Acquisition highlights

Manuscripts

A handwritten diary entry in an old fashioned script.

George Thomson, Diary entry for Tuesday 26 May 1868, Diary of George Thomson, 1868-1869, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-3308197449

Indigenous Australian cricket team touring England in the 1860s

Australians have often gone to great lengths to see their favourite sporting teams, even back in the 1860s!

The first Russian Antarctic expedition in 1819-21

The Library has recently acquired a journal recording the first Russian Antarctic expedition in 1819-21.

A portion of a handwritten poem that reads 'Invocation. Come forth from thy oozy couhc, O Ornithorynchus dear, And great with a cordial claw The stranger that longs to hear.'

Mark Twain's ode to Australian wildlife

The Library recently acquired an original draft of a poem by Mark Twain in the form of a letter.

Explore manuscripts and personal papers

Maps

An old black and white map of the Sunda Strait decorated with pictures of navigational symbols, landmarks and ships

Lucas Janszoon Waghenaer, Afconterfeytinge van die strate oft engde van Sunda, tusschen Sumatra en Iava in Oost Indien, als oock die baye oft rede voor Bantam die hooft-stadt van Iava, tesamen met alle hare eylanden, clippen, ondiepten en sanden, alles nae t' leven net afgetogen, c.1602, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-3444422116

Rare 1602 map of the Sunda Strait

A very rare chart of the Sunda Strait – located between the Indonesian islands of Sumatra and Java – from 1602 has recently been added to our collection.

A black and white map showing Australia, then called New Holland, in the late 1600s.

Two recently acquired Coronelli globe gores

The Library has recently acquired two 17th century globe gores by Vincenzo Coronelli.

Antique map showing a partial outline of Australia

Blaeu map added to the UNESCO Australian Memory of the World Register

The map includes details of the first sighting of Tasmania by Europeans and the first mapping of New Zealand.

Explore maps

Photographs

Photo of women from the dance group Bollydance Dipti in pink costumes taking a selfie in a crowd

Aishah Kenton, Bollydance Dipti dancers taking a selfie at the Indian Film Festival in Federation Square, Melbourne, Victoria, 17 August, 2024, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-3428627828

Indian Diaspora in Australia documented through photography and oral histories

We asked Australians with Indian heritage to help us build our collection and these materials are now online.

Mountain biker in full gear riding a rocky, dirt path

Mandy Lamont, Remy Blair riding in the All-Mountain Enduro race during the Cannonball Mountain Bike Festival, high alpine Panorama trail, Thredbo, New South Wales, 2025, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-3613430477

Documenting regional sport and competitive events

Score! We’ve commissioned photos of different sports in Australia, including rock climbing, mountain biking and woodchopping.

Photo close up of a European honey bees on the honeycomb of a beehive

Mark Jesser, European honey bees on a brood frame containing capped and uncapped cells at an apiary near Griffith, New South Wales, 2025, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-3668129443

Picturing beekeeping in Australia

The latest buzz at the Library is that 50 new photos of beekeeping in Australia are now available online.

Explore photography

Pictures

Ian 'Spike' Farrawell, Mail Bag (Plastic - Light Green with metal ringlets at top), Collection of cards documenting Australia Post mail bag designs from between 1986 to 2021, nla.obj-3381748997

Collection of Australia Post mail bag designs

Ian 'Spike' Farrawell recently donated a set of his Australia Post mailbag card designs to the Library.

A watercolour image from 1827 of an echidna. This depiction is not accurate with what we know echidnas to look like in real life.

An early picture of an echidna

An 1827 illustration of an echidna has recently been added to our collection.

A painted locket portrait of a man in a red military uniform. The locket is resting on some black material.

Nathaniel Plimer, Portrait Miniature of Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas Brisbane, c.1800-1810, nla.obj-3180223104

A rare portrait miniature of Sir Thomas Brisbane

The National Library has recently acquired a rare portrait miniature of Sir Thomas Brisbane, the sixth Governor of New South Wales.

Explore pictures

Other formats

Broadside with text reading 'New Colony of South Australia. A Bill having been brought into Parliament under the Sanction of His Majesty's Government for funding a Colony of South Australia. A public meeting will be held in the Great Room at Exeter Hall strand, on Monday next'

South Australian Association, issuing body, New colony of South Australia : a bill having been brought into parliament under the sanction of His Majesty's government for founding a colony in South Australia, 1834, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-3461873066

Rare broadsides announcing the formation of South Australia

Learn about two broadsides recently added to our collection.

Text from an old newspaper that reads 'The United States Governed by Six Hundred Thousand Despots. A True Story of Slavery, Showing That Brutality is inseparable from Slavery, That the Constitution of the United States of America is the Bulwark of American Slavery, That the only hope of abolition of Slavery is in separation from the Union. By a Fugitive Slave.'

THE UNITED STATES GOVERNED BY SIX HUNDRED THOUSAND DESPOTS., Empire (Sydney, NSW : 1850 - 1875), 25 April 1855, nla.gov.au/nla.news-article60178733

Rediscovering the firsthand account of a fugitive slave

Find out how a powerful newspaper article written in 1855 by a fugitive slave was re-published into a book and added to our collection.

A black and white image of a group of mean demonstrating. The man front and centre is holding a microphone to his mouth, while the man to the right is holding a megaphone speaker up in the air. There are placards and flags in the air in the background.

William Yang, Dennis Altman and Craig Johnston, Gay Demonstration, Macquarie Street, Sydney, 1981, nla.obj-136863821

A new oral history interview with Dennis Altman

In 2022, Australian writer, academic and gay rights campaigner Dennis Altman was interviewed by Robert Reynolds for the National Library's Oral History collection.

Explore by format

Learn more about the collections

Rows of shelves filled with colourful books and doorways lined down the middle

What we collect

The Library aims to collect all of our stories so Australians can understand our past, present and place in the world.

A National Library of Australia archival cart with labeled special collections boxes, placed in a reading room beside wooden tables and yellow seating.

How we collect

The Library acquires Australian material mainly through legal deposit, purchase (direct from publishers or through library suppliers), exchange, gift or donation.

Over the shoulder of woman using laptop. On her screen she is using Trove to look at a digitised photo of nurses

Grow our digital library

Each year, hundreds of thousands of pages of content are added to our digital collections and made available online through Trove.