Catherine Ellis (ethnomusicologist)

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This article is about the ethnomusicologist. For the historian of French music, see Katharine Ellis.

Catherine Ellis
AM FAHA
Born
Catherine Joan Caughie

(1935-05-19)19 May 1935
Birregurra, Victoria, Australia
Died30 May 1996(1996-05-30) (aged 61)
Adelaide, South Australia
Academic background
EducationUniversity of Melbourne
Alma materUniversity of Glasgow
ThesisA Study of Central Australian Music (1961)
Academic work
InstitutionsUniversity of Adelaide
University of New England

Catherine Joan Ellis AM FAHA ( née Caughie; 1935–1996) was an Australian ethnomusicologist. She co-founded the Centre for Aboriginal Studies in Music (CASM) at the University of Adelaide in 1972.

Early life and education

Catherine Joan Caughie was born on 19 May 1935 at Birregurra in Victoria.[1][2]

At the end of her secondary schooling, Ellis won a Commonwealth Scholarship in 1953.[3] She graduated from the University of Melbourne where she was resident at Ormond College, in 1956 with a Bachelor of Music. She completed a PhD in 1961 at the University of Glasgow, with her thesis "A Study of Central Australian Music",[4] published in book form in 1964.[5]

Career

Ellis began her career researching Aboriginal music as assistant to Professor Ted Strehlow at the University of Adelaide from 1957 to 1958. She based her PhD on her analysis of Strehlow's collected material. On returning to Adelaide in 1962 she resumed her research assistant position but soon won a Postdoctoral Fellowship in the Department of Australian Linguistics. Next she received an ARC Research Fellowship to the Elder Conservatorium of Music.[5]

With Ngarrindjeri poet, Leila Rankine (1932–1993[6]), she established the Centre for Aboriginal Studies in Music at the University of Adelaide in 1972.[7]

Throughout her career she made field trips in South Australia and along the Murray River to study and record Aboriginal music.[8]

In 1985 Ellis was the first professor of music appointed by the University of New England in Armidale, New South Wales. She took the opportunity to share her vision for "integrated music education" in Australia.[5]

Other roles

Ellis served on the Council of the International Society for Ethnomusicology from 1968 to 1971, the first Australian to be elected.[9]

She served as president of the Musicological Society of Australia from 1988 to 1989.[8]

Death and legacy

Ellis died on 30 May 1996 in Adelaide.[1] She was survived by her husband, Max Ellis, three children and their families.[5]

Her research papers, correspondence and unpublished manuscripts are held in the National Library of Australia.[10]

Honours and recognition

Ellis was made a Member of the Order of Australia in the 1991 Australia Day Honours for "service to music education and ethnomusicology, particularly Aboriginal music".[11] She received an Honorary Doctorate of Letters from the University of New England in 1995 and was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities not long before her death.[8]

Selected works

Books

Scholia has a profile for Catherine J. Ellis (Q99542827).
  • Ellis, Catherine J. (1964), Aboriginal Music Making: A study of Central Australian Music, Libraries Board of South Australia
  • Ellis, Catherine J. (1985), Aboriginal Music, Education for Living: Cross-cultural experiences from South Australia, University of Queensland Press (published 1983), ISBN 978-0-7022-1992-4

Journal articles

References

  1. ^ a b "Biography: Catherine Joan Ellis". People Australia. Archived from the original on 10 May 2021. Retrieved 20 January 2022.
  2. ^ "Family Notices". The Argus (Melbourne). No. 27, 692. Victoria, Australia. 22 May 1935. p. 1. Retrieved 21 January 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
  3. ^ "Technical school awards". The Argus (Melbourne). No. 33, 211. Victoria, Australia. 11 February 1953. p. 10. Retrieved 21 January 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
  4. ^ Ellis, Catherine J. (1961). "A study of Central Australian music". ProQuest. Archived from the original on 20 January 2022. Retrieved 20 January 2022.
  5. ^ a b c d Barwick, Linda (1996). "Catherine Ellis 1935–1996". Yearbook for Traditional Music. 28: xi–xiii. doi:10.1017/S0740155800009000. ISSN 0740-1558. JSTOR 767804. S2CID 61834897 – via JSTOR.
  6. ^ Kovacic, Leonarda; Lemon, Barbara (2019). "Rankine, Dorothy Leila - Woman". The Australian Women's Register. National Foundation for Australian Women & University of Melbourne. Retrieved 9 April 2023. Created: 25 May 2005, Last modified: 12 February 2019
  7. ^ "Centre for Aboriginal Studies in Music (CASM)". The University of Adelaide. Retrieved 20 January 2022.
  8. ^ a b c Kartomi, Margaret (1996). "Catherine Ellis (1935–1996)" (PDF). Australian Academy of the Humanities. Archived (PDF) from the original on 5 April 2018. Retrieved 20 January 2022.
  9. ^ Will, Udo (1996). "Review of The Essence of Singing and the Substance of Song. Recent Responses to the Aboriginal Performing Arts and Other Essays in Honour of Catherine Ellis". The World of Music. 38 (2): 85–89. ISSN 0043-8774. JSTOR 41699095.
  10. ^ Ellis, Catherine J. (1957), Papers of Catherine Ellis, (1957–1995), retrieved 21 January 2022
  11. ^ "Professor Catherine Joan Ellis". It's an Honour. 26 January 1991. Archived from the original on 1 January 2022. Retrieved 20 January 2022.
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