National Library of Australia Zine Collection

The National Library of Australia has a fairly extensive collection of zines and fanzines, the majority of which have been received on legal deposit. The strength of the library’s zine collection is largely in the area of Australian science fiction fanzines, particularly those from the 1970s to the 1980s; in this area the Library’s collection benefited significantly from the donation of the Susan Smith-Clarke Fanzine Collection.

The earliest fanzines in the library’s collections date from the early 1950s, with publications such as SF Review and Woomera from 1952, Etherline, Perhaps, Questionmark and others. Representing the 1960s are the Mentor, begun in 1965 and still being published, the New Millennial Harbinger and the Australian Science Fiction Review.

The 1970s saw sizeable growth in Australian fanzine production, in part inspired by the holding of the 1975 World Science Fiction Convention, the first time it had been held in Australia. This decade is represented by such titles as Gegenschein (still being published), New Forerunner, The Bionic rabbit, the Cygnus Chronicler, Grundoon, Crux, A.D.1, Gobstopper, WAHF Full, and Turn Left at Thursday. From the mid-1970s, there can be seen an increasing representation of fanzines devoted to a science fiction television program, including Dr Who, Blake’s 7, and Star Trek, with this last program represented most notably in the library’s collection with publications such as Terran Times, Thrall, Beyond Antares, Spock, Constellation, The Rum Rebellion, Captain’s Log, Captain’s Briefs, Genesis, Prime Directive, The McCoy Tapes, Truffles, Sons of Kiron, Ultrawarp and Locutus.

From the 1980s the collection includes titles such as Space Wastrel, Ornithopter, Australian SF Bullsheet, Crabapple, Nemesis, Xenophilia, The Notional, and Tigger. This is also the period in which the collection becomes increasingly diverse, with titles devoted to, for example, the Australian television program Prisoner, Prisoner - the Wentworth star, and amateur horror fiction such as Skintomb.

External Links

• Fanzines in the National Library of Australia', in Gateways, No. 33, June 1998
• 'Star Trek Fandom in Australia', National Library of Australia collection guide
• Susan Smith-Clarke Fanzine Collection, National Library of Australia
• 'Comic capers in the National Library', in NLA News, January 2005, Volume XV, Number 4