Australia’s development, from the most unpromising of beginnings as a British prison in 1788 to the prosperous liberal democracy of the present is as remarkable as is its success as a country of large-scale immigration. Since 1942 it has been a loyal ally of the United States and has demonstrated this loyalty by contributing troops to the war in Vietnam and by being part of the “coalition of the willing” in the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003 and in operations in Afghanistan. In recent years, it has also been more willing to promote peace and democracy in its Pacific and Asian neighbors. This fourth edition of Historical Dictionary of Australia covers its history through a chronology, an introductory essay, appendixes, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has over 500 cross-referenced entries on important personalities, politics, economy, foreign relations, religion, and culture. This book is an excellent access point for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about Australia.

Australian Official Publications is a six-part book that begins with a separate chapter on the framework of Australian government. Part I then describes the main features of the commonwealth parliament. Part II details the commonwealth government departments and statutory authorities. Parts III and IV elucidate the distribution and availability of Australian official publications and the main forms of official publishing in each State of Australia. Part V discusses the internal territories of the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory. The last part contains the bibliography of Australian official publications. This book will be helpful to general readers to understand the system of government which prevails and something of the working of its organs.

The last continent to be claimed by Europeans, Australia began to be settled by the British in 1788 in the form of a jail for its convicts. While British culture has had the largest influence on the country and its presence can be seen everywhere, the British were not Australia's original populace. The first inhabitants of Australia, the Aborigines, are believed to have migrated from Southeast Asia into northern Australia as early as 60,000 years ago. This distinctive blend of vastly different cultures contributed to the ease with which Australia has become one of the world's most successful immigrant nations. The A to Z of Australia relates the history of this unique and beautiful land, which is home to an amazing range of flora and fauna, a climate that ranges from tropical forests to arid deserts, and the largest single collection of coral reefs and islands in the world. Through a detailed chronology, an introduction, appendixes, a bibliography, and cross-referenced dictionary entries on some of the more significant persons, places, and events; institutions and organizations; and political, economic, social, cultural, and religious facets, author James Docherty provides a much needed single volume reference on Australia, from its most unpromising of beginnings as a British jail to the liberal, tolerant, democracy it is today.

Volume 19 of the Australian Dictionary of Biography (ADB) contains concise biographies of individuals who died between 1991 and 1995. The first of two volumes for the 1990s, it presents a colourful montage of late twentieth-century Australian life, containing the biographies of significant and representative Australians. The volume is still in the shadow of World War II with servicemen and women who enlisted young appearing, but these influences are dimming and there are now increasing numbers of non-white, non-male, non-privileged and non-straight subjects. The 680 individuals recorded in volume 19 of the ADB include Wiradjuri midwife and Ngunnawal Elder Violet Bulger; Aboriginal rights activist, poet, playwright and artist Kevin Gilbert; and Torres Strait Islander community leader and land rights campaigner Eddie Mabo. HIV/AIDS child activists Tony Lovegrove and Eve Van Grafhorst have entries, as does conductor Stuart Challender, ‘the first Australian celebrity to go public’ about his HIV/AIDS condition in 1991. The arts are, as always, well-represented, including writers Frank Hardy, Mary Durack and Nene Gare, actors Frank Thring and Leonard Teale and arts patron Ian Potter. We are beginning to see the effects of the steep rise in postwar immigration flow through to the ADB. Artist Joseph Stanislaw Ostoja-Kotkowski was born in Poland. Pilar Moreno de Otaegui, co-founded the Spanish Club of Sydney. Chinese restaurateur and community leader Ming Poon (Dick) Low migrated to Victoria in 1953. Often we have a dearth of information about the domestic lives of our subjects; politician Olive Zakharov, however, bravely disclosed at the Victorian launch of the federal government’s campaign to Stop Violence Against Women in 1993 that she was a survivor of domestic violence in her second marriage. Take a dip into the many fascinating lives of the Australian Dictionary of Biography.