Australia Biographies

A biography is a history of a person’s life. In a biography you can read about a person's life. You may find an individual’s birth, marriage, and death information, and perhaps the names of the individual’s parents, children, or other family members. 

Individual Biographies

Often these collective biographies only include biographies of prominent citizens of Australia. Others feature biographies of specific groups of people, such as Aborigines.If a biography exists for one of your ancestors, you may be able to find a reference to it on the Internet. Search for "[family name] [name of locality]".

Biography Collections

Some biographies have been gathered and published in a group. These are sometimes called biographical encyclopedias or biographical dictionaries. Significant biographical encyclopedias include the following.

• Australian Dictionary of Biography Online Edition.
• Australian dictionary of biography. Douglas Pike, et.al., ed. 16 vol. Carlton, Victoria : Melbourne University Press, 1966-2005. (FHL book 994 D36a.)
  
• Who's who in Australia - 1997. Melbourne, Victoria : Information Australia, 1906-.  (FHL book 994 D3aL. The FHL also has editions 1906, 1912, 1922, 1927, 1935, 1955.
  
• The Dictionary of Famous Australians. Ann Atkinson, author. 2nd ed. St. Leonards, Australia : Allen & Unwin, c1995. (FHL book 994 D36a 1995.)
  

Family History Library

The Family History Library does not generally collect individual biographies, but they do have some collections. To find these, use the Place Search in the catalog under:

AUSTRALIA - BIOGRAPHY

Additional biographies may be located by adding the name of the state and or town to your search.

AUSTRALIA, [STATE] - BIOGRAPHY

AUSTRALIA, [STATE], [TOWN] - BIOGRAPHY

Australian encyclopedias may contain biographies. For more information, read the Encyclopedias and Dictionaries article. 

Biographical Reference

• Australasian biographical archive (ANZO-BA) : a one-alphabet cumulation of 181 English-language biographical reference works originally published between 1800 and 1980. Victor Herrero, ed. Mediavilla Munich, Germany : Sauer, 1993-1995. (FHL book 994 D32m; fiche 6140737-6140787.)
  
• Australian Dictionary of Biographyonline edition.
  

Family History Library (FHL); now called, FamilySearch Library (FSL)