Cultural and historical collections

Discover the Fryer Treasure Beasts, Nonsense and Jokes in the Fryer Library or on UQ eSpace.

Manager of Fryer Library, Simon Farley, reflects on what fifty years of friendship with the Alumni Friends of UQ has meant to the Fryer Library. From gifts of rare first editions to financing the purchase of precious manuscripts and creating new purpose-built spaces for students to interact with unique and rare collections, UQ alumni have been important to the development of the Fryer Library.

On 27 May 1967, ninety percent of the Australian population voted 'yes' in a referendum to change the Australian Constitution. As a result, Indigenous Australians were now included in the census and the federal government had the power to make laws for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander affairs.

2017 marks 50 years since this auspicious moment in Australia’s history.

The Rae and George Hammer Memorial Visiting Research Fellowship provides up to $2,500 a year for Honours, Masters and PhD students from Universities outside of Brisbane to use the collections held in The University of Queensland’s Fryer Library. Applications are now open and they close on the 24 February 2017.

In September 2016 the Library celebrated the addition of the latest English translation of Andreas Vesalius' De Humani Corporis Fabrica Libri Septem to the Otto Hirschfeld Memorial Collection at the Herston Health Sciences Library. Read more about this great book of anatomy.

On 8 July 1916 comedians Nat Phillips and Roy Rene stepped on to the stage of Sydney's Princess Theatre as their alter-egos Stiffy and Mo. Dr Clay Djubal looks back at Stiffy and Mo one hundred years after that debut and highlights the Fryer Library's unique relationship with writer, composer, producer and director and troupe leader Nat Phillips.

During NAIDOC week, explore unique recordings of Aboriginal languages on the Indigenous Voices of Queensland website.

Collecting badges has been a popular hobby for centuries. Read about Judith Campbell's unique collection of political badges from the 1960s and 1970s.