Person

Mountford, Charles Pearcy (1890 - 1976)

OBE

Born
9 May 1890
Hallett, South Australia, Australia
Died
16 December 1976
Norwood, South Australia, Australia
Occupation
Ethnologist and Author

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, 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, 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, Royal Geographical Society of Australasia, South Australian Branch
1955
Career position - Thomson gold medal, 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), University of Adelaide
1971
Award - Sir Joseph Verco medal, 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

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

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, volume 15: 1940 - 1980 Kem-Pie, John Ritchie, ed. (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

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

McCarthy, G.J.

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"... the rengitj, as a visible mark or imprint on the land, is characterised as a place of origin, the repository of all names, as well as a kind of mapped visual expression of the connection between people and places which is to be carried out in the temporal sequence of the journey." Fanca Tamisari (1998) 'Body, Vision and Movement: In the footprints of the ancestors'. Oceania 68(4) p260