Robert Tonkinson

Robert Tonkinson (born 1938, died 2024) was a retired Australian Social Anthropologist. He was born in Perth, Western Australia. He was appointed to his Chair as Professor of Anthropology in 1984 to succeed the Foundation Professor of Anthropology, Professor Ronald M. Berndt University of Western Australia, Nedlands, 1963–1981 and, on Bob's retirement, he was appointed Emeritus Professor of Anthropology, University of Western Australia, Crawley, West Australia.

Tonkinson received a Master of Arts for his thesis "Social structure and acculturation of Aborigines in the Western Desert" and a PhD with his thesis "Da:wajil : a Western Dsert Aboriginal rainmaking ritual", both from the University of Western Australia.

In 1973–1975, following an assistant professorship at the University of Oregon, Tonkinson and his wife Dr Myrna Tonkinson conducted studies with Aboriginal people of the Western Desert, under grants from the Australian National University and the Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies.

Myrna Tonkinson was closely associated with the Cobourg Peninsula Land Claim of 1979, with Nicolas Peterson supplying anthropological material in support of the claim.

He was Editor of Anthropological Forum from 2000 to 2011.

Publications

 * Tonkinson, Robert (1973) Aboriginal Victors of the Desert Crusade ISBN 0846575493
 * Tonkinson, Robert (1991) The Mardu aborigines : living the dream in Australia's desert Holt, Rinehart and Winston ISBN 0030322820
 * Tonkinson, Robert (editor) (2015) The Wentworth Lectures: Honouring Fifty Years of Australian Indigenous Studies ISBN 9781922059734