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History

18th Century and before

Captain Cook’s voyages of discovery

Terra Australis Incognita – the unknown southern land. The existence (or not) of this mysterious, mythical place had been puzzled over since it was first hypothesised by the ancient Greeks and Romans

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19th Century

The cabin in the woods

The madness of a free settler and a convict found expression on the outskirts of the new colony.

Claiming space

The histories of people with disability in Australia can be found if you read ‘against the grain’.

Sydney Female Refuge Society, 1848-1925

A remarkable insight into the world of prostitutes in nineteenth-century Sydney.

The Treaty of Waitangi, 1840

On 6 February 1840, after discussion with chiefs on the lawns of the British Resident’s house in Waitangi, some 45 chiefs signed a treaty of cession, now known as the Treaty of Waitangi.

Memories on glass: extraordinary images of late 19th and early 20th century Sydney

In the days before digital and film photography, images were often taken on glass. But from the 1880s, development of ready-to-use 'dry plate' negatives and simpler cameras saw the rise of amateur photography.

An unknown warrior: mysterious portrait of an unknown, handsome young Aboriginal man

This mysterious portrait of an unknown, handsome young Aboriginal man is believed to have belonged to Governor Lachlan Macquarie, described as ‘One of the NSW Aborigines befriended by Governor Macquarie’. Part of the Works in Focus series.

‘A degree of neatness & regularity’: part of the Works in Focus series

Sydney — Capital New South Wales was painted around 1800 — its solid buildings and carefully laid out gardens refute the idea that it was a cesspit of depravity at a time when the city was associated with 'the awful depravity of human nature'.

20th Century onward

One person’s honest experience

A librarian's story of self-acceptance and coming out. Joyce Geake's manuscript has been digitised and can be read online here.

The Gatherings Order 

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

Chalk and church 

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

‘Unprecedented’: the Library through two pandemics

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.

Letters from Bergen-Belsen

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

Peace with pestilence: the 1918–19 influenza

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

A nice little business: NSW’s circulating libraries

Part of daily life in the mid twentieth century, circulating libraries have left charming traces.