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What’s got us talking

Free Kids' Tours

Explore the magnificent Mitchell Library and discover some quirky stories these school holidays!

Kids on a tour in the Library's paintings gallery.

Critics' Picks review

Spring / Ali Smith

Behind the Story with Sofija Stefanovic

Find out what surprised author Sofija Stefanovic the most while writing her 2019 National Biography Award shortlisted book Miss Ex-Yugoslavia.

Sofija Stefanovic

Public library funding

Public libraries across NSW are set to benefit from a record boost in funding, with the NSW Government delivering $36.5 million in 2019/20. 

Shellharbour public library

Collection buzz

Apollo 11 moon landing

The Library holds a range of material relating to the Apollo 11 mission, reflecting Australia's excitement and fascination in the space race as it happened.

Membership card for the Pan-Am 'First Moon Flights Club', 1969

E.M. Curr’s Australian Comparative Vocabulary

At 9.45 metres long, this gargantuan accordion-fold document is  the longest known manuscript in the Library.

Curr for Living Language

Flash Mob

Photographs from the Deadly Awards by Jamie James.

Jazz Down Under

Scrapbooks compiled by the father of Australian jazz, Graeme Bell (1914 – 2012).

Graeme Bell's Jazz Scrapbook

Watercolour views of Sydney in the middle years of the 19th century

The Library has recently aquired a collection of six watercolours by Jacob Janssen (1779-1856).

A painting of a view of Government House, with emus in the garden in the foreground and a horseman on the garden track.

Across the curator’s desk: House construction notebook, 1913

Anna Corkhill, curator in the Library's Research and Discovery team, shares a house construction notebook from 1913.

Sketch for the design of a cottage

Across the curator's desk: Peter Hall's 1968 travel sketchbook

Anna Corkhill, curator in the Library's Research and Discovery team, shares a sketchbook from a crucial stage in the development of the Sydney Opera House. 

Sketchbook with pencil drawing of Sydney Opera House

Book of Hours

View our newly digitised Book of Hours, featuring 14 large miniatures, framed by pink marble columns or brown bands, and enter the world of an illuminated manuscript.