Person
Strehlow, Theodor George Henry (1908 - 1978)
- Born
- 6 June 1908
Hermannsburg, Northern Territory, Australia - Died
- 3 October 1978
Adelaide, South Australia, Australia - Occupation
- Linguist and Ethnologist
Summary
Theodor Strehlow, who was born at Hermannsburg in Central Australia, was a Reader in Australian Linguistics, University of Adelaide from 1954. His primary interest was in linguistics, ceremony and traditions of Australian Aborigines, particularly the Arrente people. He was expert in the Arrente language, which he spoke from a child. Strehlow was often as odds with some of his colleagues because of his disinclination to follow the expected path of physical anthropology. He spent much time in Central Australia immersing himself in Aboriginal culture. Among his landmark publications were Aranda phonetics and grammar (1942-4); Aranda traditions (1947), the publication of which was delayed until none of his informants were still alive; and Songs of Central Australia (1971) which was instrumental in establishing the Dreaming and the Aboriginal world-view as key to an emerging Australian cultural identity. Strehlow amassed a large collection of Aboriginal song verses, myths (written in indigenous dialects and languages), film of ceremonial acts, photographs, genealogies and sacred artefacts. His later years were years overshadowed by the question of ownership of the collection.
Details
Chronology
- 1931
- Education - BA (hons), University of Adelaide
- 1932
- Life event - Returned to Central Australia
- 1932
- Award - Australian National Research Council grant
- 1932
- Career event - Member, Board of Anthropological Research expedition
- August 1932
- Career event - Member, Board of Anthropological Research expedition to Mt Liebig, Northern Territory
- 1935
- Award - Australian National Research Council grant
- 1936 - 1941
- Career position - Patrol Officer, later Deputy Director of Native Affairs, Central Australia
- 1938
- Education - Master of Arts (MA), University of Adelaide
- 1942 - 1946
- Career position - Served with the Australian Army
- 1946 - 1949
- Career position - Research Fellow in Linguistics and Lecturer in English Literature, University of Adelaide
- 1947
- Career position - President, Anthropological Section, Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science
- 1949 - 1950
- Career position - Postgraduate Fellowship, Australian National University
- 1950 - 1952
- Life event - Studied anthropology at London School of Economics
- 1954 - 1970
- Career position - Reader in Australian Linguistics, University of Adelaide
- 1964 - 1973
- Career position - Founding Member, Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies
- 1970 - 1974
- Career position - Professor of Australian Linguistics (Personal Chair), University of Adelaide
- 1975
- Education - DLitt, University of Adelaide
- 1978
- Award - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), honoris causa, University of Uppsala, Sweden
Related entries
Children
Archival resources
National Library of Australia Oral History Collection
- Theodor George Henry Strehlow - Records, 1910 - 1978, DeB 76; National Library of Australia Oral History Collection. Details
Published resources
Books
- Cox, James L., Restoring the chain of memory: T. G. H. Strehlow and the repatriation of australian indigenous knowledge (Sheffield, U.K.: Equinox Publishing House, 2018), 224 pp. Details
- Gibson, Jason M., Ceremony men: making ethnography and the return of the Strehlow Collection (Albany, N.Y.: SUNY Press, 2020), 300 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 84, 89, 92-97, 99, 104-7, 127-9, 207. Details
- Strehlow, T. G. H., Comments on the Journals of John McDouall Stuart (Adelaide: 1967). Details
- Strehlow, T. G. H., Journal to Horseshoe Bend (Artarmon, N.S.W.: Giramondo Publishing, 2015), 220 pp. Details
Book Sections
- Austin-Broos, Diane, 'Of kinships and other things: T. G. H. Strehlow in Central Australia' in German ethnography in Australia, Peterson, Nicolas and Kenny, Anna, eds (Canberra: Australian National University Press, 2017), pp. 223-41. Details
- Gibson, Jason, '"Only the best is good for eternity": revisiting the ethnography of T. G. H. Strehlow' in German ethnography in Australia, Peterson, Nicolas and Kenny, Anna, eds (Canberra: Australian National University Press, 2017), pp. 243-71. Details
- Jones, Philip, 'Strehlow, Theodor George Henry (1908-1978), Linguist' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 16: 1940 - 1980 Pik-Z, John Ritchie and Diane Langmore, eds (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 2002), pp. 333-336. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A160399b.htm. Details
Edited Books
- Berndt, Ronald M. ed., Australian Aboriginal art (Sydney: Ure Smith, 1964), 117 pp. Details
Journal Articles
- Berndt, Ronald M., 'T. G. H. Strehlow, 1908 - 1878', Oceania, 49 (3) (1979), 230-3. Details
- Berndt, Ronald M., 'T. G. H. Strehlow 1908 - 1978', Aboriginal history, 3 (1) (1979), 84-8. Details
Resources
- Wikidata, http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q1491858. Details
- VIAF - Virtual International Authority File, OCLC, https://viaf.org/viaf/66615144. Details
- 'Strehlow, T G H (1908-1978)', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-485776. Details
See also
- Carment, David et al ed., Northern Territory dictionary of biography (Darwin: Charles Darwin University Press, 2008), 655 pp. pp. 559-62. Details
Gavan McCarthy [P004098] and Helen Cohn
Created: 20 October 1993, Last modified: 6 October 2023
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