The Latest Breaking News from State Library of Queensland

The Queensland government has interfered with the state’s literary awards – again

The Queensland government has announced the state’s literary awards will move from their current home at the State Library of Queensland to “an alternative provider” – along with the blackwrite! fellowships for emerging First Nations writers. The move has been framed in the language of safety and hate speech –…

The Conversation · Mar 10

Award judges resign after Queensland state library strips writer’s prize over Hamas tweet

One resignation letter expresses ‘disgust’ over library’s decision to rescind First Nations author’s $15,000 award after arts minister weighs in

The Guardian - AU · May 23, 2025

A First Nations writer’s fellowship was withdrawn by Queensland’s government. What’s going on?

This week, Martu writer Karen Wyld had her A$15,000 blackwrite fellowship withdrawn – just hours before the (cancelled) ceremony at State Library of Queensland, where she was to receive it for a fiction manuscript on the Stolen Generations. The Queensland arts minister, John-Paul Langbroek, and premier David Crisafulli had directly…

The Conversation · May 23, 2025

Generations ago, families were ripped apart in the Pacific — now, these women are working to reunite them

After thousands of people were taken from islands in the Pacific in the 19th century and brought to Australia to work, their only link home was storytelling and song — now, with the rise of social media and affordable travel, their descendants are working to reunite families that were torn…

ABC News · May 6, 2023

Tennis legend Pat Rafter shares childhood memories of growing up in Queensland mining city Mount Isa

Australian tennis legend Pat Rafter opens up about his barefooted childhood as one of 10 kids – and an emotional homecoming to visit his brother's grave.

ABC News · Apr 1, 2023

Army honours largest ever First Nations battalion in 80-year WWII commemoration

When war was on the doorstep to Australia's north 80 years ago, nearly 900 Torres Strait Islanders signed up to help protect the country despite not being able to enter pub, earn a fair wage, or be counted in the Commonwealth census.

ABC News · Mar 19, 2023

Ellen Francis Cartwright awarded posthumous Bravery Medal after house fire tragedy

As her home was burning, Ellen Francis Cartwright handed her three-year-old daughter to her husband and went back inside to find others. She never came back.

ABC News · Aug 27, 2022

Brisbane's Queen Street Mall celebrates 40 years of attracting visitors in their droves to the CBD

What started as a dirt strip hosting horse and carriage traffic in the 1800s had long attracted fashion conscious shoppers — but it wasn't until 1982 that the mall was created.

ABC News · Aug 11, 2022

Popular Cairns beaches could be doomed to disappear as mudflats march on

A leading geoscientist says two popular Cairns beaches will become mudflats over the coming decades, a revelation that would affect the beaches' waterfront home owners.

ABC News · Jul 22, 2022

The First Nations women fighting to reclaim childbirth to improve the health of women and children

My mum's story has haunted my family, and it's helping me understand why some First Nations women avoid hospitals, writes Carly Williams.

ABC News · Jul 8, 2022