Today marks the 25th anniversary of the Library’s digitisation program. From lantern slides and glass negatives to maps, posters and sheet music, our team have made more than two million files available to search, view and download online since the program began on 17 August 1990.
To celebrate a quarter of a century of digitisation, we recently launched the digital image pool, a new online resource to help you easily find images from the Library’s collection that are free of copyright restrictions. Dive in and discover almost 200,000 images, free to reuse, remix or repurpose in any way you like.
Below, we’ve selected some of our favourite images from the last 25 years, each one corresponding to the year it was digitised from 1990–2015. You can find these, and more, in our digital image pool. Enjoy!
1991
Crowds on the beach, St Kilda, Victoria, c1920–54. Photo: Rose Stereograph Co
1992
Bird’s-eye view of Melbourne looking east, ca. 1892-1900. Photo: Charles Rudd
1993
Cutting down tree, 1877. Photo: N. J. Caire
1994
Rosa Lind, ca. 1902–1912 (postcard)
1995
Giant Tree, 80 ft. 6 ins, in circumference, near Foster, ca. 1900–1909. Pater, W. T. postcard series
1996
Luna Park, St. Kilda, ca. 1912–1915. Shirley Jones collection of Victorian postcards
1997
Melbourne Cricket Ground (1st January 1864). Charles Troedel & Co
1998
Edith Mary Hardy, 1890. Photo: Vandyck Studios
1999
The dog show at the Apollo Hall, Bourke Street, Melbourne, 1871. Publisher: Ebenezer and David Syme
2000
The Arctic Stream’s non paying passengers in their strange surroundings, ca. 1885 and 1946. Brodie Collection, La Trobe Picture Collection
2001
Vera Nemtchinova , 1940. Series: Colonel de Basil’s 2nd Covent Garden Ballet.
2002
Women of the Australian Women’s Land Army at work, ca. 1941–1943. Collection: Argus newspaper collection of war photographs. World War II
2003
Sandy Mac Dougal, 86 years old, oldest man in Harrietville, 1945. Herald & Weekly Times Limited portrait collection
2004
‘Stanhill’ Albert Park Melbourne, Architect: Frederick Romberg, 1951. Photo: Wolfgang Sievers
2005
One pound canister coffee with chicory label, 1871. Lithographer: Charles Troedel
2006
Sleeping beauties, 1876. Printed and published by Stillfried & Andersen
2007
Horse drawn wagon on country track, ca. 1910–1930. Photo: Albert Jones
2008
Great Sphinx, ca. 1915–1918. Photo: T. P Bennett
2009
Man reading book in bed at base camp, 1907-1931. Compiler: John King Davis
2010
The celebrated E.E.E. Corset, ca. 1891–1900. Troedel & Co. lithographers
2011
Urinoir en ardoise à 3 stalles, Chaussée du Maine No. 29. 1865. Photo: Charles Marville
2012
Green Hill tennis team, ca. 1907-1914. Photo: Harold Leopold Godden
2013
Homeward bound, 1864. Artist: ST Gill
2014
Portraits of Winifred Craig, 1890 . Photo: Falk Studios
2015
Wm. Sidney’s superior peppermint, High Street, Prahran, ca. 1851–1885. Edward Gilks
Amazing imagery, what a collection!
Looking forward to accessing those 200,000 images too
fabulous collection beautifully assembled
thanks Sarah
Thanks Ross!
Absolutely fascinating Sarah, and such an amazing variety! Thank you.
re 2007 Horse drawn wagon on country track, ca. 1910–1930. Photo: Albert Jones – there are so many trees either dead or dying, one wonders why?
Loved them all – although I had a time finding the site – glad I persevered. Do you know why it has changed?
Susan Nicholas – Could be the result of bushfire – I am only going from what the trees looked like after touring the countryside after major bushfires. They all have that rather blasted look. I think the are called ghost gums. Might have been after the 1930’s bushfires?