Series 368 - Papers on the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and the Seychelles

Sir Colin Hamilton Allan was born on 23rd October 1921 in Wellington, New Zealand. He was educated at Canterbury University, New Zealand and Magdalene College Cambridge. Allan served with New Zealand troops during World War II. In 1945 Allan joined the colonial service as administrative cadet in British Solomon Islands. He served on Malaita as District Officer (1949); District Commissioner (1952); Land Commissioner in Solomon Islands, 1956-1959. He was Assistant Resident Commissioner in the Anglo-French Condominium of the New Hebrides, 1959 and Resident Commissioner, 1966. He served as Governor of the Seychelles from 1973 to 1 October 1975, then as High Commissioner from 1 October 1975 to 28 June 1976. He was Governor of the Solomon Islands from 1976 to 1978. In 1978 Governor Allan was elected visiting fellow at the Australian National University. He is the author of the 1957 publication Customary Land Tenure in the British Solomon Islands Protectorate. Allan died on 5 March 1993 at Howick, Auckland.