Item #108217 Preliminary Report on the Discovery of Native Remains at Swanport, River Murray; with an Inquiry into the Alleged Occurrence of a Pandemic among the Australian Aboriginals. [An offprint from] Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of South Australia, Volume 35, 1911. Dr Edward Charles STIRLING.

STIRLING, Dr Edward Charles

Preliminary Report on the Discovery of Native Remains at Swanport, River Murray; with an Inquiry into the Alleged Occurrence of a Pandemic among the Australian Aboriginals. [An offprint from] Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of South Australia, Volume 35, 1911

[Adelaide], Royal Society of South Australia, 1911.

Octavo, pages 4-46 with an illustration plus 7 plates and a map.

Original light green title-wrappers a little discoloured around the edges; short title in ink on the slightly chipped spine; overall an excellent copy with the inkstamp of the General Secretary, Public Library, Museum & Art Gallery of South Australia on the front cover.

This lengthy article is a real sleeper: apart from being a potted history of small-pox in Australia, it contains much local information from Mrs Louisa Karpeny (Kontinyeri), a Narrinyeri woman born around 1830. As Dr Stirling put it, 'Mrs Karpeny related her reminiscences with much dramatic vividness, and as they are interesting in themselves, I will make no apology for giving them at some length, even when they refer to other matters than the immediate object of my inquiry'. The plates include three portraits of Kontinyeri.