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

Dorking Dorking () is a market town in Surrey in South East England, about south of London. It is in Mole Valley District and the council headquarters are to the east of the centre. The High Street runs roughly east–west, parallel to the Pipp Br ...

and died in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

. 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 United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

as a translator of Japanese, Davis studied Chinese at the

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

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), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's si ...

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 was 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 what happened over the course of a day or other period *Daybook, also known as a general journal, a ...

'' after the return of

Ian Nish Ian Hill Nish Order of the British Empire, 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 (L ...

to the United Kingdom, Davis also authored scholarly studies of

Tao Yuanming Tao Yuanming (; 365–427), also known as Tao Qian (; also T'ao Ch'ien in Wade-Giles), was a Chinese poet and politician who was one of the best-known poets during the Six Dynasties, Six Dynasties period. He was born during the Eastern Jin dyn ...

and

Du Fu Du Fu (; 712–770) was a Tang dynasty poet and politician. Along with his elder contemporary and friend Li Bai (Li Po), he is frequently called the greatest of the Chinese poets.Ebrey, 103. His greatest ambition was to serve his country as ...

, edited an anthology of modern Japanese poetry, and translated the autobiography of Mitsuharu Kaneko. 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 in 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. 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 and Bonnie S. McDougall as well as the scholar and diplomat Jocelyn Milner Chey and Margaret South, 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