J.W. Davidson and Western Samoa - University politics and the travails of a Constitutional Adviser

KW Davidson, the foundation Professor of Pacific History at the Australian National University (1950-73) is best remembered as the scholar-activist wh o championed the cause of indigenous self-determination in the Pacific. His most important assignment involved being the Samoans' Constitutional Advis er in the run-up to independence (1949-61), and much of his later reputatio n rests on his book recounting the experience. What is not realised is that Davidson faced considerable obstruction from his Vice- Chancellor, who att ached little importance to such work. When demands for Davidson's services in Western Samoa kept escalating, the University handed the problem to Sir John Crawford, the Director-Elect of the Research School of Pacific Studies . Instead of siding with the University, Crawford acted decisively on David son's behalf. Inexplicably, Crawford failed to go one step further and deve lop a policy covering the outside earnings of ANU academics--a problem that had just been highlighted by the Davidson affair.