Collecting and preserving Western Australian history through photos, maps, newspapers, posters, films, music and so much more. View highlights, discover more and learn how to search the enormous heritage collection.
​
State Library of WA – Update
Exhibitions and Public Programs
Hello, this is Sam Lovell
Fri 21 March – Sun 27 July 2025, Ground Floor Gallery
Sam Lovell OAM was born in 1933 on Calwynyardah, a sheep station in the Kimberley. Known as ‘Mr Kimberley’ and often regarded as the father of Aboriginal tourism in Western Australia, Sam and his wife Rosita became the first Aboriginal tour operators in the Kimberley when they established Kimberley Safari Tours in 1981. Sam received the Order of Australia Medal (OAM) in 2003 for his services to tourism and Indigenous affairs.
Curated by Kimberley based Sarah Yu and Bart Pigram, this exhibition showcases the Sam Lovell collection that was donated to the State Library in 2017 and includes film, oral history, photographs and personal papers. The exhibition opening was a very special event attended by 350 people with Sam, his family and friends, including country music performance complete with yodeling!
Focus on Women
With international Women’s Day on 8 March, the State Library has presented an exhibition and a series of events celebrating the achievements and contributions of West Australian women over time. A partnership with the WA Women’s Hall of Fame resulted in the Roll of Honour exhibition on the Ground Floor and Level 2, as well as a suite of public program events that have been well attended.
WA Women’s Hall of Fame: Roll of Honour
6 March – 6 July 2025, Ground Floor and Level 2, State Library of Western Australia
The WA Women’s Hall of Fame recognises more than 300 women for their inspiring work and achievements. This exhibition spotlights inductees whose legacy lives on through the Roll of Honour and in the State Library’s collection.
Jobs for the Girls, a photographic display in the State Library theatre foyer, charts the way women have used their wardrobes to stamp their identity working inside or outside of the home. A compelling story about the influence of fashion and aesthetics on attitudes towards women sourced from the State Library’s photographic collection.
The State Library has been hosting a series of ‘Women in Conversation’ panel discussions with significant WA women including Dr Paoli Magni, forensic scientist (3 April). Forthcoming talks in this series are being widely promoted.
Albany Then and Now: historical panoramas from Menang Boodjar
Work is underway on curation of this partnership with the Museum and Curtin University associated with Albany 2026 bicentenary, which includes further research about the Robert Dale panorama of King George Sound.
Writer-in-residence – John Kinsella
The State Library welcomes John Kinsella as writer-in-residence. A 2024 inductee to the Western Australian Writer's Hall of Fame, John is an award-winning poet and writer. He is in residence at the State Library drafting a new book about the poets who shaped him. John Kinsella is an activist at his core. Always attuned to the natural world, his poetry examines how humans respond to a world that we ourselves have placed under pressure.
New Acquisitions
Maurice Expedition album
A small folio album, with 164 gelatin silver photographic prints of Mr. R.T. Maurice’s Expedition in 1901 from Fowler’s Bay to Wyndham. This is an important series of photographs by Maurice, documenting his expedition over six months from Fowler’s Bay in South Australia, through the Northern Territory to Wyndham. Many of the images, especially the panoramic shots, are very striking; they include fine landscape views, depictions of remote settlements, photographs recording the progress of the expedition, and portraits of Aboriginal people encountered.
Penelope Steel - unrecorded 1809 East India Company Chart
An unrecorded early navigation chart by Penelope Steel, an illustrious female cartographer for the English East India Company. This map was used on board for navigation with plotted ship's course, with date details tracking the route from Amsterdam to Batavia (now Jakarta) on Java Island. Western Australian place names found on the map include Christmas Island, Imperieuse Reef, Rosemary Island, Cloate's Island, Dirk Hartog's Bay, Sandy Point, Abrolhos Islands, Rottnest Island, Cape Chatham and D'Entrecasteaux Island.
Rules of Summer Sketchbook sketches
A collection of sketchbook pages, oil sketches and colour studies from the award winning book by Shaun Tan, Rules of Summer. The collection provides insight into the development process of this significant story and the creative accomplishment of the artist.
Collection of photographs of Mullalyup
Small archive of photographs (16 x sepia toned silver prints) taken by a Dutch immigrant in Western Australia, mostly in the Mullalyup district in the southwest, circa 1905.
Glass lantern slide of school children and missionaries, Badjaling, February 1931
An early image of the Badjaling Mission school, situated approximately 155 km east of Perth. The group portrait shows 27 Nyungar children and three mission schoolteachers, including Mary Belshaw (1879–1960) and May McRidge (1882–1943), who had founded the Badjaling Mission in 1929/30.
Interview with Bill Webb conducted by Mary Blight in 2021
Bill Webb, Wardandi Boodja Traditional Owner, talks about the interactions of the Wardandi people with Timothée Vasse, a member of the Baudin expedition, in 1801. He shares this story, and that of the Wonnerup massacre, as told by Granny Hill (Mrs Joseph Hill). He also talks about the Whale Tree, where Vasse's body was found, and aspects of his ancestors' life in the area.