State Library of New South Wales

  • 4,998 photos
  • 91.9M views
  • Member since 2008
  • Last upload was
    4 December
  • 🇦🇺
The State Library of New South Wales' major subject strengths are Australian history, culture and literature, including Aboriginal studies, Antarctic exploration, family history and genealogy, business and management, social sciences, applied science, biography, health and law. The State Library is home to one of Australia’s most significant historical and heritage collections. As well as nearly 11 kilometres of manuscripts – from nine 1788 First Fleet journals through to the archives of contemporary organisations and writers – the Library holds more than one million photographs. From the earliest surviving photograph taken in Australia – in January 1845 – through to digital photographs taken last month, the Library’s unrivalled photographic collections document with powerful clarity the way Australians have lived their lives over two centuries. You can find out more about the State Library's photographic collections on our website: www.sl.nsw.gov.au/research-and-collections

When were these photos taken?

341
1825
2025

 

Where were these photos taken?

32% of these photos are geotagged.

These links will take you to Flickr.com. For now.

Photos of interest

These photos have had lots of views, comments, and favourites.

Recent uploads

The last upload was 4 December.

Conversations

Here’s a selection of the conversations happening on these photos::

Harry Fell, hairdresser, Melbourne, 28 October 1952

from State Library of New South Wales

  • 12 older comments, and then…
  • David Fischer said:
    !!
  • covid convict said:
    ? possibly a hairdressing competition...

    trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/279338307 - one of his 1948 competition creations (!)

    trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/22543406 - another one...
  • Photo Rhythms said:
    Cool photo 👍😄
  • Mr. Happy Face - Peace :) said:
    Excellent Work ✨ Thank You for Sharing
  • PaulSheff said:
    Beautifully captured. Congrats on Explore 📷✨

Soldier's goodbye & Bobbie the cat, Sydney, ca. 1939-ca. 1945 / by Sam Hood

from State Library of New South Wales

  • 843 older comments, and then…
  • Cris Melo said:
    Excellent!!!!
  • Úbeda y un cordero en Flandes said:
    Vaya pedazo de foto....

    me encanta
    ^^
  • harmajdon harmajdon said:
    Hi, I'm an admin for a group called Journalism Social,Beautiful people &Political, and we'd love to have this added to the group!
  • ANGELES MAS VILA said:
    !! jajajajajaja... !!. !! Es genial, cielo !!, !! Vaya, vaya.. con el miniño.. " !! qué cotillaaa !!. jajajajaja.
    !! Es la repera... se parece a los paparazzis se ahora !!.
    jajajaja´

    !! Felicidades, tesoro, me la llvevooo !!.

    Un abrazo.
  • knowing stocking said:
    this is a beautful shot!!!

Colin Wyatt SLNSW_FL9723806

from State Library of New South Wales

  • 3 older comments, and then…
  • Blue Mountains Library, Local Studies said:
    "With his marriage on the rocks and fearing his wife was having an affair, ex-champion skier Colin Wyatt decided to cope the only way he could think of.

    He began stealing rare butterflies.

    What unfolded over the following months in the late 1940s would become a bizarre search spanning multiple museums and crossing international waters.

    It would also involve thousands upon thousands of tiny flying insects.

    Hundreds of 'the best specimens' taken from museums across Australia
    The first sign of trouble came in early 1947 — some 825 specimens of rare Australian butterflies had disappeared from the Melbourne Museum's George Lyell collection.

    When Melbourne raised the alarm, other museums checked their own collections ... "
    More - www.abc.net.au/news/2024-06-02/history-butterfly-theft-au...
    And - science.anu.edu.au/news-events/news/museum-heist-70-years...
  • Jazz Guy said:
    Lower left hand corner... I think that is a blotter to dry off signatures on documents. What year did ball point pens replace quill pens? There's a plot twist in a movie titled "Angel Heart" that involves this.
  • Jazz Guy said:
    And now the big question... Is the bottle of gin in the drawer on his left or on his right? :-)
  • State Library of New South Wales said:
    I read 'The Butterfly Thief' by Walter Marsh over the weekend and saw the image was in the Library collections. Really amazing that he was able to get them all over to the UK as well..
  • Narelle Jarvis said:
    What a story! So where was this picture taken and what is he doing with the photographs?

No comments. Yet.

Do you know anything about what’s in these photos?

🇦🇺 Other members from Australia