Person

Roth, Walter Edmund (1861 - 1933)

Born
2 April 1861
London, England
Died
5 April 1933
Georgetown, British Guiana
Occupation
Ethnologist and Physician

Summary

Walter Roth was appointed the first Northern Protector of Aborigines 1898 and was based in Cooktown Queensland. In 1904-1906 he was Chief Protector and part of his duties was to record Aboriginal cultures. He published widely and became internationally known for his work.

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Details

Chronology

1888
Career event - Original [founding] member, Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science
1892
Career position - President, Section F (Ethnology and Anthropology), Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science

Related Corporate Bodies

Archival resources

Mitchell and Dixson Libraries Manuscripts Collection, State Library of New South Wales

  • Walter Edmund Roth - Records, 1905 - 1912, ML MSS 1131; Mitchell and Dixson Libraries Manuscripts Collection, State Library of New South Wales. Details
  • Walter Edmund Roth - Records, 1899, Uncatalogued MSS SET 216; Mitchell and Dixson Libraries Manuscripts Collection, State Library of New South Wales. Details
  • Walter Edmund Roth - Records, 1901 - 1910, ML MSS 43; Mitchell and Dixson Libraries Manuscripts Collection, State Library of New South Wales. Details

Private hands (Reynolds, B.)

  • Walter Edmund Roth - Records, 1861 - 1933; Private hands (Reynolds, B.). Details

Queensland State Archives

  • Walter Edmund Roth - Records, 1898 - 1907; Queensland State Archives. Details

State Library of Victoria, Australian Manuscripts Collection

  • Walter Edmund Roth - Records, 1901, MS 8721; State Library of Victoria, Australian Manuscripts Collection. Details
  • Walter Edmund Roth - Records, 1901, MS 8722; State Library of Victoria, Australian Manuscripts Collection. Details

Published resources

Books

  • Khan, K., Catalogue of the Roth Collection of Aboriginal artefacts from north Queensland, volume II: items collected from Cairns, Cape Bedford, Cape Grafton, Cape Melville, Cardwell, Clump Point, Coen, Cooktown, Dunk Island, False Cape, Flinders Island, Hambledon, Herberton, Hinchinbrook Island, Ingham, Innisfail, Johnstone River, Kuranda, in 1887 - 1904 (Sydney: Australian Museum, 1996), 189 pp. Details
  • Khan, K., Catalogue of the Roth Collection of Aboriginal artefacts from north Queensland, volume III: items collected from McDonnell Electric Telegraph Office, McIvor River, Mapoon and the Pennfeather and Wenlock Rivers, Maytown, Mitchell River, Morehead River, Moreton Electric Telegraph Office and Musgrave in 1897 - 1903 (Sydney: Australian Museum, 2003), 106 pp. Details
  • Khan, K., Catalogue of the Roth Collection of Aboriginal artefacts from north Queensland, volume IV: items collected from Nassau River, Night Island, Palmer River, Peak Point Electric Telegraph Office, Princess Charlotte Bay, Staaten River, Starcke River, Tinaroo, Tully River, Vanrook and Weipa (Embley River) in 1896 - 1903 (Sydney: Australian Museum, 2004), 112 pp. Details

Book Sections

  • Kahn, Kate, 'The Man Who Collected Everything: WE Roth' in The Makers and Making of Indigenous Australian Museum Collections, Peterson, Nicolas, Allen, Lindy and Hamby, Louise, eds (Carlton: Melbourne University Press, 2008), pp. 163-86. Details
  • Khan, K., 'The life and times of Walter Roth in north Queensland: the first Protector, the Australian Museum and scandal' in The Roth family, anthropology and colonial administration, McDougall, R. and Davidson, I., eds (Walnut Creek, California: Left Coast Press, 2008), pp. 181-91. Details
  • McDougall, Russell, 'Walter and Henry Ling Roth: "On the Significance of Couvade": the Place of Australia and British Guiana in the Fin de Siècle Debate Concerning the History of Humanity' in To the Islands: Australia and the Caribbean, McDougall, Russell, ed. (St Lucia: University of Queensland Press, 2002), pp. 61-67. Details
  • Reynolds, Barrie, 'Roth, Walter Edmund (1861-1933), Physician, Anthropologist and Protector of Aborigines' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 11: 1891 - 1939 Nes-Smi, Geoffrey Serle, ed. (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1988), pp. 463-464. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A110471b.htm. Details
  • Robins, R., 'The legacy of a lazy character: Walter Roth's contribution to the ethnography collection of the Queensland Museum' in The Roth family, anthropology and colonial administration, McDougall, R. and Davidson, I., eds (Walnut Creek, California: Left Coast Press, 2008), pp. 171-80. Details

Journal Articles

  • Fitzpatrick, Matthew P., 'Indigenous Australians and German anthropology in the era of "decolonization"', Historical journal, 63 (3) (2020), 686-709. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0018246X19000384. Details
  • Herskivits, M. J., 'Walter E. Roth', American Anthropologist, 36 (2) (1934), 266-70. Details
  • McGregor, Russell and Fuary, Maureen, 'Walter Edmund Roth: ethnographic collector and Aboriginal Protector', Memoirs of the Queensland Museum - culture, 10 (2016), 43-58. Details
  • Pearn, J., 'Acacias and Aesulapius: Walter Edmond Roth, 1861-1933', Medical Journal of Australia, 161 (3) (1994), 216-7. Details
  • Pelayo, Francisco, 'Hermann Klaatsch and his photographic representations of Australian aborigines during his scientific trip through Australia (1904-1907', Culture & history digital journal, 12 (1) (2023), 14. https://doi.org/10.3989/chdj.2023.008. Details
  • Stehlik, Brigitte, 'Hermann Klaatsch and the Tiwi, 1906', Aboriginal history journal, 10 (1986), 59-77. http://doi.org/10.22459/AH.10.2011.06. Details
  • Turnbull, Paul, 'Australian museums, Aboriginal skeletal remains, and the imagining of human evolutionary history', Museum & society, 13 (1) (2015), 72-87. https://doi.org/10.29311/mas.v13i1.318. Pages 78-80. Details
  • Whitehall, J., 'Dr W. E. Roth: flawed force of the frontier', Journal of Australian studies, 26 (75) (2002), 59-69. Details

Resources

See also

  • Serle, Percival, Dictionary of Australian biography (Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1949). Details

McCarthy, G.J.

Created: 20 October 1993, Last modified: 13 February 2018

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