Olive Pink (1884-1975) was an unconventional anthropologist, an advocate of Aboriginal rights and an early proponent of the cultivation of Australian indigenous plants. – Born in Hobart, she moved to Sydney in 1914 and travelled extensively in central Australia, lived in remote areas with the Arrernte and Warlpiri people, and caused controversy within the anthropological profession. – Olive Pink’s political activism brought her into conflict with missionaries, pastoralists and her anthropological colleagues, while her sustained letter-writing campaigns made her the scourge of the public servants and administrators responsible for the well-being of Aboriginal people. – A willowy woman always dressed in Edwardian white, she lived alone after the death of her mother, choosing an independent life rather than marriage. – Her critical political opinions and forthright tongue could never sit easily within the restrictive requirements of marriage. – Those opinions and her resolute and rigid moral beliefs meant that some of her most respected and liked colleagues and friends failed to meet her standards. – But she made and kept many friends, her laughter and humour seeing her through the later years of penury and hardship in Alice Springs. – “She still haunts Alice Springs,” writes the author, “an observant, elusive, ghostly presence.” – Drawing on hundreds of letters and thousands of pages of diaries and notes, Dr Marcus tests the legends and the contemporary assessments of “Miss Pink” against a range of sources and informants. – She traces Olive Pink’s life and untangles how she is remembered and mythologised by Australia’s Aboriginal and white communities.
Softcover
Condition: Beautiful used condition
All sales are final / as is.
