Guide to the Papers of Geoffrey Fairbairn, 1832-1982

Summary

Collection number:

MS 9326

Creator:

Geoffrey Fairbairn and Fairbairn, Anne

Extent:

(14 MS Boxes + 1 Large folio-box)

Language:

English

Preferred citation:

Items from this collection should be cited as '[Title or description of manuscript item], Papers of Geoffrey Fairbairn, National Library of Australia, MS 9326, [box number and series and/or file number]'.

Availability:

Available

Access conditions:

Part available for research; part requires permission for research. Not for loan.

Background

Content Summary:

The papers consist of general correspondence, family correspondence and papers, including correspondence of Anne Fairbairn, notecards, 32 notebooks, manuscripts and typescripts relating to Fairbairn's writings, journals, family photographs, and ephemera. There is also a large collection of newspaper clippings, and miscellaneous items including a South Vietnamese flag, a 45rpm vinyl record, and a tape recording of Fairbairn's funeral service.

The papers in the collection provide a very good selection of Fairbairn's writings, particularly those relating to Southeast Asian politics, the Vietnam War and guerrilla warfare. Also, the career of Fairbairn's father, James Valentine Fairbairn, during the time he was Federal Minister for Air (1939-40) in the Menzies Ministry is well documented in a book of newspaper clippings from 1940.

A number of items in the collection are in very poor condition, due to the effects of damp and mould. Anne Fairbairn has annotated many of the items.

Biographical Note:

Geoffrey Forrester Fairbairn was a Reader in History at the Australian National University, Canberra, and a well-respected commentator on Southeast Asian politics.

Fairbairn was born in Melbourne on 6 October 1924. He was the son of James Valentine Fairbairn, who was Minister for Air in 1939-40 in the first Menzies Ministry. His father died tragically in an air disaster in Canberra in 1940. The RAAF Fairbairn Base in Canberra was named in his honour in 1941.

Fairbairn attended Geelong Grammar School, leaving early to serve with the Royal Australian Navy during World War II. After demobilisation, he went on to obtain a Degree of Bachelor of Arts from Cambridge University in 1949. He then spent some time in Australia working on the family's property in Victoria, before returning to England where he tried (unsuccessfully) to write novels. In 1961 Professor Manning Clark, who had been one of Fairbairn's teachers at Geelong Grammar School, offered him a lectureship in History at the Australian National University, which he accepted. He remained with the University until his retirement in 1979.

Fairbairn travelled extensively in Southeast Asia, and developed an abiding interest in the politics of the region. By the late 1960s, he was regarded as one of the leading conservative analysts of the Vietnam War and Southeast Asian affairs generally. Fairbairn became the country's foremost expert on the theory of guerrilla warfare, publishing two books on the subject.

Fairbairn was married twice. In 1945 he married Rosamund, daughter of the 13th Lord Clifford of Chudleigh. They had three children. They were divorced, and in 1965 he married Anne Body, neé Reid, granddaughter of Sir George Reid. Fairbairn died in London of lung cancer on 11 September 1980.

Provenance:

The papers were acquired in 1998 from Fairbairn's wife, Anne Fairbairn, under the Taxation Incentives for the Arts Scheme.

Arrangement:

As the papers were in considerable disarray, the Library has imposed its own arrangement on the papers.

Indexed terms

Names:

Fairbairn, Anne

Conditions Governing Access:

Please refer to the collection's catalogue record for the access conditions (http://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn375413).

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 Geoffrey Fairbairn, National Library of Australia, MS 9326, [box number and series and/or file number]'.

Location of this collection:

National Library of Australia

Parkes Place

Canberra ACT 2600, Australia

Contact:

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