Recent Stories
These stories come from the items in our collection.
Stories
Aboriginal stories
WA history
A film exploring the rich knowledge held by the Whadjuk women of the Nyungar nation about the trees of southwestern Australia. Whadjuk women understand their specific qualities, uses and value to the Nyungar people.
Australia’s Perfect Boy
Stories
WA history
Billed as "Australia's Perfect Boy", Effie Marion Fellows (1893 - 1977) led an extraordinary life and incredible career as a male impersonator. She toured the world, married twice and was described by a New York newspaper as "one of the greatest boy impersonators in her line".
WA Bonnes 80 chain cadastral maps
WA history
The Preservation Team has recently completed digitising the Western Australia Bonnes 80 chain cadastral series of maps covering most of the lower third of Western Australia and showing land boundaries from approximately 1896-1984.
WA history
Robert Litchfield Juniper was an artist, art teacher, illustrator, painter, printmaker and sculptor, whose art captured the rough scruffiness of the Australian bush.
Stories
WA history
Professor Arnold Cook (1922-1981) was blind by the age of 18, yet despite his challenges he pioneered the first guide dog movement in Australia with his beloved labrador Dreena by his side.
Video and audio recordings
Aboriginal stories
Podcasts
WA history
Hear from leading politicians, community Elders, academics and youth leaders and find out why your voice mattered in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice to parliament 2023 referendum—recordings from two events held before the referendum.
Stories
WA history
Douglas "Dick" Perry helped open the first pine nursery in Gnangara. Dick cultivated the finest seedlings after examining over 250,000 from the Forest of Leiria, Portugal. The State Library collection has hundreds of his exquisite wildflower photos and slides.
1, 2, and 3
SLWA on ABC Radio
WA history
Heritage Librarian Peter Edwards discusses on ABC Radio Perth the history of the iconic Barrack-Beaufort Street bridge from its first iteration built in 1880 through to its third iteration built between 1906 – 1908.
Halls Creek Photos 1950s
Stories
Aboriginal stories
Small towns & regional cities
WA history
Sam Lovell OAM, is a stockman, boundary rider, and is regarded as the father of Aboriginal tourism in Western Australia. This collection of photographs shows the communities who lived at the Kimberley Stations during the 1950s.
WA history
Resilience was a photographic story-telling project inspired by the courage of businesses in Northbridge and their ability to adapt in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic.
SLWA on ABC Radio
WA history
Listen to the incredible story of sunken treasure that has made its way through the years to find a home in the State Library’s rare collections. Coins from Dutch shipwrecks, what does seagull taste like and a Gelignite Buccaneer.
WA history
Five mini documentaries creatively use the State Library's heritage collection items – including letters, diaries, journals, photographs and oral recordings – to bring to life and share uniquely Western Australian stories from our State's history.