Lloyd Warner Project

Aboriginal people from Milingimbi have always been known for their cultural strength and leadership in Arnhem Land. William Lloyd Warner, an American anthropologist, lived and worked with Yolngu people in Milingimbi from 1927 to 1929, to gain an understanding of their social life. From his study he wrote a classic ethnography for Arnhem Land, A Black Civilization: A Social Study of an Australian Tribe. Warner documented a variety of activities that Yolngu were doing in their everyday life as well as in their ceremonial life, collecting objects, taking photographs, recording songs. Warner also executed the first documented archaeological excavation at Milingimbi, at the Macassan Well. During his fieldwork, Harry Makarrawala became is close friend and main informant. The families of Warner and Makarrawala are alive today, with memories of the personal relationship these two men had. The items that Warner collected, photographed and recorded are housed in nine institutions: National Museum of Australia, Berndt Museum of Anthropology, Australian Museum, Macleay Museum, AIATSIS and Archives of Sydney University in Australia; Field Museum, Phoebe Apperson Hearst Museum of Anthropology and Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology in the United States of America. These museums are in places that Warner had connections to in his life, where he lived and work. There are around 400 objects and approximately the same number of photographs. Yolgnu today are interested in these items and what people used to do with them. It is possible to bring these things together to tell stories. By examining this material and talking to Yolngu today we can learn more about what happened at that time between Yolngu and balanda, white people, in the 1920s in Milingimbi.
Type
Collection
Title
Lloyd Warner Project
Collection Type
Dataset
Access Privileges
Digital Humanities Hub
Significance Statement
William Lloyd Warner's collection and research deserve attention as he was the first anthropologist to carry out fieldwork among Murngin, or Yolngu, people, introducing them for the first time to the academic world.
Brief Description
This collection is an examination of the material collected by William Lloyd Warner from 1927 to 1929 in Milingimbi, Arnhem Land, and brings it into a dialogue with Yolngu people today. The stories emerging from this encounter with the past through Warner's collection bring forth more information about the relationship between Yolngu and white people in the 1920s.
Full Description
Aboriginal people from Milingimbi have always been known for their cultural strength and leadership in Arnhem Land. William Lloyd Warner, an American anthropologist, lived and worked with Yolngu people in Milingimbi from 1927 to 1929, to gain an understanding of their social life. From his study he wrote a classic ethnography for Arnhem Land, A Black Civilization: A Social Study of an Australian Tribe. Warner documented a variety of activities that Yolngu were doing in their everyday life as well as in their ceremonial life, collecting objects, taking photographs, recording songs. Warner also executed the first documented archaeological excavation at Milingimbi, at the Macassan Well. During his fieldwork, Harry Makarrawala became is close friend and main informant. The families of Warner and Makarrawala are alive today, with memories of the personal relationship these two men had. The items that Warner collected, photographed and recorded are housed in nine institutions: National Museum of Australia, Berndt Museum of Anthropology, Australian Museum, Macleay Museum, AIATSIS and Archives of Sydney University in Australia; Field Museum, Phoebe Apperson Hearst Museum of Anthropology and Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology in the United States of America. These museums are in places that Warner had connections to in his life, where he lived and work. There are around 400 objects and approximately the same number of photographs. Yolgnu today are interested in these items and what people used to do with them. It is possible to bring these things together to tell stories. By examining this material and talking to Yolngu today we can learn more about what happened at that time between Yolngu and balanda, white people, in the 1920s in Milingimbi.
Contact Email
dhh@anu.edu.au
Contact Address
Research School of Humanities and the Arts The Australian National University ACT 0200 Australia
Fields of Research
160104 - Social and Cultural Anthropology; 210204 - Museum Studies; 16 - STUDIES IN HUMAN SOCIETY
Date Coverage
1929
1927
Geospatial Location
Milingimbi, Arnhem Land, NT, Australia
text
Year of data publication
2013
Publisher for Citation
The Australian National University Data Commons
Publications
978-0-522-85569-2
Hamby, L 2008, 'Lloyd Warner: The Reluctant Collector', In N. Peterson, L. Hamby and L. Allen (eds), Makers and Making of Indigenous Australian Museum Collections, pp.354-386. Melbourne University Press.
isbn
1444-3058
Hamby, L Accepted Dec, 2010, 'Held by the Teeth: Biting Bags from Milingimbi', Journal of Australian Studies (Media and Materiality)
issn
Rights held in and over the data
The copyright for the material this collection is based upon is not held by The Australian National University as such to utilise the items in this collection permission must be sought from the original copyright holders. Please email the contact person to gain further information about obtaining permission to utilise parts of this collection.

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Identifier: anudc:3281

Status: Published
Published to:
  • Australian National University
  • Australian National Data Service
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