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More Digitised Collections Online

Relics of convict discipline

Beattie, J.W. (John Watt), 1859-1930.
Relics of convict discipline including whips, handcuffs, guns and leg irons, Port Arthur, Tasmania, ca. 1900 [transparency]
between 1882 and 1930. 1 slide : glass, lantern, b&w ; 8.2 x 8.2 cm.
Part of Collection of lantern slides of views of Australia, 1873-1900 [transparency]. http://www.nla.gov.au/apps/cdview?pi=nla.pic-vn3302626 between 1873 and 1900. nla.pic-vn4312888

The Aussies estate

Forsyth, R. T.
The Aussies estate, Willoughby [cartographic material] 1918.
Maps Collection
nla.map-lfsp3170

Those vanished years

Alfred Plumpton, 1848–1902.
Those Vanished Years [music] 1898
Music Collection
nla.mus-vn4399919

The National Library is working steadily through its digitisation program, with close to 12 500 collection items selected for full digitisation in the still image category this financial year. As a result a number of exciting, often unique, works have been added to our Digital Collections for online viewing. The majority of them are from the Library’s Pictures Collection, with some significant maps and printed music items also digitised.

The new Pictures Collection items digitised this year include:

  • Wolfgang Sievers photographic archive http://nla.gov.au/nla.pic-an24410125—over 1200 of Sievers photographs have been digitised. The Library’s rich collection of Sievers’ images includes 13 700 photographs and 51 700 negatives and transparencies, with more than 7500 now available online. Systematic digitisation of this collection will continue for a number of years.
  • Great Barrier Reef Expedition http://nla.gov.au/nla.pic-vn3917645—collection of 529 photographs in five albums comprising Sir Charles Maurice Yonge’s photographic record of the Great Barrier Reef Expedition of 1928–1929.
  • Collection of lantern slides of views of Australia http://nla.gov.au/nla.pic-vn3302626 featuring images from 1873–1900 by Charles Henry Kerry, Henry King, William Hurwood, John Watt Beattie, John Donaldson Edward and John William Lindt.
  • Kristian Fredrikson Collection of costume designs for the performing artshttp://nla.gov.au/nla.pic-vn3995163 —collection of Fredrikson’s exquisite pencil drawings and watercolours, 1996–2001.
  • Axel Poignant’s exhibition photographs, 1922–1980tp://nla.gov.au/nla.pic-vn4278265includes portraits of Poignant and his family, photographs of Aboriginal Australians, industry and working life, social life and customs in Australia, Australian landscape, and flora and fauna.
  • Sarah Chinnery photographic collection of New Guinea, England and Australia, http://nla.gov.au/nla.pic-vn3802543 consisting of 1481 negatives and 329 photographs which record places, events and people in New Guinea, England and Australia, including the aftermath of the 1937 Rabaul eruption, goldfields, social life and scenes of Melbourne and surrounding areas. Digitisation of this collection will continue throughout 2009–10.
  • Russ Ashton Collection http://nla.gov.au/nla.pic-vn3991445 consists of images depicting the activities of the Tasmanian Hydro-Electric Commission, including survey expeditions, transportation, working conditions and landscapes before and after flooding by dam waters.
  • Stan Cross Archive of cartoons and drawings, 1912–1974 http://nla.gov.au/nla.pic-vn3312886 —a varied selection of Cross’ cartoons, mostly published between 1955 and 1969 in the Melbourne Herald but also dated between 1912 and 1974, including works for London’s Punch, Perth’s Sunday Times, Periscope, Smith’s Weekly and Sydneysider.

The Library’s Maps Collection has also been made more accessible by digitising over 1000 items this year. They include:

Over 500 rare maps and atlases, such as The township of Beechworth http://nla.gov.au/nla.map-rm2740-3 (1856), several maps from the Geological Survey of Victoria http://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Search/Home?lookfor=Geological+Survey+of+Victoria+&filter[]=pi%3Anla.map*&type=allseries, The large English atlas http://nla.gov.au/nla.map-ra40(1785), and maps providing information about the climate, geology and topography of the Canberra region for the competitors in the Competition design of Federal Capital Cityhttp://nla.gov.au/nla.map-rm3095.

  • British Admiralty Charts of Australian waters, 1814–1891http://nla.gov.au/nla.map-vn3790884 —a collection of original first-issue nautical charts and views in the first detailed hydrographic charting of the Australian coastline.
  • A selection of real estate sales plans from the Ferguson Sales Planshttp://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Search/Home?lookfor=Ferguson+Sales+Plans+&filter%5B%5D=pi%3Anla.map*&type=all —a collection of sales plans, mainly Sydney but also other New South Wales and interstate towns, produced by various estate agents between 1880 and 1920.
  • Federal Capital proposed sites special map collectionhttp://nla.gov.au/nla.map-vn4235805 —this series of Federal Government prepared maps relate to the process of choosing the site for the federal capital and the establishment of the site of the federal capital city. The process began in 1900 when over a dozen possible sites were published for public consideration, including Dalgety, Albury, Tumut, Goulburn and Bombala.
  • Johnston, British Admiralty Charts Special Collectionhttp://nla.gov.au/nla.map-jsc0 —hydrographic charts of the 19th century relating to Australia, South-East Asia, New Zealand and America.
  • Selected parish mapshttp://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Search/Home?lookfor=parish+maps&filter%5B%5D=pi%3Anla.map*&type=all —mainly from New South Wales.

Music lovers will appreciate 800 newly digitised Australian sheet music items.

They include a number of pre-1890 items, such as Streamlet’s Whisper http://nla.gov.au/nla.mus-vn4388298 by William Gollmick, Those Vanished Years http://nla.gov.au/nla.mus-vn4399919 by Alfred Plumpton, Home Sweet Home http://nla.gov.au/nla.mus-vn3067131 by Henry R. Bishop; and several items from 1900–1940, with equally evocative titles, including Boys of the Dardanelles http://nla.gov.au/nla.mus-an6054360 by Marsh Little, Don’t Sing a Song About the War to Me http://nla.gov.au/nla.mus-vn4000116 by Charles Vaude, Good Night, My Little Daffodil http://www.nla.gov.au/apps/cdview?pi=nla.mus-vn3967088-t by Alf. J. Lawrance and Harry Gifford, and Angel Chimes http://nla.gov.au/nla.mus-vn792416 by Claude Dufault.

It is expected that by 30 June 2009 the Library will have digitised a total of more 143 000 collection items. A progress report, due to be updated in early July, can be found at www.nla.gov.au/digital/index.html.

Barbara Rozmus
Director (Acting), Digitisation and Photography Branch