People’s memories are untapped living histories.

Have you ever wished you could hear first-hand from a Nobel Prize winning scientist about what it was like to make their first discovery? Or wondered what it was like to live through the influenza epidemic that swept the globe after the First World War?

Oral histories are carefully structured audio recordings in which the interviewee works with an expert oral historian to tell their own story in their own words. Oral histories are a wonderful way of capturing individual perspectives and experiences that may not be found in other historical books and documents.

People who give oral history interviews for the Library’s collection can be from all walks of life. They don’t have to be famous, just share their perspectives and life story in their own words. While oral histories usually cover a person’s ‘whole of life’ experience, they can also be focused on a particular theme or an event.

About the Oral History and Folklore collection

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

The Library has the largest oral history collection you’ll find in Australia and it covers many eras and subjects. There's over 55,000 hours of recordings, the earlier ones dating back to the 1950s when the tape recorder became available.

More than 1000 hours of interviews, music and accents are added to the collection each year.

Increasingly the collection is available online or may be requested from the catalogue.

You can listen to:

• Folklore recordings: popular culture, traditional songs, dances, music, stories and more
• Interviews with distinguished Australians: scientists, writers, artists, politicians and sports people
• Interviews with people who have lived through significant social trends and conditions: unemployment, the impact of child removals from families,  the Depression, and migration to Australia
• Environmental sound: the historical sound of the built and natural environment.

Some interviews have transcripts or summaries and our online audio delivery system helps you search the content of our collection, which can be searched through Trove.

Oral histories in the collection include:

• The Australian lesbian and gay life stories oral history project
• The Voices of the Bush oral history project, capturing life experiences in rural Australia
• Famous Australian authors like:
  • Mem Fox
  • Kate Grenville
  • Norman Lindsay
  • May Gibbs.

Highlights of the collection

Interviews by Hazel de Berg

1,290 recordings of interviews and readings dating from the 1950s of prominent Australian poets, artists, writers, composers, actors, academics, publishers, librarians, scientists, anthropologists, public servants and politicians.

Folk music by John Meredith

over 500 recordings between 1953 and 1994 of traditional Australian folk music, songs, recitations, bush dance music, yarns and reminiscences. John Meredith was a foundation member of the Bushwhackers and helped form the Bush Music Club and the Australian Folklore Society.

Bringing Them Home oral history project

These include over 300 interviews collected between 1998 and 2002 of Indigenous people and others, such as missionaries, police and administrators, involved in or affected by the process of child removals.

Forgotten Australians and Former Child Migrants project

Interviews with people who were in institutional and out of home care as children.

Australian Paralympic stories

Interviews with key people responsible for the growth and success of Paralympic sport in Australia.