Always was, always will be Aboriginal land.
The University of Sydney Library acknowledges that our buildings, collections, and practices exist on unceded Aboriginal lands. We recognise the diversity and knowledges of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff and students across all the lands the University stands on, and respect the ongoing connection Aboriginal people have to these lands, their cultural practices, knowledge systems and histories. We pay our respects to their Elders, past and present, who have handed down custodianship to each generation for more than 60,000 years.
Money, J. (2021). Yilabara (Now). Filmed on Gadigal Country. Commissioned by the University of Sydney Library
Bridging Now to Next: First Nations voices and history in the Library collections
Display cabinets in Fisher Library foyer
With National Reconciliation Week (NRW) (27 May – 3 June 2025) and NAIDOC Week (6 – 13 July 2025) approaching, it’s a great time to delve into the First Nations voices and histories held in the Library’s collection.
- This year’s NRW theme is Bridging Now to Next, which reflects on the connection between past, present and future, using the past to guide us into a brighter tomorrow.
- This year’s NAIDOC theme is The Next Generation: Strength, Vision & Legacy. This not only honors the 50th anniversary of NAIDOC but also the achievements that First Nations ancestors and current leaders have accomplished.
As highlighted in the Library’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultural Protocols, which were launched in 2021, the Library is a space for truth telling regarding the history of ongoing colonisation, and an entry point for many non-Indigenous people to engage with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture and history. We invite you to discover the wide variety of stories the Library holds.
For more details on our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders student spaces and support, please visit our First Nations Hub.
Cultural care notice
The Library’s collections contain representations and discussions of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, cultures and stories through both an Indigenous and non-Indigenous lens. Audiences are advised that there are references to the names and images of people who have died.
An array of First Nations books displayed on a shelf
Display cabinets in Fisher Library foyer
Dreamwalker Indigiverse and Dark Heart Indigiverse comics
Glass cabinet with books on display inside
Books on display in a glass cabinet
Collection highlights on display
Over the next couple months, some of the Library’s First Nations collection highlights will be on display in the Fisher Library foyer (level 3). Themed around Bridging Now to Next: Strength, Vision & Legacy, books, magazines and pamphlets have been selected from across the collections. Some collection highlights include:
- The Native Voice, April 1940 (Elkin 641)
This small magazine was produced by the Australian Aborigines’ League, an Aboriginal-run organisation that stands for the rights of Aboriginal people and self-determination. They were the leading organisation that held the first day of mourning on 26 January 1938 in Sydney. The magazine includes many small articles on the plight of Aboriginal people, a petition asking for parliamentary representation, issues with the definition of “protection” to demand the right for sustenance, and education (both secondary and tertiary).
- National Aborigines Week 1987 Communication – key to learning, NSW Department of Education Special Programs Directorate, Aboriginal Education Unit (370 NAT)
This booklet looks at how schools celebrated NAIDOC and offers guidance on how cultural teaching can be incorporated throughout the year, not only during NAIDOC. Created as an educational resource about First Nations people and culture, it aims to promote self-esteem and pride in Aboriginal children.
In addition to these display cabinets, there will also be a bookshelf with borrowable material from the Library’s general collection. These items reflect the theme in more contemporary works, showcasing fiction and non-fiction stories, Dreaming stories and personal reflections. Books like Songlines: first knowledges for younger readers 2023 help to continue First Nations stories from past to present, handing down knowledge and lessons to future generations to continue the legacy. The full list of books on display can be found at the end of this article.
These displays have been coordinated by the Library’s Indigenous Engagement team in collaboration with Rare Books and Special Collections and Wingara Mura Resource Centre.
A book from the Library's Elkin Collection (Rare Books and Special Collections)
Students in an object based learning class looking at collection material
Students in an object based learning class looking at collection material
Copies of Dawn magazine from the Library's Rare Books and Special Collections
Rare Books and Special Collections
The Library is also home to one of Australia’s largest Rare Books and Special Collections (RBSC), which includes some records of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders people, history and culture.
A significant amount of these RBSC titles were collected historically and reflect early studies of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders peoples in fragmentary, often superficial ways from Eurocentric perspectives. The Library is actively working to review the content in these collections and acknowledge the inaccuracies and distorted, outdated views they hold.
We are working towards more respectful and truthful representations of First Nations voices in RBSC with consent and Cultural Protocols in mind. We are continuing to collect contemporary Indigenous authored material; a recent focus, for example, has been First Nations music.
RBSC items are available to study and use in teaching. For example, an object based learning class was recently held as part of the ANTH2629: Race, Racisms, and Antiracisms course (pictured). During the class, students viewed items from the Elkin Collection; A.P. Elkin was a renowned 20th century anthropologist, whose opinions on Aboriginal culture, "welfare" and assimilation were highly influential. Viewing these works by Elkin and his contemporaries sheds important light on how narratives of racism were perpetuated.
Find out more about teaching with special collections or get in touch via email: cultural.collections@usyd.libanswers.com.
Sydney University Press
Sydney University Press (SUP) is a not-for-profit, scholarly publisher of research-based books, run from within the Library. Since 2005, SUP has published over 300 new research titles, including a series on Indigenous Music Language and Performing Arts.
Copies of all SUP titles are available to borrow from the Library.
Recent publications include:
- Vitality and Change in Warlpiri Songs edited by Georgia Curran, Linda Barwick, Valerie Napaljarri Martin, Simon Japangardi Fisher and Nicolas Peterson
- Yuupurnju: A Warlpiri song cycle sung by Henry Cooke Anderson Jakamarra with Jerry Patrick Jangala, Steven Dixon Japanangka, Wanta Steven Patrick Pawu-Kurlpurlurnu Jampijinpa, Carmel O’Shannessy and Myfany Turpin
- The Old Songs are Always New by Genevieve Campbell with Tiwi Elders and knowledge holders
Featured Collection: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander resources
Browse highlights from the Library’s collection that are either about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples or cover Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander topics. There are a variety of resources including novels, children’s books, books, sheet music and recordings. Please note that these collections are located across our various Library locations and Wingara Mura Resource Centre, and some can be accessed online.
Browse the featured collection
Wingara Mura Resource Centre
The Wingara Mura Resource Centre, located in the Gadigal Centre, holds a comprehensive collection of resources relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture and affairs, including rare and out of print materials. These resources are searchable in the Library catalogue.
The Resource Centre also offers:
- access to local and Indigenous newspapers
- printing and photocopying
- a quiet study area
- an onsite librarian to help you find the items you need
AIATSIS thesauri
Over the last two years, the Library has implemented the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS) thesauri into many of our collections.
This thesauri is a collection of subject headings for language groups and people, place names, and topical subjects relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, whether that be cultural practices, the environment or the impact of colonisation. It provides a way for the Library to appropriately reflect the cultural, historical, social and political knowledges within our catalogue. In turn, this increases discoverability of and access to First Nations content for library users (both at our University and across the world).
This process will also extend to the material in Rare Books and Special Collections to enrich the catalogue records.
First Nations Library books on display
Bridging Now to Next: Strength, Vision & Legacy book display
A selection of borrowable books by and about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and culture is currently on display in the Fisher Library foyer.
The full list of titles:
- D’harawal : dreaming stories by Frances Bodkin (2013)
- Land rights by Cathie Burgess and Julie Myers (2002)
- Stolen generations by Cathie Burgess and Julie Myers (2002)
- Protests by Cathie Burgess and Julie Myers (2002)
- Invasion by Cathie Burgess and Julie Myers (2002)
- Songlines and dreamings : contemporary Australian Aboriginal painting : the first quarter-century of Papunya Tula by Patrick Corbally Stourton and Nigel Corbally Stourton (1996)
- Us women, our ways, our world edited by Patricia Dudgeon, Jeannie Herbert, Jill Milroy and Darlene Oxenham (2017)
- Legacies of indigenous resistance : Pemulwuy, Jandamarra and Yagan in Australian indigenous film, theatre and literature by Matteo Dutto (2019)
- Our land, our stories : Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, histories and cultures lower primary by Lisa Fuller et al (2019)
- Everywhen : the eternal present in indigenous art from Australia edited by Stephen Gilchrist (2016)
- The dream by Rae Harris and Beryl Harp (1991)
- Our race for reconcilation by Anita Heiss (2017)
- Bila Yarrudhanggalangdhuray by Anita Heiss (2022)
- The little corroboree frog by Tracey Holton-Ramirez and Ángela Ramírez (illustrator) (2013)
- More than just a piece of land by Gayle Kennedy and Ross Carnsew (2011)
- The silent revolution : the effects of modernization on Australian aboriginal religion by Erich Kolig (1981)
- Generations of resistance : Aborigines demand justice by Lorna Lippmann (1991)
- Emu and the water tree by Gladys Milroy and Sally Morgan (2012)
- Blue grass by Peter Minter (2006)
- Songlines : first knowledges for younger readers by Margo Neale, Lynne Kelly and Blak Douglas (illustrator) (2023)
- Traditional healers of central Australia : Ngangkari by Ngaanyatjarra Pitjantjatjar Yankunytjatjara Women's Council (2013)
- Taboo by Kim Scott (2019)
- The Sydney language by Jakelin Troy (2019)
- Voice, treaty, truth : NAIDOC Week 2019 classroom resource : Secondary by Kerri Wenitong (2019)
- Identity : Indigenous art of the North Coast : showcasting leading Indigenous artists of North Coast NSW by Alison Williams (2008)