Edward Augustus Petherick ran a wholesale book-selling business in Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide, which wound up in 1893. He had a vast collection of books, charts and other documents relating to Australasia, which he gave to the Commonwealth Government in 1909. Housed at the Exhibition Building, it became the basis of the National Library of Australia's collection. In the same year, he was appointed archivist to the federal Parliament. When he died he was in the process of compiling a bibliography of Australasia. Parts of it were published in the Victorian Historical Magazine in 1911 and 1912.
