Alexis Wright, Praiseworthy, 2023, nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn8813542

A book that tried to capture the spirit of our times, and to tell a story of the growing complexity about what happens to people caught in a world controlled and manipulated by others.

This is how Waanyi writer Alexis Wright described her 2023 novel Praiseworthy. In this ambitious work set in Australia’s north, Wright uses imagery and allegory to explore themes such as Indigenous oppression and climate change. It won a slew of literary awards, including the Stella Prize and the Miles Franklin Award (both in 2024, making Wright the first person to receive both prizes in the same year). The book was also shortlisted for the Dublin Literary Award, having been nominated by the Library. 

Willem Janszoon Blaeu & Hessel Gerritsz, Nova et exacta Asiae geographica descriptio, 1608, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-3603702561

The Library recently acquired this landmark wall map of Asia. Created by two great mapmakers of the Dutch Golden Age, it is believed to be the only copy of the map with text and decorative elements intact. It comes from a series of four, showing the continents, that was made by Willem Blaeu about 1609 (the other maps depicted Africa, Europe and the Americas). 

Brian Fitzpatrick, Draft petition, 1957, nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn1507836

On 27 May 1967 Australians voted to change the Constitution to ensure Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples would be counted as part of the population and to enable the federal government to make laws for them. Brian Fitzpatrick (1905-1965), from the Australian Council for Civil Liberties drafted this petition on 9 April 1957, in consultation with lawyer Christian Jollie Smith and Jessie Street, as part of the long campaign to remove official discriminations against Aboriginal people in the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Australia.  

Ethel Turner, Seven Little Australians, 1894, nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn2539508

Ethel Turner’s best-known novel is Seven Little Australians. Since it was first published in 1894, the book has been reprinted more than 50 times. Set primarily in Sydney in the 1880s, it tells the story of the Woolcot children: Meg (16), Pip (14), Judy (13), Nell (10), Bunty (6), Baby (4) and infant ‘The General’. They live at Misrule (‘the name their house always went by’) with their father, Captain Woolcot, and stepmother, Esther (the biological mother of the youngest child). The book recounts the children’s adventures, and explores themes such as coming of age, family and childhood in the Australian colonies. 

Max Dupain, Main Reading Room from eastern end, National Library of Australia, Canberra, 1968, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-144064880

Established in 1901 as part of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Library, the Library started life in the Victorian Parliament House, Melbourne. The name 'Commonwealth National Library' was adopted in 1923 and, four years later, the staff of 12 moved to Provisional Parliament House (now Old Parliament House) in Canberra. In 1934 a smaller building (since demolished) opened on Kings Avenue.

The National Library Act 1960 established the Library as an independent institution, separating it from the Commonwealth Parliamentary Library. The current building, which opened on 15 August 1968, allowed for a greater array of services to readers and visitors and for better storage capacity for the collection.

Eddie Mabo, Self portrait, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-147044547

The Mabo v Queensland (No. 2) decision was handed down in the High Court of Australia on 3 June 1992. 'Mabo' - as it has come to be known - altered the foundation of land law in Australia. It provided official recognition of the inherent rights of Indigenous Australians to their traditional lands.

The National Library of Australia holds an extensive collection of material relating to the Mabo decision and to its lead applicant, Eddie Koiki Mabo. To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Mabo decision, the National Library invited Gail Mabo, Eddie's daughter, to select material for display to mark this landmark moment in Australian legal history.

In 1988, Ted Kelk and Pat O'hara founded the Queensland Association for Gay Law Reform (QAGLR). With the recent election of the Wayne Goss Labour government in Queensland, ending 32 years of conservative government rule, progressive groups such as QAGLR had the opportunity to petition a more receptive government to end laws criminalising homosexuality. After a concerted lobbying and submission effort, the Queensland government passed The Criminal Code and Another Act Amendment Act, 1990, decriminalising sex between consenting men.

Ellis Rowan, Chrysanthemums, ca. 1890, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-138089294

Australian artist Ellis Rowan primarily worked in watercolour and gouache, and is best known for painting Australian native flowers. She caused a stir at the 1888–89 Centennial International Exhibition in Melbourne when her painting Chrysanthemums won First Order of Merit and Gold Medal. This similar painting, depicting the same type of flower, is a more recent addition to the Library's vast Rowan Collection, the bulk of which was acquired for the nation for £5,000 in 1923.

Bennelong, Letter to Mr Phillips 1796 Aug. 29, nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn1805039

This document records the earliest known piece of writing by an Indigenous Australian. The manuscript is the only contemporary copy of a dictated letter which appears to have been copied verbatim by an unknown scribe. The author, Bennelong, a leader of the Wangal people, and his young kinsman, Yemmerrawanne, became the first Indigenous Australians to travel to England in December 1792. During the trip, they both fell ill. Sadly, Yemmerrawanne died and Bennelong returned home alone in 1795. In this letter to Mr and Mrs Phillips, Bennelong profusely thanks them for looking after him.

Gooseberry, Queen of Bungaree, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-135902455

Kaaroo (c. 1777–1852), known to Europeans as Cora Gooseberry, was a significant Murro-ore-dial knowledge-keeper, daughter of the prominent leader Moorooboora, and the principal wife of Bungaree. For more than two decades after Bungaree's death, Kaaroo maintained a place in the local consciousness of Sydney, attending levees at Government House, and sharing her knowledge of petroglyphs (rock carvings or paintings) at North Head.