State Library collections

All the State Libraries of Australia hold valuable collections, many of which date back to their 19th-century foundations. Their holdings include objects and photographs of relevance to Chinese Australian history, although these materials are often not well categorised . As a result, any search using “Chinese” will usually produce a mixed assortment of items. Even so, the collections are well worth exploring.

Among them, the National Library of Australia is the only institution with a dedicated portal specifically focused on Chinese–Australian history. Other state libraries—particularly those in NSW, Victoria and Queensland—would greatly benefit from developing similar portals given the depth and richness of their collections. Nevertheless, searching both their online catalogues and the substantial body of non-digitised material can yield highly interesting objects, documents, and images.

State Libraries - collection highlights include:

State Library of Queensland (SLQ)

Memorandum of Agreement for "Choo" (1850)

Chinese translation of the Gold Fields Regulations and Gold Fields Act of 1873

"Chinese on the Road to the Palmer" (1875)

Example search

State Library South Australia

Collections often includes much related to the Northern Territory which was a territory of South Australia until 1911.

Letter from Walter Butler to his mother, from Camp Beechworth, July 11, 1857. (Notes fighting between Chinese and Europeans.)

The Chinese question, or, Yellow agony by Robert Shapland, 1880

The Chinese question from a Chinaman's point of view by Way Lee, Y. S. W, 1907

Example search

State Library Western Australia

Extracts from the minutes of the Methodist Chinese School held in Murray Street mission premises, 1901-1905.

Lee family Papers, 1955-1974 [manuscript]

Chung Wah Association records, 1909-1934.

Example search

NSW

VIC

NT

WA

TAS

NLA