Asia-Pacific | National Library of Australia (NLA)

Asia-Pacific

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Epi dance group

Epi (Vanuatu) cultural dance group performing at Saralana Park, 27 July 2023. Photograph courtesy of Melanesian Arts & Culture Festival 2023

Visiting Vanuatu and the Melanesian Arts and Culture Festival 2023

Library staff recently attended the Melanesian Arts and Culture Festival (MACFEST), returning with new acquisitions, knowledge and connections.

Blog
Angkor Wat, view of main temple from western side

Yves Coffin, [Angkor Wat, view of main temple from western side], nla.gov.au/nla.obj-140376204

The Angkor/Khmer Empire (802–1431)

Module

This resource is aligned to the Australian Curriculum: History for Year 8 students. It adopts an inquiry learning approach that develops students’ skills in investigating Asia-Pacific societies in depth.

Digital Classroom
Collection guide
South Pacific Commission

The microfilm collection includes 78 manuscripts copied by the South Pacific Commission, created by missionaries, anthropologists, and linguists between 1900 and 1956. 

Collection guide
Collection guide
Sang Ye Collection

Around 186 Chinese newspapers and serials, mostly published 1949-84, plus a small number of government documents of the 1969–77 period, monographs, pamphlets, mimeographed works, and some works published during the Japanese occupation of China.

Collection guide
Collection guide
Robinson Collection

387 books, mostly related to Australia, but also several works on New Zealand and the Pacific. It is strong in accounts of the exploration of Australia and Pacific voyages.

Collection guide
An old black and white map of the Sunda Strait decorated with pictures of navigational symbols, landmarks and ships

Lucas Janszoon Waghenaer, Afconterfeytinge van die strate oft engde van Sunda, tusschen Sumatra en Iava in Oost Indien, als oock die baye oft rede voor Bantam die hooft-stadt van Iava, tesamen met alle hare eylanden, clippen, ondiepten en sanden, alles nae t' leven net afgetogen, c.1602, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-3444422116

Rare 1602 map of the Sunda Strait

A very rare chart of the Sunda Strait – located between the Indonesian islands of Sumatra and Java – from 1602 has recently been added to our collection.

News article
A colourful watercolour showing the mountainous coastline of Tahiti. The mountains are shades of grey, blue and purple. The sky has billowing clouds.The shore is dotted with vegetation. In the foreground, two figures row a long canoe along the coast. The canoe is carrying something, although it's unclear what it is.

Nicholas Chevalier, (1868), Otaheite [i.e. Tahiti], nla.gov.au/nla.obj-134623111

Polynesian expansion across the Pacific (c.700-1756)

Module

This resource is aligned to the Australian Curriculum: History for Year 8 students. It adopts an inquiry learning approach that develops students’ skills in investigating Asia-Pacific societies in depth.

Digital Classroom
painting of a ship in the background on the ocean and palm trees on an island in the foreground

George Gordon McCrae, [Sailing ship near Pacific island], nla.gov.au/nla.obj-139352101

Pacific research guide

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

Research guide
A detailed historical map of Sydney Cove, Port Jackson, depicting early settlement areas, marked camps, and referenced landmarks such as gardens and marine camps. Includes a list of ship names from the First Fleet and geographical details.

Francis Fowkes, Sydney Cove, Port Jackson, in the County of Cumberland, 1789, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-230578175 

Nan Kivell Collection

About 5000 books, pamphlets and periodicals, over 11,000 paintings, drawings and prints, around 800 maps and over 300 manuscripts mostly published 1770-1900. Largely relating to Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific including Antarctica.

Collection guide
Collection guide
Mackaness Collection

Literary manuscripts submitted to the Bulletin in 1918–20, personal papers, 185 books related to Australia, some very rare, plus 30 books published in Tahiti by the London Missionary Society in 1817–37.

Collection guide
Collection guide
Loke Wan Tho Collection

A large number of photographs and negatives taken by Loke Wan Tho on his ornithological expeditions to the Pacific, Asia and Europe in the 1950s and early 1960s, as well as papers, books and maps.

Collection guide
Woman wearing a dot print shirt, glasses and a black head scarf holding some booklets in an aisle of shelves

2024 Asia Study Grant recipient Dr Anita Dewi

Libraries in Indonesia: Definitions, regulation and evolution

Learn about the research of 2024 Asia Study Grant recipient Dr Anita Dewi.

Blog

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