Donald Thomson
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Donald Fergusson Thomson OBE (1901 – 1970) was an Australian anthropologist and ornithologist who was largely responsible for turning the Caledon Bay Crisis into a "decisive moment in the history of Aboriginal-European relations". He is remembered as a friend of the Yolngu people, and as a champion of understanding, by non-Indigenous Australians, of the culture and society of Indigenous Australians.
He studied zoology and botany at the University of Melbourne. He also joined the Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union (RAOU) in 1917 and served it as Press Officer (1923) and as Assistant Editor of its journal the Emu (1924-1925). When he graduated in 1925 he joined the Melbourne Herald as a cadet, also marrying Gladys Coleman in the same year. He then studied for a one-year Diploma course in anthropology at the University of Sydney, graduating in 1928, and then set off on an eight-month journey, working with and recording the Indigenous people of Cape York. On his return, he was falsely accused of dishonesty, because of the loss of some funds which much later was traced to fraudulent activity by a staff member of the Australian Research Council. This unhappy episode forever damaged his relationship with other anthropologists at Sydney.
After another trip to Cape York in 1929, Thomson joined the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research in Melbourne, and in 1932 joined the University of Melbourne as a Research Fellow, obtaining his PhD in 1934.
In 1932-33, as the Caledon Bay Crisis erupted, Thomson offered his services to the Federal Government to resolve the crisis, and to the surprise of the government succeeded in doing so. (See the article on the Caledon Bay Crisis for the story of his achievements in this arena). His success had long-term ramifications for the relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians, and is regarded as the crowning achievement of his life.
He formed a strong bond with the Yolngu people, and in 1941 he persuaded the Army to establish a Special Reconnaissance Force of Yolngu men, including Wonggu and his sons, to help repel Japanese raids on the northern coastline of Australia.
In 1942, as the war moved northward from the Australian coast, the Special Reconnaissance Force was disbanded, and Thomson returned to the Air Force. He was badly injured in action in Dutch New Guinea, and spent the rest of his war in hospital before being discharged from the Armed Forces.
[edit] Thomson in Central Australia
In 1957, Thomson carried out the Bindibu (Pintupi) Expedition to the Western Desert to make contact with Pintupi there.
For some Pintupi, this was their first contact with Europeans. They were almost the last Indigenous Australian group with whom white Australians were to make contact with (the very last was a group of Pintupi in 1984).
Thomson again demonstrated his excellent ethnographic skills. The photographs taken here, like those he took in the 1930s in Arnhem Land, have become invaluable historical records for Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australians, particularly for the Pintupi.
He lived with the Pintupi, and like them, through much of the 1950s and '60s.
He returned to the University of Melbourne and continued working there until his death in 1970. His ashes were flown to the Northern Territory and, accompanied in the plane by two of the sons of Wonggu, were scattered over the waters of Caledon Bay.
[edit] References
- McEvey, A.R. (1971). Obituary. Donald Fergusson Thomson. Emu 71: 88.
- Thomson, D. (1935). Birds of Cape York Peninsula. Ecological notes, field observations, and catalogue of specimens collected on three expeditions to north Queensland. Government Printer, Melbourne.
- Thomson, D.; & Peterson, N. (1983). Donald Thomson in Arnhem Land. Miegunyah Press, Melbourne. Revised ed. 2003, ISBN 0-522-85063-4
- Thomson D. (1975). Bindibu Country. Melbourne, Thomas Nelson, ISBN 0-17-005049-1
[edit] External links
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| NAME | Thomson, Donald |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION | Australian anthropologist and ornithologist and Indigenous rights campaigner |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1901 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Melbourne, Australia |
| DATE OF DEATH | 1970 |
| PLACE OF DEATH | Melbourne, Australia |
