Letters from various Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander groups and organisations are in these correspondence files as well as in the subject related files in other series. Correspondence from literary and women's organisations that are associated with Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders is included in this subseries.

This sub-series consists primarily of incoming correspondence and includes letters of thanks and appreciation for her literary work and activities, cards, and postcards. Correspondents are more often individuals. Some correspondents have included their own poetry. Often there will be written across the top of the letter 'answered' but very few copies of the outgoing correspondence are attached. Most correspondents names were clearly identified; some may not be accurate or unable to be identified.

Johnno is Malouf’s most outwardly autobiographical novel and has been much praised as a realistic presentation of wartime Brisbane. It traces the childhood and early adult life of the narrator, and his relationship with the school rebel Johnno until Johnno’s untimely death. It was first published in 1975. This series includes two typescripts (both carbon copies) of the original manuscript version of Johnno. The earlier copy has extensive handwritten reworking by Malouf and uses the name “Johnny” throughout. In the later copy is again reworked and the author has manually changed “Johnny” to “Johnno.” There are significant textural alterations, cuts and additions, between these two drafts. Earlier drafts of the manuscript are held in the National Library of Australia collection and the top copy is held in the Fryer Library University of Queensland Press Archive. These typescripts provide a valuable link between the two. Published in 1975 by University of Queensland Press.

Child’s Play is an account of the experiences of an Italian terrorist and his special interest in his victim. It was first published in 1981 with another novella, The Bread of Time to Come (later changed to Fly Away Peter). It was republished in 1982 with two short stories, Eustace and The Prowler. This subseries includes manuscript drafts for original first draft, first typescript draft, and second typescript draft. All the drafts have explanatory notes by David Malouf.

In The Great World Malouf enters familiar Australian territory with a story of war experience and mateship. The narrative contrasts the personalities of two men and their experiences in the Second World War, Digger Keen, the archetypal, taciturn Australian, gifted with a photographic memory, and Vic Curran, whose ambition and drive take him from poverty to the top of the business world. The Great World was first published in 1990 and won the Miles Franklin Award in 1991, the Adelaide Festival Award and two international awards, the 1991 Commonwealth Prize for fiction and the Prix Femina Etranger in France for the best foreign novel. This subseries consists of a draft early version of the novel, originally titled ‘The Memorialists’, the first handwritten draft of the novel, and a typescript draft in five parts with many handwritten corrections and additions.

Maps of locations, correspondence and photographs of family properties including Lota House at Manly, Nindooinbah near Beaudesert and Bluff Downs near Charters Towers. Also, 'Here on a visit' manuscript written by Agnes Helena Wansey, giving an account of her childhood at Lota House and related correspondence.