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National Centre for Australian Children’s Literature Inc.

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National Centre for Australian Children’s Literature Inc.

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Lu Rees started the collection in 1974 with the goal of collecting Australian children's books and creating files about their creators, and sharing them.

The National Centre for Australian Children's Literature Inc (formerly Lu Rees Archives) began with a simple idea in 1974 to collect books by Australian children’s authors and illustrators and to develop a file about their work. In 2012 an independent assessor described the Archives as a unique and significant collection of children's literature. In 2022, the collection was valued at $12,800,000. Its significance derives partly from its exceptional diversity. Its book collection post-1960 approaches those of the National Library and Australia’s State Libraries. The Archives holds the only copy of many Australian children's books. It holds one of Australia’s largest collections of scarce translations in 69 languages and country of origin. The Archives holds authors’, illustrators’ and publishers’ papers, manuscripts, artwork and business records. Complementing these are its collections of photographs, audio recordings, research files and ephemera. The Centre is a public treasure offering a rich and detailed insight into children’s book creation over time. The Centre is an Affiliate of the University of Canberra which offers inkind support including a place to showcase the collection.

08/10/2026

Do you love bibliographies?

Here's our latest bibliography on a topic we all care about: 'Australian Picture Books with Neurodiversity and Disability themes: Annotated Bibliography 2026'.

Here's our link to this free resource:
https://www.ncacl.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/Neurodiversity-and-disability-biblio.docx

Many thanks to our intern, Sarah Paterson, who's completing her work experience placement, part of her Master of Teacher Librarianship at Charles Sturt University, with us. She created this annotated bibliography as part of her time with us.

Here's what Sarah says about this bibliography.

'Children's literature serves many purposes, including functioning as mirrors that reflect a reader's own life, providing a lens into their identity, passions and talents. Stories can also be used as windows into other people’s lives, offering different perspectives to build empathy, understanding and inclusion, before finally acting as sliding doors for readers to step into the shoes of their favourite characters to experience their successes and challenges as if they were the characters themselves. For neurodivergent children and people with disabilities, authentic representation in picture books is important to support both their self-worth and to build understanding within the community to foster inclusion.

This annotated bibliography has a curated collection of contemporary Australian picture books, with some seminal texts included, that have authentic representation of characters with either disability or neurodiversity themes. Through selecting different picture books that offer representation in these areas, children, families, teachers and the wider community can use these books as mentor texts to ensure authentic discussion around unique lives and perspectives. Every child can feel seen and empowered.'

On behalf of everyone, thank you, Sarah!

18/08/2026

May Gibbs never forgotten

We have a massive collection of May Gibbs material - her books, ephemera, plus a 4-drawer filing cabinet of articles by and about her. Jane Brummitt, her distant relative, spent a lifetime collecting EVERYTHING she could find about May Gibbs. She then gave this collection to NCACL which fills a four drawer filing cabinet of print documents. Plus many photographs documenting the saving of her home, Nutcote.

Would anyone be interested? Yes! Here's our latest blog about this buried treasure now available.

https://www.ncacl.org.au/blog/remembering-may-gibbs/

10/08/2026

Do you know what NCACL was doing in 2025?

Okay, it's 2026 now and time to write NCACL's next Annual Report! Meanwhile take a peek into our events, who visited, who said what in our blogs, what marvellous person created a guide to our May Gibbs Collection May Gibbs Childrens Literature Trust, and what about the amazing donation of all the artwork for SRA stories (remember these from the 1980s?) and so much more!

So grab a cuppa and your tablet or ipad - here's our story

https://www.ncacl.org.au/ncacl-annual-reports-2025/

29/07/2026

The Little Goat story

Our National Centre for Australian Children’s Literature has ‘clippers’ across Australia. Their job is to pick up posters, programs and unusual books we might not have. One of our Centre’s volunteers in Melbourne discovered a gem—a book—in her favourite op shop: ‘The Little Goat’ (also titled 'The Lost Goat' written by Elizabeth Fletcher and illustrated by Deborah and Kilmeny Niland, published in 1971. We sent this news to Deborah Niland and she responded, giving us permission to share her story below.

Deborah’s story—

‘Your acquiring a copy of ‘The Little Goat’ brought back many memories. Whilst in London from 1968 to 1970, Kilmeny and I did the usual thing with taking a portfolio of sample illustrations around to various publishers, forever hopeful that something might develop. We received rejection after rejection, although some editors were kind and helpful. Then came the day when we received positive feedback! With great excitement we travelled to Ealing and met Anne Wood and Gillian Osband from Transworld publishers. They were starting up a series of children’s books to be sold in bookshops and newsagents at a reasonable price, and to make reading more accessible to more young children and their parents. Anne Wood was a visionary. She was only in her early thirties when we met her and because of her massive success with Books for Your Children magazine and her reputation as the UK’s leading voice on children’s literacy, Transworld asked her to help parents navigate their new paperback lines.

We were only 19 at the time and it was even more of a thrill that they were willing to put their faith into complete unknown, inexperienced illustrators. However the series of books employing many writers and artists was phenomenally successful. Our title alone went through many, many reprints over the years. Their encouragement and belief in us at that time in our lives was something we always valued and always appreciated.’ (Deborah’s story ends)

Our National Centre for Australian Children’s Literature has accepted many donations over the years from Deborah Niland under the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program. Deborah Niland’s artwork that our Centre holds is listed on our website here https://www.ncacl.org.au/collections-2/artists-artwork/artists-artwork-m-z/niland-deborah/ .

03/07/2026

NAIDOC week is 5-12 July

The theme this year is '50 Years of Deadly'. We've chosen 35 books from our Aboriginal and or Torres Strait Islander database to share this special week. Here's the link to our NAIDOC 2026 bibliography

https://www.ncacl.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/NAIDOC-Week-2026.pdf

Would you like more Aboriginal and or Torres Strait Islander children’s books? Our database includes almost 750 books. Each book includes an annotation plus free online teaching resources. Here's the link to our free database
https://www.ncacl.org.au/atsi-resource/

Enjoy and share, please!

23/06/2026

NCACL is campaigning for your help ($$) this financial year

Jackie French is our NCACL Ambassador. In responding to our campaign for your $$$ support, she gave me this little poem and her permission to publish it here:

'You can give a dollar
Or just simply holla
"Keep kids reading every day"
Support the National Centre For Children's Literature
With a tax-deductible donation this end of the financial year.

Here's our link to donate with a receipt automatically generated:

https://www.ncacl.org.au/make-a-donation/

18/06/2026

Reaching the World – Keep the Story Alive

Every year we check how we are going. What’s new? What’s changed? Where should we go next? We are ambitious. We invite you to help us achieve even more this year by donating. All donations to us of $2 and more are income tax deductible.

Here’s a brief overview of what we have achieved so far:

• Our website has over 50,000 users from around the world https://www.ncacl.org.au/
• Our online catalogue describes our 70,000+ books in English and around 6,900 in 115 other languages https://www.ncacl.org.au/research-support/
• We hold over 80 children’s books in 30 Australian Aboriginal languages
• We have an ever growing collection of artworks, authors’ and publishers’ papers and manuscripts https://www.ncacl.org.au/resources/
• Bloggers around the world are talking about our unique collections https://www.ncacl.org.au/blog/blogspace/
• Our social media, Facebook https://www.facebook.com/NCACLAustralia and X https://x.com/NatCentAusChLit have over 11,000 followers
• Creators have donated 72 gifts (since 1992) of their artworks and papers under the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts program
• Children’s publishers and organisations continue to donate their working papers
• We hold in depth information on 650 Australian children’s authors and illustrators https://www.ncacl.org.au/collections-2/author-and-illustrator-research-files/
• Our free databases available 24/7 worldwide feature 1,700+ children’s books and free teaching resources on Aboriginal and or Torres Strait Islanders, Picture Books for Older Readers and Cultural Diversity https://www.ncacl.org.au/
• Our Verse Novels resource continues to grow https://www.ncacl.org.au/australian-verse-novels/
• Extensive collections of artworks by much loved creators like Bob Graham and Alison Lester are favourites with all ages https://www.ncacl.org.au/collections-2/artists-artwork/

Other special strengths?

We hold extensive book collections of English and translations of these 10 Australian creators known and loved around the world — Mem Fox, Jackie French, Morris Gleitzman, Bob Graham, Andy Griffiths, Lian Hearne (aka Gillian Rubinstein), Alison Lester, John Marsden, Emily Rodda, Shaun Tan and Margaret Wild.

Join us, support us

We invite you to look upon the National Centre for Australian Children’s Literature as your Centre too: it is the home for Australian children’s literature – its books, artworks, authors’ papers and manuscripts, publishers’ archives, ephemera and so much more. This treasure trove, currently valued at $15 million, explores the creative process, provides a home for future creations and inspires new creators. You can help by donating to support our work. All donations of $2 and more are income tax deductible.

Here’s our direct link to donate and to receive a receipt
https://www.ncacl.org.au/make-a-donation/

Thank you everyone for your ongoing support.

Address

Off Haydon Drive Onto University Dr South
Canberra, ACT
2601

Opening Hours

Monday	9am - 5pm
Tuesday	9am - 5pm
Thursday	9am - 5pm

Website

https://www.ncacl.org.au/

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