William Edward Hanley Stanner

William Edward Hanley Stanner CMG (24 November 1905 – 8 October 1981) was an Australian anthropologist who worked extensively with Indigenous Australians. Stanner had a varied career that also included journalism in the 1930s, military service in World War II, and political advice on colonial policy in Africa and the South Pacific in the post-war period.

He was the Commanding Officer of the 2/1st North Australia Observer Unit (NAOU) during World War II, also known as the "Nackeroos" and recently coined "Curtin’s Cowboys". The NAOU was the military predecessor to the modern NORFORCE. Formed in March 1942 and disbanded March 1945, they patrolled northern Australia for signs of enemy activity.

Stanner was an influential figure prior to the successful 1967 referendum on Aboriginal affairs which removed provisions in the Australian Constitution which discriminated against Indigenous Australians. In 1967, the Prime Minister Harold Holt invited Stanner to join H. C. Coombs and Barrie Dexter to form the Commonwealth Council for Aboriginal Affairs and advise on national policy. He subsequently played an important role in establishing the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies.

Stanner coined the terms the Great Australian Silence and everywhen and brought them into general usage in his 1968 Boyer Lectures After the Dreaming, which reflected on the silence on Indigenous Australians in Australian history after European settlement.