UWAHS Colombo Plan Oral Histories

Description

DescriptionIn 2018 at a UWAHS Panel Presentation, where there were past and present UWA students from South East-Asia and Europe in attendance, we realised how lacking our collection was in terms of the international student perspective. This group, as of then, was actually not represented at all. Upon noticing this gap, and being reminded of its importance by the current turbulence in this part of the higher education sector, we set about correcting it.

The Society decided that a fascinating, and meaningful, step in the right direction would be to create a set of interviews with a handful of early Colombo Plan scholars who travelled to Perth, to study at UWA, during the 1960s, 70s, and 80s.

The result of much brainstorming and planning was our successful 2019 grant proposal to the WA History Foundation.

The Colombo Plan was first launched in 1951 as an attempt to foster, and reinforce, international relations within Asia and the Pacific region. Formulated by a group known as the “Founding Fathers”, at the 1950 Commonwealth Conference on Foreign Affairs, it was specifically designed to promote partnerships that would help member countries mutually work toward economic and social development.

The University of Western Australia took part in this project, welcoming a small portion of the approximately 20,000 Colombo Plan scholars who ventured “Down Under” between 1952 and the late 1980s. These students left an enduring impact on their fellow students, lodgers, and
lecturers alike. They were crucial in shaping our university into the institution it now is, and ‘functioned as de facto ambassadors for the new countries that had emerged following decolonisation’.

Extracted from the UWAHS Colombo Plan Interview Series Compilation - James Stephens

Oral history

Chang, Kok Foo Oral History - Colombo Plan Interview Series

Fok, Wing Chung (Michael) Oral History - Colombo Plan Interview Series

Foong Li Ming, Teresa Oral History - Colombo Plan Interview Series

Ho, Seng-Beng Oral History - Colombo Plan Interview Series

Nair, Elizabeth Oral History - Colombo Plan Interview Series

Tan Cheng Hye, Johnny Oral History - Colombo Plan Interview Series

Engineering Faculty UWA - L-R Ang Keng Lam - Koh Kock Eng - Michael Fok - Chan Kum Ee - Chong Kok Pan - Photograph by Michael Fok courtesy of UWAHS

UWA Collected

UWAHS Colombo Plan Oral Histories

THE UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA