Koorie Victoria and State Library of Victoria collections

The La Trobe Library holds the majority of the book collection relating to Indigenous Australians.  The open access collection, which is located on Level 3 in the domed La Trobe Reading Room,  holds a range of contemporary and historical works. Key collection areas are biography, contact history, social and political conditions, anthropology and archaeology

• The Encyclopaedia of Aboriginal Australia : Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander history, society and culture - a comprehensive reference work, listing people, places and events.  
• First people : the Eastern Kulin of Melbourne, Port Phillip & Central Victoria.
• First Australians - companion book to television series, viewable online.
• Aboriginal Victorians: a history since 1800
• Historical records of Victoria - includes contemporary government documents, official letters, reports. Part of a larger series covering the history Victoria generally. Volume 7 includes documents relating to "Aborigines and the Protectors of Port Phillip 1839-1840", not available at the publication of earlier volumes. Volume 8 includes an index of Aboriginal personal names.
• The struggle for Aboriginal rights: a documentary history - dating from a letter from Thomas Bruny, editor of the Flinders Island weekly chronicle in 1837 up until 1998, collection of sources and illustrations.
• Black politics: inside the complexity of Aboriginal political culture -  interviews with leaders and activists reveal the diversity and complexity of Indigenous politics.

Most of our collections are in storage - see information on how to using our catalogue and making requests. The catalogue lists books, pamphlets and a range of other materials.

Items have been entered in the catalogue under both spellings: Koori and Koorie. 

Some useful searches are:

Aboriginal Australians Victoria history

Aboriginal Australians Victoria biography

Aboriginal Australians education Victoria

Aboriginal Australians health Victoria

Aboriginal Australians land tenure Victoria

Aboriginal Australians mission Victoria

Aboriginal Australians Western District

Indigenous people Victoria

Aboriginal Australians anthropology

Aboriginal Australians contact history

Aboriginal Australians in literature

Aboriginal Australians material culture

Library collections include materials on individual peoples. Most have been catalogued as these examples show. You can also do a keyword search using the name of a people for a broader search.

Boonwurrung Australian people

Gunditjmara Australian people

Kurnai Australian people

Wurundjeri Australian people

Yorta Yorta Australian people

A collection of ebooks, freely available from ANU, in the Aboriginal history monographs series.