Clever Men

Biographers in Conversation · Jul 22, 2026 · 43m

In this latest episode of Biographers in Conversation, Dr Martin Thomas chats with Dr Gabriella Kelly-Davies about Clever Men: How Worlds Collided on the Scientific Expedition to Arnhem Land of 1948.

Here’s what you’ll discover in this episode:

Martin Thomas’s research began in the ABC’s sound archive, where he stumbled upon recordings made during the 1948 American Australian Scientific Expedition to Arnhem Land, an expedition he had never heard of.

Martin chose the group biography form to capture the expedition’s internal tensions.

Frank Setzler led the collection of human remains from…