Australian Dictionary of Biography
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ausdictionarybiog.bsky.social
Australian Dictionary of Biography
@ausdictionarybiog.bsky.social
230 followers 250 following 87 posts
📖 Est. 1959
🖋 Based in the National Centre of Biography, Australian National University
📍 On Ngunnawal/Ngambri land

https://adb.anu.edu.au
https://history.cass.anu.edu.au/centres/ncb
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ausdictionarybiog.bsky.social
Note: This post contains photos of people who have died.

The ADB’s First Nations Working Party is adding more entries on Indigenous subjects all the time.

To read more, visit adb.anu.edu.au

📷 NAA + families + Elders
July 24, 2025 at 2:51 AM
ausdictionarybiog.bsky.social
🎵 Mama Pasifika we got to stand strong 🎵

Read about Lea Firth & the Black Sistaz in the ninth volume of AJBH.

Access free via @anupress.bsky.social

press-files.anu.edu.au/downloads/pr...
July 21, 2025 at 5:02 AM
ausdictionarybiog.bsky.social
ADB team members @michellestaff.bsky.social & @as-ruby.bsky.social have reviewed the National Library of Australia's Fit to Print exhibition for @historyaustralia.bsky.social 📸

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

📷 Women playing rugby, 1930, NLA
women playing rugby
July 17, 2025 at 2:09 AM
ausdictionarybiog.bsky.social
The Oceania takeover of the ADB social media channels continues 🌊

Today we’re looking at @taleilu.bsky.social's article on Amelia Rokotuivuna and her intellectual legacy.

Read it free online with @anupress.bsky.social 👇

#oceanialives
July 16, 2025 at 5:46 AM
ausdictionarybiog.bsky.social
Pauline Reynolds’ article in the AJBH no. 9 starts with a small rectangular barkcloth (tapa) and expands into a poetic reflection on family history and memory

Read it online open access thanks to @anupress.bsky.social

press-files.anu.edu.au/downloads/pr...
July 14, 2025 at 6:47 AM
ausdictionarybiog.bsky.social
Norman Hetherington is best known as a puppeteer and children’s entertainer, but he started his career first as a commercial artist, then became a cartoonist for The Bulletin ✏️

Learn all about him in his new ADB entry:

adb.anu.edu.au/biography/he...

📷 AWM + Trove
July 11, 2025 at 5:54 AM
ausdictionarybiog.bsky.social
From AJBH no. 9, Oceania Lives 🌊

An exploration of the life of Futukava, by Ruth (Lute) Faleolo & Emma ‘Ilaiū Vehikite

Read it online via @anupress.bsky.social now

press-files.anu.edu.au/downloads/pr...
July 9, 2025 at 4:49 AM
ausdictionarybiog.bsky.social
Another day, another fantastic article from the Oceania Lives issue of the AJBH!

Lisa Hilli’s article sheds light on a remarkable group of Papua New Guinean women, the FMI Sisters of Vunapope.

Read it via @anupress.bsky.social online: press.anu.edu.au/publications...

#oceanialives
July 7, 2025 at 4:46 AM
ausdictionarybiog.bsky.social
We've teamed up with the @nationalmuseumaus.bsky.social to produce a special entry on the creator of Mr Squiggle, Norman Hetherington 🎨

Have a read, then check out the exhibition Mr Squiggle and Friends: The Creative World of Norman Hetherington

adb.anu.edu.au/biography/he...

📷 NMA
A man sits surrounded by marionettes
July 4, 2025 at 1:42 AM
ausdictionarybiog.bsky.social
Next up in the Oceania Lives series we're taking a look at the story of Aboriginal and South Sea Islander leader, artist and writer, Mabel Edmund

Read the full article in the AJBH:

press-files.anu.edu.au/downloads/pr...
July 1, 2025 at 11:56 PM
ausdictionarybiog.bsky.social
Up first from the ‘Oceania Lives’ issue of the AJBH is an article on Aboriginal and South Sea Islander activist, photographer and radio broadcaster, Lisa Bellear (1961-2006)

press-files.anu.edu.au/downloads/pr...
July 1, 2025 at 11:28 PM
ausdictionarybiog.bsky.social
#onthisday the ABC was established 📻📺
July 1, 2025 at 12:47 AM
ausdictionarybiog.bsky.social
Every Monday for the next few weeks the ADB’s Oceania Working Party will be taking over this account to share articles from their recent special issue of the Australian Journal of Biography & History, ‘Oceania Lives’ 💫

@anupress.bsky.social @anu-chl.bsky.social
June 30, 2025 at 12:37 AM
ausdictionarybiog.bsky.social
Learn about the fateful Second Fleet voyage in the ADB and in our journal, the Australian Journal of Biography and History @anupress.bsky.social ⚓️

For a taster, read the blog by Nichola Garvey for VIDA @auswhn.bsky.social

www.auswhn.com.au/blog/the-nep...
June 27, 2025 at 12:06 AM
ausdictionarybiog.bsky.social
One for our overseas readers ✈️

Last year we published an entry on acclaimed artist and designer Leigh Bowery ✒️

This year Tate Modern is hosting an exhibition to mark Bowery’s ‘boundary-pushing career’ 🎨

adb.anu.edu.au/biography/bo...

www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tat...

📷 Robyn Beeche Foundation
Picture of a person in colourful costume against a space-themed backdrop
June 23, 2025 at 3:32 AM
ausdictionarybiog.bsky.social
#bornonthisday in 1885: Dorothea Pavy (née Proud), teacher, sociologist & lawyer 👩‍🎓

adb.anu.edu.au/biography/pa...

📷 State Library of South Australia
June 19, 2025 at 12:32 AM
ausdictionarybiog.bsky.social
#OnThisDay in 1815 the Battle of Waterloo brought an end to the Napoleonic Wars

It might surprise you to know that there are plenty of people in the ADB whose lives were shaped by this conflict.

adb.anu.edu.au

📷 @utas.edu.au @statelibraryqld.bsky.social @nationalarmymuseum.bsky.social
Painting of Napoleonic War with text 'The Napoleonic Wars might seem worlds away from Australian history, but they did impact the colonies and its people in different ways' Painting of a man with text 'Held as a prisoner of war at Verdun until Napoleon's abdication in 1814. Alexander Maconochie, naval officer, geographer and penal reformer.' Photo of a man with text 'His father was killed in action at sea in the Napoleonic wars. Benjamin Cribb, businessman and politician.' Image of a man with text 'Served as an ensign in the Hull Volunteers and saw action in the Napoleonic war before 1805. John Leake, pastoralist.'
June 18, 2025 at 6:32 AM
ausdictionarybiog.bsky.social
This Pride Month we are continuing to spotlight queer subjects in the ADB 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️

Today it’s writer and playwright, Sumner Locke Elliott. Though he spent the majority of his life in the United States, many of his works reflected his Australian roots.

adb.anu.edu.au/biography/el...
Photo of a 19-year-old man. Text reads: 'Sumner Locke Elliott was a talented Australian writer' Book cover of 'Careful, He Might Hear You', by Sumner Locke Elliott. Caption reads: 'In 1963 he won the Miles Franklin prize' Book cover of Fairyland, by Sumner Locke Elliott. Caption reads: 'His last novel, Fairyland, was 'a significant "coming out" narrative' Photo of a man with the text: 'Learn more about him in the ADB'
June 16, 2025 at 12:19 AM
ausdictionarybiog.bsky.social
Meet trans personality and fashionista, Lady Paula Howard.

This entry was an opportunity to reflect on our practices when writing the lives of trans or other gender-diverse people, and we were ably guided by author @noahriseman.bsky.social

adb.anu.edu.au/biography/ho...

📷 Seahorse Victoria
Image of a woman in a pink and white dress with a pink fascinator on her head. The texts reads: 'Lady Paula Howard, fashionista & trans personality'
June 12, 2025 at 1:03 AM
ausdictionarybiog.bsky.social
Finding and telling the stories of LGBTQI+ people from the past can be challenging, especially when the archives are full of silences. But, as Sylvia Martin shows, it can be done 🏳️‍🌈 🏳️‍⚧️

adb.anu.edu.au/biography/pa...

📷 Aileen Palmer ANU Archives
June 10, 2025 at 3:53 AM
ausdictionarybiog.bsky.social
🚨New issue alert🚨

The 9th installment of the Australian Journal of Biography and History is out TODAY!

This special issue on Oceania Lives is an initiative of the ADB’s Oceania Working Party.

@anupress.bsky.social
June 4, 2025 at 1:09 AM
ausdictionarybiog.bsky.social
The end of National Reconciliation Week marks the date of the Mabo decision.

Historian Henry Reynolds describes Mabo v. Qld as sparking 'a transformation of truly global significance.'

adb.anu.edu.au/the-quest-fo...

📷 Courtesy of Trevor Graham, Yarra Bank Films + Powerhouse Museum
Four men in suits stand in front of a statue.
June 3, 2025 at 4:25 AM
ausdictionarybiog.bsky.social
National Reconciliation Week starts today.

27 May marks the date of the 1967 referendum, which saw 90.77% of voters say YES to improving Aboriginal rights.

Read more about this history-making moment in the ADB’s Quest for Indigenous Recognition project.

adb.anu.edu.au/the-quest-fo...

📷 NAA
A group of people stand facing the camera
May 27, 2025 at 12:02 AM
ausdictionarybiog.bsky.social
Today marks 8 years since the Uluṟu Statement from the Heart was delivered as ‘a gift to the Australian people’.

This moment features in the ADB’s Quest for Reconciliation Project in a piece by @profmdavis.bsky.social

adb.anu.edu.au/the-quest-fo...

📷 @ulurustatement.bsky.social
Picture of the Uluṟu Statement from the Heart
May 26, 2025 at 2:51 AM
ausdictionarybiog.bsky.social
#OTD in 1912 Walter Burley Griffin's design for Canberra was selected as the winner of an international competition.

His wife Marion produced the beautiful illustrations and likely helped develop the concept too.

Read all about her in a brand new ADB entry👇

adb.anu.edu.au/.../griffin-...
A woman looking to the side. Image from the National Library of Australia. A couple standing in a doorway. Image from the National Library of Australia. A landscape design for Canberra. Image from National Archives of Australia.
May 22, 2025 at 10:50 PM