ISSN 1039-3498 | no. 59| October 2002
Herb Feith: Pioneer of Indonesian Studies and Peace Activist
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| Betty Evans (later Betty Feith) and Herb Feith prior to Herb’s departure for Indonesia, 1951 |
The National Library of Australia has recently received the papers of Herb Feith (1930–2001), one of the world’s leading scholars working on Indonesia. They have been donated by Feith’s family at the recommendation of Emeritus Professor John Legge, a long-standing friend and colleague at Monash University.
Herb Feith was born in Vienna and came to Australia with his parents in 1939 as refugees from Nazism. His Melbourne High School reports from 1947, which are included with his papers, noted prophetically ‘An excellent student. Along with his hard work, he still finds time to be of service to others … Eminently suited for an academic career.’
He became interested in Asia through the influence of one of his political science lecturers at the University of Melbourne, Professor McMahon Ball. In 1951 he went to Indonesia for two years as the first person in the Volunteer Graduate Scheme, to work in the civil service, on the same wages and conditions as local colleagues. The Volunteer Graduate Scheme grew into the Overseas Service Bureau and was more recently renamed Australian Volunteers International (AVI). He and his wife Betty returned to Indonesia from 1954, again as volunteer graduates under this scheme. Herb’s son David is today AVI Manager for Victoria and Tasmania. At the National Library Feith’s papers join those of McMahon Ball and the Volunteer Graduate Scheme.
Feith completed his doctorate at Cornell University in the United States of America. His thesis became the basis of The Decline of Constitutional Democracy in Indonesia (1962), regarded as one of the classic texts on Indonesian politics. From the early 1960s he taught at Monash University, where he was appointed to a Chair in Politics in 1968. He was one of the founders of the Monash Centre for Southeast Asian Studies. He was also actively involved in human rights issues and peace studies. Causes with which he was associated included freedom for political prisoners in Indonesia; opposition to Australian involvement in the Vietnam War; Australian recognition of Bangladesh and independence for East Timor.
Herb Feith’s extensive papers document his long and eminent career, his wide
range of activities and many contacts. Among other topics they cover Indonesian
politics from the 1940s to the fall of Suharto; East Timor; Australia’s relations
with Indonesia; conferences and projects relating to Indonesia and Asia more
generally; Feith’s many visits to Indonesia and other countries; the peace movement
and peace centres at universities; and Australian volunteers in Indonesia and
elsewhere.
—Andrew Gosling
| Contents list for this issue of Gateways |
Please address any comments and enquiries to The Editor, Gateways: gateways@nla.gov.au