Milton Edgeworth Osborne, is an Australian

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human species; as well as the ...

, author, and consultant specializing in

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...

Education

Osborne attended

North Sydney Boys High School North Sydney Boys High School (abbreviated as NSBHS) is a Education in Australia#Government schools, government-funded, Single-sex school, single-sex, Selective school (New South Wales), academically selective secondary day school for boys, loc ...

, graduated from 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 ...

and received his

Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of Postgraduate education, graduate study and original resear ...

from

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

. At the University of Sydney in the 1950s, he studied history with Jill Ker Conway. At Cornell University, he studied Southeast Asian history with OW Wolters.

Academic career

Osborne held academic positions in Australia, the United Kingdom, the United States and Singapore. Osborne's main historical contribution had been to synthesize the history of the region as a whole, rather than concentrate on the histories of the present-day nations. Osborne's Southeast Asia association began in 1959 with an Australian diplomatic posting to

Phnom Penh Phnom Penh is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Cambodia, most populous city of Cambodia. It has been the national capital since 1865 and has grown to become the nation's primate city and its political, economic, industr ...

. In 1980 and 1981 Osborne advised the

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is a United Nations agency mandated to aid and protect refugees, forcibly displaced communities, and stateless people, and to assist in their voluntary repatriation, l ...

on the Cambodian refugee problem. In 1982 he returned to Australia, working as Head of the Asia Branch of the

Office of National Assessments The Office of National Assessments (ONA) was an Australian statutory intelligence agency established by the ''Office of National Assessments Act 1977'' as an independent statutory body directly accountable to the Prime Minister of Australia a ...

, also serving for a year as Head of Current Intelligence. Osborne now lives in Sydney and continues to write while consulting on Asian issues, as well as having been a series editor on the ''Short History of Asia Series'' published by Allen and Unwin.

Honours

Osborne was appointed a

Member of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an Australian honours and awards system, Australian honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Monarch ...

in the

2021 Australia Day Honours The 2021 Australia Day Honours are appointments Australian honours system, to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by Australian citizens. The list was announced on 26 January 2021 by the Governor General of Australia, Da ...

for "significant service to history as an author."

Books

* ''Singapore and Malaysia'' (1964) * ''Strategic Hamlets in South Viet-Nam: A Survey and a Comparison'' (1965) * ''The French Presence in Cochinchina and Cambodia: Rule and Response (1859–1905)'' (1969, reprinted 1997) * ''Region of Revolt: Focus on Southeast Asia'' (1970) * ''Politics and Power in Cambodia: The Sihanouk Years'' (Longman, 1973) *
River Road to China: The Mekong River Expedition, 1866–1873
' (London and New York, 1975) * ''Southeast Asia: An Introductory History'' (eleven editions, 1979–2013) * ''Before Kampuchea: Preludes to Tragedy'' (1979) * ''Sihanouk: Prince of Light, Prince of Darkness'' (1994) * ''River Road to China: The Search for the Source of the Mekong, 1866–73'' (Atlantic Monthly Press, 1999) * ''The Mekong: Turbulent Past, Uncertain Future'', Allen & Unwin, Sydney (2000), * ''The paramount power: China and the countries of Southeast Asia'', (2006) * ''Phnom Penh: A Cultural and Literary History'' (2008) * Pol Pot Solved the Leprosy Problem, Connor Court Publishing, Redland Bay, (2018), ISBN 9781925501803

Articles

* "Francis Garnier (1839–1873), Explorer of the Mekong River", ''Explorers of South-east Asia, Six Lives'', ed. Victor T. King, (Kuala Lumpur:

OUP Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, 1995)
River at risk: the Mekong and the water politics of China and Southeast Asia

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Osborne, Milton Australian historians Cornell University alumni Historians of Southeast Asia Living people Members of the Order of Australia University of Sydney alumni Year of birth missing (living people)