Insights into colonial Australian life : early Australian pamphlets as social history

Pamphlets were an important medium of public debate in the 19th century, embracing key religious, political, social, and technological issues of the day, and providing instruction on a range of skills and tasks. They remain a valuable primary resource of relevance to a broad range of disciplines. However, pamphlets are under-utilized within research and teaching because they are typically difficult to locate and access. They are hard to find in the few research libraries in which they are housed, and such libraries often bundle these small publications together in large single volumes making referencing a daunting task. This paper analyses a selection of digital photographs from the 14,000 Australian colonial pamphlets held at the State Library of NSW, Sydney, Australia. The selected photographs not only form an online archive of the earliest ex-amples of Australian technical and instructional writing, but also provide insight into the everyday life, interests, and activities of people around the nation. Through illustration and analysis this paper will provide fresh insight into Australian colonial life and early instructional writing.