Desert tribes

Baldwin Spencer, Professor of Biology at the University of Melbourne joined the 1894 Horn Scientific Exploring Expedition to Central Australia as zoologist and photographer. He later edited the expedition account. This expedition rekindled his interest in anthropology when he met FJ Gillen, the Alice Springs postmaster. Their friendship developed into an enduring partnership and a cornerstone in Australian anthropology.

In 1896 Spencer and Gillen made an intensive field trip which resulted in The Native Tribes of Central Australia (1899) which had a strong influence on the prevailing contemporary theories on social evolution and interpretations of Aboriginal art and ceremony.

In 1901 Spencer and Gillen drove a buggy from Oodnadatta to Borroloola, working among Aboriginal tribes for several weeks at a time. They made pioneering sound recordings on wax cylinders and film. Their last trip together took them to Lake Eyre's Arabana people in 1903. Their research produced The Northern Tribes of Central Australia (1904).

In 1911 when the Commonwealth Government assumed control of the Northern Territory, Spencer and three other scientists, including JA Gilruth, formed the Preliminary Scientific Expedition. His comprehensive but costly blueprint for Aboriginal welfare, Preliminary report on the Aboriginals of the Northern Territory was tabled in parliament in 1913, and forgotten.

His other publications include Guide to the Australian Ethnographical Collection (1901); Native Tribes of the Northern Territory of Australia (1914); The Arunta: a Study of a Stone Age People (1927); Wanderings in Wild Australia (1928). Across Australia (1912) is a popular version of The Northern Tribes of Central Australia.

Spencer's significance rests chiefly on his Aboriginal work, despite his Professorship of Biology. He worked within the assumptions and models of biological evolution of the time and applied them to Aboriginal institutions, beliefs and technology. In theory he saw 'Aborigines simply as dehumanized "survivals" from an early stage of social development. His voluminous written and photographic records endure as a priceless Aboriginal archive, despite his unacceptable value judgements on their fossilized society'. (ADB online)

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