News
News
18 November 2025
The State Library of Western Australia has celebrated the 20th anniversary of Better Beginnings by launching new look program resources and a newly published version of the iconic Baby Ways book.
News
30 September 2025
Better Beginnings baby packs feature a brand-new wordless book, Baby Days, by award-winning Western Australian author Renae Hayward and illustrator Rebecca Mills.
Western Australian Premier's Book Awards winners
The winners of the 2025 Western Australian Premier’s Book Awards were announced on Friday 29 September at the State Library of Western Australia, sharing a prize pool of $120,000.
Stories
Photographs and films
The State Library has partnered with Screenwest for a third season of WA Reflections, a short documentary film series aimed at pairing emerging filmmakers with unique WA stories preserved in the State Library's collection.
How the Botanic Park came to be
Stories
This story is based on the oral history of forester, ecologist and one of the first Directors of Kings Park, John Stanley Beard (1916–2011), and features a collection of historical photos of Kings Park.
Stories
Photographs and films
WA history
Wimmin's Work
Wimmin's Work is a new collection of audio, audio-visual and photographic stories documenting the stories of ten Western Australian women.
Exhibitions
The First Twenty Years
Dates
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Experience an exhibition tracing two decades of work by Perth-based small press comic publisher Gestalt, championing Australian comic creators and showcasing an underrated narrative art form that continues to defy expectations.
Photography Exhibition
Dates
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See the work of some of WA's best photographers from 2025. Spanning a range of styles and subjects, this exhibition showcases the winners and finalists of the third annual awards.
80 Years of Australian Stories for Children
Dates
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An exhibition of original picture book artwork, celebrating 80 years of the Children’s Book Council of Australia. From timeless tales to modern favourites, explore the wondrous worlds found within the pages of Australia’s best-loved children’s books.
Upcoming events
Screening and Panel Conversation
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A history of WA's space exploration and its significant achievements along the way.
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Monthly on the last Wednesday, 2 - 4pm until Wed 25 Nov 2026
Discover how to find out more about your kinship in a joint presentation from the Storylines team and the Aboriginal History WA team.
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Weekly on Monday, 10:30am - 12pm until Mon 30 Mar 2026
Interactive story fun for pre-schoolers and their carers. Followed by a half hour Play Time where families can explore literacy and learning through reading, talking, singing, writing and playing together.
Food, Memory and Belonging
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A panel of foodies, historians and trendsetters will discuss why culture, place and identity all play a part in WA’s continuing love affair with food from around the world.
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Weekly on Friday, 10:30am - 12pm until Fri 27 Mar 2026
Songs, rhymes and stories for babies and their families, followed by an hour of Play Time to help develop early literacy and learning skills.
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An unmissable evening with internationally bestselling author Kathy Lette as she launches her hilarious, heartfelt, and wickedly witty new novel, The Sisterhood Rules.
Sheiks, Fakes & Cameleers
Between 1870 and 1920, around 20,000 camels and 4,000 men travelled to Australia to help explore and develop the country's arid interior. Discover the forgotten history of cameleers in Western Australia.