Series 826 - Bill Standish audiovisual collection

William 'Bill' Standish was a both a frequent observer on politics and a leading political scientist of Papua New Guinea for over 45 years, His focus was Chimbu Province, where he had married and built his own house (in Mindima, near Kundiawa), and where his death in 2019 was marked by traditional mourning gathering known as a ‘haus krai.’

He worked as a lecturer in Comparative Government at the University of Papua New Guinea in 1971-1974, and continued his research based in PNG to 1977. He was awarded his PhD - supervised by John Ballard - at the Australian National University in 1991, on “Simbu Paths to Power: Political Change and Cultural Conformity in the Papua New Guinea Highlands.” In subsequent years he alternated between positions in PNG and Australia, working for LaTrobe, the Parliamentary Library, and ANU, where he remained in various capacities until 2014. Along the way, he worked with AusAID and as an Elections Analyst, both in Papua New Guinea, as well as alongside documentary filmmaker Thom Cookes in 2002-3. He also served as a parliamentary researcher, providing parliamentary reports on Melanesian politics, governance in PNG and the rising role of violence in its elections.