Applications are now open for the 2026 Community Heritage Grants (CHG) program. CHG offers cash grants of up to $20,000 to community organisations, supporting them to preserve and manage collections that have Australian cultural and historical significance.
Applications close for first time applicants on Thursday 7 May. Previous CHG recipients and proposals for training projects have an extended deadline, with applications closing on Tuesday 2 June.
The CHG program is funded by the Australian Government through the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications, Sport and the Arts; National Library of Australia; National Archives of Australia; National Film and Sound Archive; and National Museum of Australia.
New major exhibition and landmark book coming soonWangka Wakanutja: The Story of the Papunya Literature Production Centre, a new major exhibition and landmark publication, is coming your way in April.
Papunya is the birthplace of the Western Desert art movement. Between 1979 and 1990, a remarkable Aboriginal literary movement took hold, with the Papunya Literature Production Centre producing hundreds of Pintupi-Luritja bilingual readers (illustrated books) guided by the community’s Elders.
Explore the remarkable achievements of the Papunya community to record language and culture and keep it alive.
2027 Fellowships and ScholarshipsApplications are now open for our 2027 Fellowships, including the Creative Arts Fellowship. Eight Fellows will each receive $35,000 to explore, question and create new work shaped by the Library’s diverse collections.
Applications for the 2027 National Library Scholarships will open on 23 March.
Year of the Woman
Find out why 1975 – a year of enormous social and political upheaval – was also recognised as International Women’s Year.
Dr Samuel White presents his Fellowship research focused on the historical use of military call-outs and the decision-making processes behind deploying troops in Australia.
Tuesday 17 Mar | 12.30pm
Theatre and online
Free entry | Bookings essential
Author talk: Bring Back Yesterday by Bob Carr
Join Canberra Writers Festival and author Bob Carr for a special In Conversation event focused on his new memoir, Bring Back Yesterday.
Friday 20 March | 6pm
Theatre
Tickets from $26 | Bookings essential
Beyond agreements2025 NLA Scholar Natasha Naidu investigates the maze of regulations that governed, and were resisted by, indentured Indian labourers in Fiji.
Echoes of the long paddock: A folksong celebrationThis special concert performance salutes our 70th anniversary as custodian of Australia’s folksong heritage and oral history.
Wednesday 1 April | 6pm
Theatre and online
Free entry | Bookings essential
Herstory, not History, in our collectionsFor this Women’s History Month, explore the lives and legacies of remarkable Australian women whose collections have been preserved and digitised for everyone to discover.
Be inspired by trailblazing writers, performers, aviators and politicians.
Great Writers & the Cats Who Owned Them
Throughout history, famous writers have loved and been inspired by their cats. Author and expert Susannah Fullerton explored notable literary felines in her latest book, Great Writers & the Cats Who Owned Them.
Double Act
Eirene Mort and Nora Kate Weston
Eirene Mort studied art in London, returning to Sydney in 1903. Three years later, she met Nora Kate Weston, whose skills complemented her own.
In their twenties, Nora and Eirene opened a professional studio in the city, where they worked and mentored students, held exhibitions and sold their artefacts.
As an inclusive organisation we also strive to celebrate people of all backgrounds, genders, sexualities, cultures, bodies and abilities.
Images: 1. Duldig Studio sitting room. Image courtesy of the Duldig Studio Museum + Sculpture Garden, 2026; 2. Thomas Stevens, illustration in Kantina, Kuula, Ngurra, 1985, nla.obj-3285322250; 3. Diaries from Papers of Sir John Thursdon, MS 1914, files 2-5 – image #3; 4. Excerpt from nla.obj-133715704; 5. Dr Samuel White; 6. Bob Carr; 7. Natasha Naidu; 8. The Queenslander, ‘Cutting Out’ A Fat Beast, from Notes on Queensland, April 1894. Colour digital version by Warren Fahey; 9. nla.obj-3180537063; 10. Book cover for Double Act.
