Local history | National Library of Australia (NLA)

Local history

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A streetscape of Bourke street, Melbourne.

Tom Roberts, Bourke Street, Melbourne, 1885, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-134285521

Time and place

Module

Explore how communities evolve over time, how different cultures influence and contribute to communities, and how symbols convey meaning.

Digital Classroom
Cover of the book 'Our Streets'
Our Streets: The Regional Cities and Major Towns Project

National Library of Australia

Book
NLA Publishing book
On the left, the cover of 'She Shapes History: Guided Walks and Stories About Great Australian Women' which features a faceless statue of a woman standing on a piles of books on a pink and blue background. On the right is a photo of author Sita Sargeant smiling.
Book Launch: She Shapes History with Sita Sargeant

Sita Sargeant launched her debut book, 'She Shapes History: Guided Walks and Stories About Great Australian Women'.

Event
Video
Dirt road cutting through forest of dark, leafless trees

Sean Davey, Aftermath of a large bushfire that swept through forest area along Yowrie Road, Yowrie, New South Wales, 31 December 2019, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-2428728997

Remembering the Fires: How one community has recorded their memories

This special event explored some of the ways in which southern NSW community members have told and preserved their bushfire stories.

Event
Video
pencil drawing a young male artist leaning over a canvas painting an active scene

William Strutt, Atelier Drolling, Paris, 184-, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-134769037

Strutt Collection

About 280 paintings and drawings by William Strutt dating from 1837-1900, produced in France, Australia, New Zealand, Africa and England, as well as 2 typescripts of stories by Strutt.

Collection guide
Collection guide
Drovers Oral History Collection

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

Collection guide
Collection guide
McLaren Collection

About 3,460 books and pamphlets, mostly local, church, business and organisational histories from around Australia.

Collection guide
Black and white photo of three men on a tractor, one driving and the other two sitting at the back

Jeff Carter, Planting out, Ovens Valley, 1955, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-148667470

Carter Collection

Photographs by Jeff Carter of Australian life dating from the 1950s onwards, plus oral history recordings with about 40 individuals living in rural towns or properties.

Collection guide
Black and white image of factories and other industrial buildings in a valley

William A. Bayley, The industrial valley of Lithgow looking west, Lithgow, New South Wales, 1939, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-152895444

Bayley Collection

Books, booklets, pamphlets, leaflets and hundreds of photographs and postcards mainly relating to New South Wales country towns.

Collection guide
1904 camera

Harold Cazneaux's first camera, 1904, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-141166704

Harold Cazneaux (1878–1953) was perhaps Australia's best-known photographer of the early twentieth century. He purchased this camera in 1904, shortly after moving from Adelaide to Sydney, and made photographs of Sydney's streets and waterways.

In 1909 he became the first Australian photographer to exhibit his works in a solo show.

Cazneaux was a master of the pictorialist style of photography, using soft focus to capture scenes that were - and remain - familiar to many Australians in a new light. He was able to find a timeless, extraordinary beauty in the everyday.

Cazneaux collection

A large collection of glass negatives, papers and photographs dating mostly from 1904 to 1940 depicting many aspects of Australian life and architecture.

Collection guide
People standing holding colourful corflutes/posters from the 2013 election

Corflutes donated from the 2013 election, with NLA staff members

Thank you for bringing Australian democracy to life

We are grateful to our donors who generously gave over $320,000 to help make our election ephemera collection available to the world on Trove. Your support will allow us to share the vivid story of our Australian democracy.

News article
Text reading 'Greetings from Barcaldine' with illustrations from around the town

Barcaldine, Qld, c. 1900, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-140673077

Australian postcards from the early twentieth century

Take a look at some of the postcards we hold from the first half of the twentieth century and the messages they were sent with.

Blog

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