1802 Barrallier’s Letter to Governor King

The letter from Frenchman Francis Barrallier to Governor King in 1802 during an expedition seeking a route across the Great Dividing Range is historically significant as a rare document describing and interpreting a French view of the pre-1788 Sydney Aboriginal people’s environment and culture. Continue reading

1853 Gold Mining Licence

Discover the Gold Miner’s Licence from the 1850s. Miner’s licences were hated by the diggers and this with other antagonisms with the government and police led to the famous Eureka Rebellion of 1854. Continue reading

1948 Emigration Poster

The poster has historic value as evidence of post World War 2 mass migration and the attempt by the Australian government to build the nation’s population with European migrants. Continue reading

1940 Hay POW Camp Coins

The coins have historic value as evidence of the events that surround the internment of POWs in Australia in World War 2 and the experience of the refugees and POWs life at the Hay POW camp. Continue reading

1860 Lambing Flat Roll Up Banner

The banner’s historic value lies in its relationship to the themes of the gold rush experience, racial antagonism, the fear of the exotic and unknown, and ideologies that culminated in the first act of the newly Federated Commonwealth of Australia, the 1901 Immigration Restriction Act. Continue reading