Historical Encyclopedia of Western Australia
encyclopedia of Western Australian history
The Historical Encyclopedia of Western Australia (HEWA) from the Centre for Western Australian History at the University of Western Australia was published in June 2009. Although work on it started in 2003, the idea within the university for an historical encyclopaedia of Western Australia dates to the early 1990s.
Context
Two comparable earlier works are Cyclopedia of Western Australia by James Battye in 1912–1913, and A New History of Western Australia by Tom Stannage in 1981.
In its introduction, the encyclopaedia suggests it
provides an outstanding reference for researchers, teachers, students and the general public that will enable them to locate information about significant events, institutions and places, themes and topics in the
history of Western Australia.
Following publication of the encyclopaedia, an index, alphabetical list of entries and a list of errata known at the time was published in 2010 to complement the encyclopaedia. Hardcopies of the encyclopaedia were sold at the State Library of Western Australia, advertised in part as follows.
The Historical Encyclopedia of Western Australia has more than 300 contributors and through this collaboration has become the 'People's Encyclopedia' – a gift to the people of Western Australia from the historians of Western Australia.
Papers relevant to the preparation and composition of the work were deposited in the State Library of Western Australia in the 2000s.
In 2010 the encyclopaedia was shortlisted for the Western Australian Premier's Book Award.
Contemporaneous volumes in Australia
In her introduction, Gregory places the publication with others from other states:
Publishing details
Jenny Gregory; Janice Gothard, eds.
“Historical Encyclopedia of Western Australia” enters the record as encyclopedia of Western Australian history. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Historical, Encyclopedia and Western can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Historical Encyclopedia of Western Australia” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Historical, Encyclopedia and Western provides the most credible route into that argument.
Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Dec 26, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q5773872. 1 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2009, 2003, 1912 and 1913.
A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
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Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Historical Encyclopedia of Western Australia”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Historical Encyclopedia of Western Australia primary sources, Historical Encyclopedia of Western Australia archive and Historical research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “Historical Encyclopedia of Western Australia” 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.