Berndt, Catherine Webb (1918–1994)
Berndt, Catherine Webb (1918–1994)
Australian anthropologist. Name variations: Catherine H. Berndt. Born Catherine Helen Webb, May 8, 1918, in Auckland, New Zealand; died May 12, 1994, in Perth, Western Australia; Victoria University of Wellington, BA; studied anthropology with H.D. Skinner and A.P. Elkin in Sydney; Sydney University, MA with 1st class honors; also attended London School of Economics; m. Ronald M. Berndt, 1941.
Known largely for studies in Aboriginal Australia and Papua New Guinea, often focused on status of Aboriginal women; performed fieldwork with husband in various locations, including Ooldea, South Australia (1941), North Australia (1946–51), and Papua New Guinea (1951–52); in US, surveyed relations between anthropology and sociology; at University of Western Australia, lectured in anthropology (1963–84), then began serving as honorary research fellow in Anthropology from 1984; with Aboriginal illustrator Djoki Yunupingu, received New South Wales Premier's Special Children's Book Award for Land of the Rainbow Snake (1980); published numerous works, including "Women's Changing Ceremonies in Northern Australia" (1950).