What we collect

Pacific Collections

See also: Find Pacific materials | Using the Collection

Within its overseas collection, the National Library holds a rich and diverse range of library materials on the Pacific region, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea. Within the Pacific, the Library gives priority and emphasis to collecting from the countries and territories of Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia. The strength of the Library’s holdings, which are at a level capable of sustaining research study, reflects Australia’s strong historic and continuing connections with the region.

As well as printed materials, the Library has many pictures, manuscripts, microform materials and maps relating to the region. Materials range from early maps and published accounts of the Pacific to present day materials.

The history of these collections dates from the early 1900s. Between 1960-1967, the Library acquired a rich collection of indigenous publications from Sir John Ferguson, including many of the first publications printed in the Pacific region. The Rex Nan Kivell Collection, another significant formed collection, added further depth to the Library's Pacific materials. Papua New Guinea holdings are particularly strong for the period of Australia’s administration of the territory (to 1976).

Library staff have published articles and reports on the Pacific collections and their acquisition. The Library is currently part of the South Seas Project, a collaborative research venture using original and secondary sources relating to Cook and South Seas exploration.

Pacific Island and Papua New Guinea manuscript collections

The National Library's Manuscript Collections include papers of the following Australians who were involved, personally or professionally, with the Pacific and Papua New Guinea. Finding aids to the collections have been linked to where available online - consult the catalogue for more details. These collections are well supplemented by the microfilmed materials within the Pacific Manuscripts Bureau (PMB) and the Australian Joint Copying Project (AJCP) series.

Pacific Islands  
  • J.T. Arundel - MS 5410
  • James W. Davidson - MS 5105
  • Lorimer Fison - MS 7080
  • W.D. Forsyth - MS 5700
  • John Geddie - MS 2180
  • Sir Everard Im Thurn - MS 7457
  • Gerald Maxwell - MS 6221
  • Wilfred Paton - MS 7030
  • Colin Simpson - MS 5253
  • Basil Thomson - MS 7028
  • Sir John Thurston - MS 1914
   
Territory of Papua and New Guinea

Pacific and Papua New Guinea pictures collections

The Pictures Collection includes material related to the Pacific and Papua New Guinea. The Library's Digitisation Project is progressively creating online images of some of these collections. Access to the online images is via the catalogue or through PictureAustralia. Pictorial collections that have been digitised include:

Microform collections

The research strengths of the Library's manuscript, pictorial and printed collections are further enhanced with microform holdings, most significantly material from the:

Web archive collections

The Pacific web archive collections feature websites selected by the Library for archiving and hosted on the Internet Archive - the American non-profit 'internet library'. Most archived sites are government or research sites originating from the Pacific region. Each collection consists of websites archived around a theme, for example Papua New Guinea Elections 2007.

Collection guides and bibliographies

 

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