15 Facts About Donald Thomson

Donald Finlay Fergusson Thomson OBE was an Australian anthropologist and ornithologist.

Donald Finlay Fergusson Thomson was born on 26 June 1901 in the Melbourne suburb of Brighton.

Donald Thomson served as press officer in 1923, and then as assistant editor of its journal, Emu from 1924 to 1925.

Donald Thomson lived at the property of Worlingworth, Eltham from the 1930s.

Donald Thomson's success had long-term ramifications for the relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians, and is regarded as the crowning achievement of his life.

Donald Thomson formed a strong bond with the Yolngu people, studying their traditional use of the land in the Arafura Swamp and elsewhere.

In 1943, as the war moved northward from the Australian coast, the unit was disbanded, and Donald Thomson returned to the Air Force.

Donald Thomson was badly injured in action in Dutch New Guinea, and spent the rest of the war in hospital before being discharged from the Armed Forces.

In 1957, Donald Thomson carried out the "Bindibu Expedition" to the Western Desert to make contact with Pintupi there.

Donald Thomson lived with the Pintupi, and liked them, through much of the 1950s and the 1960s.

Donald Thomson returned to the University of Melbourne and continued working there until his death on 12 May 1970.

Donald Thomson's ashes were flown to the Northern Territory and, accompanied in the plane by two of the sons of Wonggu, scattered over the waters of Caledon Bay.

Donald Thomson is remembered as a friend of the Yolngu people, and as a champion of understanding, by non-Indigenous Australians, of the culture and society of Indigenous Australians.

Donald Thomson was largely responsible for turning the Caledon Bay crisis into a "decisive moment in the history of Aboriginal-European relations".

Donald Thomson married, first, Gladys Winifred Coleman, on 30 December 1925.