Francis Edgar Williams

Francis Edgar Williams (9 February 1893 – 12 May 1943) was an Australian anthropologist who worked for the government of the Territory of Papua from 1922 to 1942.

Early life Born in Malvern, South Australia and educated at Kyre College, the Baptist South Australia school, Williams graduated from the University of Adelaide in 1914 with high honours, and was accordingly awarded a Rhodes Scholarship to study at the University of Oxford. He nevertheless decided to join the Australian Imperial Force in 1915 and served in France as a lieutenant in the 32nd Battalion. Promoted to the honorary rank of captain in early 1918, he served in a secret mission in Caucasus under General Lionel Dunsterville. In 1919, he took up his Rhodes Scholarship at Balliol, and graduated in anthropology in 1921.

Papua New Guinea Back in Australia at the end of the year, he met in February 1922 the Lieutenant-Governor of Papua, Hubert Murray, who was looking for a young and strong Oxford graduate to serve as an assistant government anthropologist next to Dr William Mersh Strong, more a practitioner than a scientist. Appointed on 8 March 1922, Williams was promoted to Government Anthropologist when Strong retired in 1928, and kept the position until the demise of the Papuan administration in 1942. She stayed with Williams in Papuan, assisting him with his reports and field notes. Their son Francis, but known as Jack, was born in Canada in 1927. Due to a brain tumor found in infancy leading to him becoming almost sightless Jack was sent to a school for the blind in England, with Constance frequently spending time there with him.

World War II When World War II expanded to the Southern Pacific in December 1941, Williams came back to Australia and enlisted as a lieutenant to serve with military intelligence. He was promoted captain in November 1942. Among his many works, he wrote You and Native, a booklet advising the Allied soldiers on how to behave with Papuans. In early 1943, Williams was sent back to Papua to serve as a liaison officer with the Australian New Guinea Administrative Unit. On 12 May, he died in a plane crash on the Owen Stanley Range, 20 km south of Kokoda. He was buried in a military cemetery at Bomana.

Publications Source: The Vailala Madness and the Destruction of Native Ceremonies in Gulf Division. Port Moresby: Edward George Baker, Government Printer, 1923. The Collection of Curios and the Preservation of Native Culture. Port Moresby: Edward George Baker, Government Printer, 1923. http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-39980482 The Natives of the Purari Delta. Port Moresby: Government Printer, 1924. http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-192001115 Native Education: The Language of Instruction and Intellectual Education. Port Moresby: Edward George Baker, Government Printer, 1928. Orokaiva Magic. London: Oxford University Press, 1928. Orokaiva Society. Oxford: Clarendon Press,1930. Sentiments and Leading Ideas in Native Society. Port Moresby: Edward George Baker, Government Printer, 1932. Practical Education: The Reform of Native Horticulture. Port Moresby: Walter Alfred Bock, Acting Government Printer, 1933. Depopulation of the Suau District. Port Moresby: Walter Alfred Bock, Acting Government Printer, 1933. http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-52857518 The Blending of Cultures: An Essay on the Aims of Native Education. Port Moresby: Walter Alfred Bock, Government Printer, 1935. http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-52804436 Papuans of the Trans-fly. Oxford: Clarendon, 1936. Bull-roarers in the Papuan Gulf. Port Moresby: Walter Alfred Bock, Government Printer, 1936. The Grasslanders. Canberra: L.F. Johnston, Government Printer,1939. Drama of Orokolo: The Social and Ceremonial Life of the Elema. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1940. Natives of Lake Kutubu, Papua. Sydney: Australian National Research Council, 1941.