With a generous bequest from Frank van Straten AM, the Library has brought Jim Sharman’s visual diaries and an original Rocky Horror Picture Show script online for the 50th anniversary of the film’s release.

In the past, people knew the magic of a handmade garment – the uniqueness, the custom fit, the time and care taken by the maker.

Our James Cook collection showcases the Library’s most famous item - Cook’s HMS Endeavour journal.

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Lieutenant James Cook’s 753-page account of the voyage of His Majesty’s Bark Endeavour (also known as HMS Endeavour) from 1768 to 1771 is the story of one of history’s greatest journeys of discovery.

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James Cook’s famous Endeavour voyage was originally commissioned by the Royal Society of London as a scientific mission. When the Admiralty (Royal Navy) became aware that the Society was planning to commission a sea journey to the Southern Hemisphere to collect scientific data, its members saw an opportunity to become involved. However, their motivations were very different to those of the Royal Society.

About 360 titles, particularly strong in first editions of English poetry and novels published in the nineteenth century and early twentieth century.

453 books, pamphlets and leaflets in French or Latin that had been condemned and suppressed by ecclesiastical and civil authorities, as well as commentaries on those writings.

Susannah Fullerton OAM, President of the Jane Austen Society of Australia delivered a public lecture marking the 250th Anniversary of Jane Austen’s birth.

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Jane Connors has had a distinguished academic career in which she has dedicated her scholarship and work as an international law practitioner to the betterment of United Nations (UN) treaty mechanisms and the rights of women and children.

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The arrival of the Portuguese on Japanese shores in 1543 marked the beginning of Japan’s first interactions with the West.