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'The Many Worlds of R.H. Mathews is about the life and work of the renowned 19th century surveyor turned ethnologist, R. H. Mathews, whose studies of Aboriginal Australia were path-breaking and quite controversial. His childhood in Goulburn meant that he grew up with Aboriginal children as playmates, so when he began his obsession with documenting Aboriginal life, he came to his subject with fond familiarity, not the freakshow interest that spurred many of the English anthropologists of the time, especially Baldwin Spencer, who went out of his way to discredit Mathews' work, especially after his death.
'Largely due to this conspiracy, Mathews has been a reasonably unknown figure in early anthropology, but his legacy and work have been reassessed and he is emerging as one of our most important documentors of Aboriginal language, legends and mythology. So important, in fact, that it is his legacy of papers, interpretations and documents, held largely in the National Library of Australia, that is being used by contemporary Aboriginal people to rejuvenate their culture.
'Martin's approach to his subject is not conventional biography, but something more ambitious and unusual, and one perfectly tuned to the revelations it contains.' (From the publisher's website.)
Notes
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Dedication: For my son Aaron
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
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Observing the Observer
2012
single work
review
— Appears in: History Australia , vol. 9 no. 1 2012; (p. 241-243)
— Review of The Many Worlds of R. H. Mathews : In Search of an Australian Anthropologist 2011 single work biography -
Anthropological Insights
2012
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— Appears in: The Sun-Herald , 20 May 2012; (p. 19) -
Survey of Reviled Life Helps ANU Historian Nail Biography Award
2012
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— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 15 May 2012; (p. 3) -
Moral Message in Tale of a Magnificent Obsession
2012
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— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 15 May 2012; (p. 5) -
Busy Week for Library
2012
single work
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— Appears in: The Sun-Herald , 6 May 2012; (p. 19)
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A Magnificient Obsession
2011
single work
review
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 9 April 2011; (p. 26)
— Review of The Many Worlds of R. H. Mathews : In Search of an Australian Anthropologist 2011 single work biography -
Off the Shelf : Biography
2011
single work
review
— Appears in: The Saturday Age , 9 April 2011; (p. 30)
— Review of The Many Worlds of R. H. Mathews : In Search of an Australian Anthropologist 2011 single work biography -
[Review Essay] The Many Worlds of R. H. Mathews : In Search of an Australian Anthropologist
2011
single work
review
— Appears in: The Monthly , March no. 65 2011; (p. 64)
— Review of The Many Worlds of R. H. Mathews : In Search of an Australian Anthropologist 2011 single work biography -
Ethnomania : The Search for R. H. Mathews
2012
single work
review
— Appears in: Arena Magazine , December 2011 - January 2012 no. 115 2012; (p. 50-51)
— Review of The Many Worlds of R. H. Mathews : In Search of an Australian Anthropologist 2011 single work biography -
Untitled
2011
single work
review
— Appears in: Aboriginal History , November no. 35 2011; (p. 205-206)
— Review of The Many Worlds of R. H. Mathews : In Search of an Australian Anthropologist 2011 single work biography -
The Picks of the Crop
2011
single work
column
— Appears in: The Saturday Age , 6 August 2011; (p. 26-27) The judges of the 2011 Age Book of the Year Awards comment on each of the fifteen shortlisted titles. Morag Fraser and Maria Tumarkin comment on the non-fiction titles, David McCooey on the poetry titles and Jo Case and Chris Flynn on the fiction titles. -
Busy Week for Library
2012
single work
column
— Appears in: The Sun-Herald , 6 May 2012; (p. 19) -
Moral Message in Tale of a Magnificent Obsession
2012
single work
column
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 15 May 2012; (p. 5) -
Survey of Reviled Life Helps ANU Historian Nail Biography Award
2012
single work
column
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 15 May 2012; (p. 3) -
Anthropological Insights
2012
single work
column
— Appears in: The Sun-Herald , 20 May 2012; (p. 19)
Awards
- 2014 shortlisted Festival Awards for Literature (SA) Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature South Australian Literary Awards — Award for Non-Fiction
- 2012 shortlisted New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards — Douglas Stewart Prize for Non-Fiction
- 2012 winner National Biography Award
- 2011 shortlisted New South Wales Premier's History Prize New South Wales History Prize — Australian History Prize
- 2011 shortlisted Queensland Premier's Literary Awards — Best History Book