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All users should be aware that some topics or historical content may be culturally sensitive, offensive or distressing, and that some images may contain nudity or are of people not yet identified.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.
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In the Library (or anywhere with a Library card for NSW residents) |
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Only in the Library |
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Publicly available |
The Library’s manuscript collections are some of the richest and most significant in Australia.
Dating from the seventeenth century through to the present day, they comprise the personal papers of individuals and the archives of private organisations and businesses. The collections include letters, diaries, journals, literary works, business papers, note books and memoirs.
Research strengths include Australia's foundation documents such as First Fleet diaries, European exploration of the Pacific and Australia, colonial life, Indigenous Australians, missionaries, literary papers, Antarctica, World War I diaries, performing arts, politics, sport, immigration, agriculture, gay and lesbian life and culture, law, home life, family history and local history, popular culture and the built environment.
The collections are wide ranging and provide rich evidence of the lives, society and activities of Australians from all walks of life.
Requisition to Major Johnston to assume control of the colony, 1808
(featured in 2008's exhibition 1808: Bligh's Sydney rebellion)
World War 1 diaries of Harold Burfield Taylor, 1916-1918
Harold Burfield Taylor served with the 19th Battalion in France and Belgium from March 1916 to June 1918. This daily record includes movements, battles, trench life, lists of casualties and thoughts on billeting, training and the battlegrounds.
The last diary of Harold Lasseter, 1930-1931
In 1929 Harold Lasseter claimed that, years earlier, he had discovered a rich gold bearing reef in Central Australia. In 1930 an expedition was formed, with Lasseter as guide, to search for the reef. Following a number of accidents and dissension in the party, Lasseter went on alone. He was not seen again, nor was any reef discovered. A search party found his body and brought back this diary.
