Town Aborigines

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. Spencer was subsequently appointed to Darwin for a year as Special Commissioner and Chief Protector of Aborigines until Gilruth returned as Administrator of the Territory. Spencer experienced opposition to his decisions from the Darwin people. 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 concepts were paternalistic and authoritarian, reflecting the scientific opinion of the time, yet they were also innovative and advocated the creation of extensive reserves. He distinguished between those Aborigines living in and around the towns, considering these as degenerate, affected by alcohol and dependent on handouts; those who lived out on the land or on large pastoral leases and who were able to maintain some of their independence and culture; and the truly wild Aboriginal people still free from any European influence and corruption.

Spencer's significance rests chiefly on his Aboriginal work, despite his Professorship in 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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