Recent Stories
These stories come from the items in our collection.
Story Topics
Aerial landscape photography
Stories
Photographs and films
SLWA on ABC Radio
WA history
Richard Woldendorp AM (1927-2023) was a renowned Australian photographer known for his shots of Australian landscapes that have a painterly quality to them.
Keepsake mini podcast
Stories
Podcasts
WA history
Petronila's keepsake is a traditional Tokelauan hand-carved mother of pearl fishing lure (Pa Hi Atu) made by Papa Fofo Poasa, her father-in-law.
WA history
The Rabbit-Proof Fence has in recent years become synonymous with the ‘Stolen Generation’ through the 2002 film which explored the subject of Aboriginal children being forcibly removed from their parents by racist colonial government policy.
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.
SLWA on ABC Radio
Discussing a small selection of material from this collection which serves to document Aboriginal peoples self-determination for controlling their own lives in the face of systemic discrimination.
SLWA on ABC Radio
Discussing early WA newspapers with a focus on The Fremantle Observer, Perth Gazette and Western Australian Journal, first published in April 1831.
WA Reflections 2021 project
SLWA on ABC Radio
Listen to the incredible case of the murder of Cyril Gidley by his spurned lover Audrey Jacob at the Government House Ballroom in 1925, brought to life in a new short film.
Photographs and films
SLWA on ABC Radio
How a flight attendant's colour photos introduced National Geographic to remote WA in the 1960s.
Small towns & regional cities
Boulder lies 595 Kilometres east of Perth. In 2016 its population was 4,825, a lot short of the 5,600 in its gold mining heyday of 1903.
See it to Believe it
Podcasts
Game Changers
Soccer runs through the Brooking family’s veins. After migrating from Zimbabwe to Perth, Thembi started out playing soccer where there was less opportunity for young girls to play. Now, her daughter Ischia is playing at an elite level with the Junior Matildas.
The Bookseller
Humans of the Library
"I grew up in a very rough part of London where you had to fight for your right to walk in the street. It was so terrible I used to hide in the library.
Dementia and Daily Rituals
Death and Dying
12 January 2022
Sandy discusses losing her dad to dementia, her newborn baby to a heart defect and her mother to cancer – all in a small country town in southwest WA. She shares how people reacted to these different losses in different ways, and why community, ritual and celebration are so important in the healing process.