Records of the American-Australian Scientific Expedition to Arnhem Land. Vol. 4

1964

Expedition Reports Q115 A56 1948

Melbourne: Melbourne University Press

Arnhem Land (named after 17th century explorer Jan Carstensz’s ship, Arnhem) in the northeast of the Northern Territories of Australia was, still in the 1940s, largely unknown. This expedition team, led by ethnologist, photographer and film maker, Charles Mountford (d. 1976), spent nine months in the region. A collaboration between the National Geographic Society of America and the Australian government, the group consisted of 17 men and women who studied a wide range of ‘interlocking fields of natural history, medical science and ethnology’ (Mountford, 1956). These shells are from Yirrkalla (on the mainland) and Groote Eylandt (an island) – both on the Gulf of Carpentaria. They were ‘casually’ gathered by expedition team members.