The tour is in its final stages for 2013, travelling to 26 rural and regional schools—estimated to reach 750 students and teachers—with a collection of national treasures.

State Library representatives Pauline Fitzgerald, Stephanie Gaspari and Gillian Gratton visited Glen Innes Public School to present a snapshot of colonial Australia through a collection of priceless documents and artefacts from Australia’s history.

The exhibition included one of Captain James Cook’s shoe buckles, worn when invited to court to meet King George III, a First Fleet letter written by Newton Fowell to his father dated 1788 in which he categorically describes the region and environment of the first Australian settlement, indigenous word databases collected as early as the 19th century (one from Glen Innes documenting words from the Ngoorabul language), as well as a letter dated from 1792 written by Mary Reibey, Australia’s first business woman whose image appears on the $20 bill.

The collections of letters, particularly, are treasured as intimate accounts of colonial history, offering a unique and subjective insight into the lives of convict settlers and their relationship with the land and with indigenous inhabitants.

“They really change the way we talk about history because we didn’t have this kind of account.” Ms Fitzgerald told the Examiner.

One telling account of Australia’s colonial heritage comes from a series of paintings created by a young aboriginal boy travelling with the prominent colonial artist Eugene von Guérard.

Guérard was known for documenting the Australian landscape including the Blue Mountains (1873) and Mount Kosciusko (1863) and, according to Ms Fitzgerald’s presentation, was accompanied by Johnny Kangatong (also known as Johnny Dawson) who sketched a number of subjective images of European settlers offering a revealing insight into the postcolonial experience.

The “Far Out! Treasures to the Bush” tour, supported by the Caledonian Foundation, will visit also Tingha and Inverell, with students from Ashford, Warialda and Uralla all offered the opportunity to interact with the exhibit.

NSW State Librarian and Chief Executive Dr Alex Byrne noted the success of the tour in reaching out to isolated and rural communities with rich and influential resources.

“What’s really exciting about this unique interactive program is that we’re reaching to number of small and isolated schools with student numbers as low as eight, 10 and 11.”

Tuesday’s exhibition was attended by a number of local and surrounding schools, with Deepwater Public School, Wytaliba Public School, Emmaville Central School, and Red Range Public School travelling to attend.

The presentation encouraged students to delve into the annals of Australian heritage, involving the students in a number of interactive objects including replicas of convict clothing and nautical instruments used by Captain Cook in his numerous voyages.

In the case of the Mary Reibey letter, Ms Fitzgerald said it is an opportunity to see the effect of the convict experience, with Reibey only 15 at the time of transportation.

In a particularly personal line in a letter dated October 8 1792, she wrote:

“I will make myself as happy as I can in my present and unhappy situation.”

With all artefacts available on the NSW State Library website, Dr Byrne said the workshop and the artefacts provide “remote access to a wealth of high quality online resources.”

The workshop was well received in Glen Innes, with both teachers and students offering thanks to Ms Fitzgerald, Ms Gaspari and Ms Gratton for offering a rich insight into colonial Australian heritage.