A Mix of the Unique & Unusual at the State Library NSW, Sydney

The Amaze Gallery at the State Library NSW is simply that – quite amazing – and it defies the identification of a theme for this current exhibition. It’s almost like the curator wandered through the bowels of the Library and scooped up a few things that caught their eye amongst the six-million-item-strong collection.

Perhaps turn your brain off for a while, ignore its constant search for patterns and meaning, and join me for an amazing wee wander.

What Is the Amaze Gallery?

• The Amaze Gallery is a small strip of space tacked on to the side of the much grander Paintings From the Collection Gallery rooms. I can just imagine the Library team standing around in this empty room and wondering, “What will we do in this space?”. “I know”, another person pipes up, “let’s really confuse the punters and just have a rotating exhibition of whatever random items take our fancy”. And that’s just what they did.
• What a privilege.
• Collecting since 1826, there are over 6million items in the Library’s archives and the Amaze Gallery provides a small insight or snapshot of these fascinating original materials and the opportunity to learn the personal stories behind them.
• Currently there are five topics on exhibition, covering a vast time period from the very early 1800s to almost last week.
• From experience, there’s no real order in which to view them – it’s wherever your feet and eyes lead you, but boringly, I always seem to wander in a clockwise direction. 😊

• Celebrating A Connection With Brazil: is represented by a selection of old books and small paintings. In August this year Australia and Brazil celebrated 80 years of diplomatic relations. The connection goes back even further though, as the First Fleet anchored in Rio de Janiero in 1787 on their way to Australia to establish the first penal colony. They stayed there for around a month and this provided the perfect opportunity for artists, journallers and mapmakers in the Fleet to record their impressions of this exotic country.
• “Many of the State Library’s rare books reflect the rich natural history and society of Brazil. … perhaps the rarest objects in our collection are the unique original manuscripts, maps and artworks that record Rio’s vital connection to the Pacific region and to Australia”.

• Survivors Portraits – 100 Years Since Kinchela: celebrates and commemorates the survivors of the Kinchela Boys Home – a place of extreme hardship and abuse for young indigenous boys.
• “From 1924 to 1970, up to 600 boys were admitted to the Kinchela Aboriginal Boys Home. The boys were kidnapped from Aboriginal communities throughout NSW. This was overseen by the then NSW Aborigines Protection and Welfare Board, which allowed for the forcible removal of Aboriginal children from their families. Today we know First Nations children who were institutionalised, such as these boys, as the Stolen Generations. Many call themselves Survivors”.
• On reflection, I notice that I didn’t take as many photos of this display as the others in the exhibition. It just felt slightly disrespectful to do so.

• Bib & Bub Turn 100: May Gibbs was Australia’s first female cartoonist and celebrated author of Snugglepot & Cuddlepie children’s stories. On 3 August 1924, Bib & Bub was first published in the Sunday News and not only that, it was appearing in colour! Such sophistication in the 1920s!
• Miss Gibbs was paid £5 per strip and given a 1year contract. While we may scoff today, this was quite groundbreaking in a male-dominated field.

• Muslim Women in Sport: highlights a range of Muslim women breaking out of stereotypes and embracing all sorts of sporting endeavours.
• “A major barrier to Muslim women engaging in sport has been the lack of appropriate, safe and welcoming spaces where they can do so. Many Muslim women in NSW are taking matters into their own hands and creating spaces for themselves and their communities. In Sydney’s western suburbs, they are discovering strength, connection and confidence through karate, bootcamp, boxing and AFL.”
• ”…out on the field…cultural barriers dissolve, and all the women on the pitch are just footy players. Sport as a great equaliser…”

• My Best Beloved – The Love Letters of Matthew Flinders to his Wife, Ann: The tragic story of the long separation, and everlasting love, between a married couple. Perhaps this is a celebration of enduring love?
• “British Naval explorer Matthew Flinders and Ann Chappelle married on 17 April 1801.This was just three months before his departure, at the age of 27 on the 1801-03 voyage on the Investigator to circumnavigate and chart the Australian continent. They would not see each other again for nine years”.
• “Forty two of Flinders’ passionate and loving letters to Ann have been acquired from couple’s descendants by the State Library NSW”.

• So maybe there is a theme after all….Celebration?

Where Is It?

• 1 Shakespeare Place, Sydney – just on the edge of the CBD.
• The Amaze Gallery is located on Level 1. It overlooks the Mitchell Reading Room and backs onto the much grander, permanent painting gallery.

When to Visit?

• The Library is open seven days per week from 9am-8pm, with slightly shorter opening hours on weekends.
• The Amaze Gallery changes regularly and this exhibition is open until 22 February 2026. I may just have to pop back and check what replaces it.

Why Visit? Unless you have a specific interest in one element of this exhibition, it may not be worth making a special trip to the Library, but it certainly is an interesting add-on to a longer Library visit.

How to Get There?

• The easiest way to get to the State Library NSW is on foot.
• Alternatively, catch a taxi or bus, or the closest train station is at Martin Place.

Who is it for?

• This exhibition will appeal to people who enjoy looking at new stuff and/or stimulating their brain with new ideas.
• For international visitors, it will give a small insight into Australian society both good (multiculturalism) and bad (Kinchela Boys Home).
• There is also beauty in the paintings and drawing of the Brazilian theme, as well as literary beauty in the words exchanged between Matthew and Ann Flinders.

General Comments:

• As previously mentioned, it’s hard to pigeon-hole this Gallery as it houses so many seemingly disparate objects. I did enjoy how each element was a clear snapshot in time – almost like a quick dive into the lives and loves of other people.
• I wonder how the curators decide how to pull this exhibition together each time? How do they get the elements to work together? Or maybe that’s not the point? Maybe they don’t want things to mesh neatly? Maybe they want to challenge us by leaping backwards and forwards through time, and from the personal to the public?

Unique and unusual?

Random selection?

Or strategic placement?

What do you think?

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