

Data sets

The State Library currently offers the following datasets for reuse:


Dixson Maps

Dixson map
Maps of Antartica

Map of Antartica
World War 1 Posters

Painting of a man in uniform for a WW1 poster
Sir William Dixson started collecting books, manuscripts and maps in the 1890s, particularly focussing on the discovery, exploration and settlement of Australia. This set focuses on many rare and valuable maps from the 15th to the mid 20th century. This set focuses on the mapping of Antarctica from the 15th to the 21st century, from crude woodcut maps of the known world through to the latest satellite imagery. This set focusses on a selection of posters published from 1914 to 1918, part of the Library's extensive collection of material on World War One.
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World War 1 Maps

Map from World War 1
Crown Street Studios

Studio photograph of soldier

Sea scape painting
This set focusses on maps from the Library's World War I collections, 1914–1918. It includes maps produced for military use and those commercially published to provide information to the public. Crown Studio portraits: Relatives of soldiers were asked to supply photographs to the Crown Studios, Sydney for copying. Crown Studios deposited the collection, consisting of 1668 photographs, with the State Library in 1918. Portraits include men from metropolitan and regional New South Wales who served in World War I. Colart's: The pictorial panorama of the Great War: embracing Egypt, Gallipoli, Palestine, France, Belgium, Germany and the Navy - from an exhibition of war photographs in natural colour, produced by Colart's Studios, Melbourne.  The majority of these photographs were taken by members of the A.I.F. whilst on active service in World War I. In the 1920's the photos were enlarged and coloured for an exhibition of war photographs held at the Colart's Studios, Melbourne.
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1880's Street Images

photograph of a street in the 1800s
Broadhurst Postcards

Broadhurst images of city
NSW Goldfield photographs
Building with people outside at the goldfields in NSW
This set of 157 sepia-toned photoprints were shot using an early hand-held cameras. Marketed as a 'Detective Camera' — the lack of cumbersome equipment freed the photographer from the studio and enabled the taking of instantaneous photos (without the subject's permission) for the first time. Arthur Syer (ca.1860–1935), brother of the artist Walter Syer, supplied these 'snapshost' of ordinary people in daily attire to the cartoonist Phil May. 1073 postcards ca. 1900–1927, many bearing the inscription "Broadhurst Photo", are the early 20th century equivalent of the modern Instagram. William Henry Broadhurst (1855–1927) started out as a surveyor's assistant, working mainly on the south coast of NSW. He later turned his interest in photography into a business and began to publish postcards from around 1900. This dataset of 3,500 images features the extraordinary series of nineteenth century documentary photographs known as the Holtermann Collection. Through digital images of the original wet plate negatives, enlargements and a selection of vintage prints, this collection tells the remarkable story of the A&A Photographic Company and the remarkable philanthropy and vision of Bernhardt Holtermann.
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Other data sources

You can also access a variety of other Library datasets, including collections such as rare printed books, photographs and maps, that were originally made available on for GovHack 2013.


The State Library uses GitHub, the free collaborative repository, to provide access to our code that has been developed for various Library digital and mobile projects. Contributions to the State Library of NSW’s GitHub account includes code for apps, games and other media-based assets.

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If you would like the Library to provide access to a particular dataset, please let us know by sending your suggestion to