Who we are

The Ephemera Society of Australia Inc. (ESA) is a longstanding association of individuals and institutions united by their personal and professional passions for ephemera.

Since the Ephemera Society of Australia was inaugurated in 1987, its members have been actively sharing their passions for collecting, studying, preserving, designing and creating with ephemera. The Society has an active publishing, events and social program with members sharing information through the Ephemera Journal of Australia, newsletters, social media, show & tells, exhibitions, collectable fairs, symposiums, talks, collection visits and social gatherings.

There is a strong focus on collecting Australian ephemera but not to the exclusion of ephemera from other countries.

The Purposes of the ESA

In October 2025, the ESA formally adopted these purposes:

The purposes for which the Ephemera Society of Australia is established are: –

  1. To encourage the preservation, study and display of ephemera*.
  2. To form a link between collectors offering a means of contact, information and mutual assistance.
  3. To offer guidance on all matters of ephemera for example dating, cataloguing and collection management, storage, display, filing, conservation, possible sources.
  4. To promote interest in ephemera through study meetings, lectures including a symposium, visits, and publications.
  5. To increase awareness of ephemera amongst a wider public by means of online content, social media channels, exhibitions and media coverage.
  6. To arrange swap-and-sell sessions for members of the ESA and to organise ephemera fairs open to the public.
  7. To offer advice to anyone wishing to dispose of ephemera.
  8. Represent the interests of Australian collectors of ephemera.
  9. Promote the history and culture of Australia, as represented by ephemera in private and public collections.
  10. Conduct the ESA and ESA activities on a respectful, non-political and non-sectarian basis.Do all necessary other things to the attainment of the above purposes or any of them.
  11. Do all things necessary to attain these purposes.

*’Ephemera’ is used to denote the marginalia of everyday life that are produced or manufactured specifically to use and throw away. The term covers a wide range of items for example letterheads, advertising novelties, tram tickets, magazines, souvenirs, school reports, packaging, price tickets, trade cards, auction notices etc.

We follow the Model Rules established and updated by Consumer Affairs Victoria. Click HERE to access the ESA Rules as as PDF.

Our ABN is 73 754 280 291.

The Society is incorporated via Consumer Affairs Victoria. Our incorporation number is A 13643 M.

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History

ESA was formally established in August 1987 to unite collectors in Australia. It came about through the efforts of a visiting museum curator, Honor Godfrey, who was an organiser and member of the English Society. Honor was a paper bag collector. She was an inspirational leader and in Melbourne in late 1986, she gathered together a small group to investigate interest in setting up a society here for collectors. The first meeting was attended by Andy McGuigan, Colin Duggan and Murray Walker. (Murray was the innovative curator of two great recent exhibitions, Colonial crafts of Victoria at the National Gallery of Victoria in 1979 and more importantly The Great SIO exhibition at the Museum of Victoria in 1985 (a sesqui-centenary exhibition for Victoria). A month later as momentum grew, Mimmo Cozzolino, designer and author of Symbols of Australia (1980) joined the group.

Honor and her team decided to launch an Australian ephemera society with: a newsletter, The Ephemerist; an exhibition at the Queen’s Hall in the State Library of Victoria; and the first ESA ephemera – a poster and a combined brochure and membership application form.
The State Library of Victoria was very receptive to the proposed ESA as the Picture Librarian Christine Downer was already building a treasure trove of postcards, invitations, tickets and other ephemeral items in the Picture Collection.
Right from the start there was debate about the merits of using the term ephemera – what does it mean? The first membership information from ESA asked people to consider joining ‘the whatsy which society’.

promotional postcard for the Ephemera Society of Australia

Grand Ephemera Fairs

The twice yearly ephemera and collectables’ fairs in Melbourne have been a constant in ESA activities. Irrespective of venue, the fairs have provided collectors with an ongoing, lively forum for treasure seeking, sharing information and catching up with fellow enthusiasts.

The fair was first held in the Swanston Street foyer of the State Library of Victoria. When the fair outgrew the library, it moved to the Malvern Town Hall, a well recognised location for antique and collectables fairs. The town hall was proximate to many antique, collectables and bookshops. As well as the trading of ephemera, ESA was also able to offer a valuation service courtesy of Rick Milne.

The  ESA looked for a new location in March 2013 and moved to the Kew Heights Sports Club. This was followed by a relocation to the Parkview Room in the Camberwell Civic Centre, convenient to the Camberwell Sunday Market.

The fairs’ success over the years has been due to the quality and range of the material on offer, the expertise of stallholders and the goodwill of many members of the ESA and its dedicated Fair Committee. 

ESA Fair Design, 2026, Mimmo Cozzolino.
Poster for the ESA Grand Ephemera Fair for 23 October 1994 at the Malvern Town Hall.

Publications

The ESA has always produced its own well designed ephemera. And in this regard has always benefited from the efforts of Melbourne designers (including Mimmo Cozzolino, Phil Ellett, Natasha Dumais, Andrew Budge, Susannah Lowe) and design students from Swinburne University.

The ESA has been determined that its publications be collectable. Much to the inconvenience of libraries and binders, Ephemera News has not maintained a standard size and was published in many formats – printed on a paper bag, as a poster, folded like a napkin, reproducing a 45 record, with a hand delivered wine stain. Ephemera News ceased production in 2015 after #50 (Note #51 was published earlier in 2014)  and was superseded by the Ephemera Journal of Australia – a full colour publication. 

TripleMRocksESABumperSticker6cQ6
Bumper sticker says Triple M rocks the Ephemera Society of Australia

Exhibitions

The ESA’s opening exhibition in 1987 at the State Library of Victoria, ‘What is ephemera?’, was a great success and drew on the strengths of members and their collections. Some of these early members were set designers who ensured that the collections were beautifully displayed. The following year, ESA’s second exhibition, ‘Growing up in Australia’, again at the State Library of Victoria, was a popular crowd pleaser. In 2016 we presented ‘Cabinets of Wonder’ at the Royal Historical Society of Victoria (RHSV). This exhibition showcased a colourful and eclectic mix of members’ collecting passions.

Poster for the second ESA exhibition , Growing up in Australia– the ephemera of childhood at the State Library of Victoria, September/October 1988. Size: 464 x 635 mm.
Poster for the second ESA exhibition , Growing up in Australia– the ephemera of childhood at the State Library of Victoria, September/October 1988. Size: 464 x 635 mm.
Poster for the second ESA exhibition , Growing up in Australia– the ephemera of childhood at the State Library of Victoria, September/October 1988. Size: 464 x 635 mm.

Meetings Conferences Symposia

Collectors like to talk about their collections and learn about ephemera. To this end, the ESA under Honor, followed by Committee Members Kris Waters and Ed Jewell, maintains a programme of ‘show and tell’ meetings with the occasional formal talk from an expert or visit to a site (Spicers Paper and Sands Cards). 

ESA also organised two major conferences featuring talks and presentations from local, interstate and international delegates. The Ephemera 90 Conference and Fair in 1990 and The Who, What and Why of Collecting in 1993 were both held at the Meat Market Craft Centre, Melbourne. Since 2002, the Society has hosted annual, one-day symposia in Melbourne, featuring illustrated talks and lively discussion.