History

An 1802 portrait of a young Eora man, by French artist Nicolas-Martin Petit, is remarkable for its attention to detail.

From the 1800s, a host of bridges were built over the bays and coves to the west of Sydney. Five became known as the ‘five bridges’: Gladesville Bridge, Fig Tree Bridge, Glebe Island Bridge, Iron Cove Bridge and Pyrmont Bridge.

Portrait of Gumbaynggirr and Bundjalung people from the 1870s show how photography shaped race relationships in the nineteenth century. 

Members of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities are advised that this story contains names and images of deceased people.

Our 2017 Merewether Fellow Stephen Gapps looks at resistance and warfare in colonial Sydney on the anniversary of the Appin Massacre of 1816. 

Among the papers of the Scott brothers, who settled in the Hunter Valley in the 1820s, is a manual for frontier living.

Charles Dickens saw Australia as a utopia for the working class — and his wayward sons.

An eccentric French nobleman, a letter about Cook’s Endeavour voyage and an enduring bibliographic mystery come together in the Library’s Banks collection.