Guide to the Papers of Graham Gibson, 1935-1987

Summary

Collection number:

MS 9409

Extent:

4.76 metres and (34 boxes)

Language:

English

Preferred citation:

Items from this collection should be cited as '[Title or description of manuscript item], Papers of Graham Gibson, National Library of Australia, MS 9409, [box number and series and/or folder number]'.

Availability:

Available

Access conditions:

Available for research. Not for loan.

Background

Content Summary:

The bulk of the papers comprise individually numbered research papers and notes for Gibson's post-graduate studies. The collection also includes miscellaneous research papers and lecture notes, a body of material on Papua New Guinea education in the post-war years, numbered general correspondence and copies of Gibson's theses. There are personal papers as well. Gibson kept a diary for six months in 1946 and Joan Gibson wrote in a travel diary, 1949, recording her impressions of the trip from Melbourne to Rabaul. There are also copies of letters Joan Gibson sent to family and friends in Australia while she was in Papua New Guinea in 1949-50.

Gibson's research interests were centred on education in Papua New Guinea and the ideals that motivated schooling there, including the role played by Christian missions. He wrote his doctoral thesis on the educational ideals of William Charles Groves, an Australian anthropologist who was the foundation Director of Education in Papua New Guinea from 1946 to 1958. Gibson had a lifelong interest in education policy and administration in all colonial countries and his research papers include comparative material on education in African and Pacific countries.

The papers provide an insight into colonial life in Papua New Guinea in the post-war years with a particular focus on the policy and administration of education.

Biographical Note:

Graham Harrison Gibson was born in Cranbourne, Victoria on 13 December 1914. He died in Melbourne in March 1987.

Gibson was a teacher with the Victorian Education Department who first went to Papua New Guinea in 1943 with the 4th Field Ambulance. He subsequently joined the Australian New Guinea Administrative Unit (ANGAU) the special army unit set up to carry out functions of civilian government. After discharge from ANGAU Gibson resigned from the Victorian Education Department to join the Territory of Papua New Guinea Education Department. He went to the central training school at Sogeri near Port Moresby before becoming the District Education Officer at Kavieng, the administrative centre of the New Ireland district in January 1947. Gibson taught at the District School at Utu.

Education in post-war Papua New Guinea was hampered by some major problems. It was a new Department; there had been no Department of Education before the war. Many buildings in Papua New Guinea had been destroyed during the war and accommodation was often temporary; schools were usually located in improvised buildings. Gibson was one of the pioneer teachers in the Territory spending a total of seven years there before his departure in 1950.

Gibson married Joan Hargreaves in December 1948.

On his return to Australia Gibson re-entered the secondary education division of the Victorian Education Department where he taught until his retirement at the age of fifty-nine. After retirement he studied for a masters and doctoral degrees at Monash University. He attained his doctoral thesis in 1984 with his work: The Educational ideals of William Charles Groves.

Reference

Encyclopaedia of Papua and New Guinea, Volume 1, 1972

Provenance:

The papers were donated by Joan Gibson to the National Library in 1994.

Arrangement:

Gibson was a meticulous record keeper who numbered and indexed his post-graduate research papers and notes using two exercise books as numerical and subject indexes. Individual papers and notes can be retrieved through the indexes. The numbered research papers and notes consist of Gibson's handwritten notes and copies of reference articles from various journals and publications. Gibson also numbered and indexed general correspondence and ordered it numerically rather than chronologically. Where Gibson has numbered papers and correspondence the Library has maintained this arrangement.

Conditions Governing Access:

Please refer to the collection's catalogue record for the access conditions (http://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn1866985).

Conditions Governing Use:

Copying and publishing of unpublished manuscript material is subject to copyright restrictions. For such material, written permission to publish must be obtained from the copyright holder(s). Copying of unpublished material for research purposes is permissible 50 years after the death of the creator of the material.

Preferred citation:

Items from this collection should be cited as '[Title or description of manuscript item], Papers of Graham Gibson, National Library of Australia, MS 9409, [box number and series and/or folder number]'.

Location of this collection:

National Library of Australia

Parkes Place

Canberra ACT 2600, Australia

Contact:

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