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Pacific Islander labourers in the Mackay District, late 1800s

This posed black-and-white photograph shows indentured Pacific Islanders by their grass hut homes, probably on a Mackay sugar plantation in Queensland. Some are seated on logs or rough timber benches and one woman can also be seen. They are dressed in Western-style clothes. More huts can be seen on the cleared rise in the ...

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The 'Southern Cross' reaches Sydney, 1928

This is a black-and-white photograph of the 'Southern Cross' biplane arriving in Sydney and being greeted by reporters and photographers and a large contingent of police after the record-breaking flight of Charles Kingsford Smith and his crew across the Pacific. Signed portraits of the crew are superimposed upon the photograph, ...

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Convicts from hulks, Woolwich, England, 1779

This is a hand-coloured engraving of convicts from the hulks at Woolwich labouring in the docks area. Two hulks are anchored offshore with rowboats shuttling to and fro. Beneath the image is inscribed 'A View near WOOLWICH in KENT showing the Employment of the CONVICTS from the Hulks'. The engraving measures 29.8 cm x 44.9 cm.

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‘Wool tables, Horsley Downs - J D Lang’, 1880s

This is a black-and-white photograph taken in the 1880s showing wool tables in the interior of a woolshed at Horsley Downs, a sheep station in Waipara County, North Canterbury (central east coast, South Island of New Zealand). The photograph shows seven men in the foreground sorting and grading sheep’s wool on slatted sorting ...

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'Diggers' auction, Eagle Hawk, Bendigo', 1853

This is a hand-coloured lithographic print that shows a digger (miner) auctioning his mining equipment at the Eaglehawk gold fields near Bendigo in Victoria. A small crowd is shown gathered around the digger and part of the Eaglehawk tent settlement can be seen behind him. The print is from a watercolour painting by Samuel ...

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'The new rush', 1865

This is a coloured print, measuring 19.4 cm x 25.2 cm, by the famous colonial artist Samuel Thomas Gill (1818-80), published in 'The Australian Sketchbook' in 1865. It shows a gold rush scene, probably in Victoria, with a stream of prospectors travelling along a dirt road. Several are walking beside their horses and heavily ...

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Pacific Islander labourers loading sugar cane onto a punt, c1896

This is a posed black-and-white photograph showing about ten Pacific Islander labourers involved in loading harvested sugar cane onto a river punt for transport to a Bundaberg sugar mill. A horsedrawn 'German' wagon has been reversed onto a high wooden jetty and the labourers have off-loaded some of the cane it was carrying ...

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Possum trappers

This is a photograph of two New Zealand possum trappers. It was taken in 1929 in Taranaki, North Island, and shows the trappers with the dried skins of the Australian brush-tailed possum ('Trichosurus vulpecula').

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ANZAC poster

This is a poster commemorating the New Zealand role in the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) campaign in Gallipoli during the First World War. Along the top is a photograph depicting three naval vessels on one side and Anzac Beach, Gallipoli, after the landing on the other. At the top of the photograph is the ...

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The German Club in Adelaide decorated for Hitler's birthday, 1939

This is a black-and-white photograph that shows the German Club in Adelaide decorated for a celebration of the 50th birthday of the German Fuhrer (leader) Adolf Hitler. The photograph, which was taken on 20 April 1939 just five months before the start of the Second World War, shows a flight of flower-adorned steps leading ...

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A shepherd and sheep, c1850

This is a watercolour of an early morning scene on a sheep property or 'run' painted by Samuel Thomas Gill. It depicts a shepherd and his dog at the rear of a flock of sheep disappearing over a small hill. A slab hut is shown on the slope of the hill and a small hurdle or temporary fence is in the foreground. The painting ...

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The 'Dig' tree in 1878

This is a watercolour by Arthur Esam (1850-1938), created in 1878 and measuring a modest 32.5 cm x 26.7 cm. It shows a coolibah tree with two sections of bark missing - the famous 'Dig' tree of the Burke and Wills Expedition of 1861. A man (perhaps Esam himself) is standing holding the reins of a horse, and appears to be ...

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'Southern Sun' above Sydney Harbour Bridge, 1931

This is a gelatin silver-toned composite photograph measuring 32 cm x 25.5 cm, created by E.W. Searle. The Avro-10 Southern Sun plane piloted by Charles Ulm celebrated the arrival in Sydney of aviatrix Amy Johnson, the first woman to fly solo from England to Australia. Amy Johnson had crash landed in Brisbane and was flown ...

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Convicts at work, Norfolk Island, 1840s

This is a hand-coloured wood engraving, measuring 10.3 cm x 24 cm, used to illustrate a newspaper article published on 12 June 1847. It shows a group of convicts undertaking hard physical work, making a bridge over a shallow stream. Uniformed and armed guards are evident, although the convicts appear to be working under ...

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'Panorama of Challicum, No. IX', c1850

This is a watercolour measuring 15.7 cm x 24.3 cm showing the vast yellow-and-green Challicum plains. In the distance a flock of sheep, watched by a shepherd and dog, is moving into temporary wooden yards. Among gum trees, to the right of the yard, is the homestead. The artist, Duncan Cooper, included this painting as the ...

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First settlement at Challicum, January 1, 1842

This is a watercolour by Duncan Cooper that depicts the first settlement at Challicum, a sheep run west of Ballarat in western Victoria. The watercolour shows the camp the men set up on New Year's Day, 1842 while they assessed the suitability of the land for running sheep. The two men depicted standing next to the campfire ...

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'Lambing station, Challicum', c1850

This is a watercolour by Duncan Cooper that shows a lambing station at Challicum, a sheep run west of Ballarat in western Victoria. A man, who may be the hut keeper, is shown standing next to a slab hut and a campfire. In the distance, on the left of the painting, is the lone figure of a shepherd tending his flock. Several ...

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'Death of Ben Hall', painted in 1894

This is an oil painting, measuring 137.6 cm x 182.7 cm, by Patrick William Marony, depicting the death of the bushranger Ben Hall (1837-65) near Forbes, New South Wales. Hall sprawls in the foreground, his revolver on the ground in front of him and his rifle leaning against a tree. Behind him, across a broad clearing in ...

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'First grave at Challicum, 1847'

This is a watercolour measuring 12.8 cm x 16.6 cm showing a grave and headstone beside an old gum tree and five smaller trees, with a post-and-rail fence behind. Distant blue hills in the background are the Challicum Hills in Victoria. The artist, Duncan Cooper, included this painting as the twentieth watercolour in his ...

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'First hut at Challicum, 1842'

This is a watercolour by Duncan Cooper that depicts the first hut built at Challicum, a sheep run west of Ballarat in western Victoria. The basic hut consists of timber slabs and a roof clad with bark. Mount Langi Ghiran and Mount Cole form part of the mountain range shown behind the hut. The watercolour, which measures ...