Ursula McConnel

Ursula McConnel
Ursula McConnel, Queensland, approx 1938
Born	(1888-10-27)27 October 1888 Cressbrook, Queensland
Died	6 November 1957(1957-11-06) (aged 69) Kelvin Grove, Queensland
Residence	Eagle Heights, Queensland
Citizenship	Australian
Nationality	Australian
Fields	Australian Anthropology
Alma mater	University of Sydney
Known for	Work with Wik Mungkan people, Cape York Peninsula.
Influences	Sir Grafton Elliot Smith, William Perry, Alfred Radcliffe-Brown, Edward Sapir
Influenced	Anthropology of Aboriginal people of Cape York

Ursula Hope McConnel (1888–1957) was a Queensland anthropologist and ethnographer best remembered for her work with, and the records she made of the Wik Mungkan people of Cape York Peninsula.

First trained at University College London, then supervised by Professor Alfred Radcliffe-Brown in the Department of Anthropology, University of Sydney, McConnel was one of the first woman to be trained in anthropology and then go out to observe Aboriginal Australians in remote areas, systematically documenting, recording, and describing their culture, mythology, beliefs, and way of life

Born on a grazing property called "Cressbrook" (near Toogoolawah, Queensland), Ursula McConnel was the eighth child (fifth daughter) of grazier James Henry McConnel and his wife, Mary Elizabeth McConnel (née Kent).

Raised on the Cressbrook property in what has been described as an "austere" and "repressed" family environment, she was:

Ursula McConnell has been described as a brave, free-thinking, open questing woman with sometimes strong emotions, growing up at a time when the first wave of feminism n Australia was coming of age: " .. a perfect test case for the various ideas of self-creation .." who also, during troubled times studying, came under the shaping influence of her brother-in-law and psychologist Elton Mayo:

She was once engaged, never married, and being financially secure in her investments in wool bonds, devoted her life to her anthropological research endeavours in Western Cape York Peninsula, driven by a strong sense of duty and justice to the people with whom she had worked.

At New England Girls' School she received prizes in singing and languages. From ages 17 to 19 she attended courses in history, politics, literature, and music at King's College London. By the age of 20 she completed and attained a first-class honours in philosophy and psychology at the University of Queensland.