Stories from our exhibitions

Darug people share a deeper story of Dyarubbin, the Hawkesbury River.

Generations of magicians visited Australia or began their careers here at a time when ‘wonder workers’ were a dominant force in the entertainment industry.

While the Pacific has loomed large in Australia’s history, there is a riddle at the heart of our relationship with the region.

In 1770 the Gweagal people of Kamay (Botany Bay) discovered James Cook and the Endeavour. The Library’s new exhibition explores the eight days that followed.

On 29 April 1770, the Gweagal people of Kamay (Botany Bay) discovered James Cook and his crew as they sailed into the bay and came ashore. The eight days that followed changed the course of Australia’s history. 250 years later the events of those eight days and their continuing impact are still being debated, contested, felt.

Fifty years after the first gay rights organisation was founded in NSW, the activism of the 1970s still resonates.

Gay and lesbian life went public in the 70s. Speaking up and standing out, gay men and women took to the streets proudly demanding to be seen, heard and accepted.  

These chapters draw from stories and records in the Library’s collection to explore how the gay and lesbian rights movement emerged in NSW in the 1970s.  

Looking through Vietnamese art posters collected in the 1950s elicits complicated feelings all these years later.

A contributor to the Library’s Living Language exhibition reflects on Indigenous resistance, survival, and the New England linguicide.

The Library holds vast collections on Australian children’s book publishing in the ‘golden age’ of the 1970s and 80s.

An eye-catching poster got the message out for an emerging Sydney band in 1980.

A major exhibition opening in July at the Library will celebrate UNESCO’s International Year of Indigenous Languages.