Reflections of a Foundation Fellow: Francis West FAHA

A photo of Francis and Margaret at an event in Cambridge, 2019.

Originally from Yorkshire, Emeritus Professor Francis West moved to Australia to take up a Research Fellow position at the Research School of Pacific Studies at the Australian National University. A career spanning Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom, West would serve as a Research School of Pacific Studies, Australian National University, a Professor of History and Government at Deakin University, serving as Dean of Social Sciences and Pro-Vice Chancellor (Research and Development) at Deakin University before retiring and moving back to the UK.

‘I had completed my PhD at the University of Cambridge on the justiciars who ruled England in the absence of the King in Norman times,’ he says. ‘And thought that it would be interesting to study colonial rule in Australia and the Pacific with such history in mind.’

The move brought him to Canberra in the 1950s, where he was a Research Fellow in the Research School of Pacific Studies at the Australian National University from 1952 to 1955.

During that time, he met a founding member of the Australian Humanities Research Council (AHRC), the forerunner of the Academy, who spoke about the ambitions of the Council to represent and forward humanities scholarship. The committee first met in 1954 and was formally established in 1956. Its aim was to promote and publish the work of Australian humanities researchers.

The first Council meeting was documented in The Canberra Times on Saturday 3 November 1956. Among the requirements was for researchers to to promote the wider applications of the humanities:

‘It is also necessary for humanists to meet each other, to discuss common topics of interest, to stimulate and assist each other’s inquiries, and to investigate common problems in teaching and research, and to arrange for exchanges of visitors between Australia and overseas, to see that Australia takes her full share in the development of international relations in the humane scholarship.’

The article notes twenty-six council members were elected at the time of the meeting, with the intention of the Council to grow to ‘no more than 51’ members, who would be elected in the coming years.

The beginnings of an Academy

‘I had been elected to the AHRC in 1967 at the age of forty,’ he says. ‘With two books published and a third in the press. As a resident Fellow of University House at the Australian National University, I had frequently met members of the AHRC who stayed there during its meetings. From Keith Sinclair, Secretary of the Council, I gathered that I had been nominated by Max Crawford FAHA, supported by Keith Hancock FAHA and John La Nauze FAHA.’

In 1969 the Australian Academy of the Humanities was established by Royal Charter to advance knowledge of, and the pursuit of excellence in, the Humanities. The 51 Fellows of the AHRC became the Foundational Fellows of the new Australian Academy of the Humanities. The first intake of Fellows was elected by the 51 Foundation Fellows at a Special General Meeting on 20–21 September 1969. Annual elections have taken place since that time.

The first Academy Annual Lecture, ‘The Literary Influence of the Academies’ by A.D. Hope was presented at the first Annual General Meeting on 19 May 1970 which A.D. Hope described himself, as ‘not so much a lecture but a sermon.’

‘From conversation, I had become aware of Crawford’s desire for an Academy, and of Alec Hope’s and John (known to some as ‘Jack the Knife’) La Nauze’s views that it was ‘pretentious’. Hancock told me he had talked La Nauze round, but Hope’s scepticism was reflected in the Academy’s first Annual Lecture, which I heard in May 1970.

Margaret and Francis photographed in their home in Cambridge, 2024.

Creating the Academy’s Coat of Arms

The Australian Academy of the Humanities’ Coat of Arms

‘When Keith Sinclair, Secretary of the AHRC and then of the new Academy, took sabbatical leave in 1970, Hancock asked me to act in his place, and I had to explain the new By-Laws at the Annual General Meeting, attended by fifteen newly elected Fellows,’ reflects West.

‘A.D Trendall and I were commissioned to suggest a design for the Academy’s Coat of Arms. As a mediaeval historian, I had looked at early feudal heraldry, while Trendall had been involved in designing the Arms of the ANU. We proposed a design to show the Academy’s Australian identity through flora, fauna and the stars of the Southern Cross.’

In 1972, West was on a British Academy ‘Thank-Offering to Britain’ Fellowship in Oxford, where the Christchurch College had made him an Honorary Member. He began research for a biography of Judge and PNG Colonial Administrator Hubert Murray’s younger brother Gilbert, at the invitation of British historian Arnold Toynbee, the latter’s son-in-law.

‘While there, I was invited by A. C. Cole, the Windsor Herald, to the College of Arms in its splendid building on the Thames embankment, to inspect his draft design for the Australian Academy’s Coat of Arms: a Shield emblazoned with the Keys of Knowledge, wattle leaves and the stars of the Southern Cross and, as Supporters, a Maiden and a Young Man each in classical dress and holding a flaming torch. (The head of Pallas Athene or Minerva, goddess of wisdom, can be seen on a column atop the shield.).’

The Australian Academy of the Humanities’ crest.

‘He explained that the King of Arms did not favour the ‘open book’ design (although it is to be found on the arms of Oxford University amongst other such institutions), hence the shield. I took a copy of his draft to Trendall, who was on leave at Exeter College, Oxford. Neither of us thought that the initial design was completely satisfactory, but, with some slight alterations made, recommended it to the Council.’

The motto on the crest is from Terence’s Heautontimoroumenos (‘The Self Tormenter’) – humani nihil a me alienum puto. In essence, this means, ‘I have an interest in all things concerning humanity’ (literally, ‘I think that there is nothing of humanity separate from me’).

Now 97, Francis West has been retired for many years, but both he and his wife, the German Studies scholar, Margaret Rose keep abreast of Academy issues from afar — often reading articles published online by the Academy and FaceTiming with colleagues.

A life-long community of scholars

‘We still have contact with some Academy Fellows — many come to visit,’ says Dr Margaret Rose FAHA, who lives in Cambridge with her husband, Francis West FAHA. ‘Old friends, including Academy Fellows, continue to visit us, and we email with them and other colleagues in Australia. We also take part in Zoom seminars from there when we can, but the time differences often make that difficult.

‘And we still make time to engage with the Cambridge community where there is a great sense that the university values research in a variety of fields.’

This is a dual interview with Margaret Rose FAHA, who’s article, An authority on Marx: the career of Margaret Rose FAHA can be read here.

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