Australian Joint Copying Project (AJCP)

The Australian Joint Copying Project (AJCP) is a collection of historical material relating to Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific dating from 1560 to 1984.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander visitors are kindly advised that this website includes images, sounds and names of people who have passed.

All users should be aware that some topics or historical content may be culturally sensitive, offensive or distressing, and that some images may contain nudity or are of people not yet identified. Certain words, terms or descriptions may reflect the author's/creator's attitude or that of the period in which they were written, but are now considered inappropriate in today's context.

Key to library resources

Access anywhere with a library card In the Library (or anywhere with a Library card for NSW residents)
Available to access in the library Only in the Library
Publicly available online Publicly available

European explorers & Voyages of discovery

The Maritime exploration of Australia and the Pacific forms the core of 18th century material in the M Series.

Ships logs and journals of explorers include Cook, Banks, Bass, Flinders and Abel Tasman.

Antarctic exploration is featured in several collections including the records of the Royal Society.

Early explorers of the Australian interior include Charles Sturt, John Oxley and Allan Cunningham. 


Significant Collections

Sir Joseph Banks

Capt. James Cook

Capt. Matthew Flinders

Abel Tasman

Pacific Journals and Logbooks

Royal Society of Great Britain

Arthur Bowes-Smyth

Capt. Charles Sturt 

Allen Cunningham

First Fleet Journals

The State Library holds the world's largest collection of original First Fleet journals and correspondence. Of the eleven known journal manuscripts, nine are held in the Mitchell Library, at the State Library of New South Wales.


Representation of a Bird of the Coot kind, found at Lord Howe Island ...

Arthur Bowes-Smyth

Bowes-Smyth was surgeon of the Lady Penrhyn the ship that brought female convicts to the colony of NSW and his journal is one of the most detailed eyewitness accounts of the first weeks of the European settlement of Australia.

The Journal of Arthur Bowes-Smyth records the arrival if the First Fleet and events in the first three months of the colony, including detailed descriptions and encounters with Aborigines.

This copy of Smyth’s journal held by the British Library is one of three in existence. The original is held by the National Library of Australia and the other copy held by the Mitchell Library, State Library of NSW

Bowes-Smyth took a great interest in natural history, collecting specimens and making drawings. The Mitchell Library copy includes the earliest extant illustration by a European of the emu.

New genus of Bird at Botany bay 1788

Emu, or `New genus of Bird at Botany bay 1788 from Arthur Bowes-Smyth drawings from his journal `A Journal of a Voyage from Portsmouth to New South Wales and China in the Lady Penrhyn ...', 1787-1789