National Museum of Australia - 1905-1911 expeditions

1905-1911 expeditions

Warning: This exhibition and website contain some images of nudity and people in distressing circumstances. Visitors should also be aware that the exhibition and website include names and images of deceased people that may cause sadness or distress to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

Government expeditions in the Top End

In 1905 Herbert Basedow accompanied South Australian Government Geologist HYL Brown and mining inspector Lionel Gee on a seven-month geological investigation of the Northern Territory's western coast and hinterland.

Brown was impressed by the young Basedow, who worked alongside him and contributed to the final report and geological map. Basedow also investigated the Territory's early mining history, including Chinese mining methods, and joined the South Australian Governor on a sightseeing and buffalo-shooting excursion to the Adelaide River.

Basedow returned to the Northern Territory in 1911 as Chief Medical Inspector and Chief Protector of Aborigines, but resigned from the post after only 45 days. During his brief appointment Basedow accompanied one of his inspectors on a short trip to Melville and Bathurst islands to assess the health of Aboriginal people living there.

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A stylised map showing the 1905-1911 Northern Territory expedition routes. A smaller map of Australia in the top left-hand corner shows the area covered by the main map. Locations such as Darwin, Melville Island, Daly River and Bradshaw Station are shown. The expedition land and sea routes are marked by white lines.

Map outlining the 1905-1911 expeditions route through the Northern Territory's western coast and hinterland

Seven Aboriginal people standing in a line, Cape Dombey, Northern Territory 1905. Two men stand at each end of the line; the one to the right looks along the line. Between them are women and children. Four of them stand with their hands modestly clasped in front of their groins. The group stands on bare sandy soil.

Aboriginal people at Cape Dombey, north of Port Keats, Northern Territory 1905

photograph by Herbert Basedow
reproduced from lantern slide
National Museum of Australia

Open-cut mine formation, Daly River Copper Mine, Northern Territory probably 1905. The open-cut mine is on the left side of a hill in the background. It's seen as a jagged gash in the hillside; there is loose rock on the eroded slope in front of the mine. The hill slopes toward an area of scattered trees and long grass in the middle and foreground.

Open-cut workings, Daly River Copper Mine, Northern Territory probably 1905

photograph by Herbert Basedow
reproduced from glass plate negative
National Museum of Australia

Aboriginal Man standing to the right of a child's burial pole, Bathurst Island, Northern Territory 1911. There are four other burial poles to the left of the child's pole; the poles are roughly in line. All of the poles are about the height of the man. They are all carved in their upper sections and have been marked with customary Aboriginal ochres and patterns.

Man standing beside a child's grave, Bathurst Island, Northern Territory 1911

photograph by Herbert Basedow
reproduced from glass plate negative
National Museum of Australia

Nine Aborginal boys in a dugout and two bark canoes. One canoe is at the water's edge in the foreground. The other two are just offshore, about parallel to the first canoe. Behind the canoes is open water and low hills on the distant opposite shoreline. The water's surface is slightly rippled.

Boys in a dugout and two bark canoes, Apsley Strait, with Melville Island in the distance, Northern Territory 1911

photograph by Herbert Basedow
reproduced from glass plate negative
National Museum of Australia

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Four bark containers collected by Basedow on Bathurst Island, Northern Territory 1911. The largest container is on the right side of the image. Two of the smaller containers have plain sides. The other small container and the large container have customary Aboriginal markings and designs on them in the form of stripes, bands and oval shapes.

Bark containers collected by Basedow on Bathurst Island, Northern Territory, in 1911 and photographed in Adelaide, South Australia 1911–13

photograph by Herbert Basedow
reproduced from glass plate negative
National Museum of Australia

Basedow often illustrated his published work with photographs of objects he collected. Two years after collecting these containers, he included photographs of them in an article in a British anthropological journal. All but the container at far left are in the National Museum's collection.