Jim Webb (humanitarian)
Australian humanitarian
James Bawtree (Jim) Webb, OBE (1929–2009) was an Australian activist and organiser. In 1961, Webb founded the Overseas Service Bureau, which would later become Australian Volunteers International, to encourage and support Australian international volunteers.
Webb served as the bureau's director from 1963 until 1969. From 1970 to 1975, he was director of Community Aid Abroad, which would later become Oxfam Australia. In 1970, he was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire.
Early life and education
Webb was born on 11 May 1929. He was the son of Francis Leslie Bawtree Webb and Anne Gwendolyn Webb. He had an older and a younger sister. Webb grew up in the Melbourne suburb of Hawthorn and attended Spring Road Primary School and Spring Road Central School in Malvern. From 1943 to 1946, he attended Melbourne Boys' High School.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Jim Webb (humanitarian)” as australian humanitarian. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as australian humanitarian. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
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 Jun 15, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q6104768. VIAF identifies the subject as 92847714. The Library of Congress control number is n88026189. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1929, 2009, 1961 and 1963.
Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. 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
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Jim Webb (humanitarian)”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Jim Webb (humanitarian) primary sources, Jim Webb (humanitarian) archive and Webb 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
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Jim Webb (humanitarian)”?
- Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Jim Webb (humanitarian)” 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.