P006014 revised AU-VU:EOAS Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation

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 English AACR2 Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules Person created 2018-03-20 human Helen Cohn updated 2026-05-05 human https://www.eoas.info/biogs/P006014b.htm person Stanner William Edward Hanley CMG AACR2 24 November 1905 8 October 1981 Place of Birth Watsons bay, New South Wales, Australia Place of Death Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia Anthropologist Bill Stanner was an anthropologist who had a profound influence on the way in which Australian indigenous people were viewed and treated. He played central roles in the establishment of the Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies and in the successful 1967 referendum which changed the status of Aborigines in the Australian Constitution. Stanner's field work centred on the Northern Territory, particularly the Daly River and Port Keats areas and he made ground-breaking studies of Aboriginal religion. In his work he challenged the way in which anthropology was practiced at the time. As, a member of the Council for Aboriginal Affairs and consultant to government agencies he significantly influenced public policy on Aboriginal affairs. In 1968 Stanner delivered the annual Boyer Lectures for the Australian Broadcasting Commission. The Stanner Award was inaugurated in 1985 by the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders.

Billy Griffiths in Deep Time Dreaming (page 37), ties together Stanner's work over three decades. This quote includes Griffiths' endnotes.

He reflects that "what anthropologist WEH Stanner described in 1938 as 'a mass of solid indifference' in Australian culture to Indigenous Australia.(i) In his 1968 ABC Boyer Lectures, Stanner coined the phrase 'the great Australian silence' to describe the phenomenon, which could not be explained by mere 'absent-mindedness':

'It is a structural matter, a view from a window which has been carefully placed to exclude a whole quadrant of the landscape. What may have begun as a simple forgetting of other possible views turned into habit and over time into something like a cult of forgetfulness on a national scale.' (ii)

The silence to which he referred was largely a phenomenon of the twentieth century, rather than colonial Australia." (iii)

i. WEH Stanner, 'The Aborigines (1938)', in The Dreaming and Other Essays (Melbourne: Black Inc. Agenda 2009), 123-45, 124
ii. WEH Stanner, 'The Boyer Lectures: After the Dreaming (1968), in The Dreaming and Other Essays, 172-224, 189
iii. Stanner argued that the 'great Australian silence' began with the establishment of a colony in Sydney in 1788. Henry Reynolds, amongst others, has argued persuasively that colonial Australia was not as captive to this 'silence' as the Australian nation has been. See, for example, Reynolds, Why Weren't We Told? (Ringwood, Vic: Penguin, 1999), 92."

Stanner's Boyer lectures have become a major point of inflection in Australian historiography and referred to in numerous publications and presentations in the subsequent decades.

1932 1932 Award - Australian National Research Council Grant 1932 1932 Career event - Joined the Department of Anthropology, University of Sydney 1932 1932 Education - Bachelor of Arts (BA), University of Sydney 1934 1934 Education - Master of Arts (MA), University of Sydney 1936 1938 Career position - Research Assistant, London School of Economics 1938 1938 Education - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), London School of Economics and Political Science 1938 1939 Career position - University of Oxford expedition of Kenya, Oxford Social Studies Research Committee 1942 1946 Career position - Served with the Australian military forces 1946 1947 Career position - Researcher, Institute of Pacific Relations in P.N.G., Fiji and Western Samoa 1947 1949 Career position - Foundation Director, East African Institute of Social and Economic Research, Makerere College, Uganda 1949 1964 Career position - Reader in Comparative Social Institutions, Research School of Pacific Studies, Australian National University 1953 1956 Career position - Australian Commissioner, South Pacific Commission 1961 1961 Career position - Convenor and Chairman, Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies Conference 1961 1962 Career position - Foundation Executive Officer, Interim Council, Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies 1964 1970 Career position - Professor of Anthropology and Sociology, Institute of Advanced Studies, Australian National University 1965 Career position - Head of Department of Anthropology and Sociology, Australian National University 1965 1968 Career position - Member of Council, Australian National University 1967 1976 Career position - Member, Council for Aboriginal Affairs 1970 1970 Life event - Retired 1971 1971 Award - Mueller Medal, Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science 1971 1981 Career position - Emeritus Professor, Australian National University 1972 1972 Award - Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) 1972 1972 Award - Sir Rafael Cilento Medal, Australian Institute of Anatomy 1972 1972 Award - Honorary Doctor of Letters (DLitt), Australian National University 1972 1974 Career position - Visiting Fellow, Research School of Pacific Studies, Australian National University 1974 1975 Career position - Special Advisor, House of Representatives Standing Committee on Aboriginal Affairs 1977 1979 Career position - Consultant, Northern Territory Land Commission Mueller Medal, Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science (1904 - 2006)

Awarded the Medal 1971

 Australian National University (1946 - )

Professor of Anthropology and Sociology, Institute of Advanced Studies 1964 - 1970; Member of Council 1965 - 1968

 Australian Institute of Anatomy (1931 - 1985)

Awarded the Sir Raphael Cilento Medal 1972

 Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies (1964 - 1990)

Foundation Executive Officer, Interim Council 1961 - 1962

Wikidata

VIAF - Virtual International Authority File

 Stanner, W E H (19051124-19811008)

Trove

 'Stanner, William Edward Hanley (Bill)', in Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation, Centre for Transformative Innovation, Swinburne University of Technology Stanner, William Edward Hanley (Bill) Swinburne University of Technology, Centre for Transformative Innovation Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation Book: Deep time dreaming: uncovering ancient Australia Griffiths, Billy Deep time dreaming: uncovering ancient Australia Carlton, Vic. Black Inc. 2018 Edited Book: Terrible hard biscuits: A reader in Aboriginal history Chapman, Valerie C; Read, Peter Terrible hard biscuits: A reader in Aboriginal history St Leonards, New South Wales Allen & Unwin 1996 Book: On Aboriginal Religion Stanner, W. E. H. On Aboriginal Religion Sydney University of Sydney 1960 Book: W. E. H. Stanner: selected writings Stanner, William Edward Henley W. E. H. Stanner: selected writings Collingwood, Vic. La Trobe University Press and Black Inc. 2024 Book: The dreaming and other essays Stanner, W. E. H. The dreaming and other essays Collingwood, Vic Black Inc. 2011 Book Section: Fison, Lorimer (1832-1907), Wesleyan missionary, anthropologist and journalist Stanner, W. E. H. Fison, Lorimer (1832-1907), Wesleyan missionary, anthropologist and journalist Melbourne Melbourne University Press 1972 Australian dictionary of biography, volume 4: 1851 - 1890 D-J Douglas Pike 175-176 Book Section: Howitt, Alfred William (1830-1908), explorer, natural scientist and pioneer authority on Aboriginal culture and social organization Stanner, W. E. H. Howitt, Alfred William (1830-1908), explorer, natural scientist and pioneer authority on Aboriginal culture and social organization Melbourne Melbourne University Press 1972 Australian dictionary of biography, volume 4: 1851 - 1890 D-J Douglas Pike 432-435 Book: After the dreaming: black and white Australian's - an anthropologist's view Stanner, W. E. H. After the dreaming: black and white Australian's - an anthropologist's view Sydney Australian Broadcasting Commission 1968 Journal Article: William Edward Hanley Stanner 1905 - 1981 Barnes, J. A. William Edward Hanley Stanner 1905 - 1981 1982 Canberra Anthropology 5 1 85-7 Edited Book: Metaphors of interpretation: essays in honour of W. E. H. Stanner Barwick, Diane E.; Beckett, Jeremy; and Reay, Marie Metaphors of interpretation: essays in honour of W. E. H. Stanner Canberra Australian National University 1985 Edited Book: An appreciation of difference: W.. E. H. Stanner and Aboriginal Australia Hinkson, Melinda and Beckett, Jeremy An appreciation of difference: W.. E. H. Stanner and Aboriginal Australia Canberra Aboriginal Studies Press 2008 Journal Article: William Edward Hanley Stanner, C.M.G. (1906 - 1981) Beckett, J. R. William Edward Hanley Stanner, C.M.G. (1906 - 1981) 1982 Oceania 52 4 271-3 Book Section: Stanner, William Edward Hanley (1905-1981), journalist, soldier and anthropologist Mulvaney, D. J. Stanner, William Edward Hanley (1905-1981), journalist, soldier and anthropologist Melbourne Melbourne University Press 2012 Australian dictionary of biography, volume 18: 1981 - 1990 L-Z Melanie Nolan 449-52 Edited Book: Australian Aboriginal mythology: essays in honour of W. E. H. Stanner Hiatt, L. R. Australian Aboriginal mythology: essays in honour of W. E. H. Stanner Canberra Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies 1975 Book: Making Australian history Clark, Anna Making Australian history North Sydney Vintage Books 2022 Book Section: W. E. H. Stanner: wasted war years Gray, Stanner W. E. H. Stanner: wasted war years Canberra Australian National University Press 2012 Scholars at war: Australasian social sciences, 1939 - 1945 Grey, Geoffrey, Munro, Doug and Winter, Christine 95-116 Book: White man got no dreaming: essays 1938 - 1973 Stanner, W. E. H. White man got no dreaming: essays 1938 - 1973 Canberra Australian National University 1979 Review: Australian Archaeology Sexton, Cate G. and Smith, Claire 2025 Australian Archaeology 91 1 112-5 Book Section: WEH Stanner and the foundation of the Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies, 1959 - 1964 Mulvaney, John WEH Stanner and the foundation of the Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies, 1959 - 1964 Canberra Aboroginal Studies Press 2008 An appreciation of difference: WEH Stanner and Aboriginal Australia Hinkson, Melinda and Beckett, Jeremy 58-75 Fay Gale interviewed by Nikki Henningham in the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia collection [sound recording] National Library of Australia Oral History Collection Fay Gale interviewed by Nikki Henningham in the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia collection [sound recording] TRC 5752 2006 2 digital audio tapes. Fay Gale speaks about her induction into the Academy of the Social Sciences; her research involving Aboriginal communities; the Henderson Poverty Commission; her Postgraduate work; Charles Rowley; Social Science Research Council Aborigines Project; Research at the University of Adelaide; the establishment of the Institute of Aboriginal Studies in Canberra; W.E.H. Stanner; Bill Wentworth; being Fellow of the ASSA (1978); setting up management plans for Kakadu, Uluru; Elspeth Young; Diane Barwick; Diane Bell; Marcia Langton; her time as president of the academy; UNESCO; Paul Burke; significance of her achievements; general view of the role of the academy. Audio