Dr Peter Elkin | |
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 Elkin in 1955 | |
| Born | (1891-03-27)27 March 1891 Maitland, New South Wales, Australia |
| Died | 9 July 1979(1979-07-09) (aged 88) Sydney, New South Wales, Australia |
| Education | University of Sydney University College London |
| Occupation | Anthropologist |
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Adolphus Peter Elkin (27 March 1891 – 9 July 1979) was an Australian anthropologist andAnglican clergyman. He was an influential anthropologist during the mid twentieth century and a proponent of the assimilation ofIndigenous Australians.
Elkin was born atWest Maitland,New South Wales. His father, Reuben Elkin, was anEnglishJew and worked as a salesman; his mother, Ellen Wilhelmina Bower, was a seamstress ofGerman ancestry. His parents were divorced in 1901, his mother died the next year and he was then brought up by his maternal grandparents as an Anglican. He went to school atSingleton and atMaitland East Boys' High School. After finishing school he worked in banks in New South Wales, but then won a theological scholarship toSt Paul's College,University of Sydney, where he graduated with aBachelor of Arts in 1915.
Elkin was ordained deacon in 1915 and priest in 1916.[1] From 1916 to 1919 he worked in theAnglican diocese of Newcastle and he then taught atSt John's Theological College,Armidale, underErnest Henry Burgmann.[2]
Elkin became interested inAustralian Aboriginal culture and although noanthropology was taught in Australia at the time, hismaster's thesis—which he completed successfully in 1922—was on this subject and he lectured on it at St John's. In 1922 he married Sara (Sally) Thompson, an Irish nursing sister whom he had met during an influenza epidemic.[2] He was Rector ofSt John the Evangelist Church, Wollombi from 1922 and 1925 and during this period he also lectured for the University of Sydney in theHunter Region on Aboriginal culture.
In 1925, Elkin resigned from his post at Wollombi and began studying anthropology atUniversity College, London underGrafton Elliot Smith, where he earned aPhD in 1927. In 1927 the anthropologistAlfred Radcliffe-Brown helped Elkin to gainRockefeller funding in order to work on Australian culture in theKimberley,Western Australia. In 1928, he was appointed as Rector ofSt James' Anglican Church, Morpeth on the basis that he could continue with his anthropology. By this time St John's College had moved from Armidale to Morpeth and he also became co-editor of the college'sMorpeth Review.[2] He also became editor ofOceania from its founding in 1931 until his death.[3] He visited many missions in Western Australia, including the Mount Margaret Mission, part of the Australian Aborigines Mission (later United Aborigines Mission) in 1930 on behalf of theAustralian National Research Council.[4][5]
Elkin became an activist for the amelioration ofAboriginal Australians, whom he saw as best served by beingassimilated into European society. In 1934 he successfully lobbied for the reprieve ofDhakiyarr (Tuckiar) Wirrpanda, aYolngu man who had been sentenced to death for murder. In 1938 he played a key role in the drafting of theNew Deal for Aborigines, a landmark policy statement announced by interior ministerJohn McEwen on whom he was an influential advisor.[2]
Following Radcliffe-Brown's resignation fromUniversity of Sydney, Elkin was appointed lecturer-in-charge of the anthropology department in late 1932 and he was promoted to professor in December 1933. Until his retirement in 1956, he effectively dominated Australian anthropology, advised governments, trained administrators sent toPapua New Guinea, while also continuing his field research. He was president of the Association for the Protection of Native Races from 1933 to 1962. He was vice-president of theAborigines Protection Board of New South Wales (renamed Aborigines Welfare Board in 1940).[2][6]
In 1957 he was awarded theMueller Medal by theAustralian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science.[7]
After his retirement in 1966, Elkin was appointed a Companion of theOrder of St Michael and St George (CMG) in the1966 Birthday Honours. In 1970 he received an honorary doctorate of letters from the University of Sydney.
Elkin died at a meeting at the university, survived by his wife and two sons.[2]
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