Jessie Traill: An artist at war
During World War I Jessie Traill spent five years serving as a British Voluntary Aid Detachment. Her war experience is recorded through photographs, sketches, written accounts and letters to friends.
Our stories
Look inside PANDORA to reveal a history of lost websites
Changing libraries, Our stories:
The Library has been contributing PANDORA, Australia’s web archive, since 1998. Explore the weird and wonderful websites that have made their way into the collection over the past 20 years.
Remembering the Armistice, 100 years on
Guns on the Western Front fell silent one hundred years ago, at 11am on 11 November 1918, bringing to an end what we remember as the First World War.
Armistice Day captured in WWI diary
With the announcement of the World War I armistice on 11 November 1918, many soldiers felt both joy and disbelief. Stretcher-bearer Percy Samson captured it in his diary.
The three musketeers of the Golden Age of children’s book illustration
The Robinson brothers, Thomas, Charles and William Heath delighted in referring to themselves as the three musketeers. They spent much of their early adult life in their father’s studio and later shared studios with one another, all three establishing themselves as book illustrators.
2018 Victorian Community History Award winners announced
A book about the history of mental health during the gold rush in Victoria has been awarded top prize at the 2018 Victorian Community History Awards.
Travel guides for the discerning traveller
When you step outside your comfort zone to explore the world, suddenly a little book is the only safety blanket you’ve got. Whether the iconic red bindings of a Murray or Baedeker, or a dogeared Lonely Planet, travel guides have been clutched in the hands of discerning travellers the world over. Discover their varied forms in our collection.
Banned books
Arts & literature, Our stories:
Throughout history, when those in power have felt threatened by the ‘dangerous’ ideas contained in the pages of books, the offending books have been banned, stripped from shelves, and even burned. But censorship isn’t just a thing of the past. Take a look at prohibited and censored books, old and new.
Illustrated children’s books: Kay Nielsen (1886-1957)
Arts & literature, Our stories:
Kay Nielsen’s delicate illustrations combined the exquisite motifs of the Art Nouveau movement with oriental influences. The elaborate, decorative artworks bring brilliant colour tinged with a hint of eeriness to the pages of children’s fairy tales.
Australia’s golden age of cycling
Exhibitions, Our stories, People & professions:
Cheering echoed throughout the streets of Sydney in November 1937 as some 60,000 people gathered along the last 80 kilometres of Hubert Opperman’s epic trans-continental ride. Once as famous as cricketer Don Bradman, endurance cyclist ‘Oppy’ is currently featured in the Changing face of Victoria exhibition. Discover objects from his career, loaned to us by Museums Victoria.
