Peter Gerald Spillett (20 January 1926 – 18 December 2004) was a British-born Australian historian and public servant. Spillett was born in

Surbiton Surbiton is a suburban neighbourhood in South West London, within the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames (RBK). It is next to the River Thames, southwest of Charing Cross. Surbiton was in the historic county of Surrey and since 1965 it has ...

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

(now part of London). He was educated at

London Polytechnic , mottoeng = The Lord is our Strength , type = Public , established = 1838: Royal Polytechnic Institution 1891: Polytechnic-Regent Street 1970: Polytechnic of Central London 1992: University of Westminster , endowment = £5.1 million ...

and

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

, before serving as a radio operator in the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

. In 1950, he emigrated to Australia, working in Western Australia and Victoria before joining the Australian Public Service and moving to Darwin. He was made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for services to the community in 1978. While working for the Northern Territory government, he suffered a serious heart attack and retired in 1982. He remained active in historical research and the Anglican Church, founding the Historical Society of the Northern Territory and serving as President and Honorary Life Member of the society and the National Trust of Australia (Northern Territory). He had a particular interest in

Makassan contact with Australia Makassar people from the region of Sulawesi in Indonesia began visiting the coast of northern Australia sometime around the middle of the 18th century, first in the Kimberley region, and some decades later in Arnhem Land. They were men who co ...

, and spent thousands of hours researching the trade and fishing arrangements between the Indonesian trepangers and the Yolngu people of

Arnhem Land Arnhem Land is a historical region of the Northern Territory of Australia, with the term still in use. It is located in the north-eastern corner of the territory and is around from the territory capital, Darwin. In 1623, Dutch East India Compan ...

in the eighteenth century. Spillett died suddenly in

Bali Bali () is a province of Indonesia and the westernmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands. East of Java and west of Lombok, the province includes the island of Bali and a few smaller neighbouring islands, notably Nusa Penida, Nusa Lembongan, and Nu ...

, Indonesia in December 2004. The Pensioners Association named its headquarters Spillett House after him, and before his death in 2004, the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory named its library after him. In 2016, a newly created Territory electoral division was named Spillett in his honour.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Spillett, Peter 1926 births 2004 deaths 20th-century Australian historians Australian public servants Members of the Order of Australia British emigrants to Australia