Marie Olive Reay (1922 in Maitland, NSW – 2004 in Booragul, NSW) was an Australian anthropologist, known particularly for work in the

New Guinea Highlands The New Guinea Highlands, also known as the Central Range or Central Cordillera, is a long chain of mountain ranges on the island of New Guinea, including the island's highest peak, Puncak Jaya, Indonesia, , the highest mountain in Oceania. The r ...

Career

Reay did undergraduate studies at the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD) is a public university, public research university in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in both Australia and Oceania. One of Australia's six sandstone universities, it was one of the ...

, taking anthropology after hearing

A. P. Elkin Adolphus Peter Elkin (27 March 1891 – 9 July 1979) was an Australian anthropologist and Anglican clergyman. He was an influential anthropologist during the mid twentieth century and a proponent of the assimilation of Indigenous Australians. E ...

debate the philosopher

John Anderson John Anderson may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * John Anderson (jazz trumpeter) (1921–1974), American musician * Jon Anderson (John Roy Anderson, born 1944), lead singer of the British band Yes * John Anderson (producer) (1948–2024 ...

. Reay went on to study under Elkin, who directed her to do fieldwork among fringe-dwelling Aboriginal people in north-western NSW. She did six-month stints of fieldwork at

Walgett Walgett is a town in northern New South Wales, Australia, and the seat of Walgett Shire. It is near the junctions of the Barwon and Namoi Rivers and the Kamilaroi and Castlereagh Highways. In 2021, Walgett had a population of 1,377. In the ...

, Bourke, Moree,

Coonabarabran Coonabarabran () is a town in Warrumbungle Shire that sits on the divide between the Central West and North West Slopes regions of New South Wales, Australia. At the 2021 census, the town had a population of 2,387, Material was copied from th ...

and other communities. In 1953 she was awarded a research scholarship in S.F. Nadel's department at the Australian National University and later that year travelled to Minj in the highlands of Papua New Guinea. She performed fieldwork from 1953 to 1955 amongst the south Wahgi people and was hosted and supported primarily by the Kugika community at Kondambi village, principally by Luluia Wamdi (Luluia was a government-appointed village official). This fieldwork became the basis of her monograph "The kuma" She joined the

Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public university, public research university and member of the Group of Eight (Australian universities), Group of Eight, located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton, A ...

in 1959 and worked there until she retired in 1988. Reay was elected a Fellow of the

Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia The Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia (ASSA) is an independent, non-governmental organisation devoted to the advancement of knowledge and research in the social sciences. It has its origins in the Social Science Research Council of Aus ...

in 1977. Ten years after her death ANU Press published her 1965 manuscript, ''Wives and Wanderers in a New Guinea Highlands Society'', with an introduction by

Marilyn Strathern Dame Ann Marilyn Strathern, Dame Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, DBE, Fellow of the British Academy, FBA (née Evans; born 6 March 1941) is a Great Britain, British anthropology, anthropologist, who has worked lar ...

Selected publications

* * *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Reay, Marie 1922 births 2004 deaths Australian women anthropologists 20th-century Australian anthropologists Fellows of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia University of Sydney alumni Australian National University alumni Academic staff of the Australian National University