Module

This resource is aligned with the Australian Curriculum: Modern History for Senior Secondary students, with specific reference to content descriptions for Unit 2: Movements for Change in the 20th Century, and specifically those that fall under the examination of ‘Recognition and rights of Indigenous peoples’.

Topic

Before sailing from England, Cook had been handed a series of secret instructions by the Admiralty.

Our James Cook collection showcases the Library’s most famous item - Cook’s HMS Endeavour journal.

About 5000 books, pamphlets and periodicals, over 11,000 paintings, drawings and prints, around 800 maps and over 300 manuscripts mostly published 1770-1900. Largely relating to Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific including Antarctica.

About 15,000 books and pamphlets. The great strength of the collection is in Pacific voyages and early Australiana with many very rare items. Also manuscripts including papers of Joseph Banks, maps and pictures.

Hear from Peter Crowley about his research for his debut book about surveyor Thomas Scott Townsend.

387 books, mostly related to Australia, but also several works on New Zealand and the Pacific. It is strong in accounts of the exploration of Australia and Pacific voyages.

Topic

During the Enlightenment, social and scientific thinking began to change. Enlightenment thinkers pushed for social change through the separation of church and state and the establishment of constitutional government. 

Module

This resource is aligned with the Australian Curriculum: Modern History for Senior Secondary students, with specific reference to content descriptions for Unit 1: Understanding the Modern World, and specifically those that fall under the topic elective ‘The Enlightenment (1750–1789)’.

Topic

At least four VOC ships were shipwrecked on the Western Australian coast in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

The Library has recently acquired a journal recording the first Russian Antarctic expedition in 1819-21.