Topic

This playbill, or poster, advertising a theatrical performance at the ‘Theatre, Sydney’ on 30 July 1796, is the oldest surviving printed document produced in Australia.

The Main Reading Room houses a collection of sculptures and paintings inspired by Indigenous stories of the Australian landscape.

We celebrated the final days of our Hopes and Fears: Australian Migration Stories exhibition, with our drop-in art and craft school holiday activity.

Library staff recently attended the Melanesian Arts and Culture Festival (MACFEST), returning with new acquisitions, knowledge and connections.

Dr Caren Florance presented a lecture on her 2024 National Library Fellowship research into artists' books (books made by artists as art).

**Due to unforeseen circumstances this event was cancelled.**

Topic

Emperor Shunzhi, the first emperor of the Qing dynasty (since the taking of China proper in 1644) died in 1661. His son, Kangxi, took over at the age of seven and reigned for 61 years. He encouraged painting, porcelain making and literature.

Learn how to uncover facts and colour from historical documents, manuscripts, newspapers and more.

Hear from Dr Deirdre O’Connell as she presents a lecture on her 2023 National Library Fellowship research about the extraordinary influence of Augusta 'Pakie' Macdougall who brought suffragist activism, Greenwich Village’s salon culture, and the Little Theatre movement to interwar Sydney.

Photographs by Jeff Carter of Australian life dating from the 1950s onwards, plus oral history recordings with about 40 individuals living in rural towns or properties.