More Digitised Collections Online
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]. between 1873 and 1900. nla.pic-vn4312888
Forsyth, R. T.
The Aussies estate, Willoughby [cartographic material]
1918.
Maps Collection
nla.map-lfsp3170
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 —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 —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 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 arts —collection of Fredrikson’s exquisite pencil drawings and watercolours, 1996–2001.
- Axel Poignant’s exhibition photographs, 1922–1980 —includes 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, 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 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 —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 (1856), several maps from the Geological Survey of Victoria , The large English atlas (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 City.
- British Admiralty Charts of Australian waters, 1814–1891 —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 Plans —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 collection —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 Collection —hydrographic charts of the 19th century relating to Australia, South-East Asia, New Zealand and America.
- Selected parish maps —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 by William Gollmick, Those Vanished Years by Alfred Plumpton, Home Sweet Home by Henry R. Bishop; and several items from 1900–1940, with equally evocative titles, including Boys of the Dardanelles by Marsh Little, Don’t Sing a Song About the War to Me by Charles Vaude, Good Night, My Little Daffodil by Alf. J. Lawrance and Harry Gifford, and Angel Chimes 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