ISSN 1039-3498 | no. 62 | April 2003
Asian Accounts of Australia Project and Final Conference
![]() |
| Left to right: Participants at the Conference: Associate-Professor David Carter (University of Queensland), Professor Mark Finnane (Griffith University), Dr Ouyang Yu (Author), Dr Masayo Tada (Australian National University) and Dr Alison Broinowski (Australian National University) |
A major one-day conference entitled ‘As Others See Us: Chinese and Japanese Accounts of Australia’ was held on 6 February at the National Library of Australia. The conference discussed Chinese and Japanese perceptions of Australia as reflected in the National Library’s holdings. It showcased the results of the three-year project ‘Asian Accounts of Australia’ which was designed to make these materials more accessible. The project involving the Australian National University, Griffith University and the National Library was funded by a grant from the Australian Research Council, with contributions from the National Library. This followed a pilot project with the Australian National University and Griffith University facilitated by seed funding from a Griffith University research grant. The pilot had refined the scope of research to concentrate on selected Chinese and Japanese language monographs and serials reflecting Asian perceptions of Australia.
The National Library holds thousands of Asian publications about Australia. Under the National Library Act, 1960 the Library is required to ‘maintain and develop a national collection of library material, including a comprehensive collection of library material relating to Australia and the Australian people’. For printed materials this includes material published overseas in any language where the subject is wholly or substantially Australian. It also includes foreign language works published in Australia, as well as foreign language editions and translations of Australian authors, whether published locally or overseas.
The Library has a particular strength in Chinese and Japanese language writings about Australian topics. While being of the highest priority for acquisition, items relating to Australia make up only a small proportion of the Chinese and Japanese collections. Currently the Library has over
250 000 volumes in Chinese and over 100 000 in Japanese. The library’s budget for Asian language materials is currently just over A$1 million, three-quarters of which is spent on Chinese and Japanese materials. There are currently about 1000 works in Chinese and 3000 in Japanese in the Australiana collections. Australiana holdings in other Asian languages are much more modest and probably consist of around 200 titles in all.
From the Library’s point of view the most important product of the project has been the compilation of eight annotated bibliographies of Chinese and Japanese Australiana prepared by the project’s research associates with advice and assistance from staff in Asian Collections. Following assistance from the Library’s Web Services staff these bibliographies are now accessible on the National Library’s web site at <www.nla.gov.au/asian/accounts/>
The bibliographies with their synopses provide greatly enhanced access to these materials beyond the information available in the catalogue. With their mounting on the Internet they are now available nationally and internationally. This should certainly widen exposure of the Asian Collections to readers and researchers who may well be unaware of the National Library’s strengths in this area.
In conjunction with the Asian Accounts of Australia project the Library has issued a Catalogue of the Australiana Collection in the Chinese Language. This lists relevant monographs, periodicals, newspapers, maps and electronic materials. These are listed under three categories: works about Australia, works by Australian authors in Chinese and translations of Australian authors. Copies of this listing are available free of charge by contacting Ms Wan Wong, Asian Collections, tel: (02) 6262 1519, email: wwong@nla.gov.au.
The ‘As Others See Us’ conference at the National Library on 6 February attracted considerable attention and was well attended. Many of the participants visited the Library’s Asian Collections Reading Room during the day to see a special display of Chinese and Japanese language publications about Australia.
Conference speakers were drawn from the project team, and included a number of Australia’s leading authorities on East Asian and Australian studies. Chinese studies specialists who spoke included Professor John Fitzgerald of La Trobe University; Mr Paul McGregor, Chinese History Museum, Melbourne; and Professor Kam Louie, The Australian National University. Japan scholars included Professor Leith Morton, University of Newcastle; Professor Tessa Morris-Suzuki, the Australian National University and Professor Yoshio Sugimoto, La Trobe University. The Australian studies panel consisted of Dr Ouyang Yu, author; Dr Masayo Tada, the Australian National University; Dr Alison Broinowski, the Australian National University; and Professor David Carter, University of Queensland. Andrew Gosling spoke on the significance of the project to the National Library. Further details about the conference including abstracts of papers may be found at <www.geocities.com/australiana2003>.
The importance of the conference was reflected in the involvement of Mr Kevin Rudd, MP, Opposition Spokesman for Foreign Affairs who gave the opening address and Mr Greg Hunt, MP who provided the closing address, representing the Hon. Alexander Downer, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade. Professor Ian Chubb, Vice-Chancellor, the Australian National University concluded the conference and hosted a reception in the foyer of the Library.
Following this final conference there are plans to publish the proceedings
and a book of translated readings from the Library’s Chinese and Japanese Australiana.
—Andrew Gosling
| Contents list for this issue of Gateways |
Please address any comments and enquiries to The Editor, Gateways: gateways@nla.gov.au