Series 289 - Early Australian maps

Oskar Hermann Khristian Spate was born in London on March 30 1911. He was educated at St Clement Dane's Grammar School and St Catherine’s College, Cambridge University with an Hons in Geography. He completed his PhD in 1937. In October 1937, Spate began a lectureship at Rangoon University, Burma. He joined the army in 1941 and was involved in topographical work at the Ceylon headquarters of the Inter-Service Topographical Department, Southeast Asian Command. From 1947-1951 Spate took a post as lecturer at the London School of Economics and his writing focussed on the regional geography of India and the sub-continent. He joined the Australian National University in March 1951 as Foundation Professor of Geography at the Research School of Pacific Studies which he held until 1967. In 1953 he was Adviser to the Australian Minister for Territories and in 1958 assisted in a survey of the Fijian economy. He was a member of the Commission on Higher Education in Papua New Guinea, 1963-1965, and the Commission on Education in Fiji in 1969, and became a member of the councils of the University of Papua New Guinea and the University of the South Pacific. He was appointed Director of the Research School of Pacific Studies in 1967-1972. He then joined the Department of Pacific History at the ANU from 1972- 1976. Professor Spate died in Canberra on 29 May 2000.