14 Facts About Oskar Spate

Oskar Hermann Khristian Spate was a London-born geographer best known for his role in strengthening geography as a discipline in Australia and the Pacific.

Oskar Spate returned to England in 1919, where he developed an early interest in geography and history.

Oskar Spate went on to study at St Catharine's College, Cambridge, in the 1930s.

Oskar Spate was later to claim that he could be 'solemn but not serious'.

Oskar Spate's dissertation was admired, but his strong political beliefs made an academic career in England unlikely.

When World War II broke out, Oskar Spate joined he army as a volunteer and was seriously injured in the first Japanese raid on the Rangoon airport.

Oskar Spate was evacuated to India, where he recuperated, wrote poetry, and served in the unusual capacity of a military censor.

In 1947, Oskar Spate returned to England, where he served briefly as a lecturer at the Bedford College for Women, which was part of the University of London before taking up a permanent position at the London School of Economics.

However, Oskar Spate left England in 1951 to become the Foundation Professor of Geography in the Research School of Pacific Studies at the newly established Australian National University.

Oskar Spate was given carte blanche to organize the department and train students, and ended up having a large impact on geography as a discipline in Australia.

Firmly established as an expert in South Asia, Oskar Spate turned his attention to Australia and the Pacific more broadly.

In 1953, Oskar Spate became an advisor to the Australian Minister for Territories, for whom he produced important papers on the economy and demography of Papua New Guinea and Fiji.

Oskar Spate served in this capacity until his retirement in 1972, when he took up a position in the Department of Pacific History.

Oskar Spate retired in 1976 and began writing his master work, a monumental three-volume history of the Pacific, The Spanish Lake: The Pacific Since Magellan.