Annie Margaret McArthur (1919–2002) was an Australian

nutritionist A nutritionist is a person who advises others on matters of food and nutrition and their impacts on health. Some people specialize in particular areas, such as sports nutrition, public health, or animal nutrition, among other disciplines. In many ...

, anthropologist and educator. She is remembered for conducting ground-breaking research from the late 1940s into the indigenous peoples of Australia, Papua New Guinea and the Pacific region. After assignments with the

World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of ...

and the

Food and Agriculture Organization The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)french: link=no, Organisation des Nations unies pour l'alimentation et l'agriculture; it, Organizzazione delle Nazioni Unite per l'Alimentazione e l'Agricoltura is an intern ...

, in 1965 she was engaged as the first women lecturer in the Department of Anthropology at the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's ...

, becoming a senior lecturer prior to her retirement in 1975.

Early life and education

Born in Ararat in south-west

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

on 6 December 1919, Annie Margaret McArthur studied

biochemistry Biochemistry or biological chemistry is the study of chemical processes within and relating to living organisms. A sub-discipline of both chemistry and biology, biochemistry may be divided into three fields: structural biology, enzymology and ...

and

bacteriology Bacteriology is the branch and specialty of biology that studies the morphology, ecology, genetics and biochemistry of bacteria as well as many other aspects related to them. This subdivision of microbiology involves the identification, classificat ...

at the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb no ...

leading to a B.Sc. (1941) and an M.Sc. (1942). She took a post-graduate course in nutrition at the

Australian Institute of Anatomy The Australian Institute of Anatomy was a natural history museum and medical research institute that was founded in 1931 and disbanded in 1985. The institute's heritage-listed building, located in , Canberra, in the Australian Capital Territory, ...

(1946) and received a diploma in social anthropology from the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

(1952). In 1962, she earned a Ph.D. in social anthropology from the

Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public research university located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton encompasses seven teaching and research colleges, in addition to several national academies an ...

in 1962 with a thesis titled ''The Kunimaipa: the Social Structure of a Papuan Society''. From 1948 to 1949, she participated as a nutritionist in the

Career

After receiving her master's degree, MacArthur spent three years during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

as a researcher at the Commonwealth Scientific & Industrial Research Organisation in Canberra where she helped develop containers to deliver food for troops in the tropics (1943–1945). Following training at the

, in 1947 she joined the Nutrition Expedition to New Guinea conducted by the Commonwealth Department of Health. In 1948, she served as a nutritionist in the American-Australian Scientific Expedition to Arnhem Land to study the ecology of indigenous nomads in the far north-east of Australia's

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory shares its borders with Western Aust ...

. In connection with her Ph.D., MacArthur undertook field research on the Kunimaipa people of Papua, communicating with them in their own language as she studied their nutritional habits. From 1958 to 1960, she worked as a social anthropology consultant to the government of Malaya on behalf of the World Health Organization. She then spent a year as nutrition consultant for Indonesia on an assignment from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. In 1965 she was engaged by the University of Sydney as the first women lecturer in its Department of Anthropology, becoming a senior lecturer prior to her retirement in 1975. In 1976, she married the retired Harvard anthropology professor Douglas Oliver and settled with him in

Honolulu Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island ...

. She died there after a long illness on 12 May 2002.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McArthur, Margaret 1919 births 2002 deaths People from Ararat, Victoria Australian anthropologists Australian women anthropologists Nutritionists Women nutritionists Academic staff of the University of Sydney University of Melbourne alumni Alumni of the University of London Australian National University alumni Academics of the University of Manchester