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Costume design 'Freedom' by Thelma Thomas Afford created for South Australia's centenary celebrations in 1936. It's one of a series of images held in the Mortlock Library of South Australiana (PRG 689/1). Image used with permission, State Library of South Australia.
Online exhibitions are a great way to get allow greater access to your resources.
Below are descriptions of just a few.
Women and Politics in South Australia
A few years ago it was difficult to find Australian content online. That's all changed and any number of Australian cultural organisations and institutions are making parts of their collections more accessible through online exhibitions.
The image above is from an online exhibition 'Women and Politics in South Australia' curated by the State Library of South Australia. As the title suggests the exhibition explores the role of women in the social and political development of South Australia.
In 1894 South Australia was one of the first places in the world to give women the vote and it was the first in the world to enable women to enter Parliament. The online exhibition is based on archival materials held in the exhibition bays in the historic Mortlock Wing and includes sections on women's suffrage, the role of women in federation (and also in the Constitutional Convention of 1998), and the use of proportional representation as a voting system. It profiles Catherine Helen Spence who was an activist for electoral reform and the exhibition has sections on Parliament, the workplace, the Aboriginal voice and cultural diversity.
Sea: maritime treasures from the collection of the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery
This exhibition is divided into four main sections and visiting is like entering a grandmother's magical attic filled with wondrous and fascinating objects. The Zoology section contains beautiful shells, fish preserved in glass jars, a single sooty albatross chick. In Art, pencil and charcoal sketches, photographs, oils and watercolours all with ocean and boating themes abound. History and Decorative Arts focuses on unusual treasures: an amphora jug from the Roman period found in London's River Thames, navigational instruments, a relic from Nelson's flagship 'Victory', ships' figureheads and ships' bells and lanterns. Even a porthole from the barque 'Lady Franklin'. Indigenous Cultures contains a variety of artefacts: paintings from Arnhem Land, a canoe paddle from the Solomons, a tobacco pipe from the Santa Cruz Islands. Variety and wonder from the sea.
Victoria's Biggest Family Album, 1870s to 1950s
The 'Biggest Family Album', put together by the the State Museum of Victoria, is an extensive collection of online exhibitions. The exhibitions have a strong educational focus, but can be used for general interest purposes, providing an insight into the history and social development of the State of Victoria.
Photo Courtesy Australian Antarctic Division Photo by Dail Opulskis 1997 © Commonwealth of Australia
Mawson: explorer
Sir Douglas Mawson was an extraordinary man - scientist, polar explorer, geologist and mineralogist - he was one of the brave few who opened Antarctica to human exploration. 'In the Footsteps of Sir Douglas Mawson' is an online exhibition of Mawson's life, a joint exhibition of the South Australian Museum and the University of Adelaide. It contains information about different parts of Mawson's career and plenty of archival photographs demonstrating the range of activities undertaken by Mawson and of life in Antarctica.
Read our story on Mawson.
Howard Florey: discoverer of penicillin
Australian-born scientist, Howard Florey, was the developer of wonder-drug penicillin and jointly won the 1945 Nobel Prize for Medicine for his work. Florey's life, personality and background, as well as information on the experimental process undertaken to develop penicillin, is covered. The online exhibition about Florey has been developed as part of the celebrations of the centenary of his birth.
Harold Cazneaux: photographer
This exhibition presents photos and excerpts from letters held in the collections of the National Library of Australia and is curated in association with the Historic Houses Trust of NSW. It includes photographs on the subjects of the Sydney Skyline, Steam and Sunshine, Sydney Old and New, the Spirit of Endurance and life at Frensham, a girls' boarding school.
Cazneaux's photo, 'Sisters', in the Home section of the exhibition is a masterpiece of light, shade and portraiture. The remaining areas of the exhibition are the Wheel of Youth and The Cazneaux Family of Photographers which provides considerable biographical information. The exhibition also incorporates a Catalogue, contextualising Cazneaux's work.
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