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Don Devitt

Australian politician (1921–2008)

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJul 7, 2026
Entity authorityQ5292514
Source-derived summary

Donald Michael Devitt (11 July 1921 – 10 July 2008) was an Australian politician. He served as a Senator for Tasmania from 1965 to 1978, representing the Australian Labor Party (ALP).

Early life

Devitt was born on 11 July 1921 in Launceston, Tasmania. He was the son of Irish Catholic parents Kathleen Mary (née Maloney) and William Francis Devitt; his father was a police inspector. He was said to be a great-grandson of Irish nationalist Michael Davitt.

Devitt was raised in Smithton and attended the local state school, leaving in 1937. He joined the Citizen Military Forces in January 1942 and transferred to the Australian Imperial Force in August 1942. He transferred again to the Royal Australian Air Force in August 1944 and was posted to the No. 1 Initial Training School in Somers, Victoria. He was discharged from the air force in July 1945 with the rank of leading aircraftman.

Editorial summary

“Don Devitt” enters the record as australian politician (1921–2008). Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Devitt, Australian and politician can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewStrongest as a route into the people, institutions and dated events that shaped the subject’s public record. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1921, 2008, 1965, 1978—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1921-07-11. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Devitt, Australian and politician.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“Don Devitt” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Devitt, Australian and politician provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 7, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5292514. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1921, 2008, 1965 and 1978.

Critical limits

A concise life account rarely captures disputed attribution, private networks or the changing language used to describe a career. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Don Devitt”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Don Devitt primary sources, Don Devitt archive and Devitt research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Don Devitt”?
  2. How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
  3. Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Don Devitt” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.