This series contains drafts, notes, photographs and research material. A straight young back is narrated in the first person by David Apps, a cadet government officer who arrives in the Territory of Papua and New Guinea in 1963. Apps works for Hal Franklin, a District Commissioner. As the country moves towards self-government and independence, Apps is slowly corrupted by the power of ruling. Based on true story of the assassination in August 1971 of Jack Emanuel, District Commissioner. Emanuel was murdered deep in the the forest on a Rabaul plantation. The working titles for the novel were 'The old magic touch' and the 'Walk novel'.

This series contains drafts and notes. A straight young back had the working titles 'The old magic touch' and the 'Walk novel'.

This series contains drafts, notes, newspaper cuttings, research material and correspondence. Tinder [novel], published by Scribner in 2002, had several working titles: 'The fire lovers', 'Fire in the hand', and 'Zippo : a cautionary tale'. Set in Katoomba and narrated by the central character, Graham, it follows his sexual awakening.

This series contains drafts, notes, research material, and correspondence. Dead birds, published by ABC Books in 2007, is set in the early days of exploration around Papua New Guinea. It is based on the 1877 journal of Italian naturalist, collector and explorer Luigi d'Albertis and his crew as they travel by boat up the Fly River in the steam launch 'Neva' collecting birds of paradise, ethnographic artifacts and undiscovered specimens. A New Guinean tribesman is killed by Albertis' crew and his head preserved in a specimen bottle. The story, narrated by the head in a jar, is a story of race relations. Included in this series are notes, research material, and drafts.

This series contains drafts, notes, newspaper cuttings, research material, and correspondence. Concertinas is told from the alternating points of view of the two main characters, Chris Davage and Ian McCall. Both ex-PNG men have fond and lingering memoirs of the excitement of the expatriate experience. The novel examines the relationship between Australia, Papua New Guinea and Indonesia. This series contains drafts, notes, research material, and newspaper cuttings.

This series contains drafts and notes. The screenplay for Snowdrop, with the working title of 'Little black dress', was not commissioned. Sheartson wrote it and it was taken up by Julie Money and Michael Cook. After disagreements between Shearston and Adelphi Films, the screenplay rights were bought by Julie Money and Michael Cook with Jeff Truman as the final writer of what became the film Envy. This film is also know as The new girlfriend. This series includes drafts of the various working titles, correspondence, and reviews.

Featured over two broadcasts on ABC Radio 2 in 1984 was the radio documentary written by Trevor Shearston based on the letters from New Guinea of John Green to his family in Healesville in Victoria. Working titles included: The John Green Letters; Edge of the Empire : the New Guinea letters of John Green; and The John Green letters. John Green, fifth son of John and Mary Green, went to British New Guinea in 1892. In 1897 he was speared and then clubbed to death by Binandere people. During this four years in New Guinea John Green wrote more than 3200 pages of correspondence.

This series contains drafts, agreements and correspondence with ABC regarding scripts and production, and research material for the radio documentary feature.

This series contains cuttings from journals or the journals with four short stories by Shearston and two unpublished play scripts.

Cuttings, correspondence, photocopies of articles, and research material related to Papua New Guinea from the 1980s.

Shearston first conceived of 'Game' as a screenplay in the mid-1990s. He notes that “it failed to find production money”. This series includes typescripts, research material relating to the screenplay 'Game' (never produced). It is based on the last days of legendary bushranger Ben Hall.