Series 378 - Brij Lal papers on Fijian politics, society and the Constitution

Identity area

Reference code

AU ANUA 378

Title

Brij Lal papers on Fijian politics, society and the Constitution

Date(s)

  • 1988 - 2012 (Creation)

Level of description

Series

Extent and medium

83 Type 1 boxes

Context area

Name of creator

(1952 - 2021)

Biographical history

Brij Vilash Lal was born in the village of Tabia, on the island of Vanua Levu. He received his tertiary education at the University of the South Pacific, the University of British Columbia and the Australian National University. He joined the Australian National University in 1990 working in the Department of Pacific History, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies. His prior teaching posts in World and Pacific History were held at the universities of the South Pacific, Hawaii in Manoa, and Papua New Guinea. Lal was a member of the Fiji Constitution Review Commission whose report forms the basis of Fiji's constitution; Founding Editor of 'The Contemporary Pacific: A Journal of Island Affairs,' (Honolulu) and of 'Conversations,' (Canberra); Editor, The Journal of Pacific History; Chairman, Pacific Manuscript Bureau; Founding Director of The Centre for the Contemporary Pacific, ANU; Convenor, Division of Pacific and Asian History and former Chair of Faculty, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, ANU. He was elected Fellow of the Australian Humanities Academy in 1996. He is currently Professor of Pacific and Asian History at the ANU College of Asia and the Pacific.

Content and structure area

Scope and content

Papers relating to the Fiji Constitution Inquiry and Advisory Committee held in 1988-1989 and the Fiji Constitution Review Commission (FCRC) held in 1995-1996. Papers include meeting agenda, minutes, submissions, correspondence and consultation reports. Professor Lal was the Commissioner for the FCRC. Papers added in 2013 include papers on politics in Fiji, in particular, political unrest, the Indian Diaspora in Fiji, personal correspondence, Fijian local and family histories. Of significance is a file on the South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone (1996-2000) belonging to Graeme Dobell, Foreign Affairs Correspondent for ABC Radio until 2008.

Accruals

System of arrangement

Conditions of access and use area

Conditions governing access

Researchers must sign an access agreement

Conditions governing reproduction

Language of material

Script of material

Language and script notes

Physical characteristics and technical requirements

Finding aids

Allied materials area

Existence and location of originals

Existence and location of copies

Related units of description

Related descriptions

Notes area

Alternative identifier(s)

Access points

Subject access points

Name access points

Genre access points

Description control area

Description identifier

Institution identifier

Rules and/or conventions used

Dates of creation revision deletion

Prepared by Karina Taylor on 22 October 2012. New material added by Christine Bryan 8 October 2013 ; database updated 2 November 2015

Language(s)

Script(s)

Sources

Accession area