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Due to essential upgrades, access to digital images will be temporarily unavailable between 10.30 am and 12 pm AEDT on Monday, 2 March 2020.

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What’s got us talking

Q&A with ‘Gather’ artist Jake Duczynski

Jake's work explores Aboriginal culture through animation and storytelling, and he is interested in how technology can assist in cultural collaborations, preserving culture and visualising worlds.

Jake Duczynski

Preview our new catalogue

Find out more about this exciting new way to explore the Library's collections.

Reading Proust until lunchtime

Ben’s summer was spent reading his way through three volumes of Proust – in French! Find out what keeps him coming back to the Library. 

Ben - Library Lovers' Day 2

Storytime in the Children's Library

We have a brand-new Children’s Library full of beautiful books to share with you!

mother and child

Collection buzz

The Atlantic and Pacific cruise of SMS Bismarck, 1879–80

The Library recently acquired a fascinating album of 93 photographs taken on the maiden cruise of SMS Bismarck from 1879–80.

PXD 1490 the ship Bismarck in dry dock Sydney

Across the curator’s desk: Piranesi’s etchings, c 1761

Piranesi was an Italian printmaker known for his detailed technical drawings, architectural studies of Rome and imaginary buildings.

Piranesi, The Drawbridge c1761

Hassall Family Papers made available for transcription

Using our online transcription tool, anyone can now contribute to transcribing the valuable Hassall Family Papers. 

Hassall Family Diaries 1859 1865

Recently acquired portrait of Nicolas Baudin

Nicolas Thomas Baudin (1754–1803) was a cartographic surveyor and naturalist who led a French expedition to the southern parts of the Eastern Hemisphere between 1800–04. 

The 1946 Bathurst Grand Prix

View amazing photos from the 100-mile motor race which attracted a crowd of around 30,000 people. 

Featured events

History Matters: Creating on Country

Wednesday
Wednesday 4 March 2020 - 5:30pm to 6:30pm

Country is integral to the entire worldview and culture of Aboriginal people. What does it mean for Aboriginal artists and curators, historians and writers to create on country?

Trompe l'oeil of a surveyor's desktop / watercolour by William Henry Wells

Author Talk: Jessie Traill

Author Talks
Friday
Friday 6 March 2020 - 12:30pm to 1:30pm
Talk

Jessie Traill was an artist, traveller, humanitarian and independent spirit. Jessie developed her artistic skills from an early age. She went on to become one of Australia’s most outstanding etchers, working in a field uncommon for women of her time.

Jessie Traill a biography book cover by Jo Oliver

International Women’s Day

Sunday
Sunday 8 March 2020 - 1:30pm to 2:30pm
Free
Guided Tour

To celebrate International Women’s Day 2020, this curator-led tour will showcase how women are portrayed in the art of the Library’s collections and the way women’s lives have been captured in Australian history.

Women holding hands dancing