Field Notebooks and Research Material Relating to First Nations Peoples in Northeast South Australia [Adolphus Peter (AP) Elkin] (Series 723)

Due to the nature of the records, the Archives reserves the right to restrict, limit or refuse access to any item/s without prior notice, on the basis of personal privacy or out of respect for the rights and/or beliefs of First Nations people in accordance with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Library, Information and Resource Network (ATSILIRN) protocols.

This series contains Elkin's notebooks on kinship, genealogy, language, religious practice, custom, material culture, geology, and geography, as well as correspondence, maps, photographs, copies of published and unpublished journal articles, newspaper cuttings, personal diaries, and other research material dealing with First Nations communities and peoples in northeast South Australia.

The records cover the period 1910 to 1967 although Elkin's 1929 to 1930 northeast South Australian field trip comprises the core of the records. The series includes references to aspects of the kinship work of AR Radcliffe-Brown from 1910 as well as 1921 newspaper clippings etc. of other researchers, e.g., T Griffith Taylor, and 1967 correspondence. Elkin's South Australian field trip covered northeast South Australia and involved work with the Arabana, Yandruwantha, Diyari, Birladapa, and many others. Major sites included Innamincka, Maree, Mount Margaret, Musgrave Ranges, Oodnadatta, Ernabella, and Hermannsburg.

It is evident that Elkin refers to the customs of peoples whose lands, although defined as within northeast South Australia, crossed western New South Wales, Northern Territory, and southern Queensland state boundaries. The majority of research was undertaken with the First Nations communities and peoples in northeast South Australia as stated in the title, however, Elkin did undertake detailed study of Luritja and Aranda social and religious customs.

Series 1042 contains negatives and prints taken in South Australia in 1930. The photographs are closed until the relevant communities grant permission for them to be viewed.

Note that the records were sorted by the Department of Anthropology into artificial series based on subject prior to their deposit in the Archives in 1983. See biographical note for further details.