Use this guide to help find and access resources about the movements that have shaped social and cultural change in Australia.

After sentence, some convicts spent time on a prison hulk awaiting transportation. A prison hulk was a decommissioned ship used for housing prisoners.

Census information is useful for the study of historical and contemporary statistics and population trends.

Find Australian political memorabilia and historical records which throw light on the influences and changes that have shaped our politics and political systems over the decades.

We hold one of Australia’s largest collections of performing arts materials.

Early pastoral or squatting maps can help you locate pastoral properties relating to ownership before Torrens Title, and for identifying large pastoral and squatting runs. Many maps we have can be viewed online, and all can be viewed at the Library.

Published by the State Lands Departments from the 1860s onwards parish, town and county maps can be used to find land holdings, show boundaries, land use and types of ownership.

The Library holds a rich and diverse range of documentary materials relating to the Pacific region, including Melanesia, Micronesia, Polynesia and New Zealand.

Some of the major overseas government statistical agencies, the equivalents of the Australian Bureau of Statistics, provide comprehensive, free information from national to local levels.

Learn about the types of maps we hold and how to access them, including maps for countries, oceans and the planets.