O'Neill Collection

Collection higlights

John Ireland and Thomas Teller, The shipwrecked orphans : a true narrative of the shipwreck and sufferings of John Ireland and William Doyley, who were wrecked in the ship Charles Eaton, on an island in the South Seas, 1845, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-50459466

John Ireland and Thomas Teller, The shipwrecked orphans : a true narrative of the shipwreck and sufferings of John Ireland and William Doyley, who were wrecked in the ship Charles Eaton, on an island in the South Seas, 1845, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-50459466

About Terence O'Neill

Terence George O'Neill (born 1940) was born in Melbourne and is a graduate of the University of Melbourne.

Academic and administrative career

For many years he held administrative positions at the University of Melbourne, including Assistant Registrar. Since 1994 he has been working at Monash University on the Bibliography of Australian Literature project.

Family connections and literary discoveries

O'Neill's wife Frances O'Neill worked in the Historic Buildings Branch of the Ministry of Housing and Construction and has written a number of books and pamphlets on Melbourne buildings and suburbs. Her sister is Brenda Niall, the distinguished literary historian and biographer. Terry O'Neill assisted Niall when she was writing Martin Boyd (1977) and in the course of his research he discovered a hitherto unknown novel written by Boyd.

International research and archival contributions

In 1981 he travelled to Britain and Italy to interview people who knew Boyd and these interviews are now in the Library (TRC 1155).

Children's literature and book collecting

Frances O'Neill collaborated with Niall on her study of children's fiction, Australia Through the Looking Glass (1984). Early in the project, Terry and Frances O'Neill acquired a nucleus of about 700 children's books and in the next 10 years they assembled an outstanding collection of Australian children's books. As they later wrote:

Countless hours were spent jostling for bargains at fetes and book fairs, searching for hidden treasures in opportunity shops and weekend markets, and examining titles on the shelves of secondhand and antiquarian bookshops. Hundreds of catalogues were scanned, and wants lists were sent to many antiquarian booksellers, both in Australia and overseas.

Frances O'Neill & Brenda Niall

Background to the collection

O'Neill offered his collection of 1,886 children's books to the Library for purchase in 1985. He was willing to exclude works already held in the Library and the collection that was bought in 1987 consisted of 1,014 titles.

Later in 1987 O'Neill donated 110 books under the Taxation Incentives for the Arts Scheme.

He made 4 further offers between 1988 and 1993 and the Library bought a further 410 titles.

The books in the O'Neill Collection have been integrated into the Australian Collection.

The bibliography compiled by Terry and Frances O'Neill in 1989 is a valuable record of their collection and a major contribution to the bibliography of Australian children's literature. It lists 1,972 works. It should be kept in mind that not all the works described were acquired by the Library.

The unpublished novel, letters and other papers are housed in the Manuscripts Collection. They occupy 3 folders.

Most of the books in the O'Neill Collection that were not acquired by the National Library are now held in the Baillieu Library at the University of Melbourne.

This guide was prepared using these references:

Terence O'Neill, From Martin Boyd to Mrs Stacy Waddy: The Confessions of a Literary Sleuth, Orana, vol 24 (4), November 1988, pp 197–203.
Terence O'Neill and Frances O'Neill, Australian Children's Books to 1980: A Select Bibliography of the Collection Held in the National Library of Australia, National Library of Australia, Canberra, 1989.