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The ‘Beloved Lady’, as she became known, shared, as one would expect, many of the attitudes of her time.
In particular, full-blood Aborigines were looked down upon and strenuous efforts were made to separate them
from the Bungalow children. This was government policy—and something Standley entirely approved of. Indeed,
she appears to have been a wholehearted supporter of government policy as it affected half-caste people. She was,
on the other hand, one of very few people prepared to work tirelessly in the interests of those people. She displayed
a much higher regard for them than was common; believing genuinely that a better future could be created for
them. More importantly, perhaps, the scholastic achievements of the children in her charge—with odds stacked
well and truly against them—caused other whites to see them in a new, more beneficent light.
Ida Standley died at the Sydney home of her daughter, Mrs Vivian Browne, in May 1948 and was buried at
French’s Forest.
Centralian Advocate; SAA, Series D5465 (Misc) Scrap Book of Mrs Standley, 1914–1929; AA, NT Series FS 5103 Stuart Town, Series
A1–27/2982, 30/1542, 33/7458, 35/2364, 36/6595, Series A3–17/277/E Ashby; Series A659 39/996.
TONY AUSTIN, Vol 1.
STANNER, WILLIAM EDWARD HANLEY (1905–1981), anthropologist, was born in Sydney on
24 November 1905. Educated at Parramatta High School and at Sydney University, he graduated in anthropology
and economics while he was working as a reporter on a Sydney newspaper.
Stanner’s first fieldwork as an anthropologist was carried out in 1932, along the Daly River and in the Tennant
Creek area. He then worked in the Northern Territory for four years and continued to return to the Daly River
area almost until the time of his death. In 1938, he obtained a doctorate at the London School of Economics and
proceeded to carry out fieldwork among the tribes in Kenya. On his return to Australia, Stanner worked with Percy
Spender, then Minister for the Army, until the Labor party won power in October 1941.
Apart from his role as an anthropologist, Stanner was best known for his contribution to the defence of Northern
Australia in the Second World War. As commander of 2/1 North Australia Observer Unit (NAOU), formed in
1942 after the bombing of Darwin, he led an organisation which was the first of its type to be used for coastal
surveillance, scouting and reconnaissance. Stanner’s only previous military experience had been serving in a
militia signals unit during the 1930s; but at the request of Major General Edmund Herring, he selected, trained
and moved the 465 men of the NAOU to the Northern Territory in twelve weeks.
Promoted to the rank of Major in May 1942, he commanded a unit that was expected to monitor some
3 000 kilometres of coastline, from Derby in Western Australia to Normanton, Queensland, in the Gulf Country.
He monitored from Katherine the largest radio network in Australia. General Blarney is reported to have told him:
‘Stanner, you have the best job in the AIF.’
From July 1943, with the reduction in the Japanese threat to north Australia, the role of the NAOU was
reduced. Stanner was posted out, against his will, in October 1943. Promoted to Lieutenant Colonel, he spent a
year at Land Headquarters, Melbourne, with the Research Directorate. From November 1944 until the end of the
war, his Directorate activities took him to London, the United States, Brunei and New Guinea.
After the war, Stanner continued his work with Aborigines and to help European Australians understand and
appreciate Aboriginal culture. In 1961, he materially aided the establishment of the Australian Institute of Aboriginal
Studies in Canberra and in 1966, he advocated a Gallery of Southern Man. This was to become the Gallery of
Aboriginal Australia within the Museum of Australia, Canberra. In 1971, his Australian Broadcasting Commission
Boyer Lectures and the subsequent publication White Man Got No Dreaming reached many Australians.
In 1962, Professor Stanner married Patricia Williams. They had two sons. Later descriptions portray him as
a cultured man, distinguished but a humble scholar with a deep respect for the people he studied. He died on
8 October 1981 in Canberra after a long illness. Because of the time he graciously gave to advising others, he was
unable to complete the documentation of a lifetime’s fieldwork.
R & H Walker, Curtin’s Cowboys, 1986; Australian Army, 18 August 1977; Canberra Times, 9 October 1981; Sydney Morning Herald,
27 October 1981.
ROBYN MAYNARD, Vol 1.
STEELE, ROBERT GEORGE (BOB) (1909–1988), soldier, market gardener, manager and surveyor, was
born in Prahran, Melbourne on 12 August 1909, one of four children of George William Steele and his wife
Winifred, nee Lilly. His parents named him George Ivor John but he later changed his given names by Deed Poll
to Robert George. He had a very happy childhood growing up in Balwyn. He was educated at the Mont Albert
Central School in Victoria, but left school at 14 to ‘help Mum’, as he put it. After working with a firm of solicitors,
he joined the Permanent Forces on 17 October 1927 and served with the Artillery in Victoria and New South
Wales.
Steele first came to the Territory in August 1932 with the Darwin Construction Detachment (Royal Australian
Artillery), which began to build the fortifications at East Point and Emery Point, the Australian government having
recognised that war with Japan was inevitable. With the rank of Bombardier, he assisted surveyor A M Blain
in delineating the defence boundaries at East Point. During his time in Darwin in 1932 and 1933, he played
centre halfback for the Waratahs (Australian Rules). He was transferred to Hobart in July 1934 with the rank of
Sergeant.
He was later posted to Sydney and by 1939; he was an instructor at Victoria Barracks having taken a number
of courses, including formal survey/draughtsman training. He was then detached for duty with the 1st Artillery
Survey Company and in July 1939 transferred to the Australian Survey Corps and was posted to Brisbane where