A.R. Davis Memorial Lecture

Memorial Lecture

A.R. Davis Memorial Lecture is conducted each year in honour of A.R. Davis, the University of Sydney’sSydney’s Professor of Oriental Studies and a prominent player in post-war Asian studies. The Australian Society for Asian Humanities, originally the Oriental Society of Australia, organises and publishes the conference.

A.R. Davis

Professor A.R. Davis, an eccentric Englishman who taught Chinese at the University of Sydney from 1924 until he died in 1983, was my tutor in that field for many years. In 1962, I earned a Bachelor of Arts (Hons I) and a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Chinese intellectual history, emphasising economic ideas during the late imperial and early republican periods. A New South Wales native-born on Christmas Eve in 1939 might claim to be the first Chinese Education PhD graduate to have completed all of their undergraduate studies in the country.

In 1966, I was hired as a lecturer at the University of Sydney, where I was tasked with developing contemporary Chinese language, literature, and history courses; my contract expired on January 31, 2000. The professor at the University of Sydney and distinguished professor at the Open University of Hong Kong are the current positions concurrently. The Australian Academy of the Humanities has made me an honorary fellow.

Australian Society For Asian Humanities

One of Australia’sAustralia’s oldest academic societies, the Australian Society for Asian Humanities (ASAH), promotes Asian studies in Australia by providing a forum for researchers to present their research to their colleagues and the general public. As the Oriental Society of Australia, founded in 1956 by A.R. Davis, most of its members resided in Sydney at that time. In 2021, it changed its name to reflect this. As a consequence of an emphasis on Sydney, the Asian Studies Association of Australia (1975) and the New Zealand Asian Studies Society (1974) was established rather than a regional expansion of OSA membership. An academic publication, JOSAH (Journal for Society for Asian Humanities) from the 2020-21 issue, has been published by the society since 1960 as a scholarly journal. It is Australasia’sAustralasia’s first and longest-running journal with a specific Asian concentration. In honour of the society’s silver jubilee, Austrina (1982) was released as a commemorative book.

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Do you know? The Women’sWomen’s College, University of Sydney, celebrated its 50th anniversary with a conference named “World without Walls,” which was launched by Chancellor Kim Santow and featured keynotes from Geremie Barmé, Bob Debus, and Alison Broinowski. The A.R. Davis Memorial Lecture, held each year, is also hosted by the organisation. In addition, there have been several notable authors who have contributed to the magazine throughout the years: Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis, Lo Huimin, Wang Gungwu, and F.H. van Naerssen. A.R. Davis served as the organization’s first president. Hermann Black (1958–60), C.P. Fitzgerald, and Michael G. Carter have all served as president. Jon von Kowallis of the University of New South Wales and Adrian Vickers of the University of Sydney are the current presidents and editors of the journal, respectively.

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