- Our Special Collections were established in 1986, when the Australian Defence Force Academy (ADFA) campus of UNSW was created in Canberra.
- We are physically located in a purpose-built wing of the Academy Library on the UNSW Canberra campus.
- The Duntroon Rare Book Collection, on permanent loan to UNSW Canberra, seeded the collection.
- The Special Collections reputation for excellence was established in the early years, growing the collection through strategic acquisition.
- We opened the John Howard Reading Room in 2015, formed a partnership with the National Archives of Australia (NAA) for custody and access to the John Howard Collection, focused on collection management, refurbished the Special Collections wing, and created a new repository.
- In 2018 Special Collections separated as an organisational unit from the Academy Library. Access to most manuscript collections was opened. We continue to make more manuscript collections discoverable and encourage self-service digitisation.