Our collections

What we collect

The Library holds the greatest collection in the world of material relating to Australia and the Australian people.  It ranges from the earliest European works about the Great Southern Land to the most current publications.  The collection includes all formats of material, from books and magazines to pictures, photographs, maps, sheet music, oral history recordings, manuscript papers, ephemera and much, much more!

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Collection highlight

Come face-to-face with some of the Library’s greatest treasures, including various Olympic Games memorabilia, in the Treasures Gallery.

The Olympic Torch changes hands in front of the National Library of Australia, 2000
The Olympic Torch changes hands in front of the National Library of Australia, 2000

Early maps and atlases, books, manuscripts, paintings, drawings, photographs and objects all feature in the Treasures Gallery. From James Cook’s Endeavour journal to William Bligh’s list of mutineers, from Patrick White’s glasses to an original manuscript for Waltzing Matilda, the items in the Treasures Gallery are truly remarkable.