China & ANU at 75

The original ANU Oriental Studies building, 1965. Image: ANU Archives.

Exhibition Dates

5–29 July 2022

Opening Hours

Weekdays: 9am–5pm
Selected weekends: Saturday 23 July, 11am-3pm

Gallery

Australian Centre on China in the World
Building 188, Fellows Lane
The Australian National University
Canberra ACT 2601

About the Exhibition

In April 1948 Sir Douglas Copland finished up a two-year tenure as Australian Ambassador to China, returning to Canberra to become the first Vice-Chancellor of the new ANU. Along with other academic planners, over the following years Copland established Chinese Studies as a key area of ANU research. While Australia’s experience of the Pacific War — and the imminent Cold War — were crucial in shaping these developments, Chinese Studies evolved to encompass a wide range of humanities disciplines, including ancient and modern history.

Drawing on a previous CIW exhibition and featuring photographs, films, and material from the ANU archives, China & ANU at 75 charts the origins of Chinese Studies at ANU, and introduces the scholars who worked at the university in its early decades.