- Francis James Gillen
Infobox Scientist
name = PAGENAME
box_width =
image_size =150px
caption = PAGENAME
birth_date =October 28 1855
birth_place = Little ParaSouth Australia
death_date =June 5 1912
death_place =
residence =
citizenship =
nationality =Australia
ethnicity =
field = anthropologist ethnologist
work_institutions =
alma_mater =
doctoral_advisor =
doctoral_students =
known_for =
author_abbrev_bot =
author_abbrev_zoo =
influences =
influenced =
prizes =
religion =
footnotes =Francis James Gillen (
October 28 1855 -June 5 1912 ) was an earlyAustralia n anthropologist and ethnologist.Gillen was born at Little Para
South Australia . He entered the public service in 1867, and was employed as a postal messenger at Clare. He was transferred toAdelaide in 1871 where his duties also included telegraph operation. In 1875 he became involved in the construction of theAustralian Overland Telegraph Line and was appointed the Alice Springs post and telegraph Station Master in 1892. At the time Alice Springs was part of South Australia and Gillen, who by virtue of his office held the collateral positions of Special Magistrate and sub-Protector of Aborigines, [http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A090007b.htm?hilite=gillen Australian Dictionary of Biography article on Gillen] ] was effectively the administrator of central Australia.During his time at Alice Springs he became involved with
Aboriginal Australian s and in 1894 assisted the Horn Scientific Expedition to Central Australia . [ [http://www.samuseum.sa.gov.au/aacg/speakingland/story07/07_story.htm Speaking Land ] ] Following the expedition he metW. Baldwin Spencer , they wrote "The Native Tribes of Central Australia" (1899), though it has been claimed that the authorship was mostly Spencer's . In 1900 Gillen was elected president of the anthropological of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science held at Melbourne. He enjoyed the experience very much. To Spencer's regret Gillen had been transferred from Alice Springs toMoonta in 1899, but in 1901 he was given leave by the South Australian government to join Spencer in an expedition which took them up to theGulf of Carpentaria . Their journey led to the publication of "The Northern Tribes of Central Australia" (1904).Gillen remained at Moonta until July 1908 when he became postmaster at
Port Pirie . In that year Spencer was hoping to arrange to go with him to Western Australia, but Gillen's health began to fail and so it was not possible. In 1911 he was weakening physically, and he died on 5 June 1912. His wife, formerly Miss Besley of Mount Gambier, three daughters and two sons survived him. A brother,Peter Paul Gillen , who was for many years a member of the South Australian legislative assembly, predeceased him.Gillen was also listed as a co-author of Spencer's "The Arunta" published in 1927.
References
Further reading
*Mulvaney, D. J. Gillen, Francis James (1855 - 1912), " [http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A090007b.htm Australian Dictionary of Biography] ", Volume 9, Melbourne University Press, 1983, pp 6-7.
*
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.