Mountford, Charles Pearcy (1890 - 1976)

Summary

Charles Mountford was Honorary Assistant in Ethnology from 1935 at the South Australian Museum and Acting Ethnologist in 1938. He joined the Postmaster-General's Department in Adelaide as an engineer/mechanic in 1913 and in 1920 he was posted to Darwin. This was the catalyst for his interest in all things aboriginal. Mountford became a recognised expert in the area publishing at least 40 scientific papers and a multitude of books on aboriginal art, custom and culture. From 1935 until 1963 he participated in or organised numerous ethnological expeditions across Australia and received many high accolades and awards for his research, including two honorary doctorates and an appointment as an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE).

Details

Chronology

1909 - c. 1911

Education - Correspondence courses in mechanics and engineering completed at the South Australian School of Mines and Industries

1909 - c. 1911

Career position - Tram conductor in Adelaide

1913 - 1920

Career position - Electrical Mechanic at the Postmaster-General's Department

1920 - c. 1924

Career position - Senior Mechanic with the Postmaster-General's Department at the Darwin Post Office

c. 1924 -

Career position - Returned to the Postmaster-General's Department in Adelaide

1926 -

Career position - Foundation Member of the Anthropological Society of South Australia

1935 -

Career position - Honorary Assistant in Ethnology at the South Australian Museum

1935

Career position - Anthropological expedition to the Warburton Range, Western Australia

1935

Career position - Secretary of a board of inquiry to investigate allegations of ill-treatment of Aborigines in the Northern Territory

1937

Career position - Anthropological expedition to the Nepabunna Mission in Flinders Ranges, South Australia

1938

Career position - Acting Ethnologist at the South Australian Museum

1940

Career position - Expedition from Ernabella to Ayers Rock to examine the art of the Pitjantjatjara and Yankuntjatjara (four months)

1945

Award - Australian Natural History Medallion, Field Naturalist Club of Victoria

1949

Career position - Expedition to Arnhem land

1949

Award - Franklin L. Burr award received from the National Geographic Society

1951

Career position - Expedition to Yuendumu

1954

Career position - Expedition to the Northern Territory and Melville Island

1955

Award - John Lewis gold medal received from the Royal Geographical Society of Australasia, South Australian branch

1955

Career position - Thomson gold medal received from the Royal Geographical Society of Australasia, Queensland branch

1955

Award - Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE)

1963

Career position - Expedition to Port Hedland, Western Australia

1964

Career position - Expedition to the Cape York Peninsula, Queensland

1964

Education - Master of Arts (MA) completed at the University of Adelaide

1971

Award - Sir Joseph Verco medal received from the Royal Society of South Australia

1973

Award - Doctor of Letters (LittD), honoris causa, University of Melbourne

1976

Education - Doctor of Letters (LittD), honoris causa, University of Adelaide

Related entries

Archival resources

National Library of Australia Oral History Collection

• Charles Pearcy Mountford - Records, 1960, DeB 42; National Library of Australia Oral History Collection. Details
• Charles Pearcy Mountford - Records, 28 October 1966, DeB 189; National Library of Australia Oral History Collection. Details

State Library of South Australia, Mortlock Library of South Australiana

• Charles Pearcy Mountford - Records, 1907 - 1976, PRG 1218; State Library of South Australia, Mortlock Library of South Australiana. Details

Published resources

Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation Exhibitions

• McCarthy, Gavan; Smith, Ailie; Moje, Christine; Rigby, Rebecca, The Study of Australian Eucalypts, eScholarship Research Centre, 2013, http://www.eoas.info/eucalypts/index.html. Details

Books

• Lamshed, Max, Monty: a biography of C.P. Mountford (Adelaide: Rigby, 1972), 222 pp. Details
• McKenna, Mark, Return to Uluru: a killing; a hidden history: a story that goes to the heart of the nation (Carlton, Vic.: Black Inc., 2021), 256 pp. Member, Commonwealth Board of Enquiry 1935 into the death of Yokununna at Uluru; pages 40, 87-99, 104, 106, 135, 140, 143. Details
• Mountford, Charles P., Nomads of the Australian desert (Adelaide: Rigby, 1976), 628 pp. Details
• Mountford, Charles P., Brown men and red sand : journeyings in wild Australia (Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1981, 1948), 192 pp. Details
• Mountford, Charles Pearcy, Australian tree portraits. (Carlton: Melbourne University Press, 1956), 69 pp. Details

Book Sections

• Chapman, Denise; and Russell, Suzy, 'The responsibilities of leadership: the records of Charles Mountford' in Exploring the legacy of the 1948 Arnhem Land Expedition, Thomas, Martin and Neale, Margot, eds (Canberra: ANU Press, 2011), pp. 253-69, https://doi.org/10.22459/ELALE.06.2011.13. Details
• Clarke, Anne; Kay, Sally K.; Frederick, Ursula K.; and Johnston, Iain G., 'Style and substance: McCarthy versus Mountford and the emergence of an archaeology of rock art 1948 - 1960' in Histories of Australian rock art research, Taçon, Paul C.; May, Sally K.; Frederick, Ursula K.; and McDonald, Jo, eds (Canberra: ANU Press, 2022), pp. 11-25. Details
• Forte, M., 'Dr C. P. Mountford' in Anthropology in Australia: proceedings of a seminar Saturday 26 June 1976, Lawton, G. H. [and others], ed. (Anthropological Society of South Australia, 1979), pp. 39-48. Details
• Jones, Philip, 'Mountford, Charles Pearcy (1890-1976), Anthropologist' in Australian Dictionary of Biography, John Ritchie, ed., vol. 15 (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 2000), pp. 431-433. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A150500b.htm. Details
• Jones, Philip, 'Inside Mountford's tent: paint, politics and paperwork' in Exploring the legacy of the 1948 Arnhem Land Expedition, Thomas, Martin and Neale, Margot, eds (Canberra: ANU Press, 2011), pp. 33-54, https://doi.org/10.22459/ELALE.06.2011.02. Details
• May, Sally, 'The Art of Collecting: Charles Pearcy Mountford' in The Makers and Making of Indigenous Australian Museum Collections, Peterson, Nicolas, Allen, Lindy and Hamby, Louise, eds (Carlton: Melbourne University Press, 2008), pp. 446-66. Details

Edited Books

• Berndt, Ronald M. ed., Australian Aboriginal art (Sydney: Ure Smith, 1964), 117 pp. Details

Journal Articles

• Anderson, Jaynie, 'The creation of indigenous collections in Melbourne: how Kenneth Clark, Charles Mountford, and Leonhard Adam interrogated Australian indigeneity', Les actes de colloques du musée du quai Branly Jacques Chirac, 1 (2009). https://doi.org/10.4000/actesbranly.332. Details
• Berndt, Ronald M., 'The Mountford volume on Arnhem Land art, myth and symbolism: a critical review', Mankind, 5 (6) (1958), 249-61. Details

Resources

• VIAF - Virtual International Authority File, OCLC, https://viaf.org/viaf/13582484. Details
• Wikidata, http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q2377528. Details
• 'Mountford, Charles P (1890-1976)', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-619126. Details
• 'Awarded honorary LittD, 1973', Honorary degree holders, University of Melbourne, 2023, https://about.unimelb.edu.au/notable-alumni-staff/honorary-degree-holders. Details

See also

• Carment, David et al ed., Northern Territory dictionary of biography (Darwin: Charles Darwin University Press, 2008), 655 pp. Details
• Clarke, Philip A., 'The Aboriginal Australian cosmic landscape, part 2: plant connections with the skyworld', Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage, 18 (1) (2015), 23-37. Details
• Thomas, Martin and Neale, Margo eds, Exploring the Legacy of the 1948 Arnhem Land Expedition (Canberra: ANU E Press, 2011), 471 pp. Details