James Wightman Davidson (1 October 1915 – 8 April 1973) was a New Zealand historian and constitutional adviser. Professor of Pacific History at the

Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public research university located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton encompasses seven teaching and research colleges, in addition to several national academies an ...

from 1950 to 1973,Donald Denoon
Davidson, James Wightman (Jim) (1915–1973)
'' Australian Dictionary of Biography'', Vol. 13, 1993. Davidson was the "founding father of modern Pacific Islands

historiography Historiography is the study of the methods of historians in developing history as an academic discipline, and by extension is any body of historical work on a particular subject. The historiography of a specific topic covers how historians ha ...

as well as constitutional adviser to a succession of Island territories in the throes of

decolonisation Decolonization or decolonisation is the undoing of colonialism, the latter being the process whereby imperial nations establish and dominate foreign territories, often overseas. Some scholars of decolonization focus especially on independence m ...

".Doug Munro
On Being a Participant Biographer: The Search for J.W. Davidson
ch. 13 of Brij V. Lal and Vicki Luker, eds., ''Telling Pacific Lives: Prisms of Process'', ANU Press, 2008.

Life

Davidson was born in

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by metr ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

on 1 October 1915. He was educated at

Waitaki Boys' High School Waitaki Boys' High School is a secondary school for boys located in the northern part of the town of Oamaru, Otago, New Zealand, with day and boarding facilities, and was founded in 1883. , it has a school roll of approximately 400 students. The ...

and

Victoria University College Victoria University of Wellington ( mi, Te Herenga Waka) is a university in Wellington, New Zealand. It was established in 1897 by Act of Parliament, and was a constituent college of the University of New Zealand. The university is well know ...

before studying as a doctoral student at St John's College, Cambridge. He gained his PhD in 1942 with a thesis on ''European penetration of the South Pacific, 1779-1842''. After wartime work for the Naval Intelligence Division, Davidson returned to a fellowship at St John's, becoming university lecturer in colonial studies in 1947. While advising chiefs in

Western Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa; sm, Sāmoa, and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands ( Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands ( Manono and Apolima); ...

in 1949, Davidson accepted the new chair of Pacific history at the Research School of Pacific Studies at ANU. He continued advising islanders, helping to draft constitutions for the

Cook Islands ) , image_map = Cook Islands on the globe (small islands magnified) (Polynesia centered).svg , capital = Avarua , coordinates = , largest_city = Avarua , official_languages = , lan ...

(from 1963), Nauru (from 1967),

Micronesia Micronesia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania, consisting of about 2,000 small islands in the western Pacific Ocean. It has a close shared cultural history with three other island regions: the Philippines to the west, Polynesia to the east, and ...

(from 1969) and

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

(at the time of his death). He died in

Port Moresby (; Tok Pisin: ''Pot Mosbi''), also referred to as Pom City or simply Moresby, is the capital and largest city of Papua New Guinea. It is one of the largest cities in the southwestern Pacific (along with Jayapura) outside of Australia and New ...

and his body was buried in Canberra.

Works

* ''The Northern Rhodesian Legislative Council'', 1947 * ''Samoa mo Samoa; the emergence of the independent state of Western Samoa'', 1967 * ''Pacific Islands portraits'', 1970 * ''

Peter Dillon Peter Dillon (15 June 1788 – 9 February 1847) was a ship's captain engaged in the merchant trade, explorer and writer. Dillon discovered in 1826–27 the fate of the La Pérouse expedition. Early career Peter Dillon was born in Martinique, the ...

of Vanikoro: Chevalier of the South Seas'', 1974

Life

Works

References

Further reading