12 December 2012 (Alexandria, VA) – Alexander Street Press’s newest collection, Early Experiences in Australasia: Primary Sources and Personal Narratives 1788-1901, showcases intimate archival materials from the early days of the region’s history.
Early Experiences in Australasia delivers instant access to firsthand documents that illuminate the realities of life from the arrival of the continent’s first settlers through to the 1901 establishment of the Commonwealth of Australia. The collection launches with nearly 12,000 pages of primary source content from more than 1,500 sources—including personal letters, diaries, narratives, and photographs. 
During 2013, the collection will grow to 100,000 pages, with new material from multiple archives and publishers sharing accounts of life across Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands.
A significant portion of the collection is previously unpublished, and documents are carefully cultivated by experts to ensure a representation of diverse perspectives and experiences. Early Experiences in Australasia grants an unprecedented understanding of how men and women, settlers and indigenous peoples, explorers, soldiers, and officials experienced arriving on ships, the gold rush, the process of federation, and more.
Students and scholars can use Alexander Street Press’s Semantic Indexing™ to search by date, person, subject, and more, generating detailed results that give voices to many whose experiences have previously been lost to history. Users can learn more about how the British government encouraged female immigrants, how settling groups interacted with native populations, and the differences between rural and bush life.
“Early Experiences in Australasia exemplifies our mission of making silent voices heard,” said Dan Hamid, Sales Manager at Alexander Street Press. “The vibrancy and diversity of the materials bring this period, and those who lived through it, to life.”
Early Experiences in Australasia is available to academic, public, and school libraries worldwide via subscription or one-time purchase of perpetual rights. No special setup or software is required—all you need is a Web browser. Prices are scaled to institutional size and budget.
