The life summary page is reached via the 'Life Summary' link on a person's biography page. It provides a snapshot of the person's life as well as linking to other people with similar backgrounds. A feature of this page is the Occupation section (described below). The life summary page is divided into four main sections here:
A) 'Back to article' link, and article title
The title of the biography from which you have come is diplayed at the top of the page. In the example above, Alfred Goninan's life summay page is being viewed, with a link back to his biography page indicated by the 'Back to article' link in the top right hand corner.
B) Details box
The details box includes the Publication Details of the article in the print version of the ADB; and the name of the Author of the article.
C) Navigational box
The navigational box indicates that you are on the Life Summary page, and provides navigational links to:
- Abbreviations
- A general list of abbreviations and their meanings that appear in the articles and select bibliographies of the ADB.
- Article History
- This links to the Article History page when there have been corrections to the print version of the article. See the Article History help section for more details.
- Also in this article
- People mentioned in the article/biography who also have their own article in the ADB
- Back to article
- A link back to the article/biography page of the subject.
D) Life Summary table
The Life Summary table is made of three columns, the first contains the row title representing a subject area (e.g. Born), the second lists the details of each subject (e.g. date and place of birth), and the last finds other people in the ADB with similar details (e.g. "find all people born..."). Here is a description of each row:
- Born
- The day, month, year and place of birth (where known) of the subject, as revealed in the article text. Clicking on the link 29 May 1865 under Find all people... in the example above will retrieve a list of all people in the ADB Online who were born in the month of May in 1865.
- Died
- The day, month, year and place of death (where known) of the subject, as revealed in the article text. Clicking on 25 August 1953 under Find all people... in the example above will retrieve a list of all people in the ADB Online who died in the the month of August in 1953.
- Cultural Heritage
- A 'cultural heritage' has been assigned to a biography subject in one or more of the following circumstances: the person had a parent or parents born outside Australia; he or she spent his or her formative years outside Australia; he or she identified with a particular culture in addition to, or other than, that of Australian. In the example above, selecting the link English will retrieve a list of all people in the ADB Online with English heritage.
- Religious Influence
- A 'religious influence' has been assigned to a biography subject if the text of the article reveals that he or she adhered to that religion. Where the text does not disclose a religion, attendance at a church school and the denomination of funeral rites have been taken as indicators of 'religious influence'. In the example above, selecting the link Anglican will retrieve a list of other Anglicans in the ADB Online.
- Occupation
- 'Occupation' defines the occupations or spheres of activity of a person, as interpreted from the article's text. Major occupations are included. Minor occupations, of little historical significance or importance to the life of the subject, are excluded. The occupations of immigrants before they came to Australia are excluded. The occupations of foreign visitors are included in Australia only. The occupations of expatriate Australians are included.
- In the life summary table, each occupation is listed in chronological order, starting with the years in which the occupation was undertaken (in the example above, 1899-1933), followed by the occupation (company managing director) and the place where the occupation was conducted (New South Wales, Australia). Click on the company managing director link in the example shown to find other company managing directors in the ADB Online.
NOTE : Historical names are used for the regions listed in the occupation section of Life Summary pages. A historical name is followed by the present-day name in brackets, e.g. Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania). View a list of the places of occupation and their descriptions.
E) Google search
The subject of the biography is inserted in the Google Search box ('Goninan, Alfred (1865 - 1953)' in the above example) enabling the user to perform an internet search outside the ADB website.
