Illustrated front cover from The Queenslander, May 29, 1930

State Library has launched a new discovery interface for one of our stunning digital collections – the colourful illustrated covers and pages of The Queenslander newspaper. Created by Mitchell Whitelaw and Geoff Hinchcliffe, from the Centre for Creative and Cultural Research, Faculty of Arts and Design, University of Canberra in partnership with State Library, the interface aims to make discovery and exploration of The Queenslander covers more generous and intuitive.

You can now explore the collection by date, by topic, or by colour, giving multiple pathways to uncover intriguing and beautiful images of Queensland and Queenslanders, and share what you find with others.

The Queenslander was the weekly summary and literary edition of the Brisbane Courier (now The Courier-Mail). Launched by the Brisbane Newspaper Company in 1866, it was published until 1939. In 2009 State Library digitised around 1000 coloured covers and pages from The Queenslander. These vivid illustrations expose a unique view of Queensland’s social history over the first part of the 20th century.

Here is just a sample of some of the wonderful content from The Queenslander that you might find when using the new interface - Discover the Queenslander