Australian School of Pacific Administration
Encyclopedia
The Australian School of Pacific Administration (ASOPA) was a tertiary institution
established by the Australian Government to train administrators and later school teachers to work in Papua New Guinea
. It became the International Training Institute (ITI) in 1973 and provided management training for professionals from developing countries in the Pacific, Asia
, Africa
and the Caribbean
. After a period as a base for consultants operating in the South Pacific
for the Australian Development Assistance Bureau
, it closed in late 1997.
In 1943, the Australian Army
’s Colonel Alfred Conlon
, who had previously chaired Prime Minister John Curtin
's committee on national morale, was assigned to the staff of the Army’s commander-in-chief, General Sir Thomas Blamey
. Alf Conlon believed the Army needed a research section to tackle major strategic contingencies, such as what to do if Japan invaded Australia, and persuaded Blamey to establish a Directorate of Research and Civil Affairs
. Blamey assigned Conlon to head the Directorate, which also provided policy advice on the governance of the Trust Territory of Papua and the Mandated Territory of New Guinea, then under Australian administration and the scene of fierce fighting between Allied and Japanese forces.
Established in his new role, Conlon assembled around him a group of talented Australian academics, among them John Kerr, James Plimsoll
, James McAuley
, Harold Stewart
, Camilla Wedgwood
, Ian Hogbin
, Bill Stanner
, Marie Reay and Isa Leeson.
By 1945, as World War II
was drawing to a close, the School of Civil Affairs broadened its role to train officers for the Australian New Guinea Administrative Unit
(ANGAU), responsible for civil administration in the Territories. At this time non-academic functions of Sydney University's Department of Anthropology - including providing training for cadet officers joining the New Guinea service and also more senior officials - were transferred to ASOPA.
Originally located at Royal Military College, Duntroon
in Canberra
, in March 1946 the School was transferred to civilian control and renamed the Australian School of Pacific Administration (ASOPA). In May 1947 the School was relocated to a group of Army huts on Middle Head in the Sydney
suburb of Mosman
. ASOPA operated under the Papua and New Guinea Act 1949
and was a responsibility of the Federal Minister for External Territories until 1 December 1973.
In 1946, John Kerr (later Sir John Kerr QC, Governor-General of Australia
) was demobilised from the Australian Army with the rank of colonel and appointed the first Principal of ASOPA. The following year he also became the first Organising Secretary of the South Pacific Commission. He returned to the bar in 1948 to become one of Sydney's leading industrial lawyers. Conlon himself took over ASOPA and spent 1948-49 as a reportedly unsuccessful and unhappy Principal of the institution.
(TPNG), the Northern Territory
and Nauru
. After initially acquiring field experience in TPNG, Patrol Officers spent a year at ASOPA studying subjects such as law, government and anthropology.
In 1954, ASOPA began to train Australian teachers for service in TPNG to assist develop primary education. At the same time, courses were offered to teachers recruited for Special (Aboriginal
) Schools in the Northern Territory of Australia. From 1956, teacher cadets were trained at distant Bathurst Teachers’ College
in Bathurst
. When the training course was eventually transferred to Middle Head in 1958, the trainee teachers were redesignated ‘Cadet Education Officers’ (CEOs). CEOs trained for two years at ASOPA before going to TPNG where, after three years service, they qualified for the award of the New South Wales Teacher’s Certificate.
In addition to training patrol and education officers, the School ran shorter orientation and refresher programs for Australian professional personnel preparing to serve in TPNG and elsewhere in the South Pacific.
By the mid 1960s, the Australian Government realised that Papua New Guinea would become independent sooner than previously anticipated and, under the Principalship of political scientist and author Charles Rowley, later Foundation Professor of Politics at the University of Papua New Guinea
, ASOPA moved into an intensive period of training young Australians to accelerate the pace of development. Papua New Guinea eventually achieved nationhood on 16 September 1975.
In its final years, ASOPA introduced training for secondary teachers and more specialised administration courses. In 1970 there was a major change of focus as, with Papua New Guinea independence looming, the Australian Government turned to ASOPA to make good a serious shortage of trained indigenous administrators. The School enrolled up to 60 Papua New Guineans in ten-month management training courses. At the same time, the training of Australians was phased out. In these later years, ASOPA's work became more international. Although Papua New Guinea remained strongly represented, increasing numbers of students came from other developing countries in the Pacific and elsewhere.
, a division of the Department of Foreign Affairs
. ITI provided management training for professionals from developing countries in the Pacific, Asia
, Africa
and the Caribbean
.
A final restructuring – and change in name to Centre for Pacific Development and Training - saw the Middle Head campus used as a base for consultants operating in the South Pacific until this role came to an end late in 1997.
The history of ASOPA, and its successor institutions, paralleled the changing political milieu of the post-war and cold war
years. ASOPA began as a training institution for Australians taking leadership positions in Australia's territories. In its middle life, the School offered courses to people from developing countries. And, at the end, it provided a base for Australians consulting to the developing world.
At the end of World War II, confronting the first of many threats to the School’s existence over the years, John Kerr wrote: “The idea was opposed, and opposed in influential quarters... We were determined that what had been created should not be destroyed. In this we succeeded.”
Today the old Army huts on Middle Head are empty, but they have been heritage listed by the Commonwealth Government and now await refurbishment and regeneration into another role.
Tertiary education
Tertiary education, also referred to as third stage, third level, and post-secondary education, is the educational level following the completion of a school providing a secondary education, such as a high school, secondary school, university-preparatory school...
established by the Australian Government to train administrators and later school teachers to work in Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea , officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is a country in Oceania, occupying the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and numerous offshore islands...
. It became the International Training Institute (ITI) in 1973 and provided management training for professionals from developing countries in the Pacific, Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
, Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
and the Caribbean
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
. After a period as a base for consultants operating in the South Pacific
Oceania
Oceania is a region centered on the islands of the tropical Pacific Ocean. Conceptions of what constitutes Oceania range from the coral atolls and volcanic islands of the South Pacific to the entire insular region between Asia and the Americas, including Australasia and the Malay Archipelago...
for the Australian Development Assistance Bureau
Australian Agency for International Development
AusAID is the Australian Government agency responsible for managing Australia's overseas aid program...
, it closed in late 1997.
Beginnings
Australian Army
The Australian Army is Australia's military land force. It is part of the Australian Defence Force along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force. While the Chief of Defence commands the Australian Defence Force , the Army is commanded by the Chief of Army...
’s Colonel Alfred Conlon
Alfred Conlon
Colonel Alfred Austin Joseph Conlon the creative force behind, and head of the Australian World War II Directorate of Research and Civil Affairs ....
, who had previously chaired Prime Minister John Curtin
John Curtin
John Joseph Curtin , Australian politician, served as the 14th Prime Minister of Australia. Labor under Curtin formed a minority government in 1941 after the crossbench consisting of two independent MPs crossed the floor in the House of Representatives, bringing down the Coalition minority...
's committee on national morale, was assigned to the staff of the Army’s commander-in-chief, General Sir Thomas Blamey
Thomas Blamey
Field Marshal Sir Thomas Albert Blamey GBE, KCB, CMG, DSO, ED was an Australian general of the First and Second World Wars, and the only Australian to date to attain the rank of field marshal....
. Alf Conlon believed the Army needed a research section to tackle major strategic contingencies, such as what to do if Japan invaded Australia, and persuaded Blamey to establish a Directorate of Research and Civil Affairs
Directorate of Research and Civil Affairs
DORCA, the Directorate of Research and Civil Affairs was a mysterious and difficult to categorise think tank and possibly intelligence organisation within the Australian Army in WWII....
. Blamey assigned Conlon to head the Directorate, which also provided policy advice on the governance of the Trust Territory of Papua and the Mandated Territory of New Guinea, then under Australian administration and the scene of fierce fighting between Allied and Japanese forces.
Established in his new role, Conlon assembled around him a group of talented Australian academics, among them John Kerr, James Plimsoll
James Plimsoll
Sir James Plimsoll AC, CBE, KStJ was an Australian diplomat and Governor of Tasmania.-Life and career:Plimsoll was born in Sydney and educated at Sydney Boys' High School . He graduated with a Bachelor of Economics from the University of Sydney 1938 and was appointed to the Bank of New South...
, James McAuley
James McAuley
James Phillip McAuley was an Australian academic, poet, journalist, literary critic and a prominent convert to Roman Catholicism.-Life and career:...
, Harold Stewart
Harold Stewart
Harold Frederick Stewart was an Australian poet and oriental scholar. He is chiefly remembered as the enigmatic other half of Ern Malley.Stewart's work has been associated with James McAuley and A. D...
, Camilla Wedgwood
Camilla Wedgwood
The Hon. Camilla Hildegarde Wedgwood was a British anthropologist best known for research in the Pacific and her pioneering role as one of the British Commonwealth's first female anthropologists.- Biography :...
, Ian Hogbin
Ian Hogbin
Herbert Ian Priestly Hogbin was a British-born Australian anthropologist. He conducted field work in the Solomon Islands and New Guinea....
, Bill Stanner
Bill Stanner
W.E.H. Stanner was an Australian anthropologist who worked extensively with Indigenous Australians. Stanner had a varied career that also included journalism in the 1930s, military service in World War II, and political advice on colonial policy in Africa and the South Pacific in the post-war...
, Marie Reay and Isa Leeson.
By 1945, as World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
was drawing to a close, the School of Civil Affairs broadened its role to train officers for the Australian New Guinea Administrative Unit
Australian New Guinea Administrative Unit
The Australian New Guinea Administrative Unit was a civil administration of Territory of Papua and the Mandated Territory of New Guinea formed on 21 March 1942 during World War II...
(ANGAU), responsible for civil administration in the Territories. At this time non-academic functions of Sydney University's Department of Anthropology - including providing training for cadet officers joining the New Guinea service and also more senior officials - were transferred to ASOPA.
Originally located at Royal Military College, Duntroon
Royal Military College, Duntroon
The Royal Military College, Duntroon is the Australian Army's officer training establishment. It was founded at Duntroon, in the Australian Capital Territory, in 1911 and is situated on picturesque grounds at the foot of Mount Pleasant near Lake Burley Griffin, close to the Department of Defence...
in Canberra
Canberra
Canberra is the capital city of Australia. With a population of over 345,000, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory , south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Melbourne...
, in March 1946 the School was transferred to civilian control and renamed the Australian School of Pacific Administration (ASOPA). In May 1947 the School was relocated to a group of Army huts on Middle Head in the Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
suburb of Mosman
Mosman, New South Wales
Mosman is a suburb on the Lower North Shore of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Mosman is located 8 kilometres north-east of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre for the local government area of the Municipality of Mosman.-Localities:In February...
. ASOPA operated under the Papua and New Guinea Act 1949
Papua and New Guinea Act 1949
The Papua and New Guinea Act 1949, replacing the old Papua Act 1906, changed the status of Papua and New Guinea by merging the administrations of the territory of Papua and the territory of New Guinea. The act established local rule, although the territory remained under control by Australia....
and was a responsibility of the Federal Minister for External Territories until 1 December 1973.
In 1946, John Kerr (later Sir John Kerr QC, Governor-General of Australia
Governor-General of Australia
The Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia is the representative in Australia at federal/national level of the Australian monarch . He or she exercises the supreme executive power of the Commonwealth...
) was demobilised from the Australian Army with the rank of colonel and appointed the first Principal of ASOPA. The following year he also became the first Organising Secretary of the South Pacific Commission. He returned to the bar in 1948 to become one of Sydney's leading industrial lawyers. Conlon himself took over ASOPA and spent 1948-49 as a reportedly unsuccessful and unhappy Principal of the institution.
Operations
Immediately after the war, enrolments to study at ASOPA were restricted to servicemen and, when civilian candidates were admitted not long after, preference was given to those with working experience and good academic records. In the 27 years from 1946-73, ASOPA trained hundreds of personnel for service in the Territory of Papua and New GuineaTerritory of Papua and New Guinea
The Territory of Papua and New Guinea was established by an administrative union between the Australian-administered territories of Papua and New Guinea in 1949...
(TPNG), the Northern Territory
Northern Territory
The Northern Territory is a federal territory of Australia, occupying much of the centre of the mainland continent, as well as the central northern regions...
and Nauru
Nauru
Nauru , officially the Republic of Nauru and formerly known as Pleasant Island, is an island country in Micronesia in the South Pacific. Its nearest neighbour is Banaba Island in Kiribati, to the east. Nauru is the world's smallest republic, covering just...
. After initially acquiring field experience in TPNG, Patrol Officers spent a year at ASOPA studying subjects such as law, government and anthropology.
Indigenous Australians
Indigenous Australians are the original inhabitants of the Australian continent and nearby islands. The Aboriginal Indigenous Australians migrated from the Indian continent around 75,000 to 100,000 years ago....
) Schools in the Northern Territory of Australia. From 1956, teacher cadets were trained at distant Bathurst Teachers’ College
Charles Sturt University
Charles Sturt University is an Australian multi-campus university located in New South Wales, Victoria, and the Australian Capital Territory. It has campuses at Bathurst, Canberra, Albury-Wodonga, Dubbo, Goulburn, Orange, Wagga Wagga and Burlington, Ontario...
in Bathurst
Bathurst, New South Wales
-CBD and suburbs:Bathurst's CBD is located on William, George, Howick, Russell, and Durham Streets. The CBD is approximately 25 hectares and surrounds two city blocks. Within this block layout is banking, government services, shopping centres, retail shops, a park* and monuments...
. When the training course was eventually transferred to Middle Head in 1958, the trainee teachers were redesignated ‘Cadet Education Officers’ (CEOs). CEOs trained for two years at ASOPA before going to TPNG where, after three years service, they qualified for the award of the New South Wales Teacher’s Certificate.
In addition to training patrol and education officers, the School ran shorter orientation and refresher programs for Australian professional personnel preparing to serve in TPNG and elsewhere in the South Pacific.
By the mid 1960s, the Australian Government realised that Papua New Guinea would become independent sooner than previously anticipated and, under the Principalship of political scientist and author Charles Rowley, later Foundation Professor of Politics at the University of Papua New Guinea
University of Papua New Guinea
The University of Papua New Guinea was established by ordinance of the Australian administration in 1965. This followed the Currie Commission which had enquired into higher education in Papua New Guinea...
, ASOPA moved into an intensive period of training young Australians to accelerate the pace of development. Papua New Guinea eventually achieved nationhood on 16 September 1975.
In its final years, ASOPA introduced training for secondary teachers and more specialised administration courses. In 1970 there was a major change of focus as, with Papua New Guinea independence looming, the Australian Government turned to ASOPA to make good a serious shortage of trained indigenous administrators. The School enrolled up to 60 Papua New Guineans in ten-month management training courses. At the same time, the training of Australians was phased out. In these later years, ASOPA's work became more international. Although Papua New Guinea remained strongly represented, increasing numbers of students came from other developing countries in the Pacific and elsewhere.
Later years
In 1973, the year in which Australia granted self-government to Papua New Guinea, ASOPA was redesignated and restructured as the International Training Institute (ITI) within the Australian Development Assistance BureauAustralian Agency for International Development
AusAID is the Australian Government agency responsible for managing Australia's overseas aid program...
, a division of the Department of Foreign Affairs
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (Australia)
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is a department of the government of Australia charged with advancing the interests of Australia and its citizens internationally...
. ITI provided management training for professionals from developing countries in the Pacific, Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
, Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
and the Caribbean
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
.
A final restructuring – and change in name to Centre for Pacific Development and Training - saw the Middle Head campus used as a base for consultants operating in the South Pacific until this role came to an end late in 1997.
The history of ASOPA, and its successor institutions, paralleled the changing political milieu of the post-war and cold war
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
years. ASOPA began as a training institution for Australians taking leadership positions in Australia's territories. In its middle life, the School offered courses to people from developing countries. And, at the end, it provided a base for Australians consulting to the developing world.
At the end of World War II, confronting the first of many threats to the School’s existence over the years, John Kerr wrote: “The idea was opposed, and opposed in influential quarters... We were determined that what had been created should not be destroyed. In this we succeeded.”
Today the old Army huts on Middle Head are empty, but they have been heritage listed by the Commonwealth Government and now await refurbishment and regeneration into another role.
Sources
- Bill Goff, ‘The End of a Unique Institution’, Focus vol 13 no 1, Australian Agency for International DevelopmentAustralian Agency for International DevelopmentAusAID is the Australian Government agency responsible for managing Australia's overseas aid program...
, March 1998
- Cliff TurneyCliff TurneyCliff Turney was an Australian educationalist.Turney was foundation Dean of Education at the University of Sydney. He was a researcher who in thirty-five years managed to catalogue much of Australia's history of Education...
and Judy Taylor, To Enlighten Them Our Task, Sydmac Academic Press, 1996
- UNESCO, Reports and Papers in the Social Sciences, Social Sciences in Asia IV, No 42, nd