This document provides a select listing of information resources in Australian History. JCU's Australian History holdings are very good - and Tropicat will provide a general gateway to the collections.

Dictionaries and other Reference Items
Australia, Department of the Parliamentary Library, Parliamentary handbook of the Commonwealth of Australia, Vol.27, AGPS, Canberra, 1996.                                                                                                                                                                                                                        R328.94 P5

Davison, G. et al, The Oxford Companion to Australian History, OUP, Melbourne, 1998.                                                                R994.003 OXF

Frick, Elizabeth, History: Illustrated Search Strategy and Sources, Pierian Press, Ann Arbor, 1995.                                        R907.2 FRI 1995

Horton, David (ed.), The Encyclopedia of Aboriginal Australia: Aboriginal and Torrs Strait Islander History, Society and Culture, ASP, Canberra, 1994.                                                                                                                                                                                      R994.0049915 ENC
 

Books
Books should, of course, be located through the author/title and subject indexes held in the library (Tropicat). Locate subjects through key terms found in your general reading.  There are now many collections of documents printed in book form. It is essential that you use these documents in your research, since they constitute primary sources from which you will be able to form your own opinion about historical events. A few typical collections are:

Clark, Manning (ed.), Select Documents in Australian History 1788-1850, Angus and Robertson, Sydney, 1950.

Crowley Frank (ed.), A Documentary History of Australia, Nelson, Melbourne, 5 volumes, various dates.

Daniels, Kay and Murnane, Mary (eds), Women in Australia: an annotated guide to the records, AGPS, Canberra, 1977.

Daniels, Kay and Murnane, Mary (eds), Australia's Women: A Documentary History, University of Queensland Press, St Lucia, 1980.

Greenwood, Gordon and Harper, Norman (eds), Australia in World Affairs, University of British, Columbia Press, Vancouver, several volumes on several dates.

Kingston, Bev (ed.), The World Moves Slowly: A Documentary History of Australian Women, Cassell, Sydney, 1977.

Johnson, W. Ross (ed.), A Documentary History of Queensland: from reminiscences, diaries, parliamentary papers, newspapers, letters and photographs, University of Queensland Press, St Lucia, 1988.

Teale, Ruth (ed.), Colonial Eve: Sources on Women in Australia 1788-1914, OUP, Melbourne, 1978.

Turney, C. (ed.), Sources in the History of Australian Education, Heinemann, Sydney, 1975.

During the 1988 Bicentennial, several useful projects were undertaken, including the publishing of a Bicentennial Bulletin. Five volumes came under the general editorship of Alan Gilbert and K.S.Gilbert. These are:

Australians: a Historical Library, 5 volumes, Fairfax, Syme and Weldon, Sydney, 1987.

Another five came under the general editorship of Frank Crowley and Peter Spearritt. These are:

Australians: a Historical Atlas; Australians: a Historical Dictionary; Australians: Events and Places; Australians: Historical Statistics; and Australians: A Guide to the Sources. All were published by Fairfax Syme and Weldon, Sydney, 1987.
 

Journals and Periodicals in Print
It is essential to use journals in history, since these contain the most recent and the most specialised research. Journals are shelved on the opposite side of the library to books with corresponding subject areas. The following indexes are useful for finding articles on specific topics:

(APAIS) Australian Public Affairs Information Service 1950+                                                                                                               R919.40016 P2

Index to Journal Articles on Australian History 1973-1988                          R994.0016 IND

Historical Abstracts: Bibliography of the world's periodical literature, 1955-1970                                                                                                        R901.6 P3
                                       Modern History Abstracts, 1971-1998
                                      Twentieth Century Abstracts, 1971-1998

(PAIS) Public Affairs Information Service                                                       R300 PUB

Social Sciences Citation Index, 1977-1996                                                      R300.16 P2

Social Sciences Index, 1974-1996                                                                     R050.16 P5

Sociological Abstracts, 1976-1992                                                                  R301.016 P
 

CD-ROM DataBases
Some journal indexing and abstracting publications can be searched using CD-ROM. The CD-ROM service is free and operates on a self-service basis. Sessions should be booked prior to searching. The follwoing CD-ROMs are most suitable for Australian History.

AUSTROM (1990-1998) Indexes several Australian databases, including APAIS, AGIS: Attorney General's Information Service, CINCH: Australian Criminology database, AEI: Australian Education Index. It is also available as an Internet database, Informit Online.

Heritage and Environment (1998) Indexes several Australian databases including HERA: Australian Heritage Information System; and AHRR: Australian Historic Records Register. This is also available online within Informit Online.
 

Internet Database Services
Many journal indexing and abstracting services are available via the Internet. Some services also provide the full text of journal articles. Certain databases may require passwords which can be obtained from InfoHelp on presentation of your student card.

Direct links to the following services are available at this internet address:
    http://www.library.jcu.edu.au/Resources/resources.html

Some databases that you might find particularly useful are:

Informit Online Indexes Australian databases, most relevant are: APAIS, AGIS, CINCH, AHRR, HERA, AIATSIS, AUSCHRON, FAMILY, FNQ, and MIHILIST.

Firstsearch Provides access to more than 40 different database services, including Social Sciences Abstracts, Arts and Humanities (citation index) and Humanities Abstracts.

Infotrack (Searchbank) Search and retrieve index citations, abstracts, and selected full text articles via Expanded Academic ASAP International.

Uncover A periodical index database and document delivery service covering over 18,000 multidisciplinary journals.

Project Muse Access 40+ full text scholarly journals in the humanities, social sciences and mathematics, published by John Hopkins University Press.

Sociological Abstracts Covers articles relevant to sociology and related disciplines.

Current Contents Covers most disciplines and provides access to tables of contenrts and bibliographic data from issues of more than 7,500 international journals.
 

Newspapers
Newspapers should be used to discover contemporary opinions on topics. Our library has good holdings of Queensland newspapers, many of them on microfilm. If you are not experienced in using a microfilm reader please ask a librarian to show you how it is done. Two newspaper indexes are held in the library. These are:

Sydney Morning Herald Index, 1927+ held on microfiche at R079.94 P2.

The Times Index 1906+ at R072.1 P4.
 

Official Sources
Official sources are most useful. In these you will find parliamentary debates, Royal and Select Committee Reports, Census figures, detailed election results, annual reports from various government departments (education, mining, etc) including reports from inspectors of schools, hospitals and asylums. Law Reports and Gazettes will also provide useful materials. The librarians at the Reference desk will help you to locate the material you want, some of which may be held in the store (notably pre-1941 volumes of Commonwealth Parliamentary Debates and Queensland Parliamentary Debates). Census and statistical material is held between 312 and 319 in the library. Bureau of Statistics publications are at 319.4 P1 with catalogues stored at the reference desk. There is an index to official publications:

DH Borchardt, Australian Official Publications, Longman Cheshire, Melbourne, 1979.                                  R070.5950994 AUS T3
 

Theses
Theses are particularly valuable for the study of north Queensland material, although it is well worth while checking the thesis collection for broader Australian sources. Theses are housed in the library’s Special Collections and in the History library. Both collections must be examined on site as they cannot be borrowed. To see a list of theses in History, click on to the thesis link on your subject homepage.
 

Audio Visual Material
Catalogues of material in the library are held at the Reference desk. The History discipline holds extensive oral history and photographic collections. For details of our holdings contact the Curators in the History buuilding. There is a link to the Photographic Collection on your subject homepage. However, where appropriate, you may wish to collect your own.
 

The North Queensland Collection
The library holds an excellent collection of material on north Queensland. Please note, though, that hours are limited and should be checked with the librarians.

---

---

This page is owned and maintained by Diane Menghetti. It was last updated on 20 November 2002.