Twenty Australian women writers’ archives set for digitisation through 2026 Appeal
The National Library of Australia is seeking donations for an ambitious project to bring the manuscript collections of twenty Australian women writers to Trove for the very first time.
Among the National Library’s treasured collections are manuscript archives of iconic Australian women writers like Judith Wright, Mary Gilmore, Henry Handel Richardson, Christina Stead, and many others. Not only great writers, but also extraordinary advocates for change, these women shaped Australian literature, and Australian society. Their letters, journals, manuscripts and memories live at the National Library, but these precious collections can currently only be seen inside the Library’s premises in Canberra.
The National Library’s 2026 Appeal seeks to change this by raising funds to digitise their archives and make them available on Trove.
The National Library and its partners have been global leaders in making cultural content available online through Trove, a resource used by millions of Australians. Philanthropic support has helped us to make even more material from our physical collections available online – we now add over 1.5 million pages of new content every year, and these collections are freely available online for everyone, everywhere.
One of the prominent writers included in this project is Judith Wright, who was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature on several occasions and named a National Living Treasure in her lifetime. Wright was also a passionate advocate for First Nations people and the environment. Her manuscript collections at the National Library document both her literary work and her activism, which are just as relevant today.
The project will also bring to Trove the records of significant literary figures such as Dame Mary Gilmore and Christina Stead, along with less-heralded but inspiring figures such as journalist and political activist Jennie Scott Griffiths, novelist Rosa Praed and Perth-born writer, journalist and historian Henrietta Drake-Brockman.
This project to digitise the collections of Australian women writers is an important and ambitious one. We are deeply grateful to a number of donors who have already helped us to raise part of the cost of this project, and we hope the public response to this appeal will help us to bring even more of these inspiring collections online.
To support digitisation of the National Library’s women writers collections, please visit library.gov.au/appeal.
Additional information
Images for media use are available for download via Dropbox.
Contact
Cheney Brew, Media Liaison, National Library of Australia
Phone: 0401 226 697
Email: media@nla.gov.au