Asian Special Collections

An extensive collection of rare and archival materials from Southeast and East Asia.

The Asian Special Collections are a leading research resource for rare books, archives and other primary source materials relating to Southeast and East Asia. The collections include materials from Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Japan, Thailand. They focus on history, culture, language, politics and society.

The collections primarily consist of Asian-language materials, alongside significant holdings in Dutch and French that support research into colonial Indonesia and Indochina.

Accessing these collections

These materials are fragile and can only be viewed in the Special Collections Reading Room at the Matheson Library, Clayton campus. To request an item, check the relevant collection inventory below and note its box number.

Browse the collections by country to view their descriptions and inventories.

Cambodia

Correspondence and telegrams relating to Cambodia’s political history from 1967 to 1991, collected by Colin Pratt (1932 – 2025), Honorary Consul General of Cambodia. The collection includes communications with Prince Norodom Sihanouk, Cambodian officials and Australian political leaders concerning the Cambodian conflict, the Royal Family, and efforts to negotiate a political settlement.
Inventory for Colin Pratt Cambodia Collection (pdf)
Research collection assembled by Emeritus Professor David Chandler (1933- ), comprising diplomatic and intelligence reports, newspapers, publications, correspondence, photographs and research files relating to Cambodian history, politics and society. Particular strengths include materials on the Khmer Rouge period and the S-21 (Tuol Sleng) prison archives.
Inventory for David Chandler Cambodia Collection
Research collection assembled by historian and diplomat Dr Julio Jeldres, comprising correspondence, diplomatic records, research files and publications relating to modern Cambodian history. The collection contains papers related to King Norodom Sihanouk, foreign relations, diplomacy, and Cambodia's political history from the 1950s onwards.
Inventory for Julio Jeldres Cambodia Collection (pdf)
Research collection assembled by Australian diplomat Noël Deschamps (1908-2005) consisting of correspondence, reports, photographs and publications relating to Cambodia’s political history. Strengths include diplomatic relations, King Norodom Sihanouk, and Cambodia’s political developments from the 1960s to the early 2000s.
Inventory for Noel Deschamps Cambodia Collection (pdf)
This large collection was donated to Monash University Library by the family of His Majesty Norodom Sihanouk (1922-2012) in November 2004. It comprises materials from his personal archive, including documents, photographs, musical scores and video material.
Inventory for Norodom Sihanouk Archival collection
Research collection assembled by Australian journalist and broadcaster Sue Downie, comprising reports, correspondence, publications and press material relating to Cambodia. It focuses on the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC) period (1992–1993) and Cambodia’s political transition and peacekeeping process.
Inventory for Sue Downie Cambodia Collection (pdf)

China and Japan

A collection of 661 titles of classical Japanese and Chinese literature, literary criticism and history, dating from as early as 1661. Originally assembled by Mr Susumu Suetsugu, the collection was donated to Monash University by the Australian Defence Force School of Languages in 1997. Many volumes contain annotations by Mr Suetsugu, adding to their research value.
Inventory for Suetsugu Book Collection (via Library catalogue)
The Australia Tibet Council Collection consists of a donation of research on Tibet related material, including journals, books and ephemera. The collection documents the political struggle, culture, and history of Tibet.
Contact specialcollections@monash.edu for assistance accessing items in this collection.

Indonesia

A collection of nearly 1,500 books published by Balai Pustaka between 1911 and 1980, with particularly strong holdings from the 1920s and 1930s. It has Indonesian literature, both traditional and translated works, almanacs and educational publications in Indonesian, Dutch and regional Indonesian languages.
Inventory for Balai Pustaka collection (pdf)
Books, pamphlets, newspapers and microforms relating to Associate Professor Charles Coppel’s (1937 -) research on ethnic Chinese communities in 20th-century Indonesia. Strengths include literature in colloquial Malay, materials on Chinese religious traditions, resources on assimilation policies, government attitudes towards Chinese Indonesians and anti-Chinese violence in the late 1990s.
Inventory for Charles Coppel Research Collection (pdf)
Over 2,000 books and serials on Indonesia from the Dutch East Indies era, primarily written in Dutch and dating from the 19th century to 1950. The collection is named after Emeritus Professor Merle Calvin Ricklefs (1943–2019), a leading international scholar of Indonesian history. .
Inventory for Merle Ricklefs Collection (pdf)
This large collection of over 2000 pamphlets is mainly from Indonesia with a smaller quantity from other parts of Southeast Asia. Most of the pamphlets date from the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s and are in Indonesian, English or Dutch. The collection includes many rare items, such as political pamphlets.
The collection is arranged in pamphlet boxes under very broad subject headings, but for the items that are catalogued, brief author/title entries for each item can be found in Search under Special Collections.
To find items in this collection, select Special Collections search option in the Library Advanced Search and type Indonesia as the search term.
Sundanese is an Austronesian language spoken in West Java by the Sundanese ethnic group. These people migrated from Taiwan circa 1500 BCE throughout South East Asia, Micronesia, Polynesia, Madagascar, Coastal New Guinea and maritime Southeast Asia. The collection contains works by Sundanese authors from the early 1920s through to the 1990s. These works are written in Pegon script.
Inventory for Sundanese-language books
Typewritten and copied typewritten speeches collected by Monash researchers, such as Herb Feith, Jamie Mackie and Harold Crouch present in Indonesia during the late 1950s and 1960s. Sukarno would hold almost weekly speeches and copies were handed out at the events, or later distributed by the respective government departments.
To find items in this collection, select Special Collections search option in the Library Advanced Search and type Surkarno as the search term.
- Sin Po (Indonesian newspaper editions, 1923 - 1942)
  - Note: if you need digitised copies, please request by emailing specialcollections@monash.edu.
- Star Weekly (Indonesian newspaper editions, 1946)
- Indonesia Merdeka (Perhimpoenan Indonesia)

Thailand

The Monash University Library received some 990 vinyl recordings from the Radio Australia Thai Service in May 2002. Individual catalogued titles can be found in the Library catalogue. There are a mixture of LPs, EPs, Singles, 45s and 78s.
Contact specialcollections@monash.edu for assistance accessing items in this collection.

Need help?

If you're having trouble finding items in any of these collections, the Special Collections team can help. Email specialcollections@monash.edu for assistance with locating or accessing collection materials.

Related resources

In addition to the Asian Special Collections listed on this page, the Library provides a wealth of resources to support Asian studies and language research.

Asian studies guide

Explore librarian-recommended databases and resources to support Asian studies and research.