Scientific Expedition to Arnhem Land

Abstract

THE National Geographic Society, Smithsonian Institution and the Commonwealth of Australia jointly are sending a scientific expedition to Arnhem Land at the close of the rainy season in March. The expedition will study the aborigines and the plant and animal life, including marine life, throughout the dry season, which normally ends late in October. Arnhem Land, which is an aboriginal reserve, has no charted trails suitable for motor transport ; the expedition‘s approach will be by small schooner to coastal stations on Van Diemen Gulf, the Arafura Sea, and the Gulf of Carpentaria. Natives will be enlisted as porters for journeys inland. Of five bases selected for the expedition‘s use, one especially suited for study of marine life is on Groote Eylandt just off the east coast in the Gulf of Carpentaria. Other bases are at the heads of navigation of mainland streams, where Christian missions established early in the century have been allowed to remain. The leader of the expedition will be Charles Pearcy Mountford, ethnologist of the South Australia Museum, Adelaide. Mr. Mountford, who has taken part in various anthropological and ethnological expeditions in Australia, is an authority on aboriginal art, customs and culture. Other members of the party are Frank M. Setzler, head curator, Department of Anthropology ; Dr. David H. Johnson, associate curator, Division of Mammals ; Herbert G. Deignan, associate curator, Division of Birds ; and Dr. Robert R. Miller, associate curator, Division of Fishes, all of the Smithsonian Institution ; and Harrison Howell Walker, National Geographic staff writer-photographer with several years of Australian experience. A similar group of Australian scientific workers will take part in the expedition.