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.
