Francis Edgar Williams (9 February 1893 – 12 May 1943) was an Australian

anthropologist An anthropologist is a person engaged in the practice of anthropology. Anthropology is the study of aspects of humans within past and present societies. Social anthropology, cultural anthropology and philosophical anthropology study the norms and ...

who worked for the government of the Territory of Papua from 1922 to 1942.

Life

Born in Malvern, South Australia and educated at Kyre College, the Baptist South Australia school, Williams graduated from the University of Adelaide in 1914 with high honours, and was accordingly awarded a

Rhodes Scholarship The Rhodes Scholarship is an international postgraduate award for students to study at the University of Oxford, in the United Kingdom. Established in 1902, it is the oldest graduate scholarship in the world. It is considered among the world' ...

to study at the University of Oxford. He nevertheless decided to join the Australian Imperial Force in 1915 and served in France as a lieutenant in the 32nd Battalion. Promoted to the honorary rank of captain in early 1918, he served in a secret mission in Caucasus under General

Lionel Dunsterville Major General Lionel Charles Dunsterville, (9 November 1865 – 18 March 1946) was a British Army officer, who led Dunsterforce across present-day Iraq and Iran towards the Caucasus and Baku during the First World War. Early life Lionel Charles ...

. In 1919, he took up his

at Balliol, and graduated in anthropology in 1921. Back in Australia at the end of the year, he met in February 1922 the Lieutenant-Governor of Papua, Hubert Murray, who was looking for a young and strong Oxford graduate to serve as an assistant government anthropologist next to Dr William Mersh Strong, more a practitioner than a scientist. Appointed on 8 March 1922, Williams was promoted to Government Anthropologist when Strong retired in 1928, and kept the position until the demise of the Papuan administration in 1942. One of the few anthropologists of his time able to spend two continuous decades in the same location without having to regularly return to a metropolitan university or institution, he performed during those twenty years heavy field work, and published many books and articles, both monographic and general. In 1935, his manifesto ''The Blending of Culture'' hit a worldwide audience. Often agreeing with Murray, William was given complete liberty by the omnipotent administrator. When World War II expanded to the Southern Pacific in December 1941, Williams came back to Australia and enlisted as a lieutenant to serve with military intelligence. He was promoted captain in November 1942. Among his many works, he wrote ''You and Native'', a booklet advising the Allied soldiers on how to behave with Papuans. In early 1943, Williams was sent back to Papua to serve as a liaison officer with the Australian New Guinea Administrative Unit. On 12 May, he died in a plane crash on the

Owen Stanley Range Owen Stanley Range is the south-eastern part of the central mountain-chain in Papua New Guinea. Its highest point is Mount Victoria at , while its most prominent peak is Mount Suckling. History Owen Stanley Range was seen in 1849 by Captain Owe ...

, 20 km south of

Kokoda Kokoda is a station town in the Oro Province of Papua New Guinea. It is famous as the northern end of the Kokoda Track, site of the eponymous Kokoda Track campaign of World War II. In that campaign, it had strategic significance because it had the ...

References

* Michael W. Young and Julia Clark, ''An Anthropologist in Papua. The Photography of F.E. Williams, 1922-39'', Adelaide: Crawford House Publishing, 2002. {{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, F. E. 1893 births 1943 deaths People from Adelaide University of Adelaide alumni Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford Australian Rhodes Scholars Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in Papua New Guinea Australian military personnel of World War I Australian Army personnel of World War II Australian Army officers Australian military personnel killed in World War II