We are so grateful to everyone who supported our 2024 National Library of Australia Tax Time Appeal. With your incredible support, we will be able to digitise our amazing collection of election ephemera and bring it to the world through Trove. Thank you again for your support of the National Library of Australia.

In May of 2024, we asked the National Library community to help us make our election ephemera collection available to the world on Trove.

We are so grateful to our donors, who generously gave over $320,000. Your incredible support will allow us to share the vivid story of our Australian democracy.

More than a sausage sizzle: a unique history of democracy down under

The National Library’s election ephemera collection is Australia’s largest collection of political memorabilia.

It includes material from each Australian Federal election since Federation.

From how-to-vote cards, posters, corflutes, brochures, flyers and stickers, to balloons, flags, t-shirts, buttons, badges, hats, masks, and even vinyl records, our collection of federal election ephemera is both rich and varied.

Extending across all political perspectives, this collection offers a vivid history of Australian democracy.

From the election which formed the first Australian parliament in 1901, through the election of the first female federal parliamentarians in 1943, to the double-dissolution election caused by the dismissal of Gough Whitlam in 1975 and beyond, the rich story of federal democracy down under is told here.

Through this collection, we can revisit the contest of ideas for each federal election as it was fought, seat by seat, ballot box by ballot box.

This collection will be available to view on Trove in 2025.

Thank you again for your support.

Man wearing face mask and purple vest standing new a doorway. On the wall around the door are instructions on how to vote in a federal election.
Sandy Scheltema, Australian Electoral Commission officer standing next to a 'How to Vote in a Federal Election' poster outside the polling place in Glenlyon Hall, during the Australian federal election, Glenlyon, Victoria, 21 May, 2022, nla.obj-3108998796

The National Library of Australia acknowledges Australia’s First Nations Peoples – the First Australians – as the Traditional Owners and Custodians of this land and gives respect to the Elders – past and present – and through them to all Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Cultural Notification

Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are advised that this website contains a range of material which may be considered culturally sensitive including the records of people who have passed away.

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