The Many Worlds of RH Mathews: In Search of an Australian Anthropologist by Martin Thomas
Shortlisted
JUDGES' COMMENTS
Martin Thomas’ evocative biography focuses on a man who described himself as a ‘quiet worker’: Robert Hamilton Mathews, a nineteenth century surveyor-turned-ethnologist. With no formal training but with immense respect for Indigenous Australians, Mathews set about documenting their languages and customs. Dismissed as an amateur by fellow anthropologists, he was a neglected figure until Thomas embarked on a quest to retrieve him from obscurity.
The result is a groundbreaking, meticulously researched and emotionally resonant book. The empathy that animated Mathews’ work shines through these pages too, lifting them into literature of a high order.