Bill Stanner
Encyclopedia
W.E.H. Stanner was an Australia
n anthropologist
who worked extensively with Indigenous Australians
. Stanner had a varied career that also included journalism in the 1930s, military service in World War II
, and political advice on colonial policy in Africa and the South Pacific in the post-war period.
He was the Commanding Officer
of the 2/1st North Australia Observer Unit
(NAOU) during World War II
, also known as the "Nackeroos" and recently coined "Curtin’s Cowboys". The NAOU was the military predecessor to the modern NORFORCE
. Formed in March 1942 and disbanded March 1945, they patrolled northern Australia for signs of enemy activity.
Stanner was an influential figure prior to the successful 1967 referendum
on Aboriginal affairs which removed provisions in the Australian Constitution which discriminated against Indigenous Australians
. In 1967, the Prime Minister
Harold Holt
invited Stanner to join H. C. Coombs
and B.G. Dexter
to form the Commonwealth Council for Aboriginal Affairs and advise on national policy. He subsequently played an important role in establishing the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies
.
Stanner coined the terms the Great Australian Silence and everywhen and brought them into general usage in his 1968 Boyer Lectures
After the Dreaming, which reflected on the silence on Indigenous Australians
in Australian history
after white settlement.
on 24 November 1905, the son of Andrew Edwin Stanner and Mary Catherine Stanner (née Hanley). He was educated at state schools and won a bursary to Parramatta High School
(1919–21), but was unable to stay on after the Intermediate Certificate. Stanner worked for two years in a bank and matriculated by private study. He worked as a journalist while studying at University. In 1927 Stanner obtained full-time work as a reporter for the Sydney Daily Guardian for Frank Packer
, the first of a number of posts in journalism which financed his studies in Australia and England.
At University, Stanner has an interest in athletics, football and was the secretary of the University's League of Nations
Society. He stated afterward that his selection of anthropology as a profession was influenced by the famous anthropologist Alfred Radcliffe-Brown
. Stanner worked as a journalist until 1932 by which time he was chief sub-edior of the Sunday Sun including several years in the Parliamentary Gallery. Stanner won the Frank Albert Prize in anthropology in two successive years and graduated with a BA (Honours) (Anthropology and Economics) in 1932.
In 1933 Stanner took up a temporary position on the personal staff of Bertram Stevens, the Premier of NSW, for whom he drafted parliamentary and public speeches and prepared reports. At that time he met H.C. Coombs and formed and enduring friendship with W.C. Wentworth who he worked with in later life. He received an MA (Class 1 Honours) in Anthropology in 1934 from the University of Sydney
for which he did extensive field research in the Daly River region of Northern Australia. A. P. Elkin
judged Stanner's 1934 thesis on culture-contact at the Daly River as "a work of outstanding quality". Stanner criticised the popular assumption that the main function of the anthropologist was "the naieve search for uncontaminated aboriginal cultures". He presented an exposition of a method for studying contact and cultural change, insisting that this was "an important and neglected problem". Barwick, Beckett and Reay wrote in 1985 that already his lifelong concern with the practical value of anthropology to Aboriginal welfare was apparent.
In 1935, on his second field work, Stanner accompanied the Catholic priest Father Richard Docherty
to Port Keats, now known as Wadeye on the south-western coast of the Northern Territory
, halfway between the mouths of the Daly River
and Fitzmaurice River
. Docherty was commissioned to establish a mission
in the region and Stanner helped him choose the site. Over the next thirty years, the people of the two river valleys came in to the mission and eventually became permanent residents. On his appointment to the Australian National University
, Stanner renewed his interest in the Port Keats Wadeye area renewing old friendships. Much of his work as an anthropologist
was based on his field work with Indigenous Australians
in the Port Keats Wadeye area.
Stanner moved to London in 1936 completed his PhD at the London School of Economics
in 1938 studying under Bronisław Malinowski. Compatriots included Phyllis Kaberry
and Piddington. Jomo Kenyatta
, the first Prime Minister
(1963–1964) of Kenya
and subsequently President
(1964–1978) was a fellow student. Stanner also worked as a sub-editor in the Foreign Room at The Times
.
Early academic appointments and field research included:
Under the auspices of Oxford University he did field research in Kenya
in 1938-39 as part of the Oxford Expedition to Kenya and East Africa for the Oxford Social Studies Research Committee. This field research was discontinuted at the outbreak of World War II
when Stanner returned to Australia. He obtained employment at the Department of Information and subsequently acted as adviser to successive Ministers for the Army, Percy Spender
and Frank Forde
who subsequently became Prime Minister
.
Stanner made contact with many local Aboriginal groups, and employed some to assist his troops as guides and labourers. Nackeroo operations were scaled down as the threat of Japanese invasion passed, and the unit was eventually disbanded in March 1945. The history of the unit was documented in detail by Dr. Amoury Vane.
Promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel (Lt Col) in 1943, Stanner served in Europe, Britain and then in British North Borneo (Lt-Col) as Senior Civil Affairs Officer for the British Borneo Civil Affairs Unit (BBCAU) until the conclusion of the war.
Stanner's notable career postings post-World War II included:
Stanner also held a number of key leadership positions at the Australian National University
including:
on Aboriginal affairs which removed provisions in the Australian Constitution which discriminated against Indigenous Australians
.
Harold Holt
invited Stanner to join H. C. Coombs
and Barry Dexter
to form the Council for Aboriginal Affairs and advise on national policy. Stanner held that position through successive political regimes, including the Whitlam Government
, which began to implement much of the program Stanner, Coombs and Dexter endorsed: land rights, the movement to outstations, increased social welfare and community-based economies.
Stanner brought to this policy package an anthropologist's sensitivity to the importance of ceremony and ritual. In particular, at the handover of the first native title
grant to the Gurindji people
at Wattie Creek in the Northern Territory
in 1975, Stanner recommended Prime Minister Gough Whitlam
should perform the memorable symbolic act of pouring earth through the hands of Gurindji leader, Vincent Lingiari
.
titled "After the Dreaming". The Boyer Lectures began in 1959 as the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Commission, now the Australian Broadcasting Corporation) Lectures. They were renamed in 1961 after Richard Boyer (later Sir Richard), the ABC board chairman who had first suggested the lectures. The series is broadcast every year in November/December on ABC Radio National
. The lectures have been delivered annually by prominent Australians, selected by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Board. They have stimulated thought, discussion and debate in Australia on a wide range of subjects. Stanner's lecture has since been reprinted a number of times.
commemorated the centenary of the birth of W. E. H. (Bill) Stanner, one of its late professors of anthropology, with a conference discussing his lifetime achievements.
Keith Windschuttle
described this in Quadrant
magazine as "an uncommon honour for an Australian academic who died 24 years earlier in 1981."
Speakers at the conference were as follows:
A volume of the conference papers was published in 2008, An Appreciation of Difference: W. E. H. Stanner and Aboriginal Australia, edited by Melinda Hinkson and Jeremy Beckett.
(1905–1981) at the ANU
Centre for Cross-Cultural Research, Thursday 24 - Friday 25 November 2005
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n anthropologist
Anthropology
Anthropology is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos , "man", understood to mean mankind or humanity, and -logia , "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German...
who worked extensively with Indigenous Australians
Indigenous Australians
Indigenous Australians are the original inhabitants of the Australian continent and nearby islands. The Aboriginal Indigenous Australians migrated from the Indian continent around 75,000 to 100,000 years ago....
. Stanner had a varied career that also included journalism in the 1930s, military service in World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, and political advice on colonial policy in Africa and the South Pacific in the post-war period.
He was the Commanding Officer
Commanding officer
The commanding officer is the officer in command of a military unit. Typically, the commanding officer has ultimate authority over the unit, and is usually given wide latitude to run the unit as he sees fit, within the bounds of military law...
of the 2/1st North Australia Observer Unit
2/1st North Australia Observer Unit
The 2/1st North Australia Observer Unit was an Australian Army reconnaissance unit of World War II. 2/1 NAOU was formed in May 1942 to patrol remote areas of northern Australia and provide warning to the Northern Territory Force of any Japanese landings...
(NAOU) during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, also known as the "Nackeroos" and recently coined "Curtin’s Cowboys". The NAOU was the military predecessor to the modern NORFORCE
NORFORCE
The NORFORCE is an infantry regiment of the Australian Army Reserve. Formed in 1981, the regiment is one of three Regional Force Surveillance Units employed in surveillance and reconnaissance of the remote areas of Northern Australia.-History:In the late-1970s and early 1980s the need for a...
. Formed in March 1942 and disbanded March 1945, they patrolled northern Australia for signs of enemy activity.
Stanner was an influential figure prior to the successful 1967 referendum
Referendum
A referendum is a direct vote in which an entire electorate is asked to either accept or reject a particular proposal. This may result in the adoption of a new constitution, a constitutional amendment, a law, the recall of an elected official or simply a specific government policy. It is a form of...
on Aboriginal affairs which removed provisions in the Australian Constitution which discriminated against Indigenous Australians
Indigenous Australians
Indigenous Australians are the original inhabitants of the Australian continent and nearby islands. The Aboriginal Indigenous Australians migrated from the Indian continent around 75,000 to 100,000 years ago....
. In 1967, the Prime Minister
Prime minister
A prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. In many systems, the prime minister selects and may dismiss other members of the cabinet, and allocates posts to members within the government. In most systems, the prime...
Harold Holt
Harold Holt
Harold Edward Holt, CH was an Australian politician and the 17th Prime Minister of Australia.His term as Prime Minister was brought to an early and dramatic end in December 1967 when he disappeared while swimming at Cheviot Beach near Portsea, Victoria, and was presumed drowned.Holt spent 32 years...
invited Stanner to join H. C. Coombs
H. C. Coombs
Herbert Cole H.C. "Nugget" Coombs was an Australian economist and public servant.-Early years:Coombs was born in Kalamunda, Western Australia, Australia, one of six children of a country railway station-master and a well-read mother.Coombs's political and economic views were formed by the Great...
and B.G. Dexter
Barry Dexter
Barry Dexter was a senior diplomat and public servant in the Department of External Affairs and the Department of Aboriginal Affairs.Following the referendum in 1967 which removed provisions in the Australian Constitution which discriminated against Indigenous Australians, the Prime Minister Harold...
to form the Commonwealth Council for Aboriginal Affairs and advise on national policy. He subsequently played an important role in establishing the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies
Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies
The Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies is an independent Australian Government statutory authority. It is Australia's premier institution for information about the cultures and lifestyles of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. It is located on Acton...
.
Stanner coined the terms the Great Australian Silence and everywhen and brought them into general usage in his 1968 Boyer Lectures
Boyer Lectures
The Boyer Lectures began in 1959 as the ABC Lectures. They were renamed in 1961 after Richard Boyer , the ABC board chairman who had first suggested the lectures...
After the Dreaming, which reflected on the silence on Indigenous Australians
Indigenous Australians
Indigenous Australians are the original inhabitants of the Australian continent and nearby islands. The Aboriginal Indigenous Australians migrated from the Indian continent around 75,000 to 100,000 years ago....
in Australian history
History of Australia
The History of Australia refers to the history of the area and people of Commonwealth of Australia and its preceding Indigenous and colonial societies. Aboriginal Australians are believed to have first arrived on the Australian mainland by boat from the Indonesian archipelago between 40,000 to...
after white settlement.
Biography
A number of biographical references exist, the most detailed is by Diane Barwick, Jeremy Beckett and Marie Reay which was largely completed before his death in 1981.Early career
Stanner was born at Watson's Bay, SydneyWatsons Bay, New South Wales
Watsons Bay is a harbourside, eastern suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Watsons Bay is located 11 km north-east of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the Municipality of Woollahra....
on 24 November 1905, the son of Andrew Edwin Stanner and Mary Catherine Stanner (née Hanley). He was educated at state schools and won a bursary to Parramatta High School
Parramatta High School
Parramatta High School is a public, co-educational high school located in Parramatta, a western suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.Established in 1913, Parramatta High School was the first co-educational school in the Sydney Metropolitan area...
(1919–21), but was unable to stay on after the Intermediate Certificate. Stanner worked for two years in a bank and matriculated by private study. He worked as a journalist while studying at University. In 1927 Stanner obtained full-time work as a reporter for the Sydney Daily Guardian for Frank Packer
Frank Packer
Sir Douglas Frank Hewson Packer, KBE , was an Australian media proprietor who controlled Australian Consolidated Press and the Nine Network.-Biography:...
, the first of a number of posts in journalism which financed his studies in Australia and England.
At University, Stanner has an interest in athletics, football and was the secretary of the University's League of Nations
League of Nations
The League of Nations was an intergovernmental organization founded as a result of the Paris Peace Conference that ended the First World War. It was the first permanent international organization whose principal mission was to maintain world peace...
Society. He stated afterward that his selection of anthropology as a profession was influenced by the famous anthropologist Alfred Radcliffe-Brown
Alfred Radcliffe-Brown
Alfred Reginald Radcliffe-Brown was an English social anthropologist who developed the theory of Structural Functionalism.- Biography :...
. Stanner worked as a journalist until 1932 by which time he was chief sub-edior of the Sunday Sun including several years in the Parliamentary Gallery. Stanner won the Frank Albert Prize in anthropology in two successive years and graduated with a BA (Honours) (Anthropology and Economics) in 1932.
In 1933 Stanner took up a temporary position on the personal staff of Bertram Stevens, the Premier of NSW, for whom he drafted parliamentary and public speeches and prepared reports. At that time he met H.C. Coombs and formed and enduring friendship with W.C. Wentworth who he worked with in later life. He received an MA (Class 1 Honours) in Anthropology in 1934 from the University of Sydney
University of Sydney
The University of Sydney is a public university located in Sydney, New South Wales. The main campus spreads across the suburbs of Camperdown and Darlington on the southwestern outskirts of the Sydney CBD. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and Oceania...
for which he did extensive field research in the Daly River region of Northern Australia. A. P. Elkin
A. P. Elkin
Adolphus Peter "A. P." Elkin CMG was an Anglican clergyman, an influential Australian anthropologist during the mid twentieth century and a proponent of the assimilation of Indigenous Australians.-Early life:...
judged Stanner's 1934 thesis on culture-contact at the Daly River as "a work of outstanding quality". Stanner criticised the popular assumption that the main function of the anthropologist was "the naieve search for uncontaminated aboriginal cultures". He presented an exposition of a method for studying contact and cultural change, insisting that this was "an important and neglected problem". Barwick, Beckett and Reay wrote in 1985 that already his lifelong concern with the practical value of anthropology to Aboriginal welfare was apparent.
In 1935, on his second field work, Stanner accompanied the Catholic priest Father Richard Docherty
Richard Docherty
Father Richard Docherty was a Catholic priest who established the mission at Port Keats, now known as Wadeye in the Northern Territory of Australia.-Timeline:*1899 born in Urwin, Western Australia...
to Port Keats, now known as Wadeye on the south-western coast of the Northern Territory
Northern Territory
The Northern Territory is a federal territory of Australia, occupying much of the centre of the mainland continent, as well as the central northern regions...
, halfway between the mouths of the Daly River
Daly River, Northern Territory
Daly River is the name of a river and a town in the Northern Territory of Australia. At the 2006 census, Daly River had a population of 468.- History :...
and Fitzmaurice River
Fitzmaurice River
The Fitzmaurice River is a river in Australia's Northern Territory. It was first charted in 1839 by European explorers aboard the HMS Beagle under the command of John Lort Stokes. It was named for Lewis Roper Fitzmaurice, a mate and assistant surveyor on the Beagle.The river drains into the...
. Docherty was commissioned to establish a mission
Mission (Christian)
Christian missionary activities often involve sending individuals and groups , to foreign countries and to places in their own homeland. This has frequently involved not only evangelization , but also humanitarian work, especially among the poor and disadvantaged...
in the region and Stanner helped him choose the site. Over the next thirty years, the people of the two river valleys came in to the mission and eventually became permanent residents. On his appointment to the Australian National University
Australian National University
The Australian National University is a teaching and research university located in the Australian capital, Canberra.As of 2009, the ANU employs 3,945 administrative staff who teach approximately 10,000 undergraduates, and 7,500 postgraduate students...
, Stanner renewed his interest in the Port Keats Wadeye area renewing old friendships. Much of his work as an anthropologist
Anthropology
Anthropology is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos , "man", understood to mean mankind or humanity, and -logia , "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German...
was based on his field work with Indigenous Australians
Indigenous Australians
Indigenous Australians are the original inhabitants of the Australian continent and nearby islands. The Aboriginal Indigenous Australians migrated from the Indian continent around 75,000 to 100,000 years ago....
in the Port Keats Wadeye area.
Stanner moved to London in 1936 completed his PhD at the London School of Economics
London School of Economics
The London School of Economics and Political Science is a public research university specialised in the social sciences located in London, United Kingdom, and a constituent college of the federal University of London...
in 1938 studying under Bronisław Malinowski. Compatriots included Phyllis Kaberry
Phyllis Kaberry
Phyllis Mary Kaberry was a social anthropologist who dedicated her work to the study of women in various societies. Particularly with her work in both Australia and Africa, she paved the way for a feminist approach in anthropological studies...
and Piddington. Jomo Kenyatta
Jomo Kenyatta
Jomo Kenyattapron.] served as the first Prime Minister and President of Kenya. He is considered the founding father of the Kenyan nation....
, the first Prime Minister
Prime minister
A prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. In many systems, the prime minister selects and may dismiss other members of the cabinet, and allocates posts to members within the government. In most systems, the prime...
(1963–1964) of Kenya
Kenya
Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...
and subsequently President
President
A president is a leader of an organization, company, trade union, university, or country.Etymologically, a president is one who presides, who sits in leadership...
(1964–1978) was a fellow student. Stanner also worked as a sub-editor in the Foreign Room at The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
.
Early academic appointments and field research included:
- 1932-36 Department of Anthropology, University of SydneyUniversity of SydneyThe University of Sydney is a public university located in Sydney, New South Wales. The main campus spreads across the suburbs of Camperdown and Darlington on the southwestern outskirts of the Sydney CBD. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and Oceania...
. - 1932, 1934-35 Field research in north and central Australia (for the Australian National Research Council).
- 1936-38 Research Assistant, London School of EconomicsLondon School of EconomicsThe London School of Economics and Political Science is a public research university specialised in the social sciences located in London, United Kingdom, and a constituent college of the federal University of London...
. - 1937 Personal staff of Commonwealth TreasurerTreasurer of AustraliaThe Treasurer of Australia is the minister in the Government of Australia responsible for government expenditure and revenue raising. He is the head of the Department of the Treasury. The Treasurer plays a key role in the economic policy of the government...
, The Right Honourable The Lord CaseyRichard Casey, Baron CaseyRichard Gardiner Casey, Baron Casey KG GCMG CH DSO MC KStJ PC was an Australian politician, diplomat and the 16th Governor-General of Australia.-Early life:...
at the Imperial Conference in London. - 1938-39 University of OxfordUniversity of OxfordThe University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
Expedition to Kenya (Oxford Social Sciences Research Committee).
Under the auspices of Oxford University he did field research in Kenya
Kenya
Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...
in 1938-39 as part of the Oxford Expedition to Kenya and East Africa for the Oxford Social Studies Research Committee. This field research was discontinuted at the outbreak of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
when Stanner returned to Australia. He obtained employment at the Department of Information and subsequently acted as adviser to successive Ministers for the Army, Percy Spender
Percy Spender
Sir Percy Claude Spender, KCVO, KBE, QC, , was an Australian politician. diplomat and jurist.Spender was born in Sydney and educated at the prestigious Fort Street High School and later the University of Sydney. He joined the Commonwealth Public Service in 1915...
and Frank Forde
Frank Forde
Francis Michael Forde PC was an Australian politician and the 15th Prime Minister of Australia. He was the shortest serving Prime Minister in Australia's history, being in office for only eight days.-Early life:...
who subsequently became Prime Minister
Prime minister
A prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. In many systems, the prime minister selects and may dismiss other members of the cabinet, and allocates posts to members within the government. In most systems, the prime...
.
WW2 Military service
In March 1942 his pre-war experience in Northern Australia led to him being directed to "raise and command" to what became the 2/1st North Australia Observer Unit (NAOU), otherwise known as 'Stanner's Bush Commandos'. At this time he enlisted in the 2nd AIF (1942–1946). Known colloquially as 'Nackeroos', the men were deployed in small groups throughout the rugged north of Australia, where they observed and reported on signs of enemy activity, often patrolling on horseback. As the unit's Commander, MajorMajor
Major is a rank of commissioned officer, with corresponding ranks existing in almost every military in the world.When used unhyphenated, in conjunction with no other indicator of rank, the term refers to the rank just senior to that of an Army captain and just below the rank of lieutenant colonel. ...
Stanner made contact with many local Aboriginal groups, and employed some to assist his troops as guides and labourers. Nackeroo operations were scaled down as the threat of Japanese invasion passed, and the unit was eventually disbanded in March 1945. The history of the unit was documented in detail by Dr. Amoury Vane.
Promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel (Lt Col) in 1943, Stanner served in Europe, Britain and then in British North Borneo (Lt-Col) as Senior Civil Affairs Officer for the British Borneo Civil Affairs Unit (BBCAU) until the conclusion of the war.
Career post WW2
He continued his anthropological work after the war, becoming a prominent writer, lecturer and public advocate of the study and appreciation of Aboriginal society and its place in Australia.Stanner's notable career postings post-World War II included:
- 1946 Department of External Affairs. This was a temporary appointment working with Sir Frederick Eggleston on a proposed South Seas Commission.
- 1946-47 Researcher: Papua-New Guinea, Fiji, West Samoa (Institute of Pacific Relations). This led to the delayed publication in 1953 of his first book South Seas in Transition.
- 1947-49 Foundation Director of the East African Institute of Social Research, Makerere Uganda.
- 1949-64 Reader in Social Anthropology, Australian National University. Resumed field work in Daly River and Port Keats in the Northern Territory.
- 1953-56 Australian Commissioner, South Pacific Commission.
- 1961 Convenor and Chairman, Commonwealth Conference on Aboriginal Studies.
- 1961-62 First Executive Officer, Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies.
- 1964-70 Professor of Anthropology and Sociology, Australian National University.
- 1967-77 Appointed to Commonwealth Council for Aboriginal Affairs.
- 1971 Emeritus Professor and Honourary Fellow, Department of Anthropology and Sociology, Australian National University.
- 1972-74 Visiting Fellow, Research School of Pacific Studies.
- 1974-75 Special Adviser to the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Aboriginal Affairs.
- 1975-79 Department of Pre-history and Anthropology, Australian National University.
- 1977-79 Consultant to Northern Territory Land Commission.
- 1971-1981 Honorary Fellow, Research School of Pacific and Asian StudiesResearch School of Pacific and Asian StudiesThe Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies was founded in 1946 as an institute of advanced study at the Australian National University in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory.-History:...
(RSPAS), Australian National University
Stanner also held a number of key leadership positions at the Australian National University
Australian National University
The Australian National University is a teaching and research university located in the Australian capital, Canberra.As of 2009, the ANU employs 3,945 administrative staff who teach approximately 10,000 undergraduates, and 7,500 postgraduate students...
including:
- 1954 Chairman of the Governing Body, University House, Australian National University.
- 1954-55 Bursar, University House, Australian National University.
- 1960-1981 Honorary Member, University House, Australian National University.
Referendum in 1967
Stanner was an influential figure prior to the successful 1967 referendumReferendum
A referendum is a direct vote in which an entire electorate is asked to either accept or reject a particular proposal. This may result in the adoption of a new constitution, a constitutional amendment, a law, the recall of an elected official or simply a specific government policy. It is a form of...
on Aboriginal affairs which removed provisions in the Australian Constitution which discriminated against Indigenous Australians
Indigenous Australians
Indigenous Australians are the original inhabitants of the Australian continent and nearby islands. The Aboriginal Indigenous Australians migrated from the Indian continent around 75,000 to 100,000 years ago....
.
Council for Aboriginal Affairs
In 1967, the Prime MinisterPrime minister
A prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. In many systems, the prime minister selects and may dismiss other members of the cabinet, and allocates posts to members within the government. In most systems, the prime...
Harold Holt
Harold Holt
Harold Edward Holt, CH was an Australian politician and the 17th Prime Minister of Australia.His term as Prime Minister was brought to an early and dramatic end in December 1967 when he disappeared while swimming at Cheviot Beach near Portsea, Victoria, and was presumed drowned.Holt spent 32 years...
invited Stanner to join H. C. Coombs
H. C. Coombs
Herbert Cole H.C. "Nugget" Coombs was an Australian economist and public servant.-Early years:Coombs was born in Kalamunda, Western Australia, Australia, one of six children of a country railway station-master and a well-read mother.Coombs's political and economic views were formed by the Great...
and Barry Dexter
Barry Dexter
Barry Dexter was a senior diplomat and public servant in the Department of External Affairs and the Department of Aboriginal Affairs.Following the referendum in 1967 which removed provisions in the Australian Constitution which discriminated against Indigenous Australians, the Prime Minister Harold...
to form the Council for Aboriginal Affairs and advise on national policy. Stanner held that position through successive political regimes, including the Whitlam Government
Whitlam Government
The Whitlam Government refers to the federal Executive Government of Australia led by Prime Minister Gough Whitlam. It was made up of members of the Australian Labor Party in the Australian Parliament from 1972 to 1975.-Background:...
, which began to implement much of the program Stanner, Coombs and Dexter endorsed: land rights, the movement to outstations, increased social welfare and community-based economies.
Stanner brought to this policy package an anthropologist's sensitivity to the importance of ceremony and ritual. In particular, at the handover of the first native title
Native title
Native title is the Australian version of the common law doctrine of aboriginal title.Native title is "the recognition by Australian law that some Indigenous people have rights and interests to their land that come from their traditional laws and customs"...
grant to the Gurindji people
Gurindji people
Gurindji are a group of Indigenous Australians living in northern Australia, 460 km southwest of Katherine in the Northern Territory's Victoria River region....
at Wattie Creek in the Northern Territory
Northern Territory
The Northern Territory is a federal territory of Australia, occupying much of the centre of the mainland continent, as well as the central northern regions...
in 1975, Stanner recommended Prime Minister Gough Whitlam
Gough Whitlam
Edward Gough Whitlam, AC, QC , known as Gough Whitlam , served as the 21st Prime Minister of Australia. Whitlam led the Australian Labor Party to power at the 1972 election and retained government at the 1974 election, before being dismissed by Governor-General Sir John Kerr at the climax of the...
should perform the memorable symbolic act of pouring earth through the hands of Gurindji leader, Vincent Lingiari
Vincent Lingiari
Vincent Lingiarri, AM , was an Aboriginal rights activist who was appointed as a Member of the Order of Australia for his services to the Aboriginal people. Lingiarri was a member of the Gurindji people. In Vincent's earlier life he worked as a stockman at Wave Hill Cattle Station. He also played...
.
Boyer Lectures in 1968
In 1968 Prof W.E.H. Stanner presented the Boyer LecturesBoyer Lectures
The Boyer Lectures began in 1959 as the ABC Lectures. They were renamed in 1961 after Richard Boyer , the ABC board chairman who had first suggested the lectures...
titled "After the Dreaming". The Boyer Lectures began in 1959 as the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Commission, now the Australian Broadcasting Corporation) Lectures. They were renamed in 1961 after Richard Boyer (later Sir Richard), the ABC board chairman who had first suggested the lectures. The series is broadcast every year in November/December on ABC Radio National
Radio National
ABC Radio National is an Australia-wide non-commercial radio network run by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.Radio National broadcasts national programming in areas that include news and current affairs, the arts, social issues, science, drama and comedy...
. The lectures have been delivered annually by prominent Australians, selected by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Board. They have stimulated thought, discussion and debate in Australia on a wide range of subjects. Stanner's lecture has since been reprinted a number of times.
Family
Stanner married Patricia Williams, a diplomat in 1962. The couple had two sons: Andrew Stanner and John Stanner.ANU Conference in 2005
In 2005, the Australian National UniversityAustralian National University
The Australian National University is a teaching and research university located in the Australian capital, Canberra.As of 2009, the ANU employs 3,945 administrative staff who teach approximately 10,000 undergraduates, and 7,500 postgraduate students...
commemorated the centenary of the birth of W. E. H. (Bill) Stanner, one of its late professors of anthropology, with a conference discussing his lifetime achievements.
Keith Windschuttle
Keith Windschuttle
Keith Windschuttle is an Australian writer, historian, and ABC board member, who has authored several books from the 1970s onwards. These include Unemployment, , which analysed the economic causes and social consequences of unemployment in Australia and advocated a socialist response; The Media: a...
described this in Quadrant
Quadrant (magazine)
Quadrant is an Australian literary and cultural journal. The magazine takes a conservative position on political and social issues, describing itself as sceptical of 'unthinking Leftism, or political correctness, and its "smelly little orthodoxies"'. Quadrant reviews literature, as well as...
magazine as "an uncommon honour for an Australian academic who died 24 years earlier in 1981."
Speakers at the conference were as follows:
- Professor Jon Altman, Professor and Director of the Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research, ANU
- Emeritus Associate Professor Jeremy Beckett, Honorary Research Associate, Sydney University
- Max Charlesworth, Emeritus Professor, Deakin University
- Professor Ann Curthoys, School of Social Sciences, the ANU, Manning Clark Professor of History at ANU.
- Mark Crocombe, Kanamkek—Yile Ngala Museum, Wadeye
- Barry DexterBarry DexterBarry Dexter was a senior diplomat and public servant in the Department of External Affairs and the Department of Aboriginal Affairs.Following the referendum in 1967 which removed provisions in the Australian Constitution which discriminated against Indigenous Australians, the Prime Minister Harold...
, Member of the Council for Aboriginal Affairs, Diplomat - Professor Mick DodsonMick DodsonProfessor Michael James "Mick" Dodson, AM is an indigenous Australian leader, a member of the Yawuru peoples in the Broome area of the southern Kimberley region of Western Australia. His brother is Patrick Dodson, also a noted Aboriginal leader.Following his parents' death, he boarded at Monivae...
AM, National Centre for Indigenous Studies, the ANU and Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies - Alberto Furlan, Ph.D. in Anthropology (University of Sydney).
- Geoffrey Gray, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies
- Melinda Hinkson, School of Archaeology & Anthropology, the ANU
- Bill Ivory, Charles Darwin University
- Ian Keen, School of Archaeology & Anthropology, the ANU
- Professor Marcia LangtonMarcia LangtonMarcia Lynne Langton is one of Australia's leading Aboriginal scholars. She holds the Foundation Chair in Australian Indigenous Studies at the University of Melbourne, Australia...
A.M., B.A. (Hons) ANU, PhD, Macq., F.A.S.S.A., Centre for Australian Indigenous Studies, University of Melbourne - Professor Howard Morphy, Centre for Cross-Cultural Research, the ANU
- Emeritus Professor John MulvaneyJohn MulvaneyJohn Mulvaney AO CMG is an Australian archaeologist and known as the "father of Australian Archaeology".Derek John Mulvaney was born in Yarram, Victoria...
, Emeritus Professor of Pre-History, the ANU - David NashDavid Nash (linguist)David Nash is a prominent Australian field linguist, specialising in the Aboriginal languages of Australia. Brought up in Parkes, New South Wales, he received a B.A. in pure mathematics from the Australian National University followed by an M.A. in Linguistics. He then went to the Massachusetts...
, Honorary Visiting Fellow, ANU and Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies - Professor Nicolas Peterson, School of Archaeology & Anthropology, the ANU
- Professor Peter SuttonPeter SuttonPeter Sutton FASSA is an Australian social anthropologist and linguist who has, over a period of almost 40 years , significantly contributed to: recording Australian Aboriginal languages; promoting Australian Aboriginal art; mapping Australian Aboriginal cultural landscapes; and increasing...
, ARC Professorial Research Fellow, University of Adelaide - John Taylor, Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research, the ANU
- Graeme Ward, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies
- Nancy Williams, Honorary Reader in Anthropology, University of Queensland
A volume of the conference papers was published in 2008, An Appreciation of Difference: W. E. H. Stanner and Aboriginal Australia, edited by Melinda Hinkson and Jeremy Beckett.
Books and publications
Books, publications and speeches:- 1945, Random Reflections During War
- 1953, South Seas in Transition
- 1960, On Aboriginal Religion
- 1967, Industrial Justice in the Never-Never, the Presidential Address delivered to the Canberra Sociology Society, 24 March 1966
- 1968, After the Dreaming
- 1975, Australian Aboriginal Mythology: Essays in Honour of W. E. H. Stanner
- 1979, White Man Got No Dreaming: Essays 1938-1973
- 1985, Metaphors of Interpretation: Essays in Honour of W.E.H. Stanner
- 2001, People from the Dawn: Religion, Homeland, and Privacy in Australian Aboriginal Culture
- 2005, W. E. H. Stanner: Anthropologist and Public Intellectual
- 2008, An Appreciation of Difference: WEH Stanner, Aboriginal Australia and Anthropology
- 2009, Fighting with Food : Leadership, Values and Social Control in a Massin Society
Honours and tributes
Honours, named in honour of, or tributes to W.E.H. Stanner:- Bestowed with the title "Emeritus Professor" by the ANU Congregation on 1 April 1971
- Mueller Medallist awarded by the Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of ScienceAustralian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of ScienceThe Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science is an organisation that was founded in 1888 by Archibald Liversidge as the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science to promote science. It was modelled on the British Association for the Advancement of Science...
(ANZAAS) in 1971. Established in 1902 in memory of Baron Sir Ferdinand von MuellerFerdinand von MuellerBaron Sir Ferdinand Jacob Heinrich von Mueller, KCMG was a German-Australian physician, geographer, and most notably, a botanist.-Early life:...
, government botanist of Victoria and a prodigious collector of botanic specimens. Awarded by the Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of ScienceAustralian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of ScienceThe Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science is an organisation that was founded in 1888 by Archibald Liversidge as the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science to promote science. It was modelled on the British Association for the Advancement of Science...
(ANZAAS) for researches in anthropology, botany, geology or zoology. - Sir Raphael CilentoRaphael CilentoSir Raphael West Cilento , often known as "Ray", was a notable Australian medical practitioner and public health administrator.-Early life and education:...
Medallist in 1971, established in 1935 by the Australian Institute of Anatomy. Donated by Sir Raphael CilentoRaphael CilentoSir Raphael West Cilento , often known as "Ray", was a notable Australian medical practitioner and public health administrator.-Early life and education:...
, a prominent Queensland medical man. Awarded biennially to the scientist who has advanced native welfare or advanced tropical medicine in Australia or the Pacific area. - Honourary Doctorate of Literature, Australian National University in 1972
- Made Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) in 1972
- Honoured in the list of the "200 Australians who have contributed most to making Australia what it is today", the book published by the Australian Bicentennial Authority as part of the Australian BicentenaryAustralian BicentenaryThe bicentenary of Australia was celebrated in 1970 on the 200th anniversary of Captain James Cook landing and claiming the land, and again in 1988 to celebrate 200 years of permanent European settlement.-1970:...
celebrations in 1988. - The Stanner Award, AIATSIS established the award in 1985 in recognition of the significant contribution of the late Emeritus Professor W.E.H. (Bill) Stanner to the establishment and development of the Institute.
- The WEH Stanner Building at the Australian National UniversityAustralian National UniversityThe Australian National University is a teaching and research university located in the Australian capital, Canberra.As of 2009, the ANU employs 3,945 administrative staff who teach approximately 10,000 undergraduates, and 7,500 postgraduate students...
- The Stanner Room at University House at the Australian National UniversityAustralian National UniversityThe Australian National University is a teaching and research university located in the Australian capital, Canberra.As of 2009, the ANU employs 3,945 administrative staff who teach approximately 10,000 undergraduates, and 7,500 postgraduate students...
- Stanner Street (under construction) at Bonner, Australian Capital TerritoryBonner, Australian Capital TerritoryBonner is a planned suburb in the district of Gungahlin in Canberra. The suburb is named in memory after Senator Neville Bonner, Australia's first Indigenous parliamentarian who served the people of Queensland during the years 1971-1984...
in CanberraCanberraCanberra is the capital city of Australia. With a population of over 345,000, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory , south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Melbourne... - The Stanner Club in Darwin, formerly the NorforceNORFORCEThe NORFORCE is an infantry regiment of the Australian Army Reserve. Formed in 1981, the regiment is one of three Regional Force Surveillance Units employed in surveillance and reconnaissance of the remote areas of Northern Australia.-History:In the late-1970s and early 1980s the need for a...
soldiers club, since renamed.
External links
- ABC Radio NationalRadio NationalABC Radio National is an Australia-wide non-commercial radio network run by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.Radio National broadcasts national programming in areas that include news and current affairs, the arts, social issues, science, drama and comedy...
- Report on Bill Stanner Hindsight, 9 January 2005
- Battlefields of Aboriginal History Perspective 24 October 2005
- W. E. H. Stanner: Anthropologist and Public Intellectual: a two-day symposium to mark the centenary of the birth of W.E.H. Stanner
(1905–1981) at the ANU
Australian National University
The Australian National University is a teaching and research university located in the Australian capital, Canberra.As of 2009, the ANU employs 3,945 administrative staff who teach approximately 10,000 undergraduates, and 7,500 postgraduate students...
Centre for Cross-Cultural Research, Thursday 24 - Friday 25 November 2005
- Stanner Award references the Award established by AIATSIS in 1985 in recognition of the significant contribution of the late Emeritus Professor W.E.H. (Bill) Stanner to the establishment and development of the Institute
- WEH Stanner building home of the Centre for Cross-Cultural Research at the Australian National University
- The WEH Stanner Collection The papers of William Edward Hanley Stanner were donated to AIATSIS by Mrs Patricia Stanner in 1982
- The paintings of Nym Bandak The paintings of Nym Bandak were presented by the National Gallery of Australia at an exhibition 'Contemporary Australian Aboriginal Art in Modern Worlds' at the State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg, the most significant exhibition of Australian Aboriginal art ever to travel abroad
- Aboriginal History Volumes 1, 3, 5 & 6 an annual refereed publication in the field of Australian ethnohistory, particularly in the post-contact history of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders
- M Force references Lieutenant Colonel Bill Stanner, Commanding Officer of the 2/1 Northern Australia Observer Unit (the Nackeroos).
- "The Nackeroos" Australia under attack 1942-43 at the Australian War MemorialAustralian War MemorialThe Australian War Memorial is Australia's national memorial to the members of all its armed forces and supporting organisations who have died or participated in the wars of the Commonwealth of Australia...
- K. Windschuttle, Bill Stanner and the end of Aboriginal High Culture Quadrant, May 2009.