{{Short description|Australian anthropologist (1938–2024)}} {{use dmy dates|date=September 2023}} '''Robert "Bob" Tonkinson''' (1938 – 6 June 2024) was an Australian social anthropologist. He was known for his studies of desert people in Western Australia, and was chair of anthropology at the University of Western Australia.
==Early life and education== Robert Tonkinson was born in 1938.<ref name=obit>{{cite journal | title=Obituary for Robert (Bob) Tonkinson (1938‐2024) | journal=The Australian Journal of Anthropology | volume=36 | issue=1 | date=2025 | issn=1035-8811 | doi=10.1111/taja.70011 | pages=116–122 | url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/taja.70011 | access-date=26 December 2025| url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref>{{Citation | title=Tonkinson, Robert (1938-) | website=Trove | url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-614897 | access-date=26 December 2025}}</ref>
He studied anthropology with Ronald and Catherine Berndt at the University of Western Australia (UWA) in the 1960s.{{citation needed|date=December 2025}} Soon after graduating with a bachelor's degree, he joined ethnographic filmmaker Ian Dunlop as an advisor on his first trip filming Martu people of the Western desert in 1965. The resulting film became part of a 19-part series of films made over six years, called ''People of the Australian Western Desert''.<ref name=henley2020>{{cite book| first=Paul | last= Henley| chapter= The invisible author: Films of re-enactment in the post-war period| title= Beyond observation| doi=10.7765/9781526147295.00011 |date = 23 Jan 2020 | via=manchesterhive.com | url=https://www.manchesterhive.com/display/9781526147295/9781526147295.00011.xml | access-date=26 December 2025 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20250617021855/https://www.manchesterhive.com/display/9781526147295/9781526147295.00011.xml| archive-date= 17 June 2025| url-status=live}}</ref> In 1966, Dunlop edited four parts of the series to create a 49-minute film called ''Desert People'', which went on to win several international awards.<ref name=dpnfsa>{{cite web | title=People of the Australian Western Desert, Parts 1-19; and Desert People |publisher= NFSA | url=https://shop.nfsa.gov.au/assets/files/People_Aust_West_Des_TN.pdf| date=2003| first= Ian|last= Dunlop | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250323132500/https://shop.nfsa.gov.au/assets/files/People_Aust_West_Des_TN.pdf | archive-date=23 March 2025 | url-status=dead | access-date=25 December 2025| quote=Background notes on a series of films on Western Desert culture produced by the Australian Commonwealth Film Unit for the Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies, filmed in 1965 and 1967.|others = Includes notes by Ian Dunlop, dated March 2003| pp=1–33}}</ref>
Tonkinson received a Master of Arts from UWA in 1966 for his thesis "Social structure and acculturation of Aborigines in the Western Desert" from UWA.<ref>{{Citation |author1=Tonkinson |first=Robert |title=Social structure and acculturation of Aborigines in the Western Desert |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/18335190 |publication-date=1966 |access-date=19 September 2023 |author2=University of Western Australia. Department of Anthropology}}</ref>
Undertaking further studies and work in Canada,<ref name=uwa/> he earned a PhD with his thesis "Da:wajil : a Western Desert Aboriginal rainmaking ritual",<ref>{{Citation |author1=Tonkinson |first=Robert |title=Da:wajil : a Western Desert Aboriginal rainmaking ritual |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/20640544 |publication-date=1972 |access-date=19 September 2023}}</ref> from the University of British Columbia.<ref>{{Citation |author1=Stanton |first=John |title=Conflict, change and stability at Mt Margaret: an Aboriginal community in transition |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/17760219 |publication-date=1984 |access-date=3 September 2024 |author2=University of Western Australia. Department of Anthropology}}</ref>
==Career== Upon return to Australia, Tonkinson worked at the Australian National University.<ref name=uwa/> He undertook a large amount of field research at Jigalong and in the Western Desert in Western Australia, as well as on the islands of Vanuatu.<ref name=uwa/>
He was appointed professor of anthropology at UWA in 1984<ref name=uwa/> to succeed, Ronald Berndt, foundation professor of anthropology. On 23 April 1987, Tonkinson presented Berndt with an honorary of Doctor of Letters.<ref>{{cite web | title=Professor Robert Tonkinson presenting Professor Ronald Murray Berndt the honorary degree of Doctor of Letters | website=UWA | date=13 January 2020 | url=https://collected.uwa.edu.au/nodes/view/2237 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250804101044/https://collected.uwa.edu.au/nodes/view/2237 | archive-date=4 August 2025 | url-status=live | access-date=26 December 2025}}</ref>
On his retirement, he was appointed emeritus Professor of Anthropology at UWA.<ref name=uwa>{{cite web | title=Bob Tonkinson | website=UWA Collected | date=1 January 1984 | url=https://collected.uwa.edu.au/nodes/view/1380 | access-date=26 December 2025}}</ref>
Tonkinson is well known for his contribution to Australian Aboriginal Studies but he is equally renowned for his work in the arena of Melanesian Studies—particularly in the application of kastom in the contemporary context.<ref>{{Citation |author1=Taylor & Francis |first= |title=Robert Tonkinson's Research Publications |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00664677.2013.848777 |publication-date=2013 |access-date=3 September 2024 }}</ref>
In 1973–1975, following an assistant professorship at the University of Oregon, Tonkinson and his wife Dr Myrna Tonkinson<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article131714040 |title=Advertising |newspaper=The Canberra Times |volume=52 |issue=15,503 |location=Australian Capital Territory, Australia |date=6 February 1978 |access-date=18 September 2023 |page=20 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> conducted studies with Aboriginal people of the Western Desert, under grants from the Australian National University and the Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article131689583 |title=Escape from the Sick Society |newspaper=The Canberra Times |volume=48 |issue=13,581 |location=Australian Capital Territory, Australia |date=1 November 1973 |access-date=18 September 2023 |page=3 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref>
Myrna Tonkinson was closely associated with the Cobourg Peninsula Land Claim of 1979, with Nicolas Peterson supplying anthropological material in support of the claim.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/DetailsReports/ItemDetail.aspx?Barcode=203035051&isAv=N |title=Cobourg Peninsula Land Claim No. 6 |publisher=National Archives of Australia|access-date=19 September 2023}}</ref>
Tonkinson was editor of ''Anthropological Forum'' from 2000 to 2011.<ref>{{cite web | title=Half century of anthropology news | website=UWA Impact: The University of Western Australia | date=6 November 2013 | url=https://www.news.uwa.edu.au/archive/201311066220/november-2013/half-century-anthropology-news/ | access-date=26 December 2025}}</ref>
==Personal life and death== Tonkinson married Myrna.<ref name=obit/>
He died on 6 June 2024 at Osborne Park Hospital in the Perth suburb of Osborne Park, after having developed dementia for some years previously, at the age of 87. A memorial was held for him on 11 June 2024.<ref name=obit/>
==Publications== * Tonkinson, Robert (1968) '' Maate village, Efate: a relocated community in the New Hebrides'' Department of Anthropology, University of Oregon *Tonkinson, Robert (1973) ''Aboriginal Victors of the Desert Crusade'' Cummings {{isbn|0846575493}} *Tonkinson, Robert (1991) ''The Mardu aborigines : living the dream in Australia's desert'' Holt, Rinehart and Winston {{isbn|0030322820}} *Tonkinson, Robert (editor) (2015) ''The Wentworth Lectures: Honouring Fifty Years of Australian Indigenous Studies'' Aboriginal Studies Press {{isbn|9781922059734}}
== References == {{Reflist}}
==Further reading== *Tonkinson, Bob, "[https://oralhistories.arts.uwa.edu.au/items/show/37 Bob Tonkinson interview, 17 April and 23 April 2013]", UWA Historical Society: UWA Histories.
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tonkinson, Robert}} Category:1938 births Category:Australian anthropologists Category:2024 deaths