Trove. National Library of Australia. Natl. Lib. of Australia, n.d. 7 Jan. 2013. <https://trove.nla.gov.au/>. Updated daily.

A crowd-sourced site that includes a variety of documents related to Australia and Australians, including pictures, digitized newspapers, recent theses, archived Web sites, as well as manuscript and archival material. The site absorbed the records from Register of Australian Archives and Manuscripts (RAAM), a union register of manuscript collections and individual manuscripts held by Australian libraries and archives. The register covered collections (including those not directly related to Australia), individual manuscripts of primary material, photocopies or microfilms of documents related to the continent, and personal papers in government archives; it excluded unpublished copies of secondary material (e.g., conference papers or theses), media, microfilms or photocopies of non-Australian material, and government records. The Diaries, Letters, and Archives section of Trove is less stringent in its restrictions. Since data in RAAM was taken from a variety of printed and other sources as well as from information submitted by repositories, individual records vary in amount of information and extent of description; the same is true of records created in Trove, which also includes ones submitted by individuals or culled from other electronic sources. A full record includes RAAM number, name of the creator of the collection (e.g., an author or the individual or organization responsible for forming the collection), title of collection, a Check Copyright Status link, date(s) covered by the collection, physical format, size, occupation of the collection creator, keyword subject descriptors, summary (i.e., a description of the content of the collection), biographical note (on the creator), names of individuals represented in the collection, access information, finding aids, finding aid URL, location (linked to the collection’s home page), call number, contributor of the record, tags and comments by users, date created, and date of last update.

In the basic search screen, users can search by keyword; in advanced search, users can combine keyword, title, creator, and subject fields and limit a search by date, format, availability, language, and library or institution. Searching returns records in relevance order; they can be sorted by ascending or descending date.

Trove is the place to begin when searching for Australian manuscript materials; however, searches return many records from nonarchival sources or with no discernible Australian association from locations outside the continent. Researchers looking for literary manuscripts should also search Guide to Australian Literary Manuscripts (http://findaid.library.uwa.edu.au), a database of detailed guides to more than 100 collections.

AustLit: The Australian Literature Resource. U of Queensland, n.d. 5 Mar. 2013. <http://www.austlit.edu.au>. Updated daily. (Former titles: AustLit: The Resource for Australian Literature and AustLit: The Australian Literature Gateway.)

A database of print and electronic creative and critical writing and literary nonfiction published since c. 1780 by Australians (including expatriates and visitors) and about Australian literature. Most general discussions of Australian studies, language, or culture are excluded; self-published works are given minimal treatment.

The database includes three kinds of records: biographical (names[s], birth and death dates, ethnicity, summary of life and literary career, links to archival resources, and links to kinds of works by and about the author); organizational (name[s], dates and places of activity, place in and contribution to Australian literature, and selected references); bibliographical (title, publication information, list of editions, content notes, subject headings, translations, and tables of contents for anthologies and collected works). Many bibliographical records include a Library Holdings link. Since AustLit employs the Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records (FRBR) model, records are contextualized (e.g., a record for a work will include versions of it as well as individual editions or printings). For a discussion of the importance of such contextualized records, see Carol Hetherington, “Setting the Record Straight: Bibliography and Australian Literature,” Australian Literary Studies 21.2 (2003): 198–208.

In Quick Search users can search by keyword, title, or author. Advanced Search allows users to construct a custom search form by selecting attributes in the name (i.e., creator of a work), title, place of composition, author’s works as subject, and subject fields (e.g., the title field allows users to select such subfields as title; publication details; type, form, or genre; awards; source; first line of poem, notes, or role). Guided Search allows users to combine fields for author, language, gender, cultural heritage, year and place of birth, title, subject, date, type, form, and genre; several fields have pull-down menus or a link to the thesaurus. Full Text Search is limited to works digitized by AustLit. Users can also search the thesaurus.

Users can restrict searches to several research subsets (listed under Research & Publications; some include independently produced databases), including book history and print culture, children’s literature, drama, multicultural writers, and south Australia women writers. Searches can be limited to full-text records or separately published works (i.e., books); results can be ordered by date, title, book, or electronic resource (i.e., books or electronic resources will appear at the head of the list, followed by other records in descending chronological order). Users who need to perform more than a simple search should study the Search Tips screen. Users should note that AustLit plans to release a new search interface in spring 2013.

Because the names of search fields are not always clear, users should read the AustLit Fields page before searching (click Help). Records can be marked for e-mailing or screen display (and thence downloaded or printed).

Its sophisticated search interface, currency (records for many works appear within days of their publications), contextualization of a work, and breadth of coverage make AustLit the essential resource for identifying Australian literary works and writings about them.

Bibliography of Australian Literature, ed. John Arnold and John Hay (Saint Lucia: U of Queensland P, 2001– )—which is intended to supersede Miller, Australian Literature from Its Beginnings to 1935 (R4475) and Macartney’s Australian Literature (R4475a)—is now being compiled within AustLit. Coverage is limited to separately published books of creative writing (including poetry, fiction, drama, and collections of short stories) by Australian authors addressed to readers of all ages and published through 2000 (an appendix will eventually extend coverage in vol. 1 through 2000). Books for an adult audience must be by a single author; those for children may contain the work of no more than four writers. Included are authors who were born in Australia and resident there for a substantial part of their lives or during their formative years as well as writers born overseas but now considered Australian or who resided in the country “and produced a work of creative literature reflecting their experiences.” Entries provide a full description of the first edition and location of copy examined and brief citations to selected later editions. The compilers attempt to see a copy of all titles except romance and pulp fiction.

Australian National Bibliography (ANB). Canberra: Natl. Lib. of Australia, 1961–96. Monthly, with four-month, eight-month, and annual cumulations. Available since 1980 on microfiche. Z4015.A96 015.94.

A national bibliography of Australian publications deposited for copyright in the National Library, as well as of some foreign works by Australian authors or about the country. At its demise ANB was published in four parts: a subject list organized by Dewey Decimal Classification (with full cataloging information for each entry); author, title, and series index; subject index; and list of periodicals. Both indexes cite classification rather than page. Once the fullest record of current Australian publications, ANB was absorbed by Libraries Australia (http://librariesaustralia.nla.gov.au/apps/kss [formerly Kinetica]) as part of the Australian National Bibliographic Database.

ANB continues the Annual Catalogue of Australian Publications, [1936–60], 25 vols. (Canberra: Natl. Lib. of Australia, 1937–61), a combined main entry and subject list of books deposited for copyright and foreign publications about Australia. Retrospective coverage is offered by Australian National Bibliography, 1901–1950, 4 vols. (Canberra: Natl. Lib. of Australia, 1988), which includes Australian imprints, as well as foreign publications by Australians or about the country.

Since works by ethnic writers were frequently not submitted for copyright, researchers must also consult the following:

Ferguson, John Alexander. Bibliography of Australia. Facsimile ed. 7 vols. Canberra: Natl. Lib. of Australia, 1975–77. Addenda, 1784–1850 (Volumes I to IV). 1986. 706 pp. Z4011.F47 [DU96] 016.994.

A retrospective national bibliography covering 1784 to 1900 that attempts to record for the period 1784–1850 all Australian imprints as well as foreign publications “relating in any way” to the country; for the years 1851–1900, excludes belles lettres, periodicals, and governmental papers, as well as legal, scientific, technical, and certain ephemeral publications. Works by Australians published elsewhere and lacking a reference to the country are sometimes mentioned in notes. In vols. 1–4 (1784–1850), entries are organized by year of publication, then alphabetically by author, corporate author, or title of anonymous work; vols. 5–7 (1851–1900) consist of a single alphabetical list. Entries provide a transcription of title page; size; pagination; list of contents or description of content relating to Australia; publication information (if not on the title page); occasionally extensive notes on content, reprints and other editions, related scholarship, and bibliographical matters; and locations of copies (with a list of supplementary locations inserted in vols. 1–2 of the facsimile edition). Vol. 2 prints additions to 1; vol. 4, additions and corrections to 1–3. The Addenda incorporates these additions and corrections, adds new entries, revises some existing ones, and lists additional locations; the National Library no longer plans to publish addenda to vols. 5–7 and a cumulative index. Indexed by titles, authors, and corporate authors in each of the first four volumes. Book trade personnel are indexed in Ian Morrison, The Publishing Industry in Colonial Australia: A Name Index to John Alexander Ferguson’s Bibliography of Australia, 1784–1900 (Melbourne: Bibliog. Soc. of Australia and New Zealand, 1996; 162 pp.; BSANZ Occasional Pub. 6).

While the numerous omissions, errors, and inconsistencies make Ferguson untrustworthy as a descriptive bibliography, it remains the most complete guide to Australian literature through 1850; the record is continued, although less satisfactorily, to 1950 by Macartney, Australian Literature (R4475a). Review: Brian McMullen, Australian Library Journal 25.1 (1976): 39–40.

Books by female Australian writers are more thoroughly covered in Debra Adelaide, Bibliography of Australian Women’s Literature: A Listing of Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Non-fiction Published in Monograph Form Arranged Alphabetically by Author (Port Melbourne: Thorpe–Natl. Centre for Australian Studies, 1991; 270 pp.), an author list of about 11,500 titles culled, for the most part, from other sources rather than personal examination.

Miller, E. Morris. Australian Literature from Its Beginnings to 1935: A Descriptive and Bibliographical Survey of Books by Australian Authors in Poetry, Drama, Fiction, Criticism, and Anthology with Subsidiary Entries to 1938. Facsimile rpt., with corrections and additions. 2 vols. Sydney: Sydney UP, 1975. Z4021.M5 016.82′08.

A bibliography of separately published works by Australian natives or residents who wrote or commenced at least one book in the country. Although the focus is belles lettres, the notes cite a substantial number of other books by philosophers, artists, historians, and scientists who published at least one literary work. Entries are organized by genre: poetry, drama, fiction, and criticism (with sections for essays and reviews; English, Australian, classical, and modern literature; anthologies and miscellanies). Within each section, authors are listed chronologically by date of first publication in the genre. A typical author entry consists of a list of separately published literary works (and some editions thereof) accompanied by bibliographical notes and, for fiction, a one- or two-sentence summary; references to scholarship, bibliographies, and manuscripts; reprints and excerpts in anthologies and some periodical contributions; and major nonliterary works. (The amount and organization of information vary from author to author, however.) Each genre division is prefaced by a lengthy historical introduction composed largely of biographical and critical discussions of authors. In the facsimile reprint, the separately issued additions and corrections appear on pp. 1075–78. An appendix lists novels associated with Australia by foreign authors. Three indexes: subjects of fiction; subjects of Australian literature and persons not in the general index of Australian authors; Australian authors.

Australian Literature: A Bibliography to 1938, extended to 1950 and ed. Frederick T. Macartney (Sydney: Angus, 1956; 503 pp.), extends coverage to 1950, incorporates Miller’s corrections and rearranges entries into a straightforward author list, but deletes nonbelletristic works, children’s books, translations, critical and scholarly works except those about Australian literature, anthologized reprints, contributions to periodicals, references to scholarship and bibliographies, introductions, and indexes. A few corrections and additions to the enlarged edition are listed in Clive Hamer, “‘Not in Miller,’” Meanjin 15.4 (1956): 419, which is followed by Miller’s brief description of his compilation of the original bibliography (pp. 420–21). Macartney’s defense of his reworking of Miller and rejoinder to several negative reviews (such as Russel Ward, Meanjin 15.2 [1956]: 212–14) make up An Odious Comparison: Considered in Its Relation to Australian Literature (Black Rock: Bulldozer Booklets, 1956; 15 pp.).

Although Macartney’s revision is more current and consolidates an author’s separately published literary works, the original edition includes much more complete information and provides some subject access. Together, the two offer the single fullest record of separately published Australian literary works from 1850 to 1950. Before 1850, more thorough and accurate coverage is offered by Ferguson, Bibliography of Australia (R4470), and the Bibliography of Australian Literature database (R4463a) is designed to supersede Miller and Macartney.

““Annual Bibliography of Studies in Australian Literature, [1963–2008]”.” Australian Literary Studies 1–24 (1964–2009). PR9400.A86 820′.9′994.

A selective list of studies of Australian literature, language, and area studies, along with “new books (with reviews of them) by contemporary writers whose work has attracted substantial discussion.” In several installments, electronic journals are not covered. In the bibliographies for 1989–92 (14–16 [1990–93]) coverage of most North American publications was ceded to Antipodes (see below), which—even after the bibliography for 1992—offers fuller coverage of North American publications. Entries—drawn partly from other bibliographies (the bibliography for 2008 is “derived directly from AustLit” [R4463])—are listed in two divisions: general studies and individual authors; some entries are accompanied by a brief annotation. Entries from the individual-authors division in the bibliographies for 1963–95 are cumulated and augmented in The ALS Guide to Australian Writers: A Bibliography, 1963–1995, 2nd ed., ed. Martin Duwell, Marianne Ehrhardt, and Carol Hetherington (Saint Lucia: Queensland UP, 1997; 489 pp.).

An essential complement is “Bibliography of Australian and New Zealand Literature and Criticism Published in North America, [1985– ],” Antipodes 3– (1989– ; title varies), whose unannotated entries are organized in two divisions: works by and about individual authors; general studies. Many of the entries are taken from other serial bibliographies, and there are gaps in coverage of years.

The “Annual Bibliography,” “Bibliography of Australian and New Zealand Literature,” and the Australia division of “Annual Bibliography of Commonwealth Literature” (R4375) are primarily useful to researchers who lack access to AustLit (R4463).

Andrews, Barry G., and William H. Wilde. Australian Literature to 1900: A Guide to Information Sources. Detroit: Gale, 1980. 472 pp. Amer. Lit., English Lit., and World Lits. in English: An Information Guide Ser. 22. Z4021.A54 [PR9604.3] 016.82.

A selective, annotated bibliography of primary and secondary works (published through 1976) on Australian literature from 1788 to 1900. Andrews and Wilde include 72 authors who had significant work published before 1900 or who clearly belong to the 1890s, but they generally exclude publications not related to the country. The 1,576 entries—augmented by numerous others cited in annotations or headnotes—are organized in three divisions: general works (including sections for bibliographies, reference works, literary history and criticism, Australian English, nineteenth-century periodicals, and anthologies), individual authors (including a biographical headnote and sections for bibliographies, primary works—by genre, with a note on manuscript collections—and studies), and selected nonfiction (with sections for exploration, transportation, travel, history and biography, and literary and theatrical autobiographies). Although a work is entered only once, cross-references are provided in headnotes to sections. The typically full annotations are generally informative and frequently evaluative. Two indexes: persons; titles. Judicious selection, accuracy, and helpful annotations make this a valuable guide to the study of Australian literature before 1900. Reviews: L. T. Hergenhan, Australian Literary Studies 10.3 (1981): 137–39; Alan Lawson, Modern Language Review 78.3 (1983): 692–94.

Ross, Robert L. Australian Literary Criticism, 1945–1988: An Annotated Bibliography. New York: Garland, 1989. 375 pp. Garland Reference Lib. of the Humanities 1075. Z4024.C8 R67 [PR9604.3] 016.82′09.

A selective annotated bibliography of English-language studies and anthologies (the majority published between 1945 and June 1988), dissertations abstracted in ProQuest Dissertations and Theses (H465), and—incongruously—novels about the convict period. The 1,397 entries are organized by publication date in most of the seven classified divisions: general works, international views (including comparative studies), special topics (such as aborigines, fiction about the convict period, film, language, and women’s studies), fiction, poetry, drama, and 42 major writers (with sections for published books, special issues of journals, interviews, critical studies, and bibliographies). Although brief, the annotations generally offer an adequate description of content. Two indexes: scholars; literary authors and subjects; also indexed in Biography and Genealogy Master Index (J565). The subject indexing is inadequate and the criteria governing selection are too vague; however, Ross offers a useful preliminary guide to criticism from 1945 through mid-1988 of Australian literature. Researchers must supplement coverage with other works in this Guides to Scholarship and Criticism section. Review: Ken Goodwin, World Literature Written in English 29.1 (1989): 85–87.

The Australian National Dictionary: A Dictionary of Australianisms on Historical Principles (AND). Ed. W. S. Ramson. Melbourne: Oxford UP, 1988. 814 pp. <http://australiannationaldictionary.com.au>. PE3601.Z5 A865. (A new edition is in progress.)

A historical dictionary of terms distinctly or prominently Australian. The approximately 6,000 main entries provide pronunciation; part(s) of speech; variant spellings; a note on history and derivation, with a cross-reference, where appropriate, to the Oxford English Dictionary (M1410); definition(s) organized by part of speech; and illustrative quotations, arranged chronologically, for each definition. The online version can be searched or browsed by headword. AND is an essential complement to the Oxford English Dictionary and the indispensable source for the historical study of Australian English and explication of literary works by Australian writers. For the history of the AND, see Ramson, Lexical Images: The Story of the Australian National Dictionary (Victoria: Oxford UP, 2002; 255 pp.). Review: David Bradley, Australian Journal of Linguistics 9.1 (1989): 191–95.

The best treatment of colloquial language is G. A. Wilkes, A Dictionary of Australian Colloquialisms, 4th ed. (Melbourne: Oxford UP, 1996; 426 pp.), with dated quotations accompanying definitions. Also useful is The Macquarie Dictionary, ed. Susan Butler, 5th ed. (Sydney: Macquarie Dictionary, 2009; 1,940 pp.; available online through Credo Reference [http://www.credoreference.com] and at http://www.macquariedictionary.com.au).

Stuart, Lurline. Australian Periodicals with Literary Content, 1821–1926: An Annotated Bibliography. Melbourne: Australian Scholarly, 2003. 178 pp. Z6962.A8 S78 [PN5517.P4].

A bibliography of periodicals (excluding newspapers) of some literary interest published in Australia through 1925. The 576 entries, arranged alphabetically by original title, include (when possible) title, subtitle, motto or epigraph, printer, publisher, editor(s), frequency, dates of publication and title changes, size, average number of pages, price, presence of illustrations, locations in Australian collections, description of content, and important writers and articles published. Concludes with a chronological list of periodicals. Indexed by persons, publishers, and printers. Although a subject index would greatly increase its usefulness, Stuart is the essential guide to identifying and locating these frequently scarce and ephemeral periodicals.

Day, Modern Australian Prose, 1901–1975 (R4530).