Pictures | National Library of Australia (NLA)

Pictures

Showing 1 - 12 of 47 results
Painting of chrysanthemums

Ellis Rowan, Chrysanthemums, ca. 1890, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-138089294

Australian artist Ellis Rowan primarily worked in watercolour and gouache, and is best known for painting Australian native flowers. She caused a stir at the 1888–89 Centennial International Exhibition in Melbourne when her painting Chrysanthemums won First Order of Merit and Gold Medal. This similar painting, depicting the same type of flower, is a more recent addition to the Library's vast Rowan Collection, the bulk of which was acquired for the nation for £5,000 in 1923.

Pictures

Our rich and varied Pictures collection focuses on Australian people, places and events, from early European exploration of the South Pacific to contemporary events.

Information article
Collection guide
Ellison Collection

Personal papers of Norman Ellison, pictures, books and other other manuscripts relating to aviation and early aviators. 

Collection guide
Collection guide
Deane Collection

The Deane Collection features 70 original caricatures and cartoons of federal politicians from 1915 to 1925, assembled by public servant and arts patron Percy Deane.

Collection guide
Woman looking a large colourful colourful illustration of two birds in a tree

Ellis Rowan, Rothschild's Bird-of-Paradise, or Rothschild's Astrapia (Astrapia rothschildi), Papua New Guinea, 1917, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-138748166

Using the Pictures collection

How to find and use items in the Pictures collection.

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Library services
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. 

News article
Collection guide
Sculthorpe Collection

Personal papers, manuscript scores, literary manuscripts, sound recordings and family photographs of Peter Sculthorpe, plus videos of films for which he wrote the music and television interviews.

Collection guide
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
Baracchi Collection

Papers, pamphlets, books and periodicals relating to communism, socialism, fascism, capitalism, international relations, public finance, politics, World War II, and the Vietnam War.

Collection guide
Two colourful birds standing on branches eating fruit

Ellis Rowan, [Lorikeets (Geoffroyus heteroclitus)], 1917, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-138740512

Ellis Rowan Collection

919 watercolours and gouaches of flowers and birds of Australia and Papua New Guinea painted between 1870 and 1920, plus a small quantity of personal papers.

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
Collection guide
Petherick Collection

About 15,000 books and pamphlets. The great strength of the collection is in Pacific voyages and early Australiana with many very rare items. Also manuscripts including papers of Joseph Banks, maps and pictures.

Collection guide
First Australians
A detailed historical map of Sydney Cove, Port Jackson, depicting early settlement areas, marked camps, and referenced landmarks such as gardens and marine camps. Includes a list of ship names from the First Fleet and geographical details.

Francis Fowkes, Sydney Cove, Port Jackson, in the County of Cumberland, 1789, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-230578175 

Nan Kivell Collection

About 5,000 books, pamphlets and periodicals, over 11,000 paintings, drawings and prints, around 800 maps and over 300 manuscripts mostly published 1770–1900. Largely relating to Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific including Antarctica.

Collection guide
First Australians

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