Collections

We hold the world's largest collection dedicated to Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and histories.

Our collection is highly significant both as a keeping place for culturally significant objects, and as a resource for anybody looking to improve their knowledge of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander history and culture.

Highlights

Art and Artefacts collection including around 530 artworks and 430 artefacts.

Books and printed material amounting to over 175,680 titles, including some 1380 reference texts, 3740 serial titles, and nearly 16,000 books.

Film collection containing more than 4000 video titles and 830 film titles (over 6 million feet of motion picture film).

The Australian Indigenous Languages Collection contains over 4300 titles and has been placed on the UNESCO Australian Memory of the World Register.

A manuscript collection of 11,700 titles with over 4800 rare books and pamphlets, and 1700 rare serial titles.

Pictorial collection of 650,000 photographs relating to Indigenous Australia, dating from the late 1800s to the present day.

Approximately 40,000 hours of sound, almost all of which is unique and unpublished.

search the catalogue

Search our collection

Our collections catalogue is called Mura®, a word from the Ngunnawal language meaning "pathway”. Search this to locate items in our collection.

guides and resources

Collections online

Come on an interactive journey with us through these stunning online collections.

subject languages and place

Thesauri

The Thesauri contains place, language, people and subjects relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander studies.

using the collection

Using the collection

There are many ways to use the collection, and they don't all involve visiting us in Canberra.

dontate to the collection

Donate

We welcome donations of unpublished materials relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander studies.

biographical index

Search our names index

The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Biographical Index, or ABI, is a personal name index that helps you locate mentions of people in the collection.

Collections news

'The malaka's (superintendent's) house', by Larry Jungarrayi, from The Warlpiri Drawings 1953-54, Meggitt Collection, AIATSIS

Warlpiri Drawings included in Memory of the World Register

Thursday, 9 February 2017 - 12:15pm

The collection of artworks known as the Warlpiri Drawings, held by AIATSIS, was inscribed on the UNESCO Australian Memory of the World Register in a ceremony in Canberra today.

PY Media at the festival (L-R) Amos Frank, Thomas Holder, chair Sam Lyons, Bradley Roberts, Matthew Berryman and Desmond Woodforde. Photo: Kirstie Parker

PY Media wins 2016 Indigenous Remote Archival Fellowship

Friday, 30 September 2016 - 1:00pm

South Australian production company Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Media (PY Media) has been selected as the 2016 recipient of the Indigenous Remote Archival Fellowship.