A. G. L. Shaw | |
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| Born | Alan George Lewers Shaw (1916-02-03)3 February 1916 |
| Died | 5 April 2012(2012-04-05) (aged 96) |
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| Academic background | |
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| Academic work | |
| Discipline | History |
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Alan George Lewers ShawAOFAHAFASSAFRAHSFRHSV (3 February 1916 – 5 April 2012) was an Australian historian and author of several text books andhistoriographies on Australian andVictorian history. He taught at theUniversity of Melbourne and theUniversity of Sydney, and was professor of history atMonash University from 1964 until his retirement in 1981.[1]
Shaw was born in Melbourne on 3 February 1916 to George Shaw, a solicitor, and his wife Ethel née Lewers. Shaw was educated atMelbourne Grammar School, where he was on the debating team, played violin in the orchestra and was awarded the Frank Grey Smith Scholarship for Classics or Modern Languages.[2] He enteredTrinity College at theUniversity of Melbourne in 1935,[3] where he was president of the Dialectic Society in 1938.[4] After graduating as aBachelor of Arts (BA) with first-class honours in history and political science,[5] Shaw tutored at Trinity College before leaving for further study atChrist Church, Oxford, graduating BA (later MA) with first-class honours inphilosophy, politics, and economics in 1940. While there, he was a member of theOxford Union and theOxford University Music Society.[6]
Shaw returned to Australia in 1940, working for the federalDepartments of Information, Army and Post-War Reconstruction. From 1941, alongside these government positions, Shaw returned to Melbourne University as part-time lecturer in economic history and tutor at Trinity College. During 1944 Shaw was appointed as joint acting dean of Trinity College, and asdean in 1947.[7] Shaw was captain of the squash team, and vice-president of the Dialectic Society at Trinity from 1941 to 1950.[8] In 1946, Shaw became lecturer in modern history. He was associate editor of the journalHistorical Studies (nowAustralian Historical Studies) from 1949 to 1951, and was a member of its editorial board.[citation needed] In 1950 he was awarded a Nuffield Dominion Travelling Fellowship and spent a year undertaking research in England into Australia's convict period.
On his return to Australia in 1952, Shaw became senior lecturer in history at theUniversity of Sydney, and from 1953 to 1956 was sub-warden atSt Paul's College. He was the inaugural president of the History Teachers' Association of New South Wales from 1960 to 1964, and was co-editor of its journal,Teaching History. While in Sydney, he served on the council of theRoyal Australian Historical Society, and was editor of their journal[9] from 1954 to 1964. He was the first professionally trained historian to edit the journal.[10]
In the early 1960s Shaw was called upon to adjudicate on the long-running Australian TV quiz showPick A Box when contestantBarry Jones disputed the answer given to the question "Who was the first British Governor-General of India?".
Shaw returned to an academic position in Melbourne in 1964 as professor of modern history atMonash University, only three years after teaching commenced there.[11] He held this post until his retirement in 1981, at which time he was granted the status of emeritus professor. He served as a member of the Monash University Council from 1977 to 1979 and again from 1989 to 1991. He was general editor of the three-volume official history ofVictoria published for the state's sesquicentenary in 1984. For theAustralian Academy of the Humanities and theAcademy of the Social Sciences in Australia he edited a series of lectures in celebration of the sesquicentenary, published asVictoria's Heritage (1986).
A review of hisHistory of the Port Phillip District (1996) thought it a "meticulously researched and carefully crafted work which Shaw's earlier writings have led us to expect."[12] The reviewer inAustralian Historical Studies noted that Shaw handed his sources "judiciously, scrupulously and respectfully," and that "in another ninety-four years, men and women will still be turning to Shaw's work with faith and confidence".[13]
In 1987 Shaw was elected president of the Royal Historical Society of Victoria, and also served as a member of their finance, fellowship, speakers and editorial committees. Upon his resignation in 1991, the society thanked him for the "benefit of his wise counsel, erudition, discernment and gentle humour,"[14]
Shaw helped found the Friends of the La Trobe Library, now incorporated as the State Library Foundation,[15] and was president of the C.J. La Trobe Society[16] from 2002 to 2003. TheState Library of Victoria recognised his contributions in the naming of its annual "AGL Shaw Summer Research Scholarships".[17] The RHSV and the La Trobe Society also conduct a joint annual A.G.L. Shaw lecture in his honour.
Shaw was a benefactor toMelbourne Opera,[18] and, due to his long association through art connections of his wife, Peggy Perrins Shaw (1917–2009), a major supporter and benefactor of theNational Gallery of Victoria, creating the Shaw Research Library, now home to over 50,000 volumes.[19] In his retirement, he did not give up teaching altogether, presenting lectures for theUniversity of the Third Age (U3A) for many years.
Shaw was elected as a fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences of Australia (FASSA) in 1967,[20] a Foundation Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities (FAHA) in 1969,[21] a fellow of theRoyal Historical Society of Victoria (FRHSV) in 1973,[22] a fellow of theRoyal Australian Historical Society in 1979, and as the first fellow of theFederation of Australian Historical Societies in 1998.[23] In 2002, having sat on the editorial board from its formation in 1960 until 1999, as well as being section editor for the first two volumes and contributing ten articles, he was awarded the inaugural Medal of theAustralian Dictionary of Biography.
In the 1982Queen's Birthday Honours, Shaw was made an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for services to education.[24] He was bestowed with an Honorary Doctor of Letters (HonLittD) from the University of Newcastle in 1984.
At Trinity College, Shaw was elected an honorary fellow in 1983 and elevated to senior fellow in 2011.[25] In 1962 the distinguished artistJohn Olsen completed an oil portrait of Shaw, which, since 2007 when Shaw donated it to Trinity College, has been part of the college's art collection.[26]
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