Victoria University Library manages the Patrick Wolfe monograph collection on behalf of the Aboriginal History Archive, Moondani Balluk Indigenous Academic Unit. Special collections items can't be borrowed, but may be viewed on appointment in the special collections reading room on level 4 of the Footscray Park Campus library in consultation with the Aboriginal History Archive.

Contact: special.collections@vu.edu.au 

The collection contains around 1400 books and a few single journal issues, which formed the personal library of Patrick Wolfe at the time of his death in 2016. It is a snapshot of a time in history and the study of race, colonialism, Aboriginal histories, genocide, theories of imperialism, and the history of anthropology. A wide range of subject areas are represented in the collection including Indigenous peoples, religion, philosophy, race, Marxism, and women’s rights.

View or download the list of material in the Patrick Wolfe Collection [PDF below].

Patrick Wolfe (1949-2016) was a historian and scholar in the field of settler colonial studies. His book, Settler Colonialism and the Transformation of Anthropology, was published in 1999. This account of European settlement and colonialisation of Australia, with other examples of colonial settlement, had worldwide impact. His work involved the study of race and settler colonialism in the United States, Canada, Australia, South Africa, Brazil, Israel and India.

Link through to further information regarding the life and work of Patrick Wolfe [VU authenticated access required on some items]. His life and work was celebrated in the publication 'Aboriginal History' (Vol. 40, 2016) in a section titled 'In Memoriam Patrick Wolfe 1949–2016'. Some of the linked articles below are from this publication:

• Forum on Patrick Wolfe. (Verso Books, 2017).

• Patrick Wolfe, my ‘Bondhu’: In memoriam. (Chakrabarty, 2016)

• 'Patrick Wolfe’s dialectics'. (Veracini, 2016)

• Tracing the settler's tools: A forum on Patrick Wolfe's life and legacy. (Franklin, Njoroge & Reiss, 2017)

• Patrick Wolfe and the settler-colonial intervention. (Strakosch & Macoun, 2017)

• Talking race: Patrick Wolfe’s scholarly activism (Tracey Banivanua Mar, 2016)

Patrick Wolfe wrote and collaborated with colleagues. Here is a sample of his work available through VU library. [VU authentication required]: