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
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, 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
- 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
McCarthy, G.J.
Created: 20 October 1993, Last modified: 26 February 2018
- Foundation Supporter - Committee to Review Australian Studies in Tertiary Education