Our theatre and performance music collections showcase the music Australians were listening to throughout the 20th century.

Learn about National Library of Australia Asia Study Grant Scholar Rima Febriani’s research exploring how ideas about sexuality developed in postcolonial Indonesia.

12,569 music scores which were used in Australian cinemas in the silent film era (roughly 1896 to 1929).

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.

More than 1,000 comics, mostly published in Australia and including some overseas titles reprinted in Australia, from the 1940s to 1970s, as well as fanzines and personal papers.

Learn about the fascinating career of Eleanor Witcombe with 2023 National Library Fellow and biographer Eleanor Hogan.

Learn about our rich collections related to the Picnic at Hanging Rock film and to Joan Lindsay's 1967 book of the same name.

We hold one of Australia’s largest collections of performing arts materials.

There’s no business like show business, and this exhibition brings Australia’s performing arts history into the limelight.

The Oral History and Folklore collection records the voices that describe our cultural, intellectual and social life.

The Library has a diverse collection of materials documenting the history of Australian musical performance.

About 2,100 books, pamphlets, government publications, tourist booklets, magazines and other works about Mauritius and the Indian Ocean. Mostly in French or English, but also a few items in Mauritian Creole.