National Museum of Australia

1919 expedition

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.

First medical relief expedition

Herbert Basedow was passionate about the health of Aboriginal people, campaigning publicly and lobbying the South Australian Government for action.

In 1919 a group of pastoralists and the government provided £1000 to investigate the health of Aboriginal people in South Australia. Basedow was commissioned to undertake the work, with his wife Nell as nurse. Basedow's older brother Erwin and 18-year-old Richard Grenfell Thomas were hired to look after the expedition buggies and horses — a tough job in a drought-affected area.

More than 250 Aboriginal people were examined, mostly at pastoral stations. Many non-Aboriginal people also took the opportunity to seek medical attention. When duties permitted, Basedow took photographs using a Graflex camera with glass plate negatives.

Basedow's expedition report concluded pessimistically that the Aboriginal people in the north-east were 'doomed to an early extinction'.

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Map outlining the expedition in 1919. The stylised map shows the expedition routes in white lines. The expedition area is in north west South Australia and far west Queensland. Locations such as Birdsville, Marree, Innamincka and Durham Downs are shown. A small map of Australia in the top left hand corner shows the expedition area overview.

Map outlining the first medical relief expedition route in 1919 in South Australia

A family photo taken outdoors, Karrathunka Waterhole, South Australia 1919. The six members of the family stand in the centre of the image. The father stands to the left of the image, slightly apart from the others. The mother stands on his left. In front are four children, all boys. Two older boys dressed in long short pants, braces and hats stand to the right of the mother. Two younger boys dressed in jackets, short pants and hats stand in front of the mother. The group stands on dimpled sandy soil.

The McAuley family, Karrathunka Waterhole, South Australia 1919

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

A portrait image of an elderly Aboriginal woman with a painted face and a close-cropped haircut. She sits at the entrance to a hut, with her eyes shut to keep out the sun. The pigment on her face is roughly applied to her forehead, cheeks and the end of her nose. Her hair and scalp are light in colour, as though the pigment has been applied to them. Behind her are deep shadows formed by the interior of the hut.

Nyerrekoku, a Yandruwandha woman, in mourning for her husband, Innamincka station, South Australia 1919

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

On the death of her husband, a Yandruwandha woman would cut off her hair to the scalp and burn it. For a defined period her scalp and most of her face would be covered with pipeclay, which was replaced as it crumbled away. It was also forbidden to mention the name of the deceased.

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A dark coloured horse and two men in a stockyard, Innamincka station, South Australia 1919. The horse has been roped and is bucking vigourously near the stockyard fence. A man has his hands on the horse's right hindquarters in an attempt to control it. The right side of a man just out of the picture is seen at the right side of the image. The horse's bucking and kicking has raised small clouds of dust on the ground.

Throwing and branding horses, Innamincka station, South Australia 1919

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

Herbert Basedow and Richard Grenfell Thomas, a young assistant on the expedition, watched 200 horses being branded at Innamincka station. One was kicking and bucking so energetically that it forced its way through the railing fence, surprising an Aboriginal stockman.

A view of the stockyards, Innamincka station, South Australia 1919. The image looks along a stockyard fence toward other enclosures. A man in the closest enclosure bends over to his right, reaching for something on the ground. Other men can be seen walking in the next enclosure. Beyond them are horses held in other enclosures. A man can be seen in the left side middle distance, sitting up on a fence. Station buildings are in the far background.

Throwing and branding horses, Innamincka station, South Australia 1919

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

A dark coloured horse and four men in a stockyard, Innamincka station, South Australia 1919. The horse is against the stockyard fence; its right foreleg has a rope tied around it. The rope is held by a man to the right of the image. The other men are to the left, preparing to move in and restrain the horse. Horses in other enclosures can be seen in the background. The bare ground shows evidence of other station animals having been held in the enclosures.

Throwing and branding horses, Innamincka station, South Australia 1919

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