Author Description

"In 1948 a collection of scientists, anthropologists and photographers journeyed to northern Australia for a seven-month tour of research and discovery - now regarded as "the last of the big expeditions". The American-Australian Scientific Expedition to Arnhem Land was front-page news at the time, but 60 years later it is virtually unknown. This lapse into obscurity was due partly to the fraught politics of Australian anthropology and animus towards its leader, the Adelaide-based writer-photographer Charles Mountford. Promoted as a "friendly mission" that would foster good relations between Australia and its most powerful wartime ally, the Expedition was sponsored by 'National Geographic', the Smithsonian Institution and the Australian Government. An unlikely cocktail of science, diplomacy and popular geography, the Arnhem Land Expedition put the Aboriginal cultures of the vast Arnhem Land reserve on an international stage. In this book, the intriguing story of the Expedition and its long-term impacts within and beyond Aboriginal society are examined from multiple perspectives. The travails, triumphs and rivalries of the researchers, the famed and at times controversial collections they assembled, their pioneering study of human society and ecology, the responses of their Aboriginal hosts and teachers, and the attitudes of contemporary communities to the Expedition's work and legacy are among the subjects explored. Reflecting the many fields of knowledge that were brought together in 1948, ecologists, archivists, anthropologists, broadcasters, musicologists, historians, curators and linguists are among the contributors to this groundbreaking volume. 'Exploring the legacy of the 1948 Arnhem Land Expedition' had its genesis in 'Barks, birds & billabongs', an international symposium hosted by the National Museum of Australia in 2009." -- book cover.