To mark the second anniversary of the apology to members of the Stolen Generations, the Library has launched a special website featuring the oral history interviews with people who were involved in or affected by the removal of Indigenous children from their families.

The aim of the project has been to collect
and preserve the stories of affected Indigenous people and others, including police, missionaries and administrators.

The Bringing Them Home interviews are being made available - in collaboration with the Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs - in consultation with the people interviewed or their next of kin.

Listen to the Bringing Them Home Oral History Interviews.

Two diaries by Australian artist Donald Friend, believed missing for more than 60 years, have been found in the United States and donated to the Library.

The diaries cover the artist's time in the army, from 1942 to 1945, featuring his words and sketches in school-type exercise books. They range from quick line drawings in ink to stunning watercolours.

The two diaries have been added to the 44 Friend diaries already in the Library’s collection.

Find Donald Friend on Trove.

Are there any old issues of The Australian Women's Weekly gathering dust in your shed or under the bed? If so, we want to hear from you.

The Library is digitising issues of The Australian Women's Weekly dating from 10 June 1933 to 15 December 1982. We have checked our holdings and identified missing copies - we need your help to fill these gaps.

The Australian Women's Weekly has been published for more than 75 years and offers a unique insight into the social fabric of Australia.

In association with Australian Consolidated Press and the State Library of New South Wales.

Visit The Australian Women's Weekly Digitisation Project homepage to view our list of missing copies.

A special Collection-in-Focus exhibition opened at the Library last week to coincide with the 70th anniversary of the arrival from Britain of HMT Dunera.

The ship carried over 2500 German, Austrian and Italian 'enemy aliens' to Australia for internment. Many internees were of Jewish heritage and had escaped to Britain from the horrors of Nazi Germany in the 1930s. They were then confined to the Dunera for an appalling eight-week voyage and later to camps in rural New South Wales and Victoria.

Visitor Centre, Ground Floor
Free

Find the 'Dunera Boys' on Trove.

The Library provides a range of fellowships and scholarships which support research based on the Library's collections.

Harold White Fellowships
Applications close 30 April 2010

Japan Fellowship
Applications close 30 April 2010

National Folk Fellowship
Applications close 30 June 2010

Summer Scholarships
Applications close 30 September 2010

Find out more

The Library has acquired a rare compendium of travel writings and sketches published in France in the late 1600s, including one of the earliest maps of the Australian coast as seen by the first European explorers.

The work, titled Relations de divers voyages curieux, was compiled by French author, scientist and cartographer, Melchiseedech Thevenot (1620-1692). The map 'Hollandia Nova', is one of the earliest devoted entirely to Australia.

View 'Hollandia Nova' in our
Digital Collection.

In 2009, the Library acquired a copy of the first edition of Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species. The digitisation of the entire copy has recently been completed, and is available online.

Believed to be one of the earliest surviving copies of Darwin's work to have arrived in Australia, the copy bears the inscription and annotations of its first owner, Dr William Woolls of Parramatta, NSW, dated 17 March 1860.

View On the Origin of Species in our
Digital Collection.

Find Charles Darwin on Trove.

Jazz on the Verandah is the perfect way to soak up the final days of summer.

Come and unwind with an afternoon beverage and some smooth jazz on the verandah overlooking Lake Burley Griffin.

Thursdays during summer, 4 - 7 pm
ex libris, outside bookplate cafe

Early American Imprints I and II

These two full-text databases cover American history and literature through the colonial period to 1819.

This is the definitive resource of information about every aspect of life in 17th-and 18th-century America, including foreign affairs and diplomacy, music and literature, and religion and witchcraft.

Access to Early American Imprints I and II is only available to registered readers onsite at the Library via the eResources portal.

You can register as a reader at the Library website.

Lost! A True Tale from the Bush
By Stephanie Owen-Reader

Almost 150 years ago, three young children found themselves lost in the Australian bush with no food and very little water. Somehow they managed to keep going for over a week. During that time, they walked nearly 100 kilometres in a desperate bid to find their
way home.

Experience pioneer life in Australia in the 1860s as you join Isaac, Jane and Frankie
on their remarkable journey.

RRP: $29.95

Available for purchase at our Online Bookshop.

Sydney Parkinson (1745?-1771)
Bread Fruit  1769?

Sydney Parkinson was the botanical artist employed by Joseph Banks for the 1768-1771 Endeavour voyage. Parkinson worked in the ship's great cabin with Banks and Swedish scientist Daniel Solander, drawing the various species discovered.

The bread fruit depicted here was observed by the scientists to be a staple of the Tahitian diet. The discovery prompted the infamous voyage of HMS Bounty in 1789 under Commanding Lieutenant William Bligh to collect specimens of the plant for propagation in the West Indies.

In 2010, the National Library will begin construction on the state-of-the-art Treasures Gallery. If you would like to make a tax deductible donation to the Treasures Gallery, please contact the Development Office on 02 6262 1141 or development@nla.gov.au.

To find out more about the Library's collections and services, read the The National Library Magazine.

To read what National Library staff are working on, visit Gateways.

For news from the Library Bookshop, read INPRINT.