Pacific collections

The National Library holds a rich and diverse range of library materials on the Pacific region, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea.

About the Pacific collections

The strength of the Library's Pacific collections reflects Australia's strong historic and continuing connections with the region. The collections include:

  • Printed materials: thousands of books, newspapers and journals ranging from the earliest accounts of the Pacific to contemporary publications.
  • Manuscripts: papers of many Australians who were involved, personally or professionally, with the Pacific and Papua New Guinea. Supplemented by microfilmed materials from the Pacific Manuscripts Bureau (PMB) and the Australian Joint Copying Project (AJCP) series.
  • Pictures: paintings and photographs dating from the earliest voyages to the present day. Many have been digitised.
  • Maps: rare and beautiful early maps as well as recent material.
  • Archived websites: selected by the Library and hosted on the Internet Archive. Mostly government or research sites around a theme, for example Papua New Guinea Elections 2007.

Highlights

Begin exploring our Pacific treasures by viewing the highlights below.

Rex Nan Kivell collection

Over 15,000 items relating to Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific.

Maps of the Pacific Ocean region

Terence and Margaret Spencer collection

Slides of Papua New Guinea, 1953-1978.

Ernest and Sarah Chinnery collection

Manuscripts, maps and a large collection of photographs related to Papua New Guinea 1910-1940

Archived websites

From 2007 onwards. Many have now changed or completely disappeared from the "live" Internet.

Page published: 25 Mar 2022

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