Origins & Early Life

Adolphus Peter Elkin (27 March 1891 – 9 July 1979), known as A. P. Elkin, 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.

Pivotal Works & Achievements

Elkin was born at West Maitland, New South Wales. His father, Reuben Elkin, was an English Jew and worked as a salesman; his mother, Ellen Wilhelmina Bower, was a seamstress of German ancestry. His parents were divorced in 1901, his mother died the next year and he was then brought up by his maternal grandparents as an Anglican. He went to school at Singleton and at Maitland East Boys' High School. After finishing school he worked in banks in New South Wales, but then won a theological scholarship to St Paul's College, University of Sydney, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1915.

Enduring Legacy & Impact

Elkin was ordained deacon in 1915 and priest in 1916. From 1916 to 1919 he worked in the Anglican diocese of Newcastle and he then taught at St John's Theological College, Armidale, under Ernest Henry Burgmann. Elkin became interested in Australian Aboriginal culture and although...

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