The collection is strong in accounts of Pacific voyages in the 18th and early 19th centuries, including editions of collected voyages, and also in accounts of the exploration of the interior of Australia. Among the explorers represented are:

• William Dampier
• George Anson
• Louis de Bougainville
• James Cook
• Comte de la Perouse
• Matthew Flinders
• Phillip Parker King
• Gregory Blaxland
• John Oxley
• Charles Sturt
• Thomas Mitchell
• Paul Strzelecki
• Ernest Giles
• Peter Egerton Warburton.

Among early works on the Australian and New Zealand colonies collected by Robinson are:

• James Bischoff, Sketch of the History of Van Diemen's Land and an Account of the Van Diemen's Land Company (1832)
• William Edward Brockett, Narrative of a Voyage from Sydney to Torres' Straits (1836)
• Samuel Butler, The Hand-book for Australian Emigrants (1839)
• Peter Cunningham, Two Years in New South Wales (2 vols, 1827)
• Ernest Dieffenbach, Travels in New Zealand (2 vols, 1843)
• Barron Field, Geographical Memoirs of New South Wales: By Various Hands (1825)
• John Stephens, The History of the Rise and Progress of the New British Province of South Australia (1839)
• Watkin Tench, A Complete Account of the Settlement at Port Jackson, in New South Wales (1793)
• JH Tuckey, An account of a voyage to establish a colony at Port Philip in Bass's Strait, on the south coast of New South Wales, in His Majesty's Ship Calcutta, in the years 1802-3-4 (1805)
• Edward Gibbon Wakefield, The British Colonization of New Zealand (1837)
• WC Wentworth, A Statistical Account of the British Settlements in Australasia (2 vols, 1824 [signed by Jane Franklin])
• William Westgarth, Victoria, Late Australia Felix (1853).

Later works mostly relate to:

• Australian history
• exploration
• travel
• mineral resources
• fauna and flora
• Australian Aborigines
• political development
• economic conditions.

There are also a few novels and volumes of poetry. The writers include:

• CEW Bean
• Louis Becke
• Ada Cambridge
• Rolf Boldrewood
• Marcus Clarke
• TA Coghlan
• DB Copland
• Ernest Favenc
• WK Hancock
• Ion Idriess
• CT Madigan
• Louisa Meredith
• AB Paterson
• GW Rusden
• Walter Baldwin Spencer
• Henry Gyles Turner.

There are 3 notable extraneous works:

• Churchill, Winston, ;The World Crisis (5 vols, 1923–1929 [inscribed by Churchill to Robinson])
• Pasternak, Boris, An Essay in Autobiography (1959)
• Smith, Adam, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (2 vols, 1776)

Many of the books in the collection had previously belonged to James Edge-Partington, whose outstanding collection of Australiana was sold in 1934. Several other books were inscribed by the authors to Lord Grey, who was Secretary of State for the Colonies in 1846–1852.

The collection also includes 2 journals:

• Art in Australia (1916–1936)
• The Commonwealth (1898–1901).

The Robinson Collection was deposited in the Library by Sir Maurice Mawby in 1974. In 1980 it was donated to the Library by Conzinc Riotinto of Australia under the Taxation Incentives for the Arts Scheme.

The Robinson Collection is kept together as a formed collection within the Australian Collection. All the books have a bookplate. Most, but not all, have been catalogued and the call numbers have the prefix 'ROBINSON'.

A list of the books can be found in the acquisition file.

The personal papers of Robinson, dating from 1914 to 1963, are held in Melbourne University Archives. A 257-page list is available.

This guide was prepared using these references:

• Peter Richardson, Robinson, William Sydney (1876–1963), Australian Dictionary of Biography online.
• WS Robinson, If I Remember Rightly: The Memoirs of W.S. Robinson, edited by G Blainey, Cheshire, Melbourne, 1967.