However, Lawrence's portrayal of Garia social structure was by anthropologists of the day because the picture he painted differed so greatly from orthodox models of the time.
Lawrence published ethnographic accounts of Garia life in Land Tenure Among The Garia: The Traditional System of a New Guinea People (1955) and (in roughly similar form) Studies in New Guinea Land Tenure (1967, which included work by Ian Hogbin as well).
At that point, the academic community recognized that Lawrence's account of the Garia was not just accurate, but years ahead of its time.
In 1967 he published a long, satirical poem entitled "Don Juan in Melanesia" mocking the structure-functionalism that he opposed.
In 1965 he co-edited Gods, Ghosts, and Men in Melanesia with Mervyn Meggitt, and his 1967 inaugural lecture "Daughters of Time" summarized his approach.