Collection buzz

400 photographs. 200 photographers. 3 centuries.

Curator Geoff Barker looks at the Library’s extraordinary image collection with fresh eyes.

Rara Avis the impossible black swan

A new addition to the Library’s world-class collection of Australian ornithological drawings.

A wicker basket of photos

A librarian discovers an extraordinary photo in an old wicker basket.

A model archive

A daughter decides to give the scrapbooks and journals of her beloved mother — an Australian fashion icon — to the Library.

All the Will in the world

The 1623 volume, Mr William Shakespeare’s Comedies, Histories & Tragedies, aka the ‘First Folio’, is 400 years old this year. Why is it so special?