Ronald Murray Berndt AM (14 July 1916 – 2 May 1990) was an Australian social anthropologist who, in 1963, became the inaugural professor of anthropology at the University of Western Australia.
He and his wife Catherine Berndt maintained a close professional partnership for five decades, working among Aboriginal Australians at Ooldea (1941), Northern Territory cattle stations (1944–46) and Balgo (1957–81), and with natives of New Guinea (1951–53).
[2] Berndt was an early advocate for legal recognition and protection of Aboriginal sacred sites, and clashed in 1980 with the Liberal premier Sir Charles Court over the Noonkanbah dispute in the Kimberley region.
[2] His interest was much broader than any one specific location or event, and he was focused on the national dimensions of the land rights issue.
[3] Some of his sole authored monographs include Kunapipi (1951), Djanggawul (1952), and Man, land and myth in Northern Australia (1970).