Australian agricultural and rural life
The State Library of NSW is the custodian of a significant collection of material relating to Australian agricultural and rural life. This unique collection reflects many facets of this important aspect of Australia’s history, from the manuscript papers of early pastoral families to published agricultural journals and farming magazines, from early land grant maps to water conservation reports, from photographic documentation of country life to printed accounts of agricultural shows and regional events. Images of the changing face of Australia’s rural landscape are also a significant part of the Library’s pictorial collections, ranging from oil and watercolour paintings of early colonial pastoral holdings to contemporary photographic portraits of the people and places of regional Australia.
The objective of this project is to digitise and make available online a significant selection of items from this extensive collection to tell a range of stories about Australia’s rural and regional development.
This image viewer requires a web browser with the Flash plugin and JavaScript enabled.
Get the latest Flash player .
> Read about some of our first farmers and early life on the land
> Discover the toil and hardships of working and managing the land
> Find some community activities and organisations in rural areas
> Learn about Australia's rich agricultural produce
Australian Agricultural and Rural Life is made possible through the generous support of the Vincent Fairfax Family Foundation.
