CEO of the Westpac Banking group.

Other prominent business figures interviewed recently include transport entrepreneur Lindsay Fox, businesswoman and philanthropist Jeanne Pratt and former CEO of BHP, John Prescott. The Library also acquired the R.M. Williams Collection, interviews made by Rob Linn as part of his research for a company history.

The Hon. Tom Hughes AO, QC and the Hon. Robert James Ellicott QC were interviewed by Dr Fiona Wheeler and Professor Michael Coper for the Australian Research Council funded history of the High Court.

Ann-Mari Jordens conducted interviews with retired Chief Migration Officers as part of a joint project with the Department of Immigration and Citizenship to record the story of global population movement and the reshaping of Australia through post-war immigration programs. Amongst the many interviewed were Bill Higgie, Ron Metcalfe, George Kiddle, Lionel Mead, Colliss Parrett, Elaine Moloney

A number of recordings have been deposited in the collection through the Australian Research Council funded children’s folklore oral history project. Sound technician and folklore enthusiast Brian Appleford also deposited the Randall Percy Collection of folklore recorded in Melbourne in the 1960s and 1970s.

In the Seven years on project, dedicated to recording life histories of Aboriginal leaders, Professor Peter Read and Dr Jackie Huggins interviewed psychologist Carmen Cubillo; former plumber, now lawyer Wayne Connop, social worker Stephen Corporal, and Nicole Watson from the Native Title Tribunal. Jackie Huggins was herself interviewed by Peter Read.

Pictures

Two collections of outstanding significance were acquired. The Merlin and Bayliss Collection of Photographic Prints was discovered last year in the ownership of the descendants of the 19th century prospector B.O. Holtermann. After extracting a 145 kilo gold nugget at Tambaroora, Holtermann commissioned the two photographers to record the goldfields towns as a promotional tool. The collection comprises 969 albumen photographs taken between 1872 and 1876 and provides a rare and coherent visual record of the New South Wales gold mining towns of Hill End and Gulgong. It is extremely rare to find such a large, intact collection of Australian 19th century photographs. Many show miners standing at shaft heads, in their working clothes and surrounded by the equipment of the time. The more distant views reveal the environmental consequences of the mines. A second major theme of the collection is the vernacular architecture of the Hill End and Gulgong. The collection also includes photographs of Bathurst, Sydney, Melbourne, Ballarat and other parts of Victoria, depicting the early spread of urban development, ships in harbour, coastal fortifications and other signifiers of a developed and prosperous society.

The second outstanding acquisition is of 86 exhibition prints by Axel Poignant, (1906-1986) a significant Australian photographer known particularly for his interpretations of Indigenous people and rural Australia. Poignant’s work is represented in major Australian galleries including the National Gallery of Australia. The Library has been liaising for a number of years with his widow, Ros Poignant, a former Harold White Fellow, resulting in our purchase of the archive of his exhibition prints, which complement existing collections of Poignant’s negatives.

Other recent acquisitions have included a number of purchases at auction. Sidney Nolan’s cover design for Patrick White’s The aunt’s story was purchased at Christie’s (UK). The design was made at a time when White and Nolan had a close personal and artistic relationship. At the Deutscher & Hackett sale in Melbourne in April, the Library bought a Louis Buvelot watercolour The Deviation or Cutting, Fyansford, Geelong, which shows the onset of industrialisation in rural Victoria - the deviation of a water course for industry, in this case a paper mill, and the construction of a bridge. An original costume design by Australian designer Loudon Sainthill for a 1951 production of The Tempest was purchased at Joel Fine Art sale in Melbourne. The Library was the successful bidder for an oil portrait of 19th century geologist Joseph Beete Jukes attributed to William Beechey.

As part of an ongoing project to seek photographs taken by Indigenous Australians, the Library purchased a collection of 26 photographs by students of Ernabella Anangu School near Alice Springs. The subjects include family groups, friends, community events and activities, sport and social interaction. The photographs are a fascinating survey of the lives of Indigenous families in a remote community, from the unique perspective of members of the community. Selection of images from National Sorry Day on 13 February, taken by a number of both Indigenous and non-Indigenous photographers, has been completed and the acquisitions are expected to begin arriving in July.

Other topics covered in recent photographic acquisitions include services at the Sikh Gurdwara Temple in Blackburn Victoria, floods in Gippsland, and voting in London for the December 2007 Federal Election.

Asian Publications

In April 2008 the Director-General joined the Prime Minister’s delegation in Beijing, China to accept a gift from the Chinese government of a 200 volume work entitled the Four Great Archives of Chinese Civilisation. The set consists of selected reproductions of over 18,000 artistic, literary and historical records of Chinese history and culture. The works selected span the period from the Shang and Zhou dynasty (1700 BCE) to the end of the Tang dynasty in the 10th century CE. Many of the documents have never been seen publicly before and the reproductions are of the highest quality. Sets of the limited edition were made available by donation to only three countries outside China: Taiwan, the US and Australia.

Using the services of the Internet Archive in the United States, staff in Asian Collections created several permanent collections of Asian websites on topics of interest. The Internet in Asia is a dynamic record of current events, and much opinion is expressed there that does not find its way into printed form. Topics collected included the 2007 Burmese uprising, recent elections in Thailand and Lao government and non-governmental organisation websites. The live versions of these websites have already begun to disappear from the Internet.

A collection of six Vietnamese language serials covering the 1950s-1970s were purchased from a supplier in Ho Chi Minh City. The serials represent a politically interesting period in Vietnamese history. While not complete, they have extensive runs and most are not held elsewhere in Australia. The most significant of these titles is Van hoc, a literary journal published in South Vietnam between November 1962 and April 1975.

The Library has established a new blanket order with a vendor based in India for supply of current material from Cambodia. This arrangement will supplement our existing method of acquiring material from an Australian based in the country and should ensure ongoing supply of a wide range of English and Khmer language titles.

Other Overseas Publications

The Library continues to collect a wide range of current and older books and journals published overseas.

Identifying Australian authors and books with Australian content that are published overseas is a major priority for the Library. During the past six months, the annual scan of Australian authors published overseas was completed. In total, 292 authors were searched and 1,013 titles identified, the latter figure representing a three-fold increase since last year. 46.1% of titles were in English, while 53.8% in a language other than English. 4.7 % titles were in an Asian language. Titles published in South America and the Middle East were also identified. The increased number and range of titles found can be attributed to the use of two federated search networks: the WorldCat service and The European Library, a free service offering access to the resources of 47 national libraries in 20 languages. Requests for supply of all titles identified during the scan have been sent to the appropriate regional vendor.

The Pacific continues to be a focus of overseas collection development activities. In late 2007, the Library began archiving selected Pacific websites. Two web archive collections have been created so far, both relating to Papua New Guinea: Papua New Guinea elections 2007 (four sites harvested) and Papua New Guinea government and research websites (49 sites harvested). The Library is intending to undertake an annual harvest of the more active government and research websites. Both archive collections are hosted by Internet Archive. The acquisition of retrospective Pacific titles has also been significant. 140 monographs, many relating to Papua New Guinea, have been purchased during the last financial year. Noteworthy titles include: Candidates handbook to 1992 National Parliament General Election; Tairu (1975 - a compilation of young people’s writings about PNG independence); Handbook for cadet patrol officers (1959), Haus Boi, Haus Meri : a guide to helping newcomers to communicate with domestic staff (1996).

To complement and enhance the print collection, the Library also acquires electronic and microform research collections. During the last six months, the following major resources have been made available:

Eighteenth century journals 1 comprises 95 rare journals printed between 1693 and 1799, bringing together major publications from this period with more ephemeral works to underline the broad variety of eighteenth century print journalism. This resource complements Eighteenth Century Journals II, which the Library had purchased previously, and both resources can be searched through an integrated portal.

British periodicals online collections I and II includes almost 500 periodical runs published from the 1680s to the 1930s. Topics covered include literature, music, philosophy, history, science, the fine arts and the social sciences. It is the online equivalent of the microfilm collections Early British Periodicals, English Literary Periodicals and British Periodicals in the Creative Arts together with additional titles.

Economist historical archive 1843-2003 delivers a complete searchable copy of every issue of The Economist from 1843 to 2003. With full-colour images, multiple search indexes, exportable financial tables and a gallery of front covers highlighting a key topic for each week, it offers a primary source of research covering the 19th and 20th centuries.

19th century British Library newspapers contains full runs of 48 newspapers specially selected by the British Library to best represent 19th century Britain. This collection includes national and regional newspapers, such as those from established country or university towns and the new industrial powerhouses of the manufacturing Midlands, as well as Scotland, Ireland and Wales. Newspapers that helped lead particular political or social movements, such as Reform, Chartism, and Home Rule, and penny papers aimed at the working and clerical classes are also represented in the collection.

17th-18th century Burney collection of newspapers comprises a collection of newspapers, pamphlets and books gathered by the Reverend Charles Burney (1757-1817), which together represent the largest and most comprehensive collection of early English news media. The collection, which totals almost one million pages, includes approximately 1,270 titles, ranging from widely circulated newspapers to many lesser known pamphlets and broadsides.

18th century House of Commons parliamentary papers (HCCP) complements the Library’s existing subscription to the 19th century HCPP. This collection includes publications published officially by the House of Commons or the House of Lords from 1688 to 1834, including sessional papers and other material such as Journals and Private Acts.

East India Company Factory Records, parts 3 & 4, Fort St George (Madras), 1669-1758 are a microform collection of 50 reels that complement the earlier parts on Japan and China.

East meets West: original records of Western traders, travellers, missionaries and diplomats to 1852, part 5, East India Company: Ship’s logs, 1701-1851 is a microform collection of 15 reels that complement parts 1-4 already held.

Church Missionary Society Archive Section 2: Missions to women – Parts 3 and 4 covering Homes of the East and its successor, 1910-1948, Daybreak, 1889, 1893-1894 & 1906-1909, and The Indian Female Evangelist and successors, 1872-1956. This collection of 16 reels supplement the earlier parts already held.

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 in this period include:

De Christiana expeditione apvd Sinas svscepta ab Societate Iesv / ex P. Matthæi Ricii eiusdem Societatis commentarijs, libri V. Ad S.D.N. Pavlvm V. In qvibvs Sinensis regni mores, leges, atque instituta, & nouae illius ecclesiædifficillima primordia accurate & summa fide describuntur. Auctore P. Nicolao Trigavtio ex eadem Societate. Coloniæ : Sumptibus Bernardi Gvalteri, anno 1617. This volume was published by Nicolas Trigault based on the reports of Matteo Ricci, an Italian Jesuit missionary. It chronicles the Western mission in China from 1583 to 1611 and was one of the most influential books on China published in the West during the 17th century. This edition is not held by any other Australian Library.

Rosas do Japam, e da Cochinchina : candidas açucenas ... cohidas nos jardins da Igreja do Japaõ, & da Cochinchina ... nas admiraveis vidas, e gloriosos martyrios de algumos muyto illustres Japoas & Cochinchinas ... : parte segunda / Fr. Agostinho de S. Maria. Lisboa Occidental : Na Officina de Pedro Ferreyra, 1724. The second volume of a Portuguese work on 17th century Japan with information on the early evangelisation of the country and its Christian martyrs, particularly women. This is the only known copy held by an Australian library.

The Flowers of Japan and the art of floral arrangement / by Josiah Conder, with illustrations by Japanese artists. Tokio : Hakubunsha, 1892. This striking work, prepared through the enthusiasm of Professor Conder, who was Professor of Art and Architecture to the Japanese Government, is particularly important as it includes six woodblocks by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi, deemed to be perhaps the finest print designer of the period (1839-1892) - a Kuniyoshi pupil who stands almost alone in expressing ukiyo-e vigour during the years of social, political and artistic upheaval.

Several Folio Society titles were purchased for the Collection, including a copy of The Qur'ân. This is the first Folio Society edition of the Qur'ân and includes six double pages reproduced from the opulent Qur'ân of Sultan Baybars, commissioned in 1304. The Library also purchased a copy of Liber bestiarum, a facsimile reproduction of an exquisite 13th century bestiary held in the Bodleian Library in Oxford. This edition is bound in full goatskin leather and contains 137 folios, with 135 miniatures with the original gold leaf reproduced in foiling. It is accompanied by a commentary by Christopher de Hamel and translation by Richard Barber.

1. Includes 80,000 new books, serials, manuscripts, maps, pictures, oral history recordings and transcripts, music, digital images, websites and over 185,000 new serial and newspaper issues of ongoing serial titles

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