The Library’s Oral History and Folklore Collection dates back to the 1950’s and includes a rich and diverse collection of interviews and recordings with Australians from all walks of life.

Oral history interviews with Charles Perkins, a key figure in Aboriginal rights, alongside a pilot project on how people form mental maps. It also includes ongoing interviews for the 'Seven Years On' project, launched in 1995, which focuses on emerging Aboriginal leaders. This collection offers valuable insights into Aboriginal activism, leadership, and personal stories that have shaped history.

The National Library is recording interviews with a diverse range of Australians to ensure that stories of the COVID-19 pandemic are captured for present and future generations.

Personal papers of Warren Fahey’s activities as an entrepreneur, musician and writer from 1967-1998 and a collection of folkloric recordings.

Fifty years on, see how the destruction and impact of Cyclone Tracy in Darwin 1974 is captured in our collection. 

122 interviews, mostly with retired drovers, recorded by Bruce Simpson and Bill Gammage between 2000 and 2006. 

About 140 oral history interviews, the majority for his Maltese-Australian and Polish-Australian folklore and social history projects. Personal papers of York plus papers of the historian Michael Cigler. Also a large quantity of Maltese newspapers, student newspapers, radical pamphlets and ephemera.

Learn about Jacinta Mackay's NLA Scholarship research using the Bringing Them Home oral history recordings.

Personal papers of Patrick White, plus letters from White to other Australian writers acquired as part of their papers. Also papers of White's biographer David Marr and those of the artist and theatre designer Desmond Digby who had a long friendship with White.

1290 recordings of interviews and readings from many of Australia's poets, artists, writers, composers, actors, academics, publishers, librarians, scientists, anthropologists, public servants and some politicians

Diaries, papers, photographs, maps and other material related to Australia's involvement in the Antarctic

A guide to requesting, accessing and publishing collection items in the Oral History and Folklore Collection.