Australian bookshops keep stubborn shelves in a small market, one on Bourke Street, two in Sydney. Hill of Content holds literature and non-fiction as a Bourke Street historic bookshop in Melbourne. Abbey's Bookshop specializes in sci-fi and crime as a Sydney genre bookshop founded in 1968 by Ron and Eve Abbey. Gould's Book Arcade stacks dense second-hand books and specialist subjects in Sydney. A good shop hides its surprises on the staff picks shelf, so that is where to start.
Operating since 1978 on Lagoon Road, the Lord Howe Island Museum holds 50,000+ specimens tracing the island's history to its 1834 discovery, including its stick-insect recovery program. Its free shop sells island-made crafts and natural history books.
Best for Island-made crafts and natural history books
The Lord Howe Island Museum has operated since 1978 on Lagoon Road, holding more than 50,000 scientific specimens, books, photographs and cultural objects that trace the island's natural and human history back to its 1834 discovery - the source of the museum's own tagline, "Discovering more since 1834." Admission is free every day of the week, with the museum relying on donations, bequests and sponsorships rather than ticket sales to stay open, a model that keeps the collection accessible to both residents and the relatively small number of visitors the island receives each year. The permanent galleries cover the island's geology, biodiversity and conservation history, and give particular attention to the Lord Howe Island phasmid, a large flightless stick insect once thought extinct and now the subject of an active recovery program that the museum treats as a flagship story rather than one exhibit among many. The attached shop is built around the same material: books and locally authored titles tied to the island's natural history, art prints, screen-printed tea towels made by island artisans, and wood-turned crafts, rather than generic souvenirs bought in from elsewhere. Buying something here supports a museum that charges nothing at the door, and most of what's on the shelf ties directly back to the collection and conservation work happening in the galleries behind it.
Hares & Hyenas is a community bookshop inside the Victorian Pride Centre in St Kilda specialising in queer literature, covering fiction, biography, sex education, trans and non-binary titles and parenting books. It also stocks comics, poetry, plays, magazines, CDs, vinyl and DVDs alongside rainbow merchandise.
The Heide Shop is run by Third Drawer Down for the Heide Museum of Modern Art in Bulleen, Victoria, selling art books, jewellery, homewares, and exhibition tie-ins like its current Brassai: Secret Paris collection. Purchases can be made online or in person at the museum, which sits on sixteen acres along the Yarra River.
Best for Museum-shop, art-books, jewelry, homewares
Hill of Content is an independent Melbourne bookshop founded in 1922, with a long reputation for curated literature and nonfiction. Since 2025, the shop has traded at 1/32 Bourke Street.
Best for Bourke Street historic bookshop, curated literature, and non-fiction
The Koorie Heritage Trust's ShopKHT sells Aboriginal cultural objects such as boomerangs, coolamons, and message sticks alongside craft, apparel, books, and homewares made by First Peoples' makers. It operates both online and from the Trust's free-entry home at Federation Square in Melbourne, open daily from 10am to 5pm.
Best for Aboriginal-art, craft, cultural-objects, books
The National Gallery of Victoria's design store is Australia's benchmark museum retail — local makers, exhibition editions and serious design books on St Kilda Road.
Melbourne CBD bookshop on Bourke Street operating since the late 1960s, known for densely packed shelves and late hours (open to 11.30pm Friday and Saturday); runs a free monthly author Salon Series downstairs at the Bard's Apothecary.
Best for Literary paperbacks, poetry and independent presses
The Paperback Bookshop has operated at the quiet end of Bourke Street in Melbourne's CBD since the late 1960s - co-owner Rosy Morton, who has owned the shop since 2000, dates its founding to either 1968 or 1969. It originally stocked paperback editions of Australian and international titles and has since broadened into a wide range of fiction, classics, travel and art books, packed densely enough into the small space that browsing the whole shop takes only minutes. The Paperback Bookshop also runs a free monthly Salon Series, inviting authors to discuss recent releases at the Bard's Apothecary space downstairs.
Sydney genre bookshop founded 1968 by Ron and Eve Abbey, now at 131 York Street opposite the Queen Victoria Building, with sci-fi/fantasy sister store Galaxy Bookshop upstairs.
Best for Specialist sci-fi and crime bookshop.
Abbey's Bookshop was founded in Sydney in 1968 by Ron and Eve Abbey at 115 Pitt Street, moving a year later into the Queen Victoria Building. Following the QVB's 1980s restoration it relocated to 66 King Street, where the family also ran Penguin Bookshop (from 1977) and Oxford and Cambridge Bookshop (from 1978); all three moved to the current premises at 131 York Street, opposite the QVB, in 1986. A dedicated genre imprint, Galaxy Bookshop, specializing in science fiction, fantasy and horror, opened separately in 1975 and now operates from the same building. Ron Abbey retired in 1994; after later co-shareholders also retired, Eve Abbey became sole shareholder, with her son Alan Abbey serving as managing director.
Ariel Booksellers, established in 1985 and now at 326 Oxford Street, Paddington, is one of Sydney's oldest independent bookshops, focused heavily on art, design and architecture titles. It also stocks poetry, plays, film history and literature alongside cards, tarot decks and gift items.
The Art Gallery of New South Wales runs its Gallery Shop on Art Gallery Road in Sydney's Domain, selling exhibition-exclusive prints, books, and homewares tied to shows like the Brett Whiteley retrospective and Avatar: Forms of Vishnu. Every purchase funds the gallery directly, and members receive a 10% discount both in person and through the online store.
Berkelouw Books operates as an online and independent bookshop network with its customer support based at the Paddington store, selling both new and rare books. The site also buys books from customers and lists additional store locations and events.
Better Read Than Dead is a Newtown bookstore described on its site as a literary landmark that nourishes the neighbourhood's intellectual dynamics. It hosts regular author and community events.
Sydney's Newtown bookshop since 1967 — 25,000+ titles spanning history, politics, rare out-of-print, and Australiana.
Best for Dense second-hand books and specialist subjects
Gould's Book Arcade was established in 1967 as a literary hub serving Sydney University and Newtown's intellectually engaged community. The shop moved to its current location at 536 King Street, Newtown in late 2018 (opposite Alice Street, near the New Theatre). It is a local, family-run bookshop and member of the Australian Booksellers Association (ABA). Gould's specializes in out-of-print books, publishers' remainders from the last 40 years, and second-hand books, with Australian history, politics, and Australiana as core specialties. The shop stocks over 25,000 books, mostly non-fiction but including literary fiction, medical journals, New Age self-help, biographies, and rare pamphlets. Established over 50 years ago, Gould's remains a Newtown institution.
Red Eye Records, at 143 York Street, Sydney, sells new and secondhand vinyl, CDs, cassettes and 7-inch singles across genres from rock and jazz to hip-hop, electronic and soundtracks. It also stocks DVDs, Blu-rays, books and magazines, with a dedicated Australian and New Zealand releases section.
Independent record store at 413 King St, Newtown, Sydney, specializing in punk, indie and underground Australian and international vinyl, CDs and cassettes, plus a second-hand books section. Opened in Penrith in 2002, moved to Newtown in 2008.
Best for Australian punk, indie and underground vinyl
Repressed Records started in 2002 in Penrith, on Sydney's western outskirts, where it operated until a local JB Hi-Fi opening made the market harder for an independent shop to compete in. The store relocated to Newtown in 2008, a move that came with a shift toward a more specialized selection focused on independent and underground music from Australia and abroad. Vinyl is the primary format, but the shop also stocks CDs and cassettes spanning genres from punk to classical, and carries a secondary but genuine line in second-hand books. Beyond retail, Repressed Records has hosted live instores over the years, ranging from small events up to shows at the Sydney Opera House.
Built in 1884 on Adelaide Street in Birdsville, this outback pub pairs a bar and restaurant with motel accommodation. It also takes bookings for scenic flights and Simpson Desert tours.
Cairns Books is a locally owned independent bookshop specialising in Far North Queensland titles alongside fiction, children's books, travel and foreign-language stock. It is the official local stockist for Paperblanks journals.
Set within the Australian Garden at Cranbourne, this shop sells nature-inspired homewares, botanic art prints, stationery, and Australian native-design decor alongside gardening books and tools. Proceeds go directly toward the conservation and horticultural work of Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria.
Fannys Bay is a family-run distillery on Tasmania's north-east coast, matured just metres from the Bass Strait shoreline at Mathew and Julie Cooper's home in Lulworth, with small-batch releases like its Shiraz and Port cask whiskies. Visitors can book a cellar-door tasting by appointment, and the whisky is also sold through the distillery's online shop.
Best for Visitors can book a cellar-door tasting by appointment
Happy Valley’s shelves move between new books, independent magazines, vinyl, prints and compact design gifts. Online orders can be collected in store, and purchases are wrapped in unbleached brown paper.
Best for Books, independent magazines, art prints, records, design objects and gifts
Magabala Books is an Indigenous-owned Australian publishing house, based in Broome and publishing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander writers and illustrators since 1987. Its list spans picture books, fiction, poetry and cultural histories.
Matilda Bookshop is an independent bookshop in Stirling in the Adelaide Hills, owned and staffed by booklovers who offer personalised book recommendations and a subscription service. The shop runs six book clubs and author events, and was named Australian Book Industry Awards Bookshop of the Year in 2023.
Best for Personalised book recommendations and book clubs
Mostly Books is Adelaide's oldest bookstore, established in 1977 and located at 119 Belair Road, Torrens Park, inside Mitcham Square. The shop stocks a wide range of books and audiobooks, sells gift cards and produces a podcast called Books on the Go.
Housed in the convict-era Royal Engineers Office beside Kingston Pier, the R.E.O. is the Norfolk Island Museum's book, souvenir and refreshment shop. It carries an exclusive range of island-history titles and gifts, and is also where visitors gather to join the museum's tours.
Orchard Bookshop is a boutique bookstore in Adelaide Arcade selling hand-picked new, vintage and collectible books, both in store and online with a weekly Sunday Drop of new stock. The shop also buys books from customers and offers free postage within Australia on orders over $50.
Page & Turner is an Adelaide bookshop selling popular current titles and pre-loved books, audiobooks, music CDs and other media, including collectible Folio Society and Penguin editions. The shop operates both a physical Adelaide store and an online shop with free shipping on orders over $50.
Trading since 1995 at 32 Smith Street, this fair-trade gallery buys directly from local Indigenous artists, keeps prices steady year-round and supplies certificates of authenticity. The building also houses a street-level secondhand bookstore, and regularly shows the Numina Sisters.
Best for Fair-trade Aboriginal art with provenance
Owner Anna Savvas runs Darwin's only locally-owned independent new bookstore, moved to Smith Street Mall in 2014, with strong sections on Aboriginal culture and Territory history. The shop sources out-of-print titles globally and hosts author signings, launches and children's events.
Norfolk Island's original newsagency and souvenir shop, the Trading Post has operated for over 30 years and now sits in the Norfolk Mall at Burnt Pine. It stocks island souvenir books, gifts and mementoes, sold in store and through its website.
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