David Walker (historian)

David Walker
Born	12 November 1945(1945-11-12)
Nationality	Australian
Occupation	Academic Historian

David Robert Walker (born 12 November 1945) is an Australian academic historian who has been the professor of Australian Studies at Deakin University since 1991. He is a leading authority in the study of Australian perceptions of Asia.

Early life and Education

Walker was born in Adelaide in 1945 and received his early education in rural South Australian schools where his father was a teacher. The family settled in Adelaide in 1958 and Walker graduated from the University of Adelaide with a first class honours degree in Arts in 1967. Post-graduate studies were undertaken at the Australian National University (ANU) where he was awarded a Doctorate in 1972. His thesis, which explored Vance Palmer, Louis Esson and other twentieth century Australian authors' hopes for the development of an Australian culture, was subsequently published as Dream and Disillusion: A Search for Australian Cultural Identity.

Academic career

Walker spent the next two years as a post graduate research fellow at ANU, where he was the editor of Labour History. He then held a number of academic positions at the University of Auckland and the University of New South Wales until his appointment as the Professor of Australian Studies at Deakin University. He has a number of visiting appointments including a Distinguished Visiting Chair of Australian Studies at the University of Copenhagen, the Monash Chair of Australian Studies at Georgetown University and a Visiting Professorship in Australian Studies at the Australian Studies Centre, Renmin University, Beijing.

Major Works

Walker’s work has concentrated on the history of Australia’s engagement with Asia and, in particular, the ways in which Australians imagined Asian people and their culture. He has received more than 30 major research grants and published more than 120 book chapters, peer reviewed journal articles and peer reviewed lectures in this field.

Anxious Nation

The results of much of this research were published as Anxious Nation: Australia and the Rise of Asia 1850-1939 in 1999. This landmark work ^[1] explores the anxiety that Australians felt towards the people of Asia during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. While Australian images of Australia were overwhelmingly negative during this period, Walker makes the point that some Australians including Prime Minister Alfred Deakin saw much to admire in Asian cultures. Al Grassby, a former Minister for Immigration who dismantled the White Australia Policy, described the book as “evocative and compelling prose …which shows how bigotry and myth making shaped the question of race which dominated the public and private discourse.” ^[2] Anxious Nation has been reprinted in an India edition and translated into Chinese.

Not Dark Yet

In late 2004, David Walker, suffered a sudden and severe loss of sight that rendered him legally blind and limited his ability to continue archival research. He subsequently changed his research methods and drew on his family history as a tool to investigate the development of Australia’s national character and culture.^[3] The results were published as Not Dark Yet: A personal history which has been described by Phillip Adams as “an evocative portrait of 20th century Australia …the attitudes, idiosyncrasies and prejudices of the era.” ^[4]

Awards and Fellowships

Walker was elected a fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia in 2001 and the Australian Academy of the Humanities in 2005. He was awarded the Ernest Scott prize following the publication of Anxious Nation.

References

1. ^ Tom Griffiths, ‘Not Dark Yet: A Personal History’, http://www.deakin.edu.au/research-services/news/2011/03/08/not-dark-yet---a-personal-history, accessed 20/9/11
2. ^ Al Grassby, “Book Review, http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/lab/83/br_2.html, accessed 20/9/11
3. ^ Tom Griffiths
4. ^ Philip Adams, “Not Dark Yet – Walker”, http://www.abc.net.au/rn/latenightlive/stories/2011/3182038.htm, accessed 20/9/11