Ernest Ailred Worms (1891-1963) was a German missionary who lived and worked among
Indigenous Australians. He became an expert in
Aboriginal languages, and an important contributor to the development of both Australian studies of native languages, and to the
ethnography of the continent's Indigenous peoples.
Life
He was ordained a
Pallotine father, and spent his first period of missionary work in
Broome, where he served as parish priest for eight years.[1] His interest in ethnography led to particular studies among the
Bardi people.
Stolen bones
In 1935 Worms came across the large body of an Aboriginal person wrapped for burial in bark and, as was a widespread custom,
placed in the fork of a tree. He gathered the remains and dispatched them to
Limburg. Worms was quite aware that he was violating the law against the unauthorised export of ethnological materials in doing so, and therefore requested anonymity. The remains, together with other skeletal material, was
repatriated and restored to the Bardi Jawi, who laid them to rest in an offshore cave, in November 2015.[2]
Works
Worms, Ernest (December 1942). "Sense of Smell of the Australian Aborigines. A Psychological and Linguistic Study of the Natives of the Kimberley Division". Oceania. 13 (2): 107–130.
doi:
10.1002/j.1834-4461.1942.tb00373.x.
JSTOR40327982.
Worms, E. A. (January–June 1950). "Feuer und Feuerzeuge in Sage und Brauch der Nordwest-Australier". Anthropos. 45 (1/3): 145–164.
JSTOR40450834.
Worms, E. A. (December 1950). "Djamar, the Creator. A Myth of the Bād (West Kimberley, Australia)". Anthropos. 45 (4/6): 641–658.
JSTOR40449333.
Worms, E. A. (May–August 1952). "Djamar and His Relation to Other Culture Heroes". Anthropos. 47 (3/4): 539–560.
JSTOR40449676.
Worms, E. A. (1959). "Verbannungslied eines australischen Wildbeuters. Ein Beitrag zur Lyrik der Bād". Anthropos. 54 (1/2): 154–168.
JSTOR40454331.
Worms, Ernest A. (1968): Australische eingeborenen religionen. Translated by M.J. Wilson, D. O'Donovan, M. Charlesworth as Australian Aboriginal religions, Spectrum Publications, for Nelen Yubu Missiological Unit, 1986.
ISBN0867860995