If you do not stop to look,
you might miss all the beauty.
you might miss all the beauty.
- Giang, student at Bonnyrigg High School
The State Library of New South Wales is a gateway to the past and a bridge to the future. In 2026, over 100 young people from Western Sydney visited the State Library and found parts of themselves hidden within its archives, collections and galleries. With the Library as their own time machine, the students used poetry to explore their past, celebrate their present, and rewrite their future.
This book collects the best of their work and is, like the Library’s own collection, a treasure trove of poems with deep personal meaning. There are poems about culture and family history, deeply-felt responses to artifacts, and fascinating poems that breathe new life into time-honoured texts.