John Mathew

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For other people named John Mathew, see John Mathew (disambiguation).

John Mathew, Presbyterian minister and anthropologist

John Mathew (31 May 1849 – 11 March 1929) was an Australian

Presbyterian minister and anthropologist
, author of "Eaglehawk and Crow" and "Two Representative Tribes of Queensland".

Biography

Mathew was born in Aberdeen, Scotland, on 31 May 1849, the fourth child (and eldest son) of Alexander Mathew, a factory overseer, and his wife Jean, née Mortimer. Mathew was initially educated at Kidd's school, Aberdeen.[1] At nine years of age his father died and he went to live with his maternal grandmother at Insch,[2] where he attended the Insch Free Church School as a pupil-teacher from 1862 to 1864.[1]

In 1864 Mathew migrated to

Aboriginal Australian groups, the Kabi and Wakka Wakka people.[1]

He afterwards tried

Brisbane Normal School (1875–76).[1]

Mathew moved to

Victoria, Australia and graduated from the University of Melbourne (B.A., 1884; M.A., 1886) with first-class honours despite working at times as a tutor and station-manager. As a Presbyterian minister, Mathew worked at Ballan, Victoria from 1887 for two years, then at Coburg, Victoria from 1889 to 1923.[1]

Mathew returned to Queensland in 1906, visiting the Kabi and Wakka Wakka people at the

Barambah Aboriginal Settlement.[1]

Publications

In 1889 Mathew won the prize and medal of the

Daisy Bates and Robert Hamilton Mathews.[1]

He published Two Representative Tribes of Queensland in 1910.[1]

Death and legacy

Mathews died on 11 March 1929.[1]

Although his

ethnographic reporting are still well regarded (as of 1986), his controversial theory of a tri-hybrid origin of Australian Aboriginal peoples is not supported by current data.[1]

The State Library of Queensland holds a notebook containing an Aboriginal vocabulary list by John Mathew and other papers including letters from his uncle John Mortimer and cousin G.W. Anderson of Manumbar Station.[3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Prentis, M. D. (1986). "John Mathew".
    ISSN 1833-7538
    . Retrieved 2 June 2012.
  2. ^ Serle, Percival (1949). "Mathew, John". Dictionary of Australian Biography. Sydney: Angus & Robertson. Retrieved 2 June 2012.
  3. ^ "John Mathew papers". State Library of Queensland. 31 January 2023. Retrieved 31 January 2023.

External links

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