
  • flinders.edu.au
  • Staff
  • Students
  • Library
Flinders University Logo Flinders University Logo
  • Accessing Collections

    Accessing collections

    • Borrowing
    • Branch collections
    • Special collections
    • Document delivery
    • Recommend an item
    • Sendit service
    • Libraries SA Digital
    More
  • Spaces & facilities

    Spaces

    • Central Library
    • Gus Fraenkel Medical Library
    • Sturt Library
    • Tonsley Library
    • Bookings
    • Recording rooms
    • Noel Stockdale room
    • HDR Central

    Facilities

    • Computers
    • Printing & photocopying
    • Staffed hours
    • Digitisation Lab
    • Adaptive technology rooms
    More
  • Students

    Finding resources

    • Findit@Flinders (Library search)
    • Suggested resources by subject
    • Databases
    • Past exams

    Searching skills

    • How-to guides
    • Drop-ins and workshops

    Help & support

    • Contact Library & FLO Help
    • Logging in to Library resources
    • Disibility support & access
    More
  • Researchers

    Our services

    • Advanced searching
    • Bibliometrics
    • Copyright for researchers
    • Document Delivery
    • Flinders publishing platforms
    • ORCiD & academic profiles
    • Read & publish
    • Research data management
    • Statistical tools & services
    • Strategic publishing
    • Systematic reviews
    • Thesis submission to library

    Get support

    • Ask a Library Research query
    • Library drop-ins and workshops
    • Logging in to Library resources
    More
  • Staff

    We help with...

    • Accreditation & course design
    • Copyright for teaching
    • Document delivery
    • Embedding information literacy in topics
    • Library purchase recommendations
    • Open educational resources
    • Readings & resources
    • Textbook selection

    Get support

    • Ask about embedding library skills in a topic
    • Ask about online content for topics
    • Ask a readings query
    • Get Library support for accreditation
    • Get Library support for course design or approval
    • Reading list workshops
    • Logging in to Library resources
    More
  • About

    Quick links

    • About us
    • Opening hours
    • Contact us
    • Bequests
    • Donations
    • Policies & guidelines
    • Work experience program
    More
  • Databases
  • flinders.edu.au
  • Staff
  • Students
  • Library
  • You have no saved courses.

    Continue to explore your course options.

     
    Explore our courses

    Your saved courses

    {{{courseName}}}
    mail_outline
    delete
    View all saved courses
  • Quick links 
    • FindIt@Flinders
    • Databases
    • Journals
    • My library card
    • Opening hours
    • FAQs (AskFlinders)
    • Student Compass
    • Flinders Learning Online (FLO)
    • Book a study space
    • Flinders dashboard (OKTA)
    • Shop Flinders merchandise

 

Borrow Collection

Accessing collections Special collections Borrow Collection

The Collection of Keith Travers Borrow (1917-2005) on the early history of European settlement in South Australia.

The collection contains more than 2000 books and serials, and approximately 65 metres of archival material, paintings, prints, maps, manuscripts, photographs, audiotapes, and card indexes.

The collection of Mr Borrow’s wife Eleanor Yelland is included in the Borrow Collection.

The Borrow Collection is held in Special Collections, Level 3, Central Library, Flinders University.

Conditions of access

For more information, contact, special.collections@flinders.edu.au

borryell

Featured links:

Some Early Recollections by Boyle Travers Finniss: transcript of 46-page manuscript held in the Borrow Collection.

Boyle Travers Finniss was Assistant Surveyor to Colonel William Light when the colony of South Australia was set up in 1836. In his 'Recollections', written in 1882, he describes early encounters with the Aborigines, early settler life, the political and social life of the colony, the progress of surveying and building the city of Adelaide, and his own career which included a term as the first Premier of South Australia under responsible government.

Early Experiences in Australasia: Primary Sources and Personal Narratives 1788-1901

Flinders University staff and students now have access to Early Experiences in Australasia, which provides a personal view of events in the region from the arrival of the first settlers through to Australian Federation at the close of the nineteenth century.   This unique database provides first-person accounts, including letters and diaries, narratives, and other primary source materials.

As Flinders University Library was the first institution to contribute to the Archive, almost all the material currently included in the collection is drawn from our very own Borrow Collection. Come to Special Collections to see the originals of these precious documents

Borrow

Search

Go to the Borrow Collection in findit@flinders. (Add additional search terms in the search box to search within the collection)

Go to photographs in the Borrow Collection in findit@flinders. (Add additional search terms in the search box to search within the collection)

Biography

Keith Travers Borrow (1917-2005) had a life-long interest in the early history of European settlement in South Australia, and was for many years the President of the Pioneers’ Association, an organisation made up of descendants of the pioneers who arrived during the first decade after Adelaide’s establishment in 1836. His father, Travers Borrow, was co-founder of the Association.

The Pioneers’ Association has published a long-running series of pamphlets on topics of interest to South Australian historians, and Mr Borrow was the author of many of these publications. (See their website for a list of publications, copies of all of which are included in the Borrow Collection.) His great-grandfather was Boyle Travers Finniss (1807-1893), one of Colonel Light’s surveyors and later the first Premier of the Colony under responsible government.

Mr Borrow’s wife Eleanor Yelland was another keen historical researcher, author of several publications including Colonists, Copper and Corn in the Colony of South Australia 1850-51, and Flinders University Library also holds her collection of books and papers. They were married in 1973.

The Borrow Collection is immense and varied, and contains many significant items. Apart from Mr Borrow’s correspondence and research notes, there are historical and family letters and photographs, B.T. Finniss’s notebooks, genealogical information on many of South Australia’s founding families, prints and portraits, tapes of interviews with descendants of historical figures, and more than 2000 books and periodicals, including rare antiquarian volumes and early colonial newspapers.

Burbank School
"Burnbank School [built] 1862 + KT Borrow nr Mt Barker" (Photograph Number S0212001, Borrow Collection).

Need help?

Submit an online enquiry about Special Collections
or request an appointment.

Ask about Special Collections

Contact the Library

Flinders University Logo

Sturt Rd, Bedford Park
South Australia 5042

Ph: 1300 354 633 (Select 3)
Email: library@flinders.edu.au

  • Staff Portal
  • Current students
  • Flinders website

Follow Flinders Library

Facebook - Flinders University Twitter - Flinders University

Website feedback and requests

Disclaimer

Accessibility

Privacy

CRICOS Provider: 00114A     TEQSA Provider ID: PRV12097      TEQSA category: Australian University

Last Updated: 27 Mar 2023
Fearless Logo

This website uses cookies

Flinders University uses cookies to ensure website functionality, personalisation, and for a variety of purposes described in the website privacy statement. For details about these cookies and how to set your cookie preferences, refer to our website privacy statement.

You consent to the use of our cookies if you proceed.

Accept and continue