Oral history | National Library of Australia (NLA)

Oral history

Showing 1 - 12 of 55 results
Black and white photo of Smoky and Dot Dawson sitting and smiling at the camera

Damian McDonald, Portrait of Smoky and Dot Dawson at the National Library, 2000, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-136550848

Oral History and Folklore

Our 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.

Information article
Black and white photo of a man listening to a recording with a pen in hand and a piece of paper next to him

Loui Seselja, Portrait of Geoffrey Dutton seated in the Oral History collection at the National Library of Australia, 1992, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-151764316

Using the Oral History collection

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

Information article
Library services
Collection guide
Cameron Collection

Papers related to Clyde Cameron's long political career, and 12 oral history recordings conducted by Cameron with other political figures.

Collection guide
Collection guide
Willis Collection

One of the largest oral history collections in Australia with recordings of over 900 individuals in all States, as well as folk groups, singing groups, bands and choirs.

Collection guide
Collection guide
Read Collection

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.

Collection guide
First Australians
Collection guide
Mabo Collection

Personal papers and legal material that record of one of the most important and controversial legal cases in Australian history and the life of the man who is chiefly associated with the case.

Collection guide
First Australians
Collection guide
York Collection

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.

Collection guide
Collection guide
Lyle Collection

50 oral history recordings with 149 interviewees containing reminiscences, stories and music relating to Scottish oral traditions in Australia.

Collection guide
Collection guide
Blackman Collection

Oral history recordings by Barbara Blackman, mostly of Australian painters, sculptors, potters and others concerned with the visual arts.

Collection guide
Collection guide
Lowenstein Collection

Oral history recordings, manuscripts and papers relating mainly to Australian folklore and Lowenstein's books Weevils in the flour and Under the hook.

Collection guide
Collection guide
Ross Collection

1576 pamphlets, leaflets, speeches, newspaper and serial issues relating to trade unionism, socialism, left-wing parties in Australia, economics and labour issues, as well as the papers of Lloyd Ross and his father the socialist journalist RS Ross.

Collection guide
Collection guide
Davey Collection

Papers and oral history recordings conducted by Gwenda Davey on Australian folklore, with an emphasis on children's folklore.

Collection guide

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