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The Aboriginal Biographical Index (ABI)
The ABI is a personal name index to published material held in the AIATSIS Library. The ABI forms part of Mura, the AIATSIS catalogue.
The ABI is compiled by an indexer who currently reads through books from the AIATSIS collection and creates records for the names of people mentioned in the them. The items indexed cover the whole of Australia, including Tasmania and the Torres Strait.
There are about 70, 000 records in the ABI and it is being continuously updated from both historical and contemporary Australian Indigenous works.
You can search ABI online. You can also search the ABI via Mura®, the AIATSIS Library catalogue by choosing ‘Aboriginal Biographical Index’.
Before you search the ABI, please read the sensitivity message.
See also: How to search ABI
Examples of materials indexed in the ABI:
Currently:
- Books: Personal and family histories
Previously:
- Journals: Current publications such as Deadly Vibe and Torres News; Ceased publications: Dawn and New Dawn, Australian Evangel, Identity, The Lutheran, the Australian Board of Missions Review and the Newsletter for the Aboriginal People of Victoria
- State government reports including Protector’s Reports
- Manuscripts
The family tree of the Blakney Creek families includes Matilda House, the daughter of Pearl Simpson and Doug Williams.
This is a good example of people connecting to their place, in this case Yass and Brungle, New South Wales, from 1850s to 1950s.
This an excellent example for family history because it has a lot of family information in the Annotation (sometimes called Description).
It mentions where Carmen was born, where she grew up, her marriage to Ali and her passing in 1984.
Requesting photocopies of material in the ABI:
You can request a copy of items referred to in the ABI by contacting the AIATSIS Library. There will be a charge for this service – see Document copying services for more information on the copying services provided by the AIATSIS Library.