The bulk of the collection consists of the original manuscript notes and sketches collected by Gould for his book The Birds of Australia. Each folder (or notebook) has the name of the order or tribe written on the outside, and inside the folder the notes are divided by species. At the top of each sheet there is an illustration of the bird in question, of which some are lithographs from Gould's earlier work A Synopsis of the Birds of Australia and the Adjacent Islands (1837), while others are original watercolour paintings by Gould. In the margin are headings probably written by his secretary, Edward Prince, such as Latin name, English name, diet and locality inhabited, with manuscript notes and occasional rough sketches by Gould.
The material filmed by the Australian Joint Copying Project includes: Records of H. Wilson, Clerk of the City of Peterborough Education Committee, relating to the exchange of flags between St Peter's Church School, Sydney, and St John's School, Peterborough, 1911; Papers 1856-1893 of George Montagu, 6th Duke of Manchester, and William Montagu, 7th Duke of Manchester, concerning properties in Australia, Australian Transcontinental Railway and Queensland Emigration Scheme and Papers 1885-1900 of Linton Family of Stirtloe, Buckden, concerning the estate of Sydney Linton, Bishop of Riverina, and the marriage of Frederick Chamberlin and Helen Kaye.
List of cases for trial at Glasgow circuit between 1827 and 1845. It gives name, crime, date of trial, indictment, list of witnesses, verdict and sentence, including transportation.
Extracts from the Barton Collection, comprising a copy of the will of Rev. Robert Knopwood of Van Diemen's Land 1834, and notes on the Hoyle and Wall Families of Gloucestershire and New Zealand, written in 1965.
Selections from correspondence books comprising correspondence with Agents-General in London and the Office of the Crown Agents for the Colonies concerning the design, printing and supply of postage stamps, revenue stamps, postal stationery, printing plates and other items. The records relate to all the Australian colonies (later States), New Zealand, Straits Settlements, Malay States, Borneo, Sarawak, Labuan, Tonga, Fiji, Gilbert and Ellice Islands, and Solomon Islands.
Diaries and commonplace book 1854-1855 of Francis M. Lind (b.1822). The diary describes the voyage from Calcutta to Sydney via Singapore, Adelaide and Melbourne. The commonplace book contains notes and cuttings concerning the meetings of New Zealand chiefs at Auckland following the murder of Te Kopi.
Correspondence, letter-books and papers mostly dating from the period 1875-1882. They deal with: Gordon's governorships; the establishment of British rule in Fiji; legislation; land claims; the Pacific labour trade; missionaries; French ambitions in the Pacific; Samoan and Tongan affairs; military and naval defence; establishment of Western Pacific High Commission; New Zealand politics; Maori affairs; German and Queensland annexations in New Guinea; Australasian Federal Council; and church affairs. Correspondents include Sir Michael Hicks Beach, Sir Robert Herbert, Sir William Des Voeux, Sir John Thurston, Bishop J.R. Selwyn, D. Wilkinson, Sir William MacGregor, J. Gorrie, W. Carew, L. Fison and G.W. Rusden.
Correspondence, notebooks, diaries and papers relating to the Horn expedition to central Australia in 1894; Spencer's anthropological interests, research and writings on the Indigenous Australians. There are also many references to Melbourne and Oxford Universities. Most of the letters are dated 1884-1903.