The History of the John Oxley Library - Part Eight

Continuing our series on the history of the John Oxley Library, in this, our 75th anniversary year. 

In 1994, the Queensland Heritage Retrieval Project was established, to be led by the John Oxley Library, with the aim of appealing for Queensland historical material from overseas, in particular from Britain.  A range of significant material has been acquired through this project, including:

• The George Edwards Collection, comprising material relating to the early Moreton Bay Penal Colony.
• The Charles Card Journals on board HMS Rattlesnake.
• A large collection of theatre programmes and newspapers, printed on silk, collected by Sir Anthony Musgrave, formerly  Governor of Queensland.
• The Rawson Collection, comprising photographs and diaries relating to the Mackay region in the 1870s.

The Library now has an on-going program of digitisation, whereby collection material is increasingly made available online.  Services to Indigenous Queenslanders are a particular focus and a range of public programmes including talks, training and exhibitions are developed and delivered widely throughout Queensland.  Oral history, including the collection and preservation of digital stories of Queenslanders, is a recent initiative.