ALDO MASSOLA was born in 1910 in Rome, but spent most of his early years in his ancestral home of Turin. After some time in France he, along with his family, came to Australia in 1923, and was naturalised.A lifelong interest in anthropology and prehistory led him from the beginning to specialise in the study of the Australian Aborigines, contributing over one hundred papers to anthropological journals in Australia, Great Britain and the USA, as well as authoring several books. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland in 1950 and Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society in 1956; was Curator of Anthropology at the National Museum of Victoria 1954-64; President of the Anthropological Society of Victoria 1959-61; and Inaugural Panel Member of the Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies 1962-65.He died in 1975.