AustLit

'In 1968 the esteemed Australian anthropologist Bill Stanner coined the term “the great Australian silence” to describe a “cult of forgetfulness” that had seen Aboriginal people virtually ignored in the writing of Australian history. The Australian Dictionary of Biography had published its first two volumes by then, and the indifference that Stanner observed was already apparent in its choice of biographical subjects.

'The architects of the dictionary had envisaged a great national co-operative venture with autonomous working parties in each state whose members would choose “significant and representative” subjects, a “cross-section of Australian society”. In succinct articles, these lives would collectively illustrate the Australian national story.'

'In February 1983, Melbourne artist Mirka Mora spent two weeks in Perth, painting an almost 21-metre long frieze of six zinc panels. Drawing on imagery as diverse as shipwrecks, cherubs, local flora, black swans and harp-playing quokkas, the mural was made in public during the city’s festival. People flocked to the forecourt of the Perth Concert Hall to watch Mora in action.' (Introduction)