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Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Biographical Index

The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Biographical Index (ABI) is an index of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander names selected from generally available publications held at AIATSIS. These publications are books and articles created by, with, or about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

  • There are more than 45,000 individual names and more than 75,000 records in the ABI.

Each name in the index has a summary about the person from words or photographs in the publication and includes the call number and title of the publication from where the information came.

Information may also include places where a person was from or where they lived, family relationships, people group, and occupation. 

There may be a lot of information about a name in the ABI, sometimes just a mention, or sometimes there may be no information. Some information could be about a family. The names of non-Indigenous people may also be included. 

Some names may be indexed from items held at AIATSIS that are not generally available and have conditions of access.

Search the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Biographical Index

You can search for a family name in the ABI using the search box below or via Mura, the AIATSIS Collection catalogue.

Search results will be provided on a new screen in Mura.

Languages

AustLang provides information about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages via a database which assembles information from a number of sources.

Last updated: 25 May 2022