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Sievers’ work is a pictorial timeline showing Australia’s social, technological and industrial transformation.

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Throughout human history, societies have grown, matured, and then collapsed, making way for new innovations, people and philosophies to begin the cycle again, building on what came before. The history of Medieval Europe is no different: it has its roots in the collapse of the western Roman Empire in 456 CE.

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Following the collapse of the western Roman Empire, Europe entered a period of cultural, political and economic change. The stabilising force of the Roman Empire gave way and new states and rulers stepped in to fill gaps.

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For most of human history beyond living memory, the main way we know what life was like during the Medieval period is from documentary evidence that remains available to us.

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As time progressed, the number of people who could read did begin to increase, as some countries began to increase the emphasis on educating their people to basic levels.

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Since ancient times, most documents were written by hand. If multiple copies were needed, it would mean making multiple handwritten copies; even with a team of scribes, this was time consuming. It also meant that information could be difficult to read, depending how good a scribe’s handwriting was.

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Timeline of events from 1901 to 1967

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Augustus Earle (1793–1838) was an artist working in the colony of New South Wales around 1825. He painted several portraits of Bungaree, a notable Aboriginal leader.

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The convict uniform held at the National Library of Australia is the only complete, original convict uniform in Australia. It consists of a jacket, a pair of trousers marked with a broad arrow, a waistcoat, a leather cap and a woollen cap.

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This playbill, or poster, advertising a theatrical performance at the ‘Theatre, Sydney’ on 30 July 1796, is the oldest surviving printed document produced in Australia.