Wall to wallpaper
A vast and invaluable collection in the Caroline Simpson Library
Historic wallpaper collection
The Caroline Simpson Library holds Australia’s largest repository of historic wallpapers. Dating back to the 1840s, these papers appear in a variety of formats including wallpaper rolls, wallpaper sample books, and remnants retrieved from buildings. Given the late production of wallpapers in Australia, many of these thousands of examples were produced in Great Britain and elsewhere overseas.
John and Phyllis Murphy collection
Wallpaper
Wall to wall: a marvellous wallpaper collection
A remarkable donation of over 3,000 wallpaper samples by John and Phyllis Murphy adds to our existing collection to form Australia’s largest repository of historic wallpapers
Latest News
Wallpaper in the spotlight
Work has begun on documenting this valuable collection to ensure each design is preserved against the effects of time for future generations to enjoy
Wallpaper in the collection
Browse all
Wallpaper
Handmade wallpaper: Morrison's of Sydney
Morrison's built a successful wallpaper manfacturing business in early 20th century Sydney
Wallpaper
Sci-fi wallpaper (and other designs for children)
We dug deep into our collections and found wonderfully whimsical wallpaper, designed for children’s bedroom walls
Wallpaper
Trainspotting wallpaper from Blackdown, Bathurst NSW
Although the railway did not officially arrive at the New South Wales town of Bathurst until 1876, at a nearby property, Blackdown, a virtual railway station had been created more than 20 years earlier
Wallpaper
Wallpaper recreated for 'The Harp in the South'
The Harp in the South wallpaper was recreated to evoke the main setting for the novels and play: the Darcy family’s run-down terrace house at 12½ Plymouth Street, Surry Hills in 1940s Sydney
Nursery rhyme wallpapers
Nursery rhyme wallpapers with vivid and moralistic designs, drawn sometimes by famous illustrators like Kate Greenaway, were popular in Victorian nurseries.
Wallpaper discoveries
Wallpaper
Wallpaper ‘sandwich’ from Pyrmont
A ‘sandwich’ of many layers of wallpaper uncovered behind timber panelling has opened a small, colourful window into the popularity of wallpaper in mid 19th century Sydney
The beauties we find
At the rear of the Heritage Team office in the northern range of Hyde Park Barracks there is a room that was the quarters of the District Court Judge
Wallpaper
Mr Fox's wallpapers
The digitisation of NSW school files at NSW State Archives has resulted in an unusual discovery: 19th-century wallpaper samples
The cultural history of wallpaper
Wallpaper, once dismissed as old and fusty, is having something of a resurgence of late