On the cover this month
June Orford (b.1946)
Flash Butt Thermo Welding at Rail Joints 2002
colour digital photograph
Pictures Collection; nla.pic-an24813015
This image is one of a set of 20 taken in 2002 by June Orford and Francis Reiss during the last stages of the construction of the Alice Springs to Darwin railway in the Northern Territory. Work on the railway between Adelaide and Darwin had commenced in the nineteenth century, from two directions. The southern line, begun in Port Augusta in 1878, reached Alice Springs in 1929. In the same year the northern line, which had started in Palmerston (now Darwin) in 1885, reached Birdum, 1000 kilometres to the north of Alice Springs. There the railheads remained for more than 70 years until the two lines were finally joined in September 2003. See the story of Bridging the Distance
March 2008 Volume XVIII Number 6
Meandering Among Miniatures
Ann Nugent examines the Library’s collection of miniature books
Refractory Girls
Barry York looks at the female factories which existed in the Australian colonies in the first half of the nineteenth century
Sally Sloane: ‘Queen of Singing Folk’
Jenny Gall considers a significant holding in the Oral History and Folklore Collection
Diaghilev’s legacy
Lee Christofis previews the Ballets Russes in Australia symposium being held in Adelaide in two months time
Bridging the Distance
John Clark describes the current exhibition on show at the National Library of Australia
Friends
A regular news page about the activities of the Friends of the National Library of Australia
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