Australian Dictionary of Biography

01/06/2026

Warning: this post contains images of First Nations people who have died.

'The Yirrkala Bark Petitions were the first petition ever received by the Australian Federal parliament in an Australian language, and also the first to lead directly to a parliamentary inquiry ...

They created a pan-Yolngu identity and galvanised the Aboriginal civil and land rights movement. They also led to the passage of the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976, the first legislation that enabled First Nations people to claim ownership of their land.'

Read all about this significant moment in the essay written by Clare Wright for The Quest for Indigenous Recognition project: https://adb.anu.edu.au/the-quest-for-indigenous-recognition/the-yirrkala-bark-petitions

And read more in her award-winning book Ṉäku Dhäruk The Bark Petitions: How the People of Yirrkala Changed the Course of Australian Democracy, published by Text Publishing

📷 National Museum of Australia

La Trobe University

29/05/2026

Warning: This post contains images of First Nations people who have died.

To learn more about the Redfern Park speech, visit The Quest for Indigenous Recognition project on the ADB website.

https://adb.anu.edu.au/the-quest-for-indigenous-recognition/the-redfern-park-speech

📷 John Paoloni

Reconciliation Australia

27/05/2026

Today marks the beginning of National Reconciliation Week.

To mark the occasion we are sharing stories from The Quest for Indigenous Recognition Project, which was launched by The Hon Linda Burney in 2023.

First up is an excerpt from Megan Davis's powerful essay on the Uluṟu Statement from the Heart:

'The Uluṟu Statement is a beginning. It is about recognition, and it is about renewal. It is a hand of friendship extended to the Australian people, an invitation to come and meet with us. In issuing the statement to all Australians, the First Nations hope to bypass the ritual cynicism of Australian retail politics and ask Australians of all religions, cultures and political persuasions to read the Uluṟu Statement and hear, in our own words, the logic for change'

https://adb.anu.edu.au/the-quest-for-indigenous-recognition/uluru-statement

📷 The Uluru Statement from the Heart + UNSW


Reconciliation Australia

20/05/2026

Born on this day in 1888: Una Fielding, neuroanatomist 🧠

The eldest of five children, Una won a scholarship to the University of Sydney where she studied for a Bachelor of Arts.

After working as a governess and teacher, she returned to university to study science and medicine. In July 1923 she went to England and began demonstrating at University College London's anatomy department. After stints in Michigan and Lebanon she lectured at UCL and published research papers, although her hopes of writing a major book was stymied by heavy teaching loads, especially during WW2.

Want to know more about her? Read her story in the ADB 👇

https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/fielding-una-lucy-10178

📷 Museums of History NSW

18/05/2026

Happy International Museum Day!

To mark the occasion we're taking a look at our collaboration with the National Museum of Australia for the Mr Squiggle exhibition in 2025.

You can read Norman Hetherington's entry on the ADB website now:

https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/hetherington-norman-frederick--35036

📷 National Museum of AustraliaNational Museum of Australia + National Portrait Gallery

13/05/2026

Who might I be?

11/05/2026

Next Tuesday 19 May join us to hear award-winning biographer Patrick Mullins in conversation with our very own Emily Gallagher about The Stained Man: A crime, a scandal and the making of a nation (Scribe, 2026).

Our friends at Harry Hartog Bookseller will come along to sell copies of the book for purchase after the talk.

Register now for this free event: https://history.cass.anu.edu.au/centres/ncb/events/stained-man-crime-scandal-and-making-nation-patrick-mullins

🗓️ 19 May
🕑 6pm
📍 RSSS Building, ANU

11/05/2026

Each month the National Centre of Biography - home of the ADB - publishes a newsletter to share our community's notices, achievements, events, articles & much more.

Read the May instalment now 👇

This issue of the NCB News shares an update on Volume 20 of the ADB as well as notices for several events being held throughout the coming weeks. Plus learn how you can support our work through donating to the ADB Endowment.

08/05/2026

Born on this day in 1869: Australian cartoonist Claude Marquet 🖋

Read all about his life in the ADB: https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/marquet-claude-arthur-7495

📷 Trove + The State Library of New South Wales

08/05/2026

In 2024, New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art launched a reclamation of the artistic career of Mary Sully, a reclusive, previously unacknowledged Dakota artist active between the late 1920s and mid-1940s. The processes of conservation, curation, and exhibition revealed new dimensions of the work,...