Tuesday 12 July until Sunday 22 January 2006

John Buckland was a well known railway enthusiast who died in Melbourne in 1989. His very large collection of approximately 24,000 railway photographs was left to the National Library of Australia in Canberra. He also left books, ephemera and railway files to the Library which are available for research. The photographic collection is housed in the Pictures Branch (2nd floor) and has been sorted by volunteers from the ARHS (ACT Division) into folders according to area and locomotive /rollingstock, classes etc

A list of the folder headings is available through the National Library’s web page at:  http://www.nla.gov.au/pict/list/buckland.html

John’s home state was Victoria but railways from all over the Commonwealth are well represented. One of the great strengths of the collection is that many other well known railway enthusiasts sent photographs to him and John retained them all, thus greatly increasing the coverage of the collection.

To coincide with the 150th anniversary of railways in NSW a small exhibition of about 50 prints from the Buckland collection will open on 12 July 2005 on the fourth floor of the National Library of Australia, Canberra. It will feature photographs from New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia and Tasmania and will run until 22 January 2006. Part two of the exhibition of a further 50 prints covering Victoria, South Australia and ex-Commonwealth Railways will run from 24 January to 16 July 2006. Opening hours are 9 am to 5pm daily. Free entry.

Any inquiries should be directed to the Pictures Branch, National Library of Australia, Canberra. Phone: 02-6262 1370.
Email: pictorial@nla.gov.au  Fax: 02-6273 5763