ADB Entries

The Australian Dictionary of Biography's State, Commonwealth, Armed Services and Indigenous Working Parties draw up the various lists of individuals selected for inclusion in the ADB and give advice on appropriate authors. Authors with a particular knowledge of the subjects or their fields are commissioned to write the articles. When the entries are submitted, members of the research and editorial staff of the ADB check every verifiable statement of fact, evaluate the article for balance and comprehensiveness, and edit the text in accordance with the ADB’s conventions and style. Edited versions are then sent to authors for approval before publication.

Word length

The most eminent people in Australia’s history in each volume of the ADB are given entries of 2000 to 6000 words; other significant figures have entries that range in length from 500 to 2000 words. The ADB does not pretend to be setting up a pantheon of immortals, however. While the volumes cover the orthodox fields of politics, business, religion, the land, the professions and the arts, they also attempt to reflect the rich variety of Australian life by including representatives of every social group and sphere of endeavour. Entries on these representative people are usually 500 to 750 words in length. The ADB prides itself on its blend of elitism and egalitarianism.

Structure

Each entry comprises all or most of the following elements, generally in the order listed here:

• subject's full name
• life span in brackets
• occupational description
• birth date and place
• parents' full names
• parents' occupations at the time the subject was born
• subject's education
• chronological sketch of career
• family details (marriage and children)
• distinctions gained
• critical assessment of his or her work or place in Australian history
• evaluation of his or her character
• physical description
• religious denomination
• publications
• portraits and their location
• death - cause (given for subjects who died at age 70 or younger)
• death - date and place - details of burial or whether cremated
• select bibliography of the major references used in the compilation of the entry