Eric Mjöberg
Encyclopedia
Dr Eric Georg Mjöberg was a Swedish
zoologist
and ethnographer
who led the first Swedish scientific expeditions to Australia in the early 1900s, and worked in Indonesia. The plant Vaccinium
mjoebergii J.J.Sm. was named after him, as were Mjöberg's Toadlet
, Mjöberg's Forest Dragon, the Atherton Tableland Skink, Mjöberg's Bush Frog, and Mjöberg's Dwarf Litter Frog.
, Sweden, on 6 August 1882. He gained a Licentiate
at the University of Stockholm in 1908, and his doctorate
at Lund
in 1912.
in 1910-1911, and to Queensland
in 1912-1913. He worked for the Deli Experimental Station at Medan
in Sumatra
1919-1922, and was Curator
of the Sarawak Museum in Borneo
1922-1924. He also worked in various museums in Sweden.
He was employed by the State Entomological Institution from 1903 to 1906 and at the National Museum at different times between 1903 and 1910 during which time he was a master at several higher Schools in Stockholm, 1907-09, and travelled in Sweden for study purposes through 1902 to 1909 before he led expeditions to Australia. A lecture tour in the USA lasted from 1916 to 1917 after which he was Swedish consul in Sumatra in 1920 among other postings and a study period in the US from 1921 to 1925.
in an attempt to prove his Darwinian human evolution theory. What he didn't know was that his expedition would have dire repercussions for years to follow for Indigenous Australians
, and for himself. In Western Australia, Mjöberg became obsessed with the Aboriginal people, and what started off as collecting native flora and fauna for research, soon led to the desecration of sacred burial grounds and the smuggling of human remains back to Sweden.
Historians have described Mjöberg as aggressive, arrogant and devious, a leader who made enemies with local Aboriginal people, pastoralists and even his own scientific team.
After 1911, he made a second expedition to Australia's east coast: Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria, removing one set of remains from each.
was removed between 1910 and 1911. Swedish anthropologist Claes Hallgren of Dalarna University
wrote the book Two Travellers – Two Pictures of Australia examining Mjoberg's methods, prompting an ethical debate that led the Swedish Government to contact the Australian authorities. Ninety years after their removal, the Swedish Museum initiated the return of skeletons to the Aboriginal people in September 2004. Aboriginal elders travelled to Stockholm to receive the remains and start the process of spiritual healing. Spokesman for the Kimberley Aboriginal Law and Culture Centre, Neil Carter said:
Aborigines believe that the spirit of the departed cannot go on into the afterlife if the bones are disturbed.
Eighteen boxes containing bones, believed to include the skeletons of two small children, were sent to the Australian National Museum for identification before being interred at their traditional lands.
Taking them without pemission, Mjöberg passed them off as kangaroo bones to get them out of the country. HIs attitude was representative of the Social Darwinism
of the times according to Dr Hallgren, who writes that the popular "Gothic Horror" presentation, and demonising Aborigines was the context and "justification" for Mjöberg's hunting for skeletons. It was designed to impress his audience of his work as an adventurer.
after a long, undiagnosed illness during which he had constant nightmares reflecting his experiences in the Kimberleys, including a sense of being pursued by Aboriginal people and contact with the Wandjina
– creation spirits of the Dreamtime
. During this time he was forced to sell part of his collection. Despite his ill health he managed to write an account of this experience.
In the documentary, an elder explains that the spirits give intruders a hard time, making them sick, that Aboriginal people know ways to forestall these effects, but that outsiders do not.
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
zoologist
Zoology
Zoology |zoölogy]]), is the branch of biology that relates to the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct...
and ethnographer
Ethnography
Ethnography is a qualitative method aimed to learn and understand cultural phenomena which reflect the knowledge and system of meanings guiding the life of a cultural group...
who led the first Swedish scientific expeditions to Australia in the early 1900s, and worked in Indonesia. The plant Vaccinium
Vaccinium
Vaccinium is a genus of shrubs or dwarf shrubs in the plant Family Ericaceae. The fruit of many species are eaten by humans and some are of commercial importance, including the cranberry, blueberry, bilberry or whortleberry, lingonberry or cowberry, and huckleberry...
mjoebergii J.J.Sm. was named after him, as were Mjöberg's Toadlet
Mjoberg's Toadlet
Mjoberg's Toadlet is a species of frog in the Myobatrachidae family. It is endemic to Australia. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry shrubland and subtropical or tropical dry lowland grassland. It is named for Swedish zoologist Eric Mjöberg.-References:* Hero, J.-M. & Roberts,...
, Mjöberg's Forest Dragon, the Atherton Tableland Skink, Mjöberg's Bush Frog, and Mjöberg's Dwarf Litter Frog.
Early life and education
Mjöberg was born in Ås, Halland CountyHalland County
Halland County is a county on the western coast of Sweden. It corresponds roughly to the cultural and historical province of Halland. The capital is Halmstad....
, Sweden, on 6 August 1882. He gained a Licentiate
Licentiate
Licentiate is the title of a person who holds an academic degree called a licence. The term may derive from the Latin licentia docendi, meaning permission to teach. The term may also derive from the Latin licentia ad practicandum, which signified someone who held a certificate of competence to...
at the University of Stockholm in 1908, and his doctorate
Doctor of Philosophy
Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated as Ph.D., PhD, D.Phil., or DPhil , in English-speaking countries, is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities...
at Lund
Lund University
Lund University , located in the city of Lund in the province of Scania, Sweden, is one of northern Europe's most prestigious universities and one of Scandinavia's largest institutions for education and research, frequently ranked among the world's top 100 universities...
in 1912.
Work
Mjöberg led expeditions to North-Western AustraliaAustralia
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...
in 1910-1911, and to Queensland
Queensland
Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
in 1912-1913. He worked for the Deli Experimental Station at Medan
Medan
- Demography :The city is Indonesia's fourth most populous after Jakarta, Surabaya, and Bandung, and Indonesia's largest city outside of Java island. Much of the population lies outside its city limits, especially in Deli Serdang....
in Sumatra
Sumatra
Sumatra is an island in western Indonesia, westernmost of the Sunda Islands. It is the largest island entirely in Indonesia , and the sixth largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 with a population of 50,365,538...
1919-1922, and was Curator
Curator
A curator is a manager or overseer. Traditionally, a curator or keeper of a cultural heritage institution is a content specialist responsible for an institution's collections and involved with the interpretation of heritage material...
of the Sarawak Museum in Borneo
Borneo
Borneo is the third largest island in the world and is located north of Java Island, Indonesia, at the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia....
1922-1924. He also worked in various museums in Sweden.
He was employed by the State Entomological Institution from 1903 to 1906 and at the National Museum at different times between 1903 and 1910 during which time he was a master at several higher Schools in Stockholm, 1907-09, and travelled in Sweden for study purposes through 1902 to 1909 before he led expeditions to Australia. A lecture tour in the USA lasted from 1916 to 1917 after which he was Swedish consul in Sumatra in 1920 among other postings and a study period in the US from 1921 to 1925.
The Australian expeditions
In the early 1900s Mjöberg set off to the Kimberley region of Western AustraliaWestern Australia
Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...
in an attempt to prove his Darwinian human evolution theory. What he didn't know was that his expedition would have dire repercussions for years to follow for 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....
, and for himself. In Western Australia, Mjöberg became obsessed with the Aboriginal people, and what started off as collecting native flora and fauna for research, soon led to the desecration of sacred burial grounds and the smuggling of human remains back to Sweden.
Historians have described Mjöberg as aggressive, arrogant and devious, a leader who made enemies with local Aboriginal people, pastoralists and even his own scientific team.
After 1911, he made a second expedition to Australia's east coast: Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria, removing one set of remains from each.
Controversy
The 1915 publication of his diaries about the 1910 expedition exposed his unethical and illegal collection of material from Australia. Most of the material kept in Sweden's Museum of EthnographyMuseum of Ethnography, Sweden
The Museum of Ethnography , in Stockholm, Sweden, is a Swedish science museum. It houses a collection of about 220,000 items relating to the ethnography, or cultural anthropology, of peoples from around the world, including from China, Korea, South and Southeast Asia, the Pacific region, the...
was removed between 1910 and 1911. Swedish anthropologist Claes Hallgren of Dalarna University
Dalarna University College
Dalarna University is a university college located in Falun and Borlänge, in Dalarna County, Sweden.Dalarna University is one of Sweden’s more recent institutions of higher education, established in 1977. It is situated in Dalarna, 200 kilometres north-west of Stockholm.The college currently has...
wrote the book Two Travellers – Two Pictures of Australia examining Mjoberg's methods, prompting an ethical debate that led the Swedish Government to contact the Australian authorities. Ninety years after their removal, the Swedish Museum initiated the return of skeletons to the Aboriginal people in September 2004. Aboriginal elders travelled to Stockholm to receive the remains and start the process of spiritual healing. Spokesman for the Kimberley Aboriginal Law and Culture Centre, Neil Carter said:
"The belief is that once a burial ground has been disturbed, the spirits and the country will not rest until the remains have been brought back."
Aborigines believe that the spirit of the departed cannot go on into the afterlife if the bones are disturbed.
Eighteen boxes containing bones, believed to include the skeletons of two small children, were sent to the Australian National Museum for identification before being interred at their traditional lands.
Taking them without pemission, Mjöberg passed them off as kangaroo bones to get them out of the country. HIs attitude was representative of the Social Darwinism
Social Darwinism
Social Darwinism is a term commonly used for theories of society that emerged in England and the United States in the 1870s, seeking to apply the principles of Darwinian evolution to sociology and politics...
of the times according to Dr Hallgren, who writes that the popular "Gothic Horror" presentation, and demonising Aborigines was the context and "justification" for Mjöberg's hunting for skeletons. It was designed to impress his audience of his work as an adventurer.
Decline
Mjöberg died in poverty in StockholmStockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
after a long, undiagnosed illness during which he had constant nightmares reflecting his experiences in the Kimberleys, including a sense of being pursued by Aboriginal people and contact with the Wandjina
Wondjina
In Aboriginal mythology, the Wondjina were cloud and rain spirits who, during the Dream time, created or influenced the landscape and its inhabitants...
– creation spirits of the Dreamtime
Dreamtime
In the animist framework of Australian Aboriginal mythology, The Dreaming is a sacred era in which ancestral Totemic Spirit Beings formed The Creation.-The Dreaming of the Aboriginal times:...
. During this time he was forced to sell part of his collection. Despite his ill health he managed to write an account of this experience.
In the documentary, an elder explains that the spirits give intruders a hard time, making them sick, that Aboriginal people know ways to forestall these effects, but that outsiders do not.
Publications
As well as numerous contributions to the scientific literature, he wrote:- Bland Vilda Djur och Folk i Australien (Among Wild Animals and Men in Australia), his travel account, 1915.
- Mjöberg, E.G. (1930). Forest Life and Adventures in the Malay Archipelago. Allen & Unwin: London.