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History

Explore our history through the Library's unrivalled collections.

History

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18th Century and before

Voyages of discovery

Europeans had been searching for rich new lands in the Southern Hemisphere long before Captain James Cook arrived on the east coast of Australia in 1770. Explore the State Library's incredible maps, journals, drawings and books.
Map of the world

The Art of the Title page

A title page has always told readers what the book is about, but sometimes with an artistic flourish.

Vlyssis Aldrovandi patricii Bononiensis Serpentum, et draconu[m] historiae libri duo, 1640, by Vlyssis Aldrovandi

The world in a book: the first atlases

by Maggie Patton

In the Golden Age of Cartography, the first atlases combined the skills of the mapmaker with the ingenuity of the publisher.

Eight Days in Kamay

On 29 April 1770, the Gweagal people of Kamay (Botany Bay) discovered James Cook and his crew. 250 years later, those eight days and their impact are still being debated, contested, felt.

The real secret river: exploring Dyarubbin

by Grace Karskens

A list of Aboriginal placenames was a trigger for seeking the ‘real secret river’.

A landscape photograph depicting a misty river as viewed through a break in tree cover.

Power and influence on the Cumberland Plain

by Elizabeth Ellis

Sydney’s colonial gentry built mansions, held lavish parties and amassed fortunes beyond the imagination of their English relations.

An illustration of a social hall, with ladies in dresses accompanied by men in tailcoats.

The Sydney Cove Medallion

by Emma Butler-Nixon

An interest by British arrivals in the quality of Sydney clay led to the making of the Sydney Cove Medallion by noted English ceramicist, Josiah Wedgwood.

Etruria 1789

19th Century

Deeper history

by Rebecca Hamilton

Science and history come together in conserving the swamplands of southern Sydney.

Swamp paperbark trees (Melaleuca quinquenervia), Lachlan Swamp, Centennial Park, Sydney, 2019, photo by Rebecca Hamilton

Art of Newcastle: convict artists in Aboriginal Country

by Mark Dunn

An Aboriginal leader’s assistance to the artists of the Newcastle penal settlement led to an unprecedented visual record of the local Indigenous people.

Drawing of a landscape, with small houses visible.

The first sugar: James Williams’ story

by Emma Christopher

Sugar and slavery are intertwined in the hidden story of Australia’s early industry.

Drawing depicting slaves planting sugar canes.

Reclaiming our story

by Callum Clayton-Dixon

A contributor to the Library’s Living Language exhibition reflects on Indigenous resistance, survival, and the New England linguicide.

Young man sits at a wooden desk, surrounded by shelves of boxes and jars.

150 years ago: the Free Public Library

by Richard Neville

A vital public institution.

An illustration depicting a lavish gathering of gentlemen.

Ben Hall, Australian Bushranger

by Geoff Barker

From 1863 to 1865, over 100 robberies are attributed to Ben Hall and his various associates

Mitchell or burn: the Thompson family papers

by Penny Russell

Sifting through the ‘glorious clutter’ of the Thompson family papers offers a sense of early Sydney life and insights into several significant local families.

Hands holding a lit match to a burning piece of paper.

20th Century

'Demonstrations were our internet'

by Ashleigh Synnott

Fifty years after the first gay rights organisation was founded in NSW, the activism of the 1970s still resonates.

Coming out in the 70s

The Gatherings Order 

by Elise Edmonds

A behind the scenes look at the new podcast series exploring the last great influenza pandemic in 1919.

Chalk and church 

by Stephen Jackson

The place of religious instruction in public schools has long been controversial. 

Soundings - Some Views on Religious Education in South Australia

‘Unprecedented’: the Library through two pandemics

by Elise Edmonds

The extraordinary events of the past few months are unprecedented in our lifetimes, but the response to the Covid-19 pandemic contains echoes of the 1918–19 influenza outbreak. The Library is one of many institutions following the lead of our forebears.

Two different men, one wearing a mask

Letters from Bergen-Belsen

by Louise Anemaat

Australian nurse Muriel Knox Doherty recorded her experiences and insights after the liberation of Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. 

Letters by Muriel Knox Doherty, August-October, 1945

Peace with pestilence: the 1918–19 influenza

by Alison Wishart

After four years of war, ‘normal life’ ceased again in early 1919 as an influenza epidemic spread through the country.

Collection of condolence letters.