Local Studies

On the Library catalogue you will find a wealth of easily accessible digitised Local Studies material. The oral history collection brings together over 100 interviews from Capturing Community Memories, Speaking of the Past and The Blue Gum Forest Oral History projects. The Local Studies photograph collection includes over 4,000 images held in the Blue Mountains Image Library and on Flickr. Local Studies Chronicles blog articles and Blue Mountains fact sheets are full text searchable and cover a variety of local topics. Also provided are links to historic Blue Mountains Newspapers held on Trove.

We also have an extensive collection of books, maps, newspapers, archives and photographs about the Blue Mountains, housed in historic Braemar House adjacent to Springwood Library. You can use this collection by appointment, Monday to Friday, 10:00am to 5:00 pm. Extended access can be arranged for ongoing research projects via a Reader's Ticket.

You can contact the Local Studies librarian on 4723 5040 or email bmlibrary@bmcc.nsw.gov.au

When donating materials, please fill in the Local Studies Collection Deed of Gift Form.


Local Studies Online

Statistical tools, links to local studies resources, community information and information about the Blue Mountains

To enrich your research, the Local Studies Blog articles have been added to the catalogue. Find articles on a range of topics related to Blue Mountains places and people. These articles are full text searchable.

Essential Blue Mountains history information is now readily available to download in convenient PDF fact sheets. Topics include “Origin of Blue Mountains town names”, “Blue Mountains yowie” and “The Explorer’s Tree”. These fact sheets are full text searchable.

The catalogue now provides links to our collection of digitised historic newspapers held on Trove. The publications are from 19th and 20th century and represent a number of Blue Mountains, Sydney and regional publications.

The oral history collection brings together over 100 interviews which can be streamed directly from the library catalogue. It includes the Speaking of the Past project the Blue Gum Forest Oral History Project.

The Local Studies digitised photograph collection contains over 5,000 jpeg images related to the Blue Mountains. These historic photos and postcards are now available to view and download from the catalogue. Over 900 of these images are hosted on Flickr, giving you the opportunity to leave comments and be part of the conversation.