Cirrus@Austlit

19th-Century Australian Travel Writing

Carl Sophus Lumholtz (1851-1922) was a scientist, traveller, and member of the Royal Society of Sciences of Norway. He was encouraged by Professor Robert Collett from the University of Christiania, Norway, to embark on a research trip, and thus Lumholtz travelled to Australia on to collect specimens for the zoological and zootomical museums of the University. On arrival in Australia, Lumholtz thought that the best way to collect natural history specimens was to live among an Aboriginal group, and for fourteen months he lived and travelled with a North Queensland clan. He was first European scientist to describe the tree kangaroo (which bears his name). Despite Lumholtz's experience living amongst Aboriginal people, Among Cannibals was framed by European assumptions and stereotypes about Aboriginal peoples. The work was translated into four languages, and was extensively illustrated with coloured plates and maps, the images having been drawn from Lumholtz's original photographs, sketches and collected specimens.