P000439 revised AU-VU:EOAS Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation

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 English AACR2 Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules Person created 1993-10-20 human McCarthy, G.J. and Helen Cohn updated 2025-08-12 human https://www.eoas.info/biogs/P000439b.htm person Gillen Francis James AACR2 28 October 1855 5 June 1912 Place of Birth Little Para, South Australia, Australia Place of Death Woodville, South Australia, Australia Anthropologist Ethnologist Frank Gillen was a postal and telegraph worker from 1867. Initially working for the South Australian postal service, between 1875 and 1892 he worked for the Australian Overseas telegraph Service, stationed at Charlotte Waters. It was during this time that he became interested in Aboriginal culture and started recording Aboriginal words. He was posted to Alice Springs as post and telegraph stationmaster in 1892, later moving to Moonta and Port Pirie. In 1894 Gillen met Baldwin Spencer, then engaged on the Horn Scientific Exploring Expedition, and they forged a fruitful collaboration in pioneering anthropological studies. Their ground-breaking work The native tribes of Central Australia was published in 1899. The pair were in the field together on subsequent occasions, notably in 1901 when they made an expedition to the Gulf of Carpentaria. This resulted in the publication of The northern tribes of Central Australia (1904). Financial difficulties from failed investments caused Gillen to sell his ethnographic collection to the National Museum of Victoria in 1899. His ethnographic photographs are in the South Australian Museum. 1867 1867 Career event - Joined the South Australian postal service 1875 1892 Career position - Employed by the Australian Overland Telegraph Service at Charlotte Waters 1892 1899 Career position - Post and telegraph stationmaster at Alice Springs 1899 1908 Career position - Post and telegraph stationmaster at Moonta 1900 1900 Career position - President, Section F (Ethnology and Anthropology), Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science 1901 1901 Life event - Accompanied Baldwin Spencer on expedition to the Gulf of Carpentaria 1908 1912 Career position - Postmaster, Port Pirie, South Australia 1926 1926 Taxonomy event - Eucalyptus gillenii Ewart & L.R.Kerr was named in his honour Spencer, Walter Baldwin (1860 - 1929) Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science (1888 - 1930)

President, Section F (Ethnology and Anthropology) 1900

 South Australian Museum (1940 - )

The Museum holds Gillen's ethnographic photographs

 National Museum of Victoria (1858 - 1983)

The Museum purchased Gillen's ethnographic collections in 1899

 Klaatsch, Hermann (1863 - 1916)

Had conversations in Adelaide

Wikidata

VIAF - Virtual International Authority File

 Gillen, F J (1855-1912)

Trove

 'Gillen, Francis James', in Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation, Centre for Transformative Innovation, Swinburne University of Technology Gillen, Francis James Swinburne University of Technology, Centre for Transformative Innovation Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation Edited Book: 'My dear Spencer': the letters of F.J. Gillen to Baldwin Spencer Mulvaney, John; Morphy, Howard; and Petch, Alison 'My dear Spencer': the letters of F.J. Gillen to Baldwin Spencer South Melbourne Hyland House 1997 Book Section: Gillen, Francis James (1855-1912), ethnologist Mulvaney, D. J. Gillen, Francis James (1855-1912), ethnologist Melbourne Melbourne University Press 1983 Australian dictionary of biography, volume 9: 1891 - 1939 Gil-Las Bede Nairn and Geoffrey Serle 6-7 Book: The native tribes of Central Australia Spencer, W. B.; and Gillen, F. J. The native tribes of Central Australia London Macmillan 1899 Book: Gillen's modest record: his journal of the Spencer-Gillen anthropological expedition across Australia, 1901-02 Gillen, F. J. Gillen's modest record: his journal of the Spencer-Gillen anthropological expedition across Australia, 1901-02 Adelaide Friends of the State Library of South Australia 2017 Book: Across Australia Spencer, W. B.; and Gillen, F. J. Across Australia London Macmillan 1912 Book: Gillen's diary: the camp jottings of F. J. Gillen on the Spencer and Gillen expedition across Australia 1901 - 1902 Gillen, F. J. Gillen's diary: the camp jottings of F. J. Gillen on the Spencer and Gillen expedition across Australia 1901 - 1902 Adelaide Libraries Board of South Australia 1968 Book: The northern tribes of Central Australia Spencer, Baldwin and Gillen, F. J. The northern tribes of Central Australia London Macmillan 1904 Book Section: More than mere facts: repositioning Spencer and Gillen in the history of anthropology Morphy, Howard More than mere facts: repositioning Spencer and Gillen in the history of anthropology Chipping Norton, N.S.W. Surrey Beatty & Sons 1996 Exploring Central Australia: society, the environment and the 1894 Horn Expedition Morton, S. R. and Mulvaney, D. J. 135-49 Book: Telling Tennant's story: the strange career of the great Australian silence Ashenden, Dean Telling Tennant's story: the strange career of the great Australian silence Collingwood, Vic. Black Inc. 2022 Book Section: Assembling the ethnographic field: the 1901-02 expedition of Baldwin Spencer and Francis Gillen Batty, Philip Assembling the ethnographic field: the 1901-02 expedition of Baldwin Spencer and Francis Gillen New York Bergahn Books 2018 Expeditionary anthropology: teamwork, travel and the ‘science of man' Thomas, Martin; and Harris, Amanda 37-63 Journal Article: Spencer and Gillen's contribution to Australian rock art studies Gunn, R. G. Spencer and Gillen's contribution to Australian rock art studies 2000 Rock art research 17 1 56-64 Edited Book: Exploring Central Australia: Society, the Environment and the 1894 Horn Expedition Morton, S. R.; and Mulvaney, D. J. Exploring Central Australia: Society, the Environment and the 1894 Horn Expedition Sydney Surrey Beatty & Sons 1996 Journal Article: Addressing the Arrernte: F. J. Gillen's 1896 Engwura Speech Gibson, Jason Addressing the Arrernte: F. J. Gillen's 1896 Engwura Speech 2013 Australian Aboriginal Studies 2013 1 57-72 Journal Article: Australian museums, Aboriginal skeletal remains, and the imagining of human evolutionary history Turnbull, Paul Australian museums, Aboriginal skeletal remains, and the imagining of human evolutionary history 2015 Museum & society 13 1 72-87 Edited Book: F. J. Gillen's first diary, 1875: Adelaide to Alice Springs, March to June Gillen, Robert S. F. J. Gillen's first diary, 1875: Adelaide to Alice Springs, March to June Adelaide Wakefield Press 1995 Journal Article: Visual knowledge: Spencer and Gillen's use of photography in The native tribes of Central Australia Peterson, N. Visual knowledge: Spencer and Gillen's use of photography in <span style="font-style:italic">The native tribes of Central Australia</span> 2006 Australian Aboriginal studies 1 12-22 Journal Article: Aboriginal interactions with the Overland Telegraph Line, 1870 - 1880 Jones, Philip Aboriginal interactions with the Overland Telegraph Line, 1870 - 1880 2023 Journal of telecommunications and the digital economy 11 1 1-17 Book Section: "Annexing All I Can Lay Hands On": Baldwin Spencer as Ethnographic Collector Mulvaney, John "Annexing All I Can Lay Hands On": Baldwin Spencer as Ethnographic Collector Carlton Melbourne University Press 2008 The Makers and Making of Indigenous Australian Museum Collections Peterson, Nicolas, Allen, Lindy and Hamby, Louise 141-59 Book: The dreaming and other essays Stanner, W. E. H. The dreaming and other essays Collingwood, Vic Black Inc. 2011 Book: Botanists of the Eucalypts: short biographies of people who have named eucalypts, whose names have been given to species or who have collected type material Hall, Norman Botanists of the Eucalypts: short biographies of people who have named eucalypts, whose names have been given to species or who have collected type material Melbourne CSIRO 1978

Source used to compile entry

 Resource: The Overland Telegraph Line: A Transcultural History Nettelbeck, Amanda (and others) The Overland Telegraph Line: A Transcultural History South Australia South Australian Government 2023 Journal Article: Hermann Klaatsch and the Tiwi, 1906 Stehlik, Brigitte Hermann Klaatsch and the Tiwi, 1906 Canberra ANU Press 1986 Aboriginal history journal 10 59-77 Book: Dictionary of Australian biography Serle, Percival Dictionary of Australian biography Sydney Angus & Robertson 1949 Book: Australia's first naturalists: indigenous peoples' contribution to early zoology Olsen, Penny; and Russell, Lynette Australia's first naturalists: indigenous peoples' contribution to early zoology Canberra National Library of Australia 2019 Francis James Gillen - Records Mitchell and Dixson Libraries Manuscripts Collection, State Library of New South Wales Francis James Gillen - Records 1901 - 1902 Journal (camp jottings) of an expedition to Central Australia 18 March 1901 - 7 March 1902. 1 tem Francis James Gillen - Records State Library of South Australia, Mortlock Library of South Australiana Francis James Gillen - Records PRG 54 1901 - 1902 Journals kept while with W.B. Spencer on the study of the Aboriginal communities in Central and Northern Australia (4 volumes) 1901-2; notebooks of fragments of spoken languages spoken, some habits and customs of Aborigines in the McDonnell Ranges, Charlotte Waters and other areas in Central and Northern Australia 1901-2 (5 volumes); illuminated address presented to him by fellow officers of the Overland Telegraph including ink illustrations of the Alice Springs Telegraph Station and the Artlunga Cyanide works 1899; [9 volumes, PRG 54]. 9 volumes Baldwin Spencer - Records Mitchell and Dixson Libraries Manuscripts Collection, State Library of New South Wales Baldwin Spencer - Records ML MSS 29 1880 - 1929 Includes manuscripts by Spencer, 1901-1913; correspondence, 1880-1926 including letters from Edgeworth David, H. Deane, J. J. Fletcher, C. French, W. A. Haswell, C. Hedley, G. C. Henderson, J. P. Hill, G. B. Howes, E. Jenks, J. A. Kershaw, A. Liversidge, A. H. S. Lucas, A. T. Magarey, A. J. North, T. Steel, E. C. Stirling, E. R. Waite, J. A. Watt, J. T. Wilson and C. Winnecke; miscellaneous papers, 1889-1929 consisting chiefly of tributes to Spencer on his retirement, and on his death, with a list of medical and scientific papers by E. C. Stirling. The collection also includes pictorial material. 10 volumes, 1 box, 1 folder