Emeritus Professor W.E.H. "Bill" Stanner (1905-1981) was an Australian anthropologist who worked extensively with Indigenous Australians and played an important role in establishing the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies.

He also led the North Australia Observation Unit (NAOU), the "Nackeroos" or "Curtin’s Cowboys" formed in March 1942 and disbanded March 1945, they patrolled northern Australia for signs of enemy activity.

He coined the term the "Great Australian Silence" in the 1968 Boyer Lectures titled "After the Dreaming", reflecting on the silence on Indigenous Australians in Australian history after white settlement.

External links

• ABC Radio National
  • Report on Bill Stanner Hindsight, 9 January 2005
  • Battlefields of Aboriginal History Perspective 24 October 2005
• W. E. H. Stanner: Anthropologist and Public Intellectual: a two-day symposium to mark the centenary of the birth of W.E.H. Stanner (1905 - 1981) at the ANU Centre for Cross-Cultural Research, Thursday 24 - Friday 25 November 2005
• M Force references Lieutenant Colonel Bill Stanner, Commanding Officer of the Nackeroos.
• "The Nackeroos" Australia under attack 1942-43 at the Australian War Memorial

Indigenous peoples of Australia | Australian anthropologists | 1905 births | 1981 deaths | Australian Army officers | Australian academics | Australian World War II people