Australian Manuscripts

The Australian Manuscripts Collection gathers together original Australian archival materials that provide a unique insight into Victorian life.

What's in the Australian Manuscripts Collection?

This collection contains a wide range of handwritten, typescript, electronic and other forms of unpublished text records and documents, including the personal papers of individual men and women.

How did the collection start?

The Library's first major acquisition of Australian manuscript material occurred in 1872 when Charles Joseph La Trobe gave the Library a collection of letters written to him by a number of Victorian pioneers. This was followed two years later by the Royal Society of Victoria's donation of the Burke and Wills expedition records. Since then, the Library has collected an increasingly diverse range of material which documents the many aspects of Victoria's history.

What's special about this collection?

While the scope of the Australian Manuscripts Collection is very broad, there are specific areas where the collection is particularly strong. These include diaries and letters from World War 1, records from the Victorian branches of both the Australian Labor Party and Democratic Labor Party, the papers of academic and author Stephen Murray-Smith, and the records of the Victorian Artists Society.

A particular strength of the collection is the papers and journals relating to the European settlement of the Victoria and the growth of the pastoral industry. A selection of the rarest and most fragile of these materials has been digitised and is available online.

Explore the Port Phillip Papers online >

How can I view material in this collection?

Material in the Australian Manuscripts Collection can only be viewed by appointment in the Heritage Collections Reading Room, or in some instances in the Australian Manuscripts room.

You can also view digitised manuscript material online via the Manuscripts Catalogue.

Please note

In certain circumstances, access to Australian Manuscripts material may be restricted. In particular, original manuscripts are not available to school students. The Library's Australian Manuscripts Access Policy outlines the basis for public access to this collection.