Professor Albert Richard ('Bertie') Davis (1924-1983) was born in

Dorking Dorking () is a market town in Surrey in South East England about south-west of London. It is in Mole Valley, Mole Valley District and the non-metropolitan district, council headquarters are to the east of the centre. The High Street runs ro ...

and died in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

. The Chair of Oriental Studies at the University of Sydney for over a quarter-century, he was a major figure in the development of Asian Studies in Australia. Having worked during World War II for the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

as a translator of Japanese, Davis studied Chinese at the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

1946–1948, graduating with First Class Honours. After teaching at Cambridge for some years, he became Chair of Oriental Studies at the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD) is a public university, public research university in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in both Australia and Oceania. One of Australia's six sandstone universities, it was one of the ...

in 1955, becoming one of the leading academics in Asian Studies in Australia. According to

Rafe de Crespigny Richard Rafe Champion de Crespigny (born 1936), also known by his Chinese name Zhang Leifu (), is an Australian sinologist and historian. He is an adjunct professor in the College of Asia and the Pacific at the Australian National University. ...

, "At the time of his appointment he was the youngest professor in Australia, and the head of the oldest department of Asian studies." The founder of the Oriental Society of Australia (1956) and the editor of the ''

Journal of the Oriental Society of Australia A journal, from the Old French ''journal'' (meaning "daily"), may refer to: *Bullet journal, a method of personal organization *Diary, a record of personal secretive thoughts and as open book to personal therapy or used to feel connected to onesel ...

'' after the return of

Ian Nish Ian Hill Nish CBE (3 June 1926 – 31 July 2022) was a British academic. A specialist in Japanese studies, he was Emeritus Professor of International History at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). His scholarship relating ...

to the United Kingdom, Davis also authored scholarly studies of

Tao Yuanming Tao Yuanming (365–427), also known as Tao Qian, courtesy name Yuanliang (元亮), was a Chinese poet and politician. He was one of the best-known poets who lived during the Six Dynasties period. Tao Yuanming spent much of his life in reclusi ...

and

Du Fu Du Fu (; 712–770) was a Chinese poet and politician during the Tang dynasty. Together with his elder contemporary and friend Li Bai, Du is often considered one of the greatest Chinese poets of his time. His greatest ambition was to serve ...

, edited an anthology of modern Japanese poetry, and translated the autobiography of

Mitsuharu Kaneko was a Japanese poet and painter. He was a recipient of the Yomiuri Prize. Biography Mitsuharu Kaneko was born in Tsushima, Aichi and attended the private Catholic school Gyosei Gakuen in Tokyo. He published his first poetry collection ''Akatsu ...

. Along with Liu Ts'un-yan at ANU, Davis substantially "shaped the tenor and direction of research into Chinese literature and studies

n Australia N, or n, is the fourteenth letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages, and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''en'' (pronounced ), plural ''ens''. History ...

for the next twenty-five years." In 1958, he delivered the 20th

George Ernest Morrison Lecture in Ethnology The George Ernest Morrison Lecture in Ethnology is given annually at the Australian National University in honour of George Ernest Morrison. The Lectures, founded by the Chinese community in Australia "to honour for all time the great Australian ...

. An obituary by John Manning Ward called Davis "a fine scholar, sensitive, imaginative and exceptionally learned. He was also in his quiet and friendly way a builder, whose achievements are bequeathed to the world of scholarship, to his colleagues and to the reputation of his Department and adopted University." His students at the University of Sydney included the literary scholars and translators

Mabel Lee Mabel Lee ( zh, 陳順妍, b. 1939) is a translator, best-known for her English renditions of fiction and essays by Nobel Prize-winning author Gao Xingjian. A third-generation Chinese-Australian born in Warialda, she taught Chinese literature and ...

and Bonnie S. McDougall as well as the scholar and diplomat Jocelyn Milner Chey and

Margaret South Margaret is a feminine given name, which means "pearl". It is of Latin origin, via Ancient Greek and ultimately from Old Iranian. It has been an English name since the 11th century, and remained popular throughout the Middle Ages. It became le ...

, a key figure in the development of Asian studies in New Zealand. The annual A.R. Davis Memorial Lecture is given in his honour and a postgraduate research scholarship in Chinese or Japanese at the University of Sydney named after him.Chey, Jocelyn. "A reflection on the importance of Tang poetry and the life's work of Dr Margaret South (1926-2016)." Journal of the Oriental Society of Australia, The 50 (2018): 22-26.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Davis, A. R. 1924 births 1983 deaths Alumni of the University of Cambridge Royal Navy personnel of World War II British emigrants to Australia