Dick Kimber

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Dick Kimber
Picture of Dick Kimber (Australian Historian).jpg
Personal details
Born1939
Freeling in South Australia
Died16 September 2024
Alice Springs (Mparntwe)
SpouseMargaret Friedel
ChildrenSteve, Barbara
OccupationHistorian

Richard "Dick" Glyn Kimber (born 1939 - 16 September 2024) [1] [2] AM was an Australian historian and author who wrote extensively on the history, art, culture and wildlife of Central Australia. He published several books, the best known of which is Man From Arltunga: Walter Smith, Australian Bushman (1986) as well as more than 100 articles and essays. He also gave public lectures [3] and made regular media appearances. [4] [5] Kimber was also a Member of the Order of Australia. [6]

Contents

Early life

Kimber was born at Freeling in South Australia in 1939. He went to school in the Riverland area and Brighton and then attended the University of Adelaide and Adelaide Teacher's College. [7]

Career

Throughout Kimber's career, his focus was on historical research, Aboriginal art and culture, and wildlife. He published several books, the best known of which is Man From Arltunga: Walter Smith, Australian Bushman (1986); this book tells the life story of Walter Smith and this book was based on hours of tape-recordings and shared travelling experiences between 1981 and 1983. [8]

Kimber moved to Alice Springs in 1970 and taught English, history, social science and Aboriginal Studies at Alice Springs High School. In 1974 he became the first Sacred Sites Officer in the Northern Territory for the Sacred Sites Authority, before returning to teaching. From 1976 to 1978 he was the Papunya Tula Artists Coordinator and devised Aboriginal Studies materials for schools, after which he again returned to teaching. Beginning in 1976 Kimber undertook research and prepared submissions for land rights and native title claims for over twenty years, in a private capacity and for the Central Land Council and Ngaanyatjarra Council. During this time he also undertook research for the Australian Institute of Aboriginal And Torres Strait Islander Studies, the Department of Aboriginal Affairs, the Australian Heritage Commission and the Strehlow Research Centre, regarding locations of Aboriginal homelands and their needs, settlement history, and ownership of sacred objects.

He researched the historical records of extinct and rare native fauna for the Conservation Commission of the Northern Territory and provided advice regarding the development of the Alice Springs Desert Park and issues relating to Aboriginal land ownership of various parks and reserves. [9]

From the mid-1990s, Kimber advised the National Museum of Australia, [10] Museum Victoria and the Northern Territory Museum regarding Aboriginal artefacts and cultural practices, [11] access to Papunya Tula paintings that incorporated sacred elements, and the return of sacred objects to traditional custodians in central Australia. He consulted for Museum Victoria and the Strehlow Research Centre. His recollections of working with Aboriginal ceremonial collections were recorded by Dr Phillip Batty and Dr Jason Gibson.

Since arriving in Central Australia Kimber undertook travels, discussions and other shared experiences with many Aboriginal people, primarily in the south-western Simpson Desert, western deserts of Central Australia and the deserts of Western Australia through to the Canning Stock Route, and in Alice Springs. He has privately researched significant historical figures in inland Australia, Australian language usage, and native fauna of the inland including birds, and made important contributions to the Australian National Dictionary, the Australian Dictionary of Biography [12] and the Northern Territory Dictionary of Biography. [13] The National Library of Australia has established the RG Kimber Collection for his correspondence and records; these include his correspondences with David Nash (between 1979 - 2016) and Libby Robin (1999 - 2001). [14] [15]

Kimber was awarded an Order of Australia in 2001 for "services to the community through research projects and the recording of information of national interest in the areas of history, anthropology, Aboriginal art, ecology and land management practices in Central Australia". [6] Kimber was awarded a Doctor of Letters, Honoris Causa from the Charles Darwin University in 2006. [16] [7]

Personal life

Kimber married scientist Margaret Friedel in 1975. He had two children Steve and Barbara. In 1980, Kimber resigned from the Education Department "becoming Alice Springs' first publicly acknowledged 'house-husband'" while continuing his active writing life. [9]

He was passionate about Australia Rules Football, lifesaving as well as history. He was the foundation captain and coach of the Melanka AFL Football Club (now West Football Club). [17]

He died on 16 September 2024 after a long illness and, [1] after his death Steve Morton stated that: "[h]e was a great historian. He knew more about Central Australian history than anybody else that I know". [2]

Works

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References

  1. 1 2 Chlanda, Erwin; Finnane, Kieran (17 September 2024). "Dick Kimber, 1939 to 2024". Alice Springs News. Retrieved 17 September 2024.
  2. 1 2 "Central Australian historian Dick Kimber remembered as 'keeper of stories' after his death". ABC News. 21 September 2024. Retrieved 22 September 2024.
  3. ↑ Foyster, Scott (19 September 2010). "Everyday anthropology". Overland: Progressive culture since 1954. Retrieved 29 May 2017.
  4. ↑ Maloney, Nadine (2015). "Local historian Dick Kimber on John McDouall Stuart". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. ABC Alice Springs. Retrieved 19 June 2017.
  5. ↑ "First Australians – Episode 4, No Other Law". Australian Screen. National Film and Sound Archive. Retrieved 19 June 2017.
  6. 1 2 "The Queen's Birthday 2001 Honours" (PDF). Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia. Commonwealth of Australia Gazette. 11 June 2001. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 April 2015. Retrieved 18 June 2017.
  7. 1 2 "Richard Glyn Kimber" (PDF). Charles Darwin University. Retrieved 29 May 2017.
  8. 1 2 Kimber, R. G (1986), Man from Arltunga: Walter Smith, Australian bushman, Hesperian Press, ISBN   978-0-85905-084-5
  9. 1 2 Finnane, Finnane (12 May 2017). "Dick Kimber: premier scholar of Central Australia". Alice Springs News online. Retrieved 29 May 2017.
  10. ↑ "'Story of the Women's Camp'". National Museum of Australia. National Museum of Australia. Retrieved 19 June 2017.
  11. 1 2 Batty, Philip, ed. (2006), Colliding worlds: first contact in the Western Desert 1932-1984, Museum Victoria, ISBN   978-0-9758370-0-9
  12. ↑ "Contributions by Kimber, R. G." Australian Dictionary of Biography. Retrieved 21 July 2024.
  13. ↑ Carment, David; Edward, Christine; James, Barbara; Maynard, Robyn; Powell, Alan; Wilson, Helen J, eds. (2008). Northern Territory Dictionary of Biography (Revised ed.). Charles Darwin University Press. hdl: 10070/260154 – via Territory Stories.
  14. ↑ "Correspondence between Dick Kimber and David Nash, 1979-2016 - Catalogue | National Library of Australia". nla.gov.au. Retrieved 19 July 2024.
  15. ↑ "Correspondence between Dick Kimber and Libby Robin, 1999-2001 - Catalogue | National Library of Australia". nla.gov.au. Retrieved 19 July 2024.
  16. ↑ "Prominent Central Australians to be honoured at CDU Alice Springs graduation". Charles Darwin University. 16 June 2006. Retrieved 29 May 2017.
  17. ↑ "History of the West Football Club". The Bloods: West Football Club. Retrieved 29 May 2017.
  18. ↑ Amadio, Nadine; Kimber, R. G; Skipsey, Barry (1988), Wildbird dreaming: Aboriginal art from the central deserts of Australia, Greenhouse Publication, ISBN   978-0-86436-108-0
  19. ↑ Kimber, R. G; Artlunga Hotel & Bush Resort (1996), Man from Arltunga: Walter Smith, Australian bushman (2nd ed. with postscript and eulogy ed.), Artlunga Hotel & Bush Resort and Hesperian Press, ISBN   978-0-85905-225-2
  20. ↑ Charlesworth, Max; Kimber, R. G; Wallace, Noel (1990), Ancestor spirits: aspects of Australian Aboriginal life and spirituality, Deaking University Press, ISBN   978-0-949823-14-4
  21. ↑ Kimber, R. G (1990), Friendly country - friendly people : an exhibition of Aboriginal artworks from the peoples of the Tanami and Great Sandy Deserts: desert lands, desert peoples, desert art, Araluen Arts Centre, ISBN   978-0-909500-02-3
  22. ↑ Kimber, R. G (1990), Hunter-gatherer demography: the recent past in Central Australia , retrieved 29 May 2017
  23. ↑ Kimber, R. G; State Library of the Northern Territory (1991), "The end of the bad old days: European settlement in Central Australia, 1871-1894", Occasional Papers, State Library of the Northern Territory, ISBN   978-0-7245-0645-3, ISSN   0817-2927
  24. ↑ Kimber, R. G (2000), M. N. Tjapaltjarri , retrieved 29 May 2017
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