The Australian School of Pacific Administration (ASOPA) was a tertiary institution established by the Australian Government to train administrators and later school teachers to work in Papua New Guinea. It became the International Training Institute (ITI) in 1973 and provided management training for professionals from developing countries in the Pacific, Asia, Africa and the Caribbean. After a period as a base for consultants operating in the South Pacific for the Australian Development Assistance Bureau, it closed in late 1997.
Beginnings
In 1943, the Australian Army’s Colonel Alfred Conlon, who had previously chaired Prime Minister John Curtin's committee on national morale, was assigned to the staff of the Army’s commander-in-chief, General Sir Thomas Blamey. Alf Conlon believed the Army needed a research section to tackle major strategic contingencies, such as what to do if Japan invaded Australia, and persuaded Blamey to establish a Directorate of Research and Civil Affairs. Blamey assigned Conlon to head the Directorate, which also provided policy advice on the governance of the Trust Territory of Papua and the Mandated Territory of New Guinea, then under Australian administration and the scene of fierce fighting between Allied and Japanese forces.
Established in his new role, Conlon assembled around him a group of talented Australian academics, among them John Kerr, James Plimsoll, James McAuley, Harold Stewart, Camilla Wedgwood, Ian Hogbin, Bill Stanner, Marie Reay and Ida Leeson.
By 1945, as World War II was drawing to a close, the School of Civil Affairs broadened its role to train officers for the Australian New Guinea Administrative Unit (ANGAU), responsible for civil administration in the Territories. At this time non-academic functions of Sydney University's Department of Anthropology - including providing training for cadet officers joining the New Guinea service and also more senior officials - were transferred to ASOPA.
Originally located at Royal Military College, Duntroon in Canberra, in March 1946 the School was transferred to civilian control and renamed the Australian School of Pacific Administration (ASOPA). Anne Robson had been working with the organisation for some time, and at this time she was appointed a fellow in Colonial Administration. In May 1947, the School was relocated to a group of Army huts on Middle Head in the Sydney suburb of Mosman. ASOPA operated under the Papua and New Guinea Act 1949 and was a responsibility of the Federal Minister for External Territories until 1 December 1973.
In 1946, John Kerr (later Sir John Kerr, Governor-General of Australia; Anne Robson became his second wife in 1975) was demobilised from the Australian Army with the rank of colonel and appointed the first Principal of ASOPA. The following year he also became the first Organising Secretary of the South Pacific Commission. He returned to the bar in 1948 to become one of Sydney's leading industrial lawyers. Conlon himself took over ASOPA and spent 1948 and 1949 as a reportedly unsuccessful and unhappy Principal of the institution.
Operations
Immediately after the war, enrolments to study at ASOPA were restricted to servicemen and, when civilian candidates were admitted not long after, preference was given to those with working experience and good academic records. In the 27 years from 1946–73, ASOPA trained hundreds of personnel for service in the Territory of Papua and New Guinea (TPNG), the Northern Territory and Nauru. After initially acquiring field experience in TPNG, Patrol Officers spent a year at ASOPA studying subjects such as law, government and anthropology.
In 1954, ASOPA began to train Australian teachers for service in TPNG to assist develop primary education. At the same time, courses were offered to teachers recruited for Special (Aboriginal) Schools in the Northern Territory of Australia. From 1956, teacher cadets were trained at distant Bathurst Teachers’ College in Bathurst. When the training course was eventually transferred to Middle Head in 1958, the trainee teachers were redesignated ‘Cadet Education Officers’ (CEOs). CEOs trained for two years at ASOPA before going to TPNG where, after three years service, they qualified for the award of the New South Wales Teacher’s Certificate.
In addition to training patrol and education officers, the School ran shorter orientation and refresher programs for Australian professional personnel preparing to serve in TPNG and elsewhere in the South Pacific.