Charles P. Mountford

Charles Pearcy Mountford (8 May 1890 – 16 November 1976) was an Australian anthropologist and photographer. He is known for his pioneering work on Indigenous Australians and his depictions and descriptions of their art. He also led the American-Australian Scientific Expedition to Arnhem Land.[1] His final book, Nomads of the Australian Desert, was the subject of an important court case due to its inclusion of culturally restricted content.

This article is about the Australian anthropologist and photographer. For the Canadian poet, see Charles H. Mountford.

Nomads of the Australian Desert

Mountford's final book Nomads of the Australian Desert (1976) contained details and pictures of secret ceremonies that had been revealed to Mountford in confidence during his fieldwork in the 1930s and 1940s.[2] Members of the Pitjantjara Council swiftly launched legal action and sought an ex parte injunction preventing the book's publication in the Northern Territory. They argued that the Pitjantjara men who had revealed culturally restricted information with Mountford did so on the understanding that he would not share it with women, children, or uninitiated Aboriginal men.[3]

The plaintiffs were successful, and judge Justice Muirhead agreed to grant the injunction. He concluded that a number of photographs, drawings and descriptions of persons, places and ceremonies featured in the book held deep religious and cultural significance to the plaintiffs, and that their publication could harm the community.[4]

Although this injunction only applied to the Northern Territory, the book's publishers ultimately decided to withdraw the book from sale everywhere.[2]

Foster v Mountford was the first of several Australian court cases dealing with Aboriginal secret information.[2]

Legacy

There is a collection of his photographs, journals, sound recordings and other works created, written and gathered by Mountford in the State Library of South Australia, known as the Mountford-Sheard Collection,[5][6] which has been inscribed on UNESCO's Memory of the World. It is of great cultural significance to Aboriginal Australians, particularly those in central Australia, the Flinders Ranges (Adnyamathanha people), Arnhem Land (Yolngu people) and the Tiwi Islands (Tiwi people), and the material is respectful of the people whose lives it documents.[7]

Works
  • The Art of Albert Namatjira (1944)
  • Brown Men and Red Sand (1948)
  • Australian tree portraits (1956)
  • Records of the American-Australian scientific expedition to Arnhem Land: Vol. 1 Art, myth and symbolism (1956)
  • The Tiwi: their art, myth and ceremony (1958)
  • Ayers Rock, its people, their beliefs and their art (1965) – his M.A. thesis which became a popular paperback
  • The Dreamtime (1965), The Dawn of Time (1969), and The First Sunrise (1971) – in collaboration with artist Ainslie Roberts
  • Winbaraku: and the myth of Jarapiri (1967)
  • Australian Aboriginal portraits (1967)
  • The Aborigines and their country (1969)
  • Nomads of the Australian Desert (1976) – withdrawn after sale for cultural reasons[1][8]

References
  1. Jones, Philip (2000). "Mountford, Charles Pearcy (1890–1976)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. Retrieved 5 September 2014.
  2. Anton, Christoph (2009). "Foster v Mountford: cultural confidentiality in a changing Australia". University of Wollongong Faculty of Law - Papers: 110-125 (110, 118, 125).
  3. Brown, Michael F. (2009). Who Owns Native Culture?. Harvard University Press. pp. 33–34.
  4. Heather Moorcroft, Alex Byrne (1996). "Intellectual Property and Indigenous Peoples' Information". Australian Academic & Research Libraries: 91.
  5. "Mountford-Sheard Collection". State Library of South Australia Collection. Retrieved 13 November 2020.
  6. "Mountford-Sheard Collection". State Library of South Australia LibGuides. 30 January 2020. Retrieved 13 November 2020.
  7. "#21: Mountford-Sheard Collection". Memory of the World. UNESCO Australian Memory of the World Program. Retrieved 13 November 2020.
  8. Murray, Ian (22 April 1977). "The Aborigines now must suffer Australia's rush of conscience". The Times. London, England. p. 10. A book by Charles Mountford, noted Australian anthropologist, was legally prevented from publication earlier this year because it told some of the secrets of the Pitjanjatjara tribe.


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