Australian Dictionary of Biography

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Award of ADB Medal to John Ritchie for long and distinguished service (2002)

Citation

John Ritchie was appointed general editor of the Australian Dictionary of Biography in March 1988.  When he retired in September 2002 he was the longest-serving occupant of the post.  Volumes 12, 13, 14 and 15, an Index covering volumes 1 to 12, and a CD-ROM version of the first twelve volumes were published during his stewardship.  He also edited some two-thirds of the articles in the forthcoming volume 16.  He has written seventeen articles for the A.D.B.; the first of these was submitted in 1967 and the most recent in 1999.

Heading what a reviewer called `the most ambitious research and publishing project ever undertaken in the humanities in Australia’, John Ritchie maintained the lofty standards set by his predecessors and continued to produce a dictionary that was scholarly, readable and informative.  The four volumes he edited were widely praised.  One reviewer observed `reassuring signs of strong control by the general editor’; others commended his skill in balancing the A.D.B.’s roles as a work of literature and of reference; still others admired the A.D.B. for presenting the lives of its subjects with `a pleasing mixture of courtesy and frankness’.  John Ritchie devoted extraordinary levels of energy and enthusiasm to his task.  Through his determination and dedication as general editor, he made a lasting contribution to Australian culture and to the high regard in which the Australian Dictionary of Biography is held.