The Australian Dictionary of Biography is currently calling for nominations for its Colonial Women Project.

Since the first volume of the dictionary was published in 1966, women have been significantly underrepresented in the ADB. Over time, as ideas about who is important and who should be chosen as examples of Australian society have changed, there have been efforts to respond to this imbalance. These have included a supplementary volume of ‘missing person’ entries in 2005, a two-volume biographical register of names who just ‘missed out’ on ADB articles, and various spin-off projects.

The Indigenous Australian Dictionary of Biography, for instance, aims to redress the underrepresentation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the ADB by commissioning new entries and working with scholars, communities, and descendants. They are advised by the First Nations Working Party. To date this project has successfully added over 100 new Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander biographies to the ADB online. It is a model of what this sort of revision project can achieve. The work of the IADB is being continued through the First Nations Biography Australia project.

Similarly, the Colonial Women Project seeks to improve the gender balance of the ADB. Women still only account for about 12 per cent of all ADB entries. For the colonial period, the situation is even more troubling, with less than 4 per cent of articles recognising women. This project seeks to add 1,500 new entries for women who flourished during, or prior to, the colonial period. It is a large and ambitious initiative that will significantly increase the representation of women in the ADB.

The initial advisory sub-committee for the project was led from 2016 to 2021 by the ADB’s General Editor, Professor Melanie Nolan, with committee members Professor Joy Damousi, Dr Carolyn Rasmussen, Professor Pat Grimshaw, and Dr Liz Rushen. It oversaw the first stage of the project, which established a list of possible candidates for inclusion. This involved developing a template and publicising the issue, for example through the popular ‘Recovered Lives’ anthology.

Meanwhile, in 2021 the ADB formed a Women’s Working Party, which has become the key advisory body on the broader issue of women’s representation and gender diversity in the ADB. The WWP now takes primary responsibility for the Colonial Women Project.

As of January 2025, we have received 883 nominations. We are still accepting nominations and will continue to do so until we have received at least 1,500 names. To qualify for the project women must have lived their ‘productive’ years in the colonial period (i.e. prior to 1901), although they may have died in the 1900s.

If you would like to nominate a woman (or women) for the project, please email colonial.women@anu.edu.au.

Before nominating, check to see that your proposed subject does not already have an entry in the ADB and has not already been nominated (a list of nominations to date can be found below). In your email, please include the following information to the best of your knowledge:

1. Full name(s) (including all married and maiden names).
2. Year(s) of birth and death, or approximate dates.
3. Reasons for nomination (the ADB includes individuals who are both significant and representative).
4. Any known sources (primary and secondary) that might assist a future researcher.
5. Any suggested authors or scholars with expertise of the woman (or women) being nominated.
6. Any photographs or artistic representations of the woman (or women) being nominated.

A list of nominations to the project to date can be viewed at the bottom of this page.

To learn more about this project, and the ADB more generally, please see:

•  ‘Reshaping the Australian Dictionary of Biography: Feminist interventions’, written by Melanie Nolan for VIDA: the blog of the Australian Women’s History Network (2017).
• The ‘Recovered Lives’ essay, published in Inside Story and The Canberra Times (2019).
• ‘Reimagining the ADB’, written by Melanie Nolan and Michelle Staff for the Australian Book Review (2024).

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Why is the number 1,500 significant for the project?

It is an ambitious but not impossible figure. Adding 1,500 entries to the ADB would raise the proportion of women in the colonial period to a third.

I have emailed my nomination to the Colonial Women email server. When will I know if my nomination has been considered by the committee?

After emailing your nomination, you will receive an email confirming receipt. Your nomination will be added to our master list, which we will update periodically on this webpage. Please note that at this stage the project is only gathering nominations. After the ADB team completes Volume 20 (currently in production), we will be in a position to assess the nominations received and to begin commissioning new articles. Compiling this list is important preparation for the next stage of work on the ADB.  

Can I nominate more than one colonial woman for the project?

Yes, there is no limit on the number of nominations an individual or organisation can make.

Should I include references to newspaper articles I found on Trove in my nomination?

Usually not. Our researchers will be able to quickly trace online records for most nominations, including birth and death certificates. If you suspect that the newspaper or magazine article might be difficult to locate (for example, if it is not properly transcribed or there is a misspelling), please include the reference in your nomination.

I have information about one of the existing nominations. Would the ADB like to hear from me?

Yes, absolutely. For some of the women who have been nominated we only have basic biographical details so if you can provide further information, we would be pleased to hear from you. For any inquiries relating to existing nominations, you can email us at: colonial.women@anu.edu.au

How does the Colonial Women Project approach the terms ‘woman’ and ‘women’?

The ADB and the Colonial Women Project recognise that gender is complex, dynamic, and culturally contingent, and that it extends beyond a male/female sex binary. We understand the terms ‘woman’/‘women’ to be flexible, expansive, and inclusive, and certainly not restricted to those deemed biologically ‘female’. We welcome nominations of all kinds of people for whom the terms ‘woman’/‘women’ might be relevant descriptors, including trans and gender diverse individuals. 

Can I nominate a woman from the pre-colonial period?

Yes, we welcome nominations for women from the pre-colonial period. The ADB is currently running a new project called First Nations Biography Australia. We recommend that you consider nominating women to this project if they are eligible as well. For more information about FNBA, visit the project’s webpage.