"Volume 18 of the Australian Dictionary of Biography is the second of two volumes to deal with Australians who died between 1981 and 1990. It includes articles by 560 authors on 670 individuals with surnames from L to Z, recording the lives of Australians whom many of us remember from the recent past.

There are explorers, farmers, stockmen, trade union officials, business people, educators, criminals, judges, political activists, librarians, ballet dancers, cameleers, musicians and opera directors, speedway riders, polymaths, philanthropists and professional wrestlers and boxers. The volume includes academics Julius Stone and William Stanner; physicists Leslie Martin, Harry Massey and Ernest Titterton; military leaders Frederick Scherger, John Wilton, John McCauley, the first aboriginal commissioned officer Reg Saunders and war historian Alan Moorehead; feminist Ruby Rich and country women s leader Bertha Smith; surgeon Harry Windsor; Director-General of Education Harold Wyndham; ABC General Manager Charles Moses and a raft of diplomats John Ryan, Dudley McCarthy, James Plimsoll, Laurence McIntyre, Annabelle Rankin, Alfred Stirling, Mick Shann, Marjorie Smart, Percy