Recent Acquisition Highlights
June 2009
Background
This report offers a review of recent significant acquisitions by the National Library and collecting activities. It covers the period from July 2008 to June 2009. 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 2008/2009 financial year it is estimated that the Library will acquire over 670,000 collection items in a wide range of formats. 1
Australian Printed Materials
17th, 18th and 19th century publications
The Library continued to obtain copies of items listed or in scope for John Ferguson’s Bibliography of Australia that are not held. A number of significant acquisitions that are recorded on the Library’s desiderata list have also been acquired. These include:
Compendio de las historias de los descvbrimientos, conqvistas, y gverras de la India Oriental, y sus islas, desde los tiempos del infante don Enrique de Portugal su inventor ... / José Martinez de la Puente (Madrid : Viuda de I. Fernandez de Buendia, 1681). This work contains an account of the discovery of the Moluccas as well as a description of the Philippines and New Guinea with the author acknowledging that it was not known whether New Guinea was an island or part of a great Southern Continent.
Analysis of the earthy substance from New South Wales called Sydneia or Terra Australis / Charles Hatchett [1798]. (Ferguson item 267)
A small but significant collection of William Bligh-related items was purchased from the Robert & Ann Parks Collection In the 220th anniversary year of the famous ‘Mutiny on the Bounty’. The purchase included two items that the Library has waited many years to acquire ‑ Engelske Capitainens Wilhelm Blighs Resa, a very rare 1792 abridged Swedish translation of Bligh’s account of the mutiny (Ferguson item 129); and Songs &c in Pitcairn’s Island, A New Romantik, Operatick Ballet spectacle … (Ferguson item 665), a rare 1816 booklet on a theatrical response to the news of the discovery of Bounty mutineers on Pitcairn Island.
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.
The 1680 Dutch edition Dictionarium geographicum, ofte, Schat-en woordt-boeck des aerdt-trycks …by Johannes de Raei is the first geographical dictionary (in Dutch) to mention Australia.
Jean Martiny’s geographical anthology, Nouvelle géographie, où toute la terre est descrite avec beaucoup d'exactitude et de brièveté, selon les autheurs les plus approuvez et les cartes les plus nouvelles (1693), offers a significant section on Terra Australis.
19th century European accounts of natural history curiosities, exploration and discovery across Australia and the Pacific were further collecting highlights:
Capitain Cooks dritte und letzte Reise, oder, Geschichte einer Entdeckungsreise nach dem stillen Ocean …/ James Cook (1787-1812). This is a rare contemporary multi-volume German edition of Cook’s third voyage.
The oriental navigator; or New directions for sailing to and from the East Indies : also for the use of ships trading in the Indian and China seas to New Holland… / Joseph Huddart (1801) (Ferguson item 337a).
Annales du Muséum national d'histoire naturelle (1802, 1804, 1805-1813). Volumes 5-21 comprise 22 articles which supplement earlier held editions from the series on the Baudin Expedition (1801-1804) which collected some 180,000 natural history specimens from Australia, South Africa and New Zealand.
Manuel de mammalogie, ou, Histoire naturelle des mammifères / Rene Primavere Lesson (1827). Based on observations from Louis Duperrey’s circumnavigation and his 1824 visit to Australia, this work includes significant content on Australian mammals (kangaroo, koala, wombat, and thylacine).
Lettre de M.H.D. de Blainville à M. le rédacteur de l'Echo du Monde savant, au sujet de l'ornithorhynque / H-M. (Henri-Marie) Ducrotay de Blainville [1835 or 1836]. This work complements the Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire manuscript Nouvelles consideration sur la nature des glandes abdominals des monotremes, 1833 (MS 10038) and further supports research interest in the 1830s European debate about the platypus.
Nouvel herbier de l'amateur : contenant la description, la culture, l'histoire et les propriétés des plantes rares et nouvelles cultivées dans les jardins de Paris / par M. Loiseleur-Deslongchamps … (1838). This botanical work features 52 species of exotic plants for the French gardener and horticulturalist and includes seven Australian plants reflecting France’s enduring interest in New Holland and its flora.
Jan Carstensz, Nieuw-Guinea 1623 [1859]. A short overview of Carstensz’s main voyages is provided in this modern Dutch transcription of the letter which reported the results of his exploration of the Gulf of Carpentaria. The letter apparently accompanied the journal of the voyage, which was published in 1859.
Die Arachniden Australiens nach der Natur beschrieben und abgebildet / Ludwig Koch and Eugen von Keyserling (1871-1890). Featuring a large amount of unique material this monumental work on Australian spiders will support scholarly research into Australian spiders and into scientific writing and publishing in 19th century Europe. 40% of the content is unique and includes manuscript proof plates and original artwork with some information which does not appear in the published version (Ferguson item 11242a).
L'Alsace-Lorraine en Australie : histoire d'une famille d'émigrants sur le continent austral / Armand Ernest Dubarry (1874). This is an illustrated edition of a French account of life in Australia with much on the goldfields, views of Melbourne, Cape York and life in the outback.
The flower garden in Queensland : containing concise and practical instructions on the cultivation of the flower garden, and the management of pot plants in Australia / Albert Hockings (1875) (Ferguson item 10472)
Account of the latest exploring expedition across Australia : paper read before the Geographical Section of the British Association, Plymouth 1877 / William Henry Tietkens [1877 or 1878]
Exotic conchology … / William Swainson (London : 18??). This extraordinarily beautiful copy of the 2nd edition includes watercolour illustrations of shells from the collection of Mrs Elizabeth Bligh.
The shipwrecked orphans; a true narrative of the shipwreck and sufferings of John Ireland and William Doyley, who were wrecked in the ship Charles Eaton on an island in the South Seas / John Ireland [1844-5]. The Library now holds all three issues of this publication.
Exotic Australian flora and fauna are also represented in a selection of small but beautiful French and American collector’s cards advertising coffee and chocolate in the 1880s through to 1901 which have been acquired.
The Moralizing convict is an example of early broadsides acquired for the collection. It has been cited in Songs, Humorous and Satirical (London 1833), and describes the positive aspects of convict life. It is believed to be the first appearance of the ballad in an Australia public collection.
Regional newspapers are another area of importance in the Library's collecting. They provide a wonderful historical resource and are particularly valued by the family history researcher. As print copies of newspapers are fragile, and the Library does not always hold copies of older material, there is an ongoing program to acquire microfilm versions of selected titles. Some recent acquisitions on microfilm include: Corryong courier. Corryong, Vic. : Corryong Courier, 1894-1945; The Narandera ensign. Narandera, N.S.W. : Geo. Jarman & Son, -1904; The Wynyard times. Tumut, N.S.W. : James Baker Elworthy, 1860-1864.
20th and 21st century publications
The Library receives over 12,000 books each year on legal deposit. To ensure the collection covers Australian publishing comprehensively, the Library undertakes acquisition projects to fill gaps and to build on strengths in the collection. Three of the collecting projects currently underway are described below.
Legal deposit promotion and claiming project — a list of major commercial publishers and research organisations has been compiled and staff are acquiring any titles that have not previously been deposited with the Library. All the state writers’ centres and major writers’ festivals are being contacted so that information about legal deposit can be distributed to their members and participants respectively. For instance, 1,300 legal deposit brochures will be sent to the Melbourne Writers’ Festival for distribution to attendees.
Print on demand publications — in 2008 the Library began trialling the acquisition of items published or distributed by Lulu.com, an online publishing and printing company based in North Carolina. The trial is part of the Library’s strategy to engage with the online publishing and print-on-demand industry, which is becoming a more important book production channel for self-publishers. While there are a handful of such services in Australia, Lulu.com is one of the biggest players in the industry and therefore a popular choice for many Australian authors. Other significant online publishing services are also being explored.
Fringe publishing — a concerted effort is being made to identify and contact the publishers of fringe publications including comics, zines, graphic novels and speculative fiction which often elude our collecting net. (Zines are non-commercial magazines that are generally published irregularly in print or online formats and reflect alternative or unconventional views and subject matter). Less formal channels are being used to engage with this publishing community such as blogs, emails, and attendance at zine fairs. Part of the increased emphasis includes a three month project which will gauge the extent of this type of publishing in Australia and will also consider cataloguing and access issues to ensure these publications are given an appropriate presence in the National Library’s collection. The Library has also been fortunate to receive a significant donation of around 500 issues of some contemporary comics and zines from the period 1990−2000 from Dr Michael Hill. Dr Hill used this material for researching his PhD thesis A study of contemporary Australian alternative comics 1992-2000 with particular reference to the work of Naylor, Smith, Danko and Ord.
The Library's collecting of Australian journals, magazines and newspapers is focused on both acquiring new publications and also filling gaps in the holdings for older titles. It is evident that despite the much vaunted move towards online publishing, a wide variety of new serial titles continue to be produced in print format. In the past 12 months the new titles obtained have included government reports, newsletters of clubs/societies, consumer information, academic journals and glossy magazines. Some interesting examples to demonstrate the range are: Snail mail. Dickson, A.C.T : Ampersand Duck, 2008- ; Butterfly & Other Invertebrates Club. Runcorn, Qld. : Butterfly and Other Invertebrates Club, [2008]- ; Sprinkla : (spreading the word on sustainable living). Kensington, Vic. : IZM Media, [2007]- ; The lifted brow : journal of letters, arts, sciences, etc. Brisbane : [Brow House], 2007- ; Journal of financial advice. Melbourne : Mentor Education, 2008-
Retrospective filling of gaps in the Library's holdings is achieved by both purchase and donation. Material recently obtained includes: a large number of newsletters from the La Mama Theatre Company in Melbourne, which filled in all of the gaps in our holdings. La Mama have expressed their appreciation that the Library now has a complete collection of their newsletters; 334 issues of the Australian trotting record (1936-1955); 113 issues of The world’s news (1947-1949); 13 issues of Musical Australia (1920-1921); 33 issues of Australian dairy foods ( 1979-1994); 23 issues of Cavalier : the new man’s magazine (1953-1957); and 3 issues of The digger published by the Australian Imperial Force in France (1918).
The Library’s holdings of sporting programs and ephemera have been strengthened by the acquisition of a 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games torch which joined the Sydney 2000 torch in the Library’s Olympics ephemera collection. Other material from the 1956 Games which was acquired include a map of the Heidelberg Olympic Village showing the locations of the various national teams’ accommodation and dining halls; a collection of invitations to VIP Olympic events; and a collection of official team badges from 31 competing countries on a medal presentation cushion. In addition an unusual poster from the 1933-1934 Australian Kangaroos tour of France — L’Australienne Kangaroos versus Angleterre, Stade Pershing, 31 Decembre — with a photo of the Australian team was acquired.
Posters continued to be collected as part of the Australian documentary heritage. Interesting posters from the 1920s through to the 1960s depicting Australia-Pacific travel and tourism, arts, and agriculture and allied industries have been acquired, including the work of iconic graphic artist Douglas Annand. Wild Australia, a vibrant poster from the 1920s, is the first rodeo poster to be added to the collection.
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 Tumbrel Diaries (http://nla.gov.au/nla.arc-969084) — the blog of the renowned Australian art curator Angus Trumble.
The Hon Michael Kirby AC KMG (http://nla.gov.au/nla.arc-96901) — the official website of the former Justice of the High Court of Australia. The website includes speeches (dating from 1975 to today), photographs and multimedia.
KevinRuddPM (http://nla.gov.au/nla.arc-97501) — this is the Twitter site of the Prime Minister. Kevin Rudd is the first Australian Prime Minister to use the popular Twitter social networking service. The ‘tweets’ of the Prime Minister commenced on 11 November 2008.
Bushfires, Victoria, February 2009 (http://pandora.nla.gov.au/col/9801) — a collection of websites relating to the 2009 Victorian bushfires. The collection includes media sites, blogs and sites of involved organisations.
2008 Australian Web Domain Harvest (not publicly accessible at present) — this is the largest single archival collection of Australian web material. From a continuous crawl of the .au Australian web domain conducted between July and September 2008, one billion unique files were collected from more than three million host domains. This collection amounts to around 35 terabytes of data.
The Library has subscribed to AusGeoRef, a bibliographic geoscience database that covers Australian publications in this field since 1840. In 2003, the American Geological Institute and Geoscience Australia began a cooperative arrangement to improve the coverage of Australian publications in GeoRef. AusGeoRef now includes more than 170,000 bibliographic references on Australia.
Manuscripts
The Library continues to acquire highly significant historical manuscripts relating to early Pacific exploration. In the years following the 1605−1607 voyage in search of Terra Australis by Pedro Ferdinand de Quiros and Luis Vaez de Torres (during which Quiros landed on the island of Espiritu Santo, part of modern Vanuatu, believing it to be the great southern continent), de Quiros sent King Ferdinand III at least 65 unsuccessful ‘memorials’ trying to persuade the monarch to fund another exploration of the southern oceans. Despite the Spanish government’s determination that Quiros’ memorials should not be published, some were published in several languages (including English) within five years of their creation. Dalrymple and Cook were certainly aware of these memorials, and had access to written accounts of Torres’ journey. The Library has recently acquired an unrecorded 1611 manuscript copy of memorial number eight, written in Italian, complementing the four printed memorials already held in the Rare Books collection. The eight page manuscript is contained within a larger volume of Spanish and Italian diplomatic writings.
A 1758 letter of discharge written by then Master James Cook of the Pembroke was donated under the Cultural Gifts Program by Kraft Foods Ltd, along with a number of historical documents. This generous gift is the Library’s earliest Cook autograph.
A handwritten diary by Jessie Couvreur (‘Tasma’), 19th century author of Uncle Piper of Piper’s Hill and five other novels, was purchased from her descendants. Hitherto available only on microfilm, this diary is only the second original Couvreur manuscript known to be held by an Australian collecting institution. Witty and urbane, it describes Couvreur’s daily life in England, together with family concerns.
The outstanding personal archive of Jim Sharman, Australia’s leading theatre director of the late 20th century was acquired in May. Sharman brought ground-breaking productions such as Hair and Jesus Christ Superstar to the Australian stage, continued his success with these productions in international markets and made an international film phenomenon of Richard O’Brien’s musical, The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Working across many genres, he was a formative director of the Lighthouse Theatre Company, and broke new ground in his opera productions, including his 1967 enfant terrible production of Don Giovanni, and his production of Voss. These activities are richly documented in this strongly visual archive. One strand of the archive relates to Jim Sharman’s relationship with Patrick White. Sharman successfully restaged a number of White works for theatre, and appears to have encouraged White back into dramatic writing. The archive also includes significant family letters relating to his father Jimmy Sharman’s boxing troupe, and unique archival footage of the last days of the long running troupe, and of Jimmy Sharman recollecting life on the road and under the big tent.
Moffatt Oxenbould, former Artistic Director of the Australian Opera, and Graeme Ewer, who sang with the Opera for 37 years, donated the first part of an extensive collection documenting their long association with the Opera. The donation was facilitated by Janet McDonald. The archive includes many magnificent set and costume designs for Australian Opera productions, as well as highly significant correspondence about major projects.
The performing arts collections were further strengthened by acquisition of the papers of the late Alex Buzo. Writer of plays including Norm and Ahmed and Coralie Lansdowne says no, Buzo was also a lover of cricket — writing Legends of the Baggy Green — and a prolific writer of non-fiction and theatre reviews.
Lady Benise Killen, widow of the Sir James Killen, Defence Minister in the Fraser Government, donated his extensive personal papers under the Cultural Gifts Program. This is a rich political collection, including extensive subject files and correspondence with many other Australian politicians. His correspondence with former Prime Minister, the Honourable Gough Whitlam, is particularly warm and amusing, and is laced with erudite and pointed Latin witticisms.
While the Library’s collection of politicians’ archives has historically been strong, the same cannot be said for personal papers of leading business figures. Sir Arvi Parbo’s donation of a very large, comprehensive and unusually well organised personal archive, documenting his long career with the Western Mining Corporation, is a very welcome exception. Covering decades, several governments, and many booms and busts in the resources sector, this archive extends the Library’s collections in an under-developed area.
Personal papers of Australia’s diplomats often yield valuable research material. Former diplomat Neil Manton donated important research papers, including records of his interviews with victims of Cambodia's Khmer Rouge regime and significant documentation of Cambodia’s social and cultural reconstruction.
The Library’s scientific archives were strengthened and extended with the donation of diaries, field notes and correspondence by Professor Raymond Specht, botanist to the 1948 American-Australian Scientific Expedition to Arnhem Land. Professor Specht identified and named 20 new plant species during the trip, and has beautifully documented his clear memories of relationships with the traditional owners of both Arnhem lands and the Torres Strait islands.
An important record of a key social movement is documented in the archives of Rural Australians for Refugees, a constellation of community groups providing support and advocacy for interned asylum-seekers. This substantial collection includes box after box of moving correspondence from internees to their Australian supporters. It clearly demonstrates the long-term commitment of those supporters, how important these human connections were to internees, and both groups’ increasing sense of desperation as years passed.
We continue to collect archival documentation relating to the activities of Australians in the Pacific. Descendants of Joseph Binskin — a landowner in the early 19th century Solomon Islands — presented a particularly poignant diary to the Library. Binskin’s first wife (a Solomon Islander) and children were all murdered while he was on a business trip to Brisbane. This diary records his thoughts just before and after the massacre, and documents the retribution visited by his wife’s relatives on the perpetrators. Binskin married another Solomon Islander, and returned to Australia with his second family.
Maps
Several rare world maps were purchased during the year including maps by Johannes Van Loon, Frederick de Wit and Henry Overton. The Van Loon is a 1666 edition of Orbis terrarum nova et accuratissimia tabula, a twin hemispherical map of the world showing Tasman’s discoveries in 1642 and 1644, as well as a faint coastline indicating Terra Australis Incognita.
Prominent Dutch mapmaker De Wit’s twin-hemispherical world map, Nova totius terrarum orbis tabula auctore (1660), is a rare example of his work and one of only two of his maritime maps that were dated. The map is decorated with garlands, allegorical vignettes representing the four elements, two each of astronomical diagrams, polar hemispheres and celestial hemispheres. It also shows Tasman’s two voyages in 1642-43 and 1644 and was used in Hendrik Doncker’s maritime atlas.
The map by Henry Overton is a large and impressive double hemisphere map of the world (1715) surrounded by astronomical diagrams, four smaller hemispheres and an image of the moon’s surface. The map documents discoveries by Tasman (Australia and New Zealand), Dampier (New Britain, north of New Guinea) and Vries’ 1643 discoveries north of Japan. There is also a notation on New Holland quoting de Vlamingh’s infamous assessment of New Holland as a desert with few redeeming qualities.
A rare thematic map, the Children’s missionary map of the world, 1848, was acquired. The map shows locations of Church of England missionary stations including three for Australasia. All areas not covered by the Church are coloured black, indicating the ‘light of the Gospel has but dimly and feebly shone upon this vast extent of country’.
Among notable atlas acquisitions, a rare first edition of Johann Bayer’s celestial atlas Uranometria (1603) the first made from telescopic observations and the first showing the southern hemisphere; it includes manuscript astronomical notes by mathematician John Collins.
New maps documenting the early exploration of the Pacific include two manuscript charts by Alexander Dalrymple, the first Hydrographer to the British Admiralty and James Cook’s rival for the Australian voyage. Dalrymple’s charts, drawn for John Reinhold Forster’s translation of Voyage autour du monde, show the track of Bougainville’s 1768−69 expedition in the South Pacific, and one includes speculative traces of the Southland’s east coast, marked ‘land seen from masthead’, drawn before James Cook’s voyage.
Early 16th century exploration is well represented by the acquisition of an early wood-cut sheet from Ptolemy’s Geographia entitled Tabula noua Indiae orientalis & meridionalis. This 1541 map of the East Indies indicates the south-eastern extremity of cartographic knowledge to that date, and was one of the first to recognise South East Asia as a distinct entity.
Maps acquired a number of items of importance to the Asia-Pacific region, including: a large dual-language map of Japan published by the Meiji regime (1880s); a rare detailed map of the south coast of Sumatra published by the Dutch East India Company (c.1700), and an unusual German map of the Western Pacific from China to the Marquesas (c.1790) which refers to New Holland as ‘Ulimaroa’, a Polynesian term being considered at this time as a name for the new continent. Several maps of Chinese provinces, particularly showing Japanese Manchuria during and before World War II, were also received.
A number of additional items of maritime interest relating to Australia and the Pacific were acquired by the Library. A large personal traveller’s map published in 1829 shows later manuscript annotations of tracks of the Neptune and the barque Eagle. Two charts of the Pacific Ocean produced by the French Depot De La Marine, Paris 1880, include detail of Australia and northwards to Japan and Korea. They were used to indicate probable directions and intensity of the winds.
A rare edition of a nautical chart of Australia and the South Pacific published by J W Norie & Co, 1844, was also acquired. The Australian coastline is exceptionally well detailed with depths given throughout, along with a great variety of navigational data, such as hazards, compass variations, tide speeds and reefs. A note within Australia is addressed to whalers, providing information on the migratory patterns of whales combined with data on currents.
Music and Dance
Records of the Melba Conservatorium of Music, including an extensive historical collection relating to Dame Nellie Melba and other leading musicians of the early 20th century, were acquired. The collection includes music manuscripts, sheet music, photographs, programs and clippings, covering the period from 1891 to 2008. The collection also captures a wealth of Australian music history through historical records and manuscripts that associate Melba’s own documents and her narrative with the history of the Conservatorium and musical training in Australia.
The records of contemporary music ensembles Elision and The Seymour Group were acquired. For 20 years, Elision commissioned and performed new music from Australian and international composers and the collection includes extensive correspondence with composers and performers, as well as business records. The Seymour Group collection of performance scores and parts documents a vibrant period of creative activity by Australia’s leading composers and performers from 1977 until 2007.
John Cargher’s collection of his scripts for over 40 years of continuous ABC radio broadcasting of the programs Singers of Renown and Music for Pleasure, together with the index cards that document all the recordings he has used in his programs were donated by his widow.
A very rare 1801 British edition of three violin sonatas by Beethoven was found in a 19th century owner-bound album in Australia, and fortuitously the accompanying violin part was also found and acquired through a supplier.
The Salvation Army Southern Territory Archives and Museum in Melbourne donated a full set of musical scores written by Arthur Gullidge, the most significant and prolific Australian composer for brass band in the period pre-World War II. During the War band leader Gullidge and every member of the AIF’s 2/22 Battalion Regimental Band was originally a Salvation Army Bandsman. Of the twenty-four who enlisted, only one survived their deployment to New Britain in 1941 and sixteen band members including Gullidge were on board the Montevideo Maru when it was sunk on 1 July 1942.
The Library received a donation of nearly 120 boxes of musical arrangements from the long-time Channel 9 Musical Director, Geoff Harvey. The collection includes 4,500−5,000 arrangements of popular music, television program themes, and incidental music used by the Nine Network, spanning Harvey’s career from 1962 until 1998. Represented in this collection are works by many of Australia’s foremost musical arrangers, including Ron Falson, Jack Westmore, Graeme Lyall, George Brodbeck, Alan Deak and numerous others who wrote for television shows including the Don Lane Show, the Midday Show, the Graham Kennedy Show, and one of the earliest variety shows on Australian television, In Melbourne Tonight.
Collections pertaining to the Ballets Russes legacy continue to grow. An interview with Strelsa Heckleman Lording, who was a popular dancer in the Kirsova and Borovansky Ballets, also records her memories of dance in music theatre in Australia. The papers of Irina Baronova, one of the legendary ‘baby ballerinas’, were donated by her daughter Irina Tennant. This significant collection extends our knowledge of her remarkable career in ballet and in films. The papers of Valrene Tweedie, a Sydney teenager who joined the original Ballets Russes in 1940, record the career of an admired teacher and a key figure in the development of ballet on Australian television in the 1950s and 1960s.
The Library acquired a beautiful collection of set designs used in the 1976 Ballet Victoria production of Petrouchka. The works are believed to be copied from original designs by Alexandre Benois for Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes, which premiered in Paris 13 June 1911. The original designs were photocopied, then hand coloured and some bear the signature of the colourist, Hélène Clément Benois. Hélène was the daughter of Alexandre Benois.
Choreographer Shirley McKechnie donated 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 the trustees of Van Praagh’s estate.
Oral History and Folklore
The Australians in Papua New Guinea 1942-1975 project continues to add a range of interviews primarily in Australia, but also in PNG when opportunities allow. Oral historian Jonathon Ritchie has conducted interviews with, among others, one time resident of the Morobe district and PNG politician, Tom Leahy, PNG National Librarian and public servant, John Yocklunn, and land tenure researcher and lawyer, Jim Fingleton.
Australian Research Council funded partnerships are leading to significant additions. The Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia, Robert French was interviewed for the High Court history project, the first time a sitting Justice has agreed to be interviewed. Barrister Tom Hughes QC and retired Judge Michael McHugh QC were also interviewed. The Childhood, Tradition and Change project follows in the footsteps of American Fulbright scholar Dr Dorothy Howard, who spent ten months in Australia in 1954−1955 recording children’s playground folklore.
A project supported by the Australian Sports Commission has now concluded. More than 80 interviews were undertaken, including with Olympic equestrian champion Bill Roycroft, tennis great Thelma Long, whose 20 year playing career ran from the mid 1940s to the 1960s, marathon runner Robert de Castella, tennis star Rod Laver and Indigenous sportsmen Harry Nelson Jagamarra and Dennis James Jabunga Williams.
Extended biographical interviews with eminent Australians continue to be an important part of the collection. Among those interviewed include choreographer Ross Coleman, actor Reg Livermore, opera singer Joan Carden, politician John Hatton, entrepreneur Kevin Jacobsen, physicist Professor Harry Medlin, business figures Kerry Stokes, John Prescott and Therese Rein, historian and author Cassandra Pybus, philanthropists and arts advocates Gordon and Marilyn Darling and Barbara Blackman, artist Ken Done, and adventurer and environmental activist Warwick Deacock. The former Chair of the Australian Stock Exchange, Maurice Newman, was interviewed for a project supported by former National Library Council Chairman Jim Bain with people who have made a significant contribution to the Australian finance sector.
The Library continued to build its folklore collections with a very diverse range of recordings by collector Rob Willis, including environmental protest songs recorded in Tasmania and mining songs from Cessnock. The Voices from the Bush project included a series of interviews with the last remaining bullock drivers who learnt their craft in situ. A project documenting the history of pipe bands in Australia was commenced with Jon Jones, and the Library acquired Manuel Casha’s collection of Maltese folklore in Australia which documents the improvised performances of spiritu pront in its local heyday in the 1970s and 1980s.
A number of interviews were added to on-going social history projects, including a project to interview former Chief Migration Officers, conducted with support from the Department of Immigration and Citizenship; with people associated with the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation; on water and shifting cultural values; and another on the impact of continuing drought.
Pictures
A number of 19th century works were added to the collection during the year. One is a watercolour by Captain MacCarthy of the Government camp at Ballarat, which provides a detailed and colourful view of the camp from which the attack on the stockade was launched. This is expected to be popular with publishers given the rarity of contemporary pictorial documentation of the Eureka stockade.
John McDouall Stuart’s famous expedition of 1861−1862, which crossed the Australian continent from south to north, is represented in a drawing purchased from a South Australian dealer. The picture is inscribed ‘Rough sketch to shew how J.M. Stuart was carried on the ambulance from Mt Hay to Porter's Hill, south of Chambers Creek (about 400 miles) in December, 1862, sketched from memory by Stephen King, the young artist on the expedition’. It records a significant event when, after reaching the coast near present-day Darwin, Stuart’s health deteriorated. Ill with scurvy and nearly blind, Stuart was carried on a stretcher for a large part of the return journey. The sketch not only records the way Stuart was carried, but also bears witness to the devotion and care provided by the party to their leader, a further contrast to the more divided expedition of Burke and Wills.
Other 19th century additions included 51 photographs by Charles Walter, including scenes of Gippsland, of Aborigines fishing and or prospecting ca. 1865−1872, and three photographs of deceased infants, illustrating the Victorian custom of post-mortem photography in which the deceased were represented as being peacefully at rest.
A significant addition to the Library’s aviation holdings was a collection of more than 500 photographs by Horrie Miller, of MacRobertson Miller Airlines, documenting the beginnings of the aviation industry in Western Australia. The photographs include the first flightto Wyndham and the developmentof aerial postal and passenger services to the north west. The photographs were acquired with Horrie Miller’s papers.
Other topics covered in photographic acquisitions included go-kart racing in the 1950s, surfing in the 1960s and early 1970s; and more recently, home schooling; drought and flood; night-club activities; and the arrival in Sydney of the first Qantas A380 airbus. Events such as the Prime Minister’s Apology to the Stolen Generations and the Beijing Olympic Torch Relay were documented by staff photographers. Pictures staff have established contacts with a number of photographers who covered the Victorian bushfires of February 2009, including a Marysville resident; these photographs are expected to arrive in the 2009/2010 year.
A self portrait by Indigenous artist, Julie Dowling, was among the important portrait acquisitions. Dowling’s family includes members of the Stolen Generations and the painting, with its theme of forgiveness, is her response to the Apology by Prime Minister Rudd. Other portrait acquisitions included a self portrait by Mary Edwards, a plaintiff in the failed Joshua Smith case against William Dobell in 1943; photographs of ten Indigenous artists by Greg Weight; and photographs of oral history interviewees such as interpreter Paula Kansky, historian Professor Marilyn Lake and actor Reg Livermore.
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.
Significant acquisitions relating to the history of China include:
Martini, Martino. Sinicae historiae decas prima : res à gentis origine ad Christum natum in extrema Asia, sive Magno Sinarum imperio gestas complexa. Amsterdam : Joannem Blaeu, 1659. The first western work, written in Latin, on the ancient history of China. The author Martino Martini (1614−1661) was an Italian Jesuit who spent many years as a missionary in China and used Chinese documentary sources to compile his history. The book caused some controversy in Europe. Martini records the names of Chinese emperors beginning from about 3000 BC and thus had history beginning earlier than was claimed by the Bible (claimed to be 2349 BC, after Noah’s Flood).
Relacąm do estado politico e espiritval do imperio da China, pellos annos de 1659 atè o de 1666 / escrita a em latim pello P. Francisco Rogemont da Cõpanhia de Iesus. Lisboa, Portugal : Na officina de Ioam da Costa, 1672. The first edition of a work published in Latin a year later under the more well-known title Historia Tartaro-Sinica nova. The book is in three parts and describes the Qing consolidation of power in Southern China including the career of the warlord Coxinga. Part Two describes events at the Qing court and the final part describes the trials and persecutions of the missionaries.
Illustrations of China and its People : a series of two hundred photographs with letterpress descriptive of the places and people represented / John Thomson. London : Sampson Low, Marston, Low, and Searle, 1873−1874. Each volume of this rare four volume work features 24 plates of Woodbury-type reproductions of photographs by John Thomson and each plate is accompanied by text. The Truthful lens publication described it as an “ambitious work, reflecting a stay in China lasting five years [by Thomson. It] was the first photographic survey of the Chinese nation, providing portraits, street scenes, monuments, and landscapes [and] … the first travel book to be successfully illustrated with photomechanical facsimiles of albumen prints replicated in the recently perfected collotype process."
The Four Great Archives of Chinese Civilization is a high quality facsimile reprint in over 200 volumes of 1,560 classical works from China’s earliest civilisations. The impressive work was presented to the Prime Minister Kevin Rudd at a special ceremony in China in 2008, attended by the Director-General, and received in the Library some months later. The works included date from the Shang dynasty (1766 BCE), when Chinese characters were recorded for the first time on oracle bones, to the Tang dynasty of the 10th century CE.
Donated by the Chinese Embassy, Yuan Ming Yuan si shi jing tu yong [Illustrated Odes to the Forty Scenes of the Garden of Perfect Brightness] is a modern colour reproduction of a famous work first published in 1745. The original Illustrated Odes to the Forty Scenes was produced by order of the Qianlong Emperor (1711-1799) (he of the terracotta warriors) to celebrate his major achievement, the development of the Yuan Ming Yuan or Garden of Perfect Brightness, just outside the Chinese capital. This was the main imperial pleasure garden and seat of government for much of the Qing or Manchu dynasty, which ruled China from 1644 to 1911. The work contains poems by Qianlong himself accompanied by paintings depicting his favourite scenes in the gardens. The volume consists of 42 leaves folded accordion style, and is housed in a specially made camphorwood case.
Historical works relating to Southeast Asia acquired in this period reflect the range of material added to the collection.
Journael of kort verhael van't begin, voortgangh en eynde des oorloghs tusschen den koningh en verdere regeeringe van Macassar, en de Nederlandtsche geoctroyeerde Oost-Indische Compagnie, in de jaren 1666/1667/1668 en 1669… Amsterdam : boor Marcus Doornick, [1669]. A rare original account of the Netherlands East India Company expedition, under the command of Cornelis Speelman against the Sultan of Makassar in 1666−1669. Speelman later became Governor of the Dutch East Indies. The first 16 pages of the work comprise an account of the expedition; the eight page supplement contains printed versions of the various treaties with a number of the local allies of the Sultan. It is not held by any other Australian library.
Fleurs, fruits et feuillages choisis de l'île de Java by Berthe Hoola van Nooten. Bruxelles : C. Muquardt, [1880] was acquired from the family of the artist. The work consists of 40 chromolithographed plates of botanical illustrations of both native and introduced species of Java, with accompanying parallel text in French and English describing the plants as well as providing information on their culinary, medical and other uses. The artist, Berthe Hoola van Nooten, was left a widow in Java when still young, and turned to publishing her botanical work in order to support her family. Little else is known of her life; however, the plates of this work are considered to be amongst the finest examples of chromolithography. This publication is a very worthy addition to the Library’s collection, providing another example of 19th century botanical illustrations to complement those already held by the Library relating to Australia.
Retrospective issues of several English language Burmese law titles were acquired from the Library’s supplier in Burma. The titles included surveys on law reports, settlement reports and the Burma gazette and are quite rare. The issues acquired fill gaps in the Library’s holdings.
Two noteworthy Vietnamese publications were purchased from a private dealer. Le procès de la colonisation française, published in Hanoi in 1946, is the first Vietnamese edition of this well-known work and is held by only one other Australian library. Six issues of Rapatriement published between November 1951 and August 1953 were acquired. This newsletter published in French and aimed at the French Corps Expéditionnaire Français en Extrême-Orient (CEFEO), particularly prisoners of war held by the Vietnamese, appears to be quite rare as no other library holdings were identified.
Other Overseas Publications
The Library continued to collect a wide range of current and older books and journals published overseas.
Collecting from the Pacific is an important activity. The Library makes use of a variety of methods to obtain material published in the region, including acquisitions trips to the region. 54 publications were acquired by a staff member during a visit to Fiji in December 2008. Noteworthy titles include: Sunrise to the coup and other stories / Joseph Veramu (2005); Vasu : Pacific women of power / edited by Cresantia Frances Koya and Luisa Tara (2008); Saili Matagi : Samoan migrants in Australia / Leulu Felise Va’a (2001); and 1987 : Fiji twenty years on / editors, Brij V Lal, Ganesh Chand, Vijay Naidu (2008).
The Library has established an arrangement for supply of various international literary prizes, including the Man Booker Prize, Pulitzer prizes in letters, National Book Critics Circle Award, and Costa Book Award. This will enable all short-listed works for these prizes to be automatically supplied in future.
To complement and enhance the printed publications collection, the Library also acquires electronic and microform research collections. During the last year, the following major resources have been made available:
18th century House of Commons parliamentary papers (HCPP) complements our earlier purchase of the 19th century HCPP. The dates for the collection cover the period from the Glorious Revolution in 1688 to the destruction by fire of the Palace of Westminster in 1834. As well as sessional papers from both the House of Commons and House of Lords, the 18th century collection also includes supplementary material: the Journals of the House of Commons and House of Lords; Private and Local Bills and Acts; debates (from the Parliamentary Register); and Histories and Proceedings of the House of Commons and House of Lords.
Eighteenth century journals part III adds to our earlier acquisition of parts I and II. This part is drawn from two sources: the British Newspaper Library at Colindale and Cambridge University Library. It focuses on journals published outside of London. The inclusion of Canadian, Caribbean and Indian journals allows users to explore the ways in which major world events were reported in different areas of the globe. There are also a large number of Irish journals and British provincial publications.
19th century UK periodicals, Series I & 2 covers the period 1800 to 1900. When complete this collection will make available full runs of nearly 600 titles. Series I is called New Readerships: Women's, Children's, Humour and Leisure/Sport. Series II is called Empire: Travel and Anthropology, Economics, Missionary and Colonial. Material from the National Library’s collection was scanned for inclusion in Series II.
Foreign Office files : United States of America. Series one, USA politics & diplomacy, 1960−1974. Part 2, The Lyndon B Johnson Years, 1964-1968 is a microfilm collection of 30 reels that provides a wealth of detail on world events during the Johnson administration, including the escalation of the Vietnam War and the American Civil Rights Movement. This is the second part of this series to be purchased by the Library.
Church Missionary Society Archive Section 2: Missions to women. Part 5 covers Minutes of the Zenana, Medical and Bible Mission, 1865−1937, and the Annual Reports of the Indian Female Normal School and Instruction Society, 1863−1879.This collection of 13 reels supplements the earlier parts already held.
The final part of Ireland : Politics and Society through the Press, 1760−1922 has been received. This series was published in 54 units (2160 reels). This microfilm collection contains a comprehensive selection of international, national and local newspaper titles across the three centuries that have been printed in Ireland.
Although the Library no longer has an active rare book acquisition program, material that falls into this category is still acquired, either through purchase or donation, where it augments existing collections and when resources permit. Titles acquired in this period include:
On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or, The preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life / by Charles Darwin. London : J. Murray,1859. Darwin published the first edition of his seminal work on 24 November 1859. 2009 is the 150th anniversary of its publication, as well as being the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin’s birth. While a few copies of this work were already held in Australian Libraries, the copy purchased by the Library has a significant Australian connection. It is one of the earliest surviving copies to have arrived in Australia and was owned by Dr William Woolls of Parramatta, New South Wales, whose inscription is in the front fly-leaf with the date “17 March 1860”. Woolls, a clergyman and botanist, made numerous annotations throughout the book. His annotations show a careful reading of the text and scrutiny of Darwin’s theory. The annotations provide a fascinating insight into the reception of Darwin’s arguments by an intelligent Australian reader. Woolls wrote several monographs himself on Australian flora and had two genera and six species named after him.
The Trevelyon miscellany of 1608 : a facsimile of Folger Shakespeare Library MS V.b. 232 / edited by Heather Wolfe. Washington, D.C. : Folger Shakespeare Library, c2007. This highly illustrative work is a facsimile of one of the Folger Shakespeare Library’s greatest treasures. Trevelyon’s manuscript, which was originally created for the enjoyment of his friends and family, presents a vibrant picture of life in Shakespeare’s England. Topics covered range from domestic subjects to biblical and historical events.
Engravings / Ravilious ; Jeremy Greenwood ; with an introduction by John Craig. Suffolk, England : Wood Lea Press, c2008. Eric Ravilious (1903−1942) was a well-known wood-engraver of the early 20th century. The Library holds a very significant collection of Golden Cockerel Press titles and Ravilious provided illustrations for six titles published by this press. He also produced many engravings for general use by other private presses operating in England during this period. This book sets out to illustrate all the engravings now known to have been made by Ravilious. It also contains a wealth of supporting material, in the form of letters directly relevant to the engravings, preparatory drawings and associated illustrations.
1. Includes new books, serials, manuscripts, maps, pictures, oral history recordings and transcripts, music, digital images, websites and new serial and newspaper issues of ongoing serial titles
