Oral history

Six women ballet dancers standing in a line

Greg Power & National Library of Australia, Annabel Knight, Juliette Barton and dancers during dress rehearsal for Sid's Waltzing Masquerade by Aszure Barton, Sydney Dance Company, The Playhouse, Canberra Theatre Centre, 1 September 2009, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-132043442

Dance collection

Our dance collection contains portraits, manuscripts, oral history interviews, photographs, music scores, personal papers, theatre programs and memorabilia.

Information article

Fijian Australian woman with short grey hair sitting on a rock on a beach

Leigh Henningham, Portrait of Everest Pitt, 2022, nla.obj-3110047460

Rights and the Oral History and Folklore Collection

A summary of copyright and rights in the Oral History and Folklore Collection.

Information article

National Press Club address recordings

The National Library of Australia’s Oral History and Folklore collection holds over 900 audio recordings from the National Press Club of Australia luncheon addresses including names like Margaret Thatcher, Richard Attenborough, Lowitja O’Donaghue and every Australian Prime Minister between 1964 and 1994.

Information article

Video

At the left of the photo, a young man with short dark hair is sitting down at a radio desk, smiling out at the camera and with his left hand he balances a record on its edge on the desk.

Douglas Thompson, Radio announcer Ted Reeves of 2CA radio station holding a record, Canberra, 1951, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-138073414

Introduction to oral history

Dive into the oral history collection, exploring highlights and how you can access the voices that describe Australia's cultural, intellectual and social life.

Learning activity for adults

Video

Black and white photo of an empty street in Chinatown, Darwin

Chinatown, Darwin, 1930, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-136768825

Diana Giese Collection

Oral history interviews by Diana Giese with Chinese Australians, Cambodian refugees and community leaders, and with people involved in the Australian publishing industry.

Collection guide

Print showing an early plan for Canberra

Detail of a black and white foolscap offprint of 'City and Environs, a plan of Canberra' from the papers of Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahony collected by Eric Nicholls, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-3210431032

Griffin and early Canberra Collection

Papers, maps, plans, photographs, paintings and other material related to early Canberra and the work of architects Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahony Griffin.

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 R.S. Ross.

Collection guide

Rummery Collection

40 recordings of folk music, folklore and reminiscences from people in rural New South Wales recorded 1983-1988.

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

Peter Ellis Collection

80 oral history interviews with musicians, dancers and others, and recordings of songs and performances, as well as sheet music, imprints and personal papers.

Collection guide

Jones Collection

Negatives, transparancies, photographs, books, serials, personal papers and oral history interviews related to motorcycles, races and vintage cars.

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

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