P002051 revised AU-VU:EOAS Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation

All key entry types: Awards; Concepts; Corporate Bodies (Organisations); Cultural Artefacts; People; etc

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 English AACR2 Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules Person created 1993-10-20 human McCarthy, G.J. updated 2024-12-17 human https://www.eoas.info/biogs/P002051b.htm person Smith William Ramsay FRS AACR2 27 November 1859 28 September 1937 Place of Birth King Edward, Aberdeenshire, Scotland Place of Death Belair, South Australia, Australia Naturalist Anthropologist Physician William Ramsay Smith commenced work at the (Royal) Adelaide Hospital in 1896 and in 1899 was appointed Physician to the infectious diseases unit, city coroner, inspector of anatomy and chairman of the Central Board of Health. He retired in 1929. A person of contradictions, he was noted for the taking of Aboriginal Ancestal Remains and sending them to scientific institutions in the Northern Hemisphere. In 1930 he published Myths and Legends of the Australian Aborigines which was an unattributed appropriation of the work of David Unaipon.

The follwing quote from 1988 Australian Dictionary of Biography entry for Ramsay Smith is of interest:
"He was twice president of the anthropology section of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science and was a major contributor (with Sir Baldwin Spencer) to the section on Aborigines in the Australian Encyclopaedia (1925-26). His glass negative slides of the Aborigines at the mouth of the Murray River, the only pictorial record of that group, are housed in the Mortlock Library of South Australiana. In 1924 he published In Southern Seas (London) which is largely devoted to Aborigines. Believing that tribal Aborigines were dying out, he recorded their folklore in Myths and Legends of the Australian Aborigines (London, 1930). While the accuracy of this work has been questioned, his zeal for recording customs and preserving artefacts displayed the mark of a trained natural scientist."

1913 1913 Career position - President, Section F (Ethnology and Anthropology), Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science (1888 - 1930)

President, Section F (Ethnology and Anthropology) 1913

Wikidata

VIAF - Virtual International Authority File

 Smith, W Ramsay (1859-1937)

Trove

 'Smith, William Ramsay', in Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation, Centre for Transformative Innovation, Swinburne University of Technology Smith, William Ramsay Swinburne University of Technology, Centre for Transformative Innovation Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation Book: Legendary tales of the Australian Aborigines Unaipon, David: edited by Muecke, Stephen and Shoemaker, Adam Legendary tales of the Australian Aborigines Carlton, Vic. Miegunyah Press 2006 Book: Myths & Legends of the Australian Aboriginals Smith, W. Ramsay Myths & Legends of the Australian Aboriginals London, Bombay and Sydney George G. Harrap 1930 Journal Article: From Edinburgh University to the Ngarrindjeri nation, South Australia Fforde, Cressida From Edinburgh University to the Ngarrindjeri nation, South Australia 2009 Museum international 61 1/2 41-7 Journal Article: The Anatomy Inspector and the Government Corpse Macdonald, Helen, The Anatomy Inspector and the Government Corpse 2009 History Australia 6 2 Book: A very secret trade: the dark story of gentlemen collectors in Tasmania Pybus, Cassandra A very secret trade: the dark story of gentlemen collectors in Tasmania Sydney Allen & Unwin 2024 Book: Dictionary of Australian biography Serle, Percival Dictionary of Australian biography Sydney Angus & Robertson 1949 William Ramsay Smith - Records State Library of South Australia, Mortlock Library of South Australiana William Ramsay Smith - Records D 5047 1920 - 1929 Glass negative slides of the Aborigines at the mouth of the Murray River, the only pictorial record of that group c1920s. Photographs Arthur Wilberforce Jose - Records Mitchell and Dixson Libraries Manuscripts Collection, State Library of New South Wales Arthur Wilberforce Jose - Records A7273 1919 - 1925 Correspondence 1919-25 between W.B. Spencer, T.W.E. David and R.J. Tillyard, and A.W. Jose and H.J. Carter as editors of the 1926 edition of "The Australian Encyclopaedia". 7 letters