Primary documentation gives you exact information from the people or groups involved, even though some of this may still be interpreted by others. With an inclination to the writing process for recording information and the relative youth of the country since European settlement, we often have access to a surprising range and depth of primary documentation. Regrettably, because of their oral tradition, much of the Indigenous history before European arrival has been lost.

This page provides links to information and resources for units and topics covered in this subject at a range of Australian universities. It does not attempt to include all these. Be aware some units/topics have different titles in different universities, even though content may be the same or similar.

They are at undergraduate level and listed in alphabetical groupings for ease of access. Some information may be useful at a higher level.

In addition, there are journals, search engines, databases, primary documents, reference material and other general information where these are seen to be relevant.

Additional material will be included as time permits.

This page requires continued development. This will be done as soon as time permits through the additions and the strengthening of lists that already exist.

If you are aware of any worthwhile information which is not included, suggestions or additions are welcome and will be given every consideration.

Specific Documents

Documents, Archives & Databases

Access primary documentation in varying formats [text, images, oral history recordings], about one or more major areas.

• Australian Army Primary Materials Database
  ‘These include maps, official and unofficial documents, both published and unpublished. Where possible, this material will be suitably formatted and available for perusal online. For ease of navigation we have now created sub pages broken into periods’.
• Australian Historic Records Register
  ‘Describes archival material of historical significance held in private ownership in Australia’. Search for specific records. Multiple options.
• Australian History, Selected Websites
  National Library of Australia. Contains numerous links to primary documentation sources.
• Australian Literary and Historical Texts
  ‘Collection of Australian fiction, poetry, plays and non-fictional works, which has been put together from a number of different sources, now consists of over 300 texts, ranging from a seventeenth-century Portuguese account of the discovery of Australia to the novels which make up Henry Handel Richardson’s trilogy The Fortunes of Richard Mahony, first published in the 1910s and 1920s’. University of Sydney. Opens with the first section covering ‘A’.
• Australian Periodical Publications 1840-1845
  ‘Digital library of Australian journals that began publication between 1840-1845. The digitised titles have been made available on the Web as multipage PDF files’. National Library of Australia.
• Australian Trade Union Archives
  ‘A gateway for researchers and scholars of labour history, linking together historical detail, archival resources, published material and information about Australian industrial organisations, mainly including trade unions and also employer bodies’.
• Documenting A Democracy : Australia’s Story
  ‘The National Archives of Australia presents 110 key documents that are the foundation of our nation. Sets of documents which tell the story of Australia’s democracy. They are chosen because each is important to our lives today. Because they didn’t just happen - each document has its own story’.
• Federation
  For primary documentation on the development of Federation and the Federal system of government, use this link.
• Giblin’s Platoon
  ‘The trials and triumphs of the economist in Australian public life’.
• History of Australia [1606 to 1876]
  ‘The majority of content on the History of Australia Online website was written by Alexander and George Sutherland and taken from their book History of Australia [from 1606 to 1876. When the History of Australia was first published in 1877 it sold over 120 000 copies worldwide’.
• Indexes Online
  From the State Library of NSW. These are listed alphabetically and include sub-sections for many [e.g. Convicts]. There is a cost for copies, but these are reasonable. Very extensive and wide ranging.
• J.S. Battye Library of West Australian History
  ‘Dr Battye was a historian who wrote and compiled several books on the history of Western Australia and was an avid collector of Western Australian historical material, including early Western Australian newspapers, Colonial Secretary’s Office correspondence and various manuscripts. He ensured that both archival and printed materials were acquired and preserved’. Use the menu to access various collections.
• Mura Gadi
  ‘Online guide to manuscripts, pictures and oral histories in the National Library of Australia relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’.
• Noel Butlin Archives Centre
  ‘A nationally significant collection of primary source material relating to business and labour. The NBAC holds archives of industrial organisations, businesses, professional associations, industry bodies and the labour movement. It makes them available for research and use by the University and the wider community’.
• Oral History Program
  University of New South Wales Archives. Annotated listing, links, guides, full index to the collection. Much early history was done through the oral process.
• Pandora Archive
  Archive by the National Library to provide access to Australian documentary resources.
• Manuscripts, Oral History and Pictures Search
  Previously PICMAN. ‘Contains records of the Pictures Collection, Manuscripts Collection, Oral History Collection and printed posters of the Mitchell Library, Sir William Dixson Library and Dixson Galleries’.
• Picture AustraliaAboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are warned that this may contain images and voices of deceased persons.
  ‘An Internet based service that allows you to search many significant online pictorial collections at the same time. When you do a search on Picture Australia, thumbnail images are retrieved from participating institutions on the fly and inserted into the search results’. To access the full sized image can be Fee-based.
• South Seas
  ‘History of European voyaging and cross-cultural encounters in the Pacific between 1760 and 1800. Provides access to the full text of works such as James Cook’s Endeavour Journal and the South Seas Companion can be found here’, [ Accounts of voyages, voyage maps, European reactions, reference works, cultural atlases, more ].
• The Endeavour Botanical Illustrations
  ‘This site presents most of the botanical drawings and engravings prepared by artist Sydney Parkinson before his untimely death at sea, and by other artists back in England working from Parkinson’s initial sketches’.
• The Forster Collection Pitt Rivers Museum
  ‘The Forster Collection at the Pitt Rivers Museum is one of the world’s great collections of eighteenth-century Pacific art and material culture. The objects were acquired by Reinhold Forster and his son George during Captain James Cook's second famous voyage of discovery from 1772 to 1775’. Also has links to further resources. Oxford University.
• Trove
  ‘Trove is an exciting, revolutionary and Free search service. With millions of items, Trove is an unrivalled repository of Australian material’. Incorprates articles, digitised newspapers, datasets, articles and other online resources, many of which are primary documents.

Primary Documents Relating to Individuals

Primary documentation relating to a Specific Individual. Some documents for individuals are also included in the group above.

• A Complete Account of the Settlement at Port Jackson
  ‘Including An Accurate Description of the Situation of the Colony; of the Natives; and Of Its Natural Productions - Watkin Tench’. PDF ebook. Part of The First Fleet and Early Settlement Documents section of SETIS.
• Journeys in Time 1809-1822
  ‘The Journals of Lachlan and Elizabeth Macquarie’.
• Papers of Sir Edmund Barton
  ‘Guide to the Papers of Sir Edmund Barton held in the Manuscript Collection of the National Library of Australia. As well as using this guide to browse the content of the collection, you will also find links to online copies of collection items’.
• The Papers of Sir Joseph Banks
  ‘Papers of Sir Joseph Banks which are held in the Mitchell and Dixson collections at the State Library of New South Wales, in Sydney, Australia. These amount to approximately 10 000 manuscript pages and include correspondence, principally letters received, but also reports, invoices and accounts, journals, plus a small quantity of maps, charts and watercolours’.
• William Bradley Journal
  A Voyage to New South Wales, December 1786-May 1792. Introduction, then monthly reports. View transcripts, then the original pages, all in HTML format.

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Other Information

These links will take you to sites which have original material, or access to primary documents as part of larger sites covering a wider range of material. Not all will be available on online. Some is only available in print format.

• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples
  Print Resources at the National Library of Australia]
  ‘The Library holds a large collection relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders. This guide contains selected print works only’. Done via topic areas.
• Australian History on the Internet
  National Library site. Links to documentation, current issues, overseas sources, university sources and resources, study centres, miscellaneous sites, online journals, more.
• Australian Journals Online
  ‘The National Library of Australia’s database of Australian electronic journals, newspapers, magazines, webzines, newsletters and e-mail fanzines. The database provides details and links to over 2 000 titles that include local and overseas works with Australian content, authorship and/or emphasis’.
• Australian Memory of the World RegisterAboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are warned that this may contain images and voices of deceased persons.
  ‘A selective list of Australia’s significant documentary heritage. [*] Asterisked items have also been accepted onto the Memory of the World International Programme.’.
• Pacific Manuscripts Bureau
  ‘Copies archives, manuscripts and rare printed material relating to the Pacific Islands. The aim of the Bureau is to help with long-term preservation of the documentary heritage of the Pacific Islands and to make it accessible’. not purely Austraian but with Australian links.
• Project Gutenberg Australia
  ‘Resources relating to Australian History available from Project Gutenberg Australia and Project Gutenberg in the U.S’. A mix of links to specific documentation as well as more general information including quite a list of Journals of Australian Land and Sea Explorers and Discoverers.

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