Up to 1945 university education in Australia had little sense of engagement with any cultural traditions outside those of Western Europe. It was only in the aftermath of World War II that Australians began to realize that while their nation had powerful allies in Britain and America, nations with whom it had ties of kin and culture, it had on its doorstep in neighboring Southeast Asia and not so distant Northeast Asia, neighbors who might become both friends and close partners in regional associations.

These were also the years during which the Australian government decided as a matter of policy to develop postgraduate studies in Australia so that Australians should no longer as a matter of course go to Britain for higher degrees. Both these factors came together in the establishment in 1946 of the Australian National University, an institution with an exclusive mission for post-graduate training. Significantly, among its foundation schools was the Research School of Pacific Studies, which included departments of Pacific History and Far Eastern History.