Our exhibition galleries are temporarily closed

The National Library’s exhibition galleries are closed until mid-2024 while we make improvements to our much-loved heritage building.

The information below gives you a snapshot of what will be featured in our galleries when they reopen in mid-2024.

Reopening in mid-2024: Treasures Gallery

From maps and rare books to manuscripts, photographs, paintings and ephemera, the Treasures Gallery is where you will find many of the Library’s most important, unexpected and unique items. Be intrigued, surprised, challenged and amazed by the stories our treasures tell about Australia’s history and culture.

Reopening in mid-2024: Temporary Gallery

Hopes and Fears: Australian Migration Stories

Many Australians have a migration story. Somewhere in their family tree is an ancestor who embarked on a long and difficult journey. They might have been a convict, a sailor or a soldier. Perhaps a young woman sent from a workhouse, or a child migrant from an orphanage. Some came to exploit the opportunities of empire, in search of land and gold. Some were brought in as indentured labourers to work on plantations in the tropical north. Others were refugees fleeing war and political prosecution, or workers seeking a more secure future. Coming from all parts of the globe, these migrants have helped to make Australia one of the most diverse nations in the world.

Past exhibitions

Grit & Gold: Tales from a Sporting Nation
Image grid featuring (clockwise) Dawn Fraser, Warwick Capper, Shane Warne and Louise Sauvage
Exhibition
9
Jun
2023
28
Jan
2024
Exhibition Gallery
Joyce Evans
A windmill stands in a paddock surrounded by dry, yellow grass. Lake George in New South Wales is visible in the background.
Exhibition
4
Apr
2023
3
Dec
2023
Treasures Gallery
Viewfinder: Photography from the 1970s to Now
A person on a skateboard is in the air. Two people in the bottom right hand corner are looking up at him. One of them is wearing a cardboard crown. The background is a blue sky with white clouds.
Exhibition
16
Sep
2022
30
Apr
2023
Exhibition Gallery