MAHTHA activities

National Library of Australia manuscripts collection

Most original documents relating to the life and work of Michael and Honor Thwaites are deposited with the Manuscripts Collection of the National Library of Australia.

MAHTHA remains responsible for authorising access to these materials for purposes of research or publication.

The National Library currently has no budget to allocate to the work of indexing manuscript collections such as this. Only cataloguing tasks funded by external grants can be undertaken.

Consequently, most of the manuscripts, notes, correspondence and other documents of historical interest are not yet displayed in the Library’s online catalogue. Any search requires manual access and sifting through any of the 70-plus boxes.

The MAHTHA Committee has met with the manuscripts librarians and continues to seek ways to expedite the cataloguing of the collection.

For the time being, the National Library forwards all requests for research access for individual approval by MAHTHA. As material is catalogued, we hope to make more of the collection more freely available for public access.

A Catch of the Breath

In 2010 MAHTHA was able to offer a small amount of support to Rob Thwaites’ production of A Catch of the Breath, his performance work based on the life and poetry of his grandfather, Michael Thwaites.

The production ran for over a week in conjunction with the Brisbane Arts Festival, and received enthusiastic reviews.

To listen to a pair of critics discussing A Catch of the Breath on ABC Radio, click here.