User:Tenniscourtisland/Dick Kimber

Richard “Dick” Glyn Kimber OAM (1939 -) is an Australian historian and author, specialising in the early colonial history of Central Australia.

Early life
Kimber was born at Freeling in South Australia in 1939. He went to school in the Riverland area and Brighton and then attended Adelaide University and Adelaide Teacher’s College.

Career
Once a qualified teacher, Kimber moved to Alice Springs in 1970. He taught English, history and social studies at Alice Springs High School. Kimber was the acting coordinator for the Papunya Tula Arts Centre, supporting the organisation since it opened in in 1971. He then went to work at the Central Land Council in 1974, as its first Sacred Sites Field Officer. He has volunteered for the organisation ever since.

In 1980, his focus turned to historical research. He has since published several books, the best known of which is Man from Arltunga: Walter Smith, Australian bushman. He has also published hundreds of articles and essays, and regular lectures.

Kimber was awarded a Doctor of Letters, Honoris Causa from the Charles Darwin University in 2006.

Personal life
Kimber married to scientist Margret Friedel in 1980. He has two children Barbara and Steve. When they were young, Kimber resigned from the Education Department "becoming Alice Springs’ first publicly acknowledged 'house-husband'".

He is passionate about Australia Rules Football, lifesaving as well as history. He was the foundation captain and coach of the Melanka AFL Football Club (now West Football Club).

Publications

 * 1988 - Wildbird dreaming: aboriginal art from the central deserts of Australia Nadine Amadio and Richard Kimber
 * 1986 - Man from Arltunga: Walter Smith, Australian bushman republished 1990
 * 1990 - Ancestor spirits: aspects of Australian Aboriginal life and spirituality by Max Charlesworth, Richard Kimber and Noel Wallace
 * 1900 - Friendly country - friendly people : an exhibition of Aboriginal artworks from the peoples of the Tanami and Great Sandy Deserts : desert lands, desert peoples, desert art
 * 1990 - Hunter-gatherer demography: the recent past in Central Australia
 * 1991 - The end of the bad old days: European settlement in Central Australia, 1871-1894
 * 2000 - M. N. Tjapaltjarri
 * 2006 - Colliding worlds: first contact in the Western Desert 1932-1984, edited by Philip Batty with essays by Dick Kimber, Jeremy Long and John Kean