Manuscript book of seventeen illuminated and illustrated poems by Australian authors. Father Leo Hayes commissioned the book of his favourite Australian poems from artist Ella Lilian Pedersen. Hayes wanted it done in the manner of the illuminated manuscripts of the Middle Ages. Each of the 17 poems chosen by Father Hayes has been written in calligraphy with accompanying illustrations depicting the location or subject of each poem. Pedersen crafted a tooled leather binding with ornamentation in pewter studded with semi-precious stones, including opals and agates, collected by Father Hayes when he was parish priest in Crows Nest. The original cover was damaged, and the central panel was replaced in the early 2000s by book restorer Anne Clonnan with one remaining gemstone.

Poems: The first comers there / Margaret Curran. -- Carnarvon deep gorges / Bertha Butler. -- Love in a cottage / Daniel Henry Deniehy. -- The frog pool / James Devaney. -- Toowoomba dark purple / George Essex Evans. -- Where the pelican builds / Mary Hannay Foott. -- The Waradgery tribe / Mary Gilmore. -- Taralga / Mary Gilmore. -- When winter comes to Queensland / Alice Gore-Jones. -- My country / Dorothea Mackellar. -- Colour / Dorothea Mackellar. -- The gentle water bird (for Mary Gilmore) / John Shaw Neilson. -- Old salt / Lydia M. D. O'Neil. -- The way of it / D. L. Waraker. -- In September Queensland Bush / D. L. Waraker. -- Rain magic / Frances Dunn. -- Waratah and wattle / Henry Lawson.

Poems of Val Vallis and newspaper cuttings concerning Vallis and his work.

Typescript of article by John Manifold on the history of the sonnet.

Letter to Keith McWatters from David Malouf, 9 May 1985; Letter to Penny McWatters from David Malouf, 1 Dec 1997; Letter to Fryer Library from Penny McWatters, 14 Nov 2008.

Album of 12 albumen prints, 15.5 x 10.5 cm, mounted on boards. Inscription on verso front end-paper: "From William Shaw to his Aunt Sarah with his best love. Australia, April 1876". Images attributed to Queensland photographer John Deazeley.
Images are:
1: Parliament House from Botanic Gardens ;
2: Panoramic view of City from Wickham Terrace no. 1 ;
3: Panoramic view of City from Wickham Terrace no. 2 ;
4: Panoramic view of City from Wickham Terrace no. 3 ;
5: View from Wickham Terrace "Grammar School" ;
6: City & shipping from Bowen Terrace.
7: Brisbane Bridge ;
8: Queen Street from Edward Street looking east ;
9: View of river and City from Kangaroo Point ;
10: The Fern Island, Botanic Gardens ;
11: Kangaroo Point ;
12: Botanic Gardens & Parliament House from South Brisbane.

Album of 29 sepia photographs (15.5 x 11 cm mounted on boards).

Album of twenty-four albumen prints (20 x 25 cm) mounted on boards. Views include public buildings, University of Sydney, some inner suburbs, and views of the bays. Some photos with caption. With handwritten inscription: "Presented to our friend L.A. Bernays, Brisbane, 26 August 1876. E. L. Montefiore, Jules Joubert, Commissioners for N. S. Wales at Queensland Exhibition"

Album of 53 sepia photographs of Samoan people and scenery, (20 x 15cm) mounted on board. Most photographs are captioned, numbered and annotated with imprint of Kerry Photo Sydney. Some have additional pencilled numbering on boards.

Album of 56 sepia photographs (various sizes) of scenery and landmarks in Italy, London, Ceylon, Belgium and along the Suez Canal, with reproductions of some famous statues in Italy and Belgium. Circa 1900.

Album contains 104 photographs of Stodart family, Melbourne, Egypt, Batavia, no. 3 S.M. Coy Corps of Australian Engineers, Brisbane during the 1898 flood, Enoggera Creek and the early operations of Enoggera Reservoir, federation celebrations in Sydney, Lord Houptoun, federation proclamation in Brisbane, and the visit of the Duke of Cornwall and York to Brisbane.

Sepia and black and white photographs (various sizes) mounted on board. Some photographs have captions. Inscribed inside front cover: 'Nina Stodart with love from F.S. 18.5.05'.