Guide to the Papers of D.C.S. Sissons
MS 3092, MS Acc09.106
National Library of Australia View Catalogue Record
Collection Summary
- Title
- Papers of David Sissons
- Date Range
- 1950-2006
- Collection Number
- MS 3092, MS Acc09.106
- Extent
- 9.03 metres (60 ms boxes + 1 file)
- Physical Facet
- MS 3092: (60 ms boxes)
- Language of Materials
- English
- Repository
- Special Collections (Manuscripts)
Introduction
Scope and Contents
Series 1 (3 boxes) of this collection comprises copies of Sisson's writings from his completed research. The remainder of the collection (57 boxes), comprises source materials accumulated in the course of various research ventures relating to Australian-Japanese relations. They include photocopies, correspondence and holograph notes.
Conditions Governing Access
The collection is available for reference.
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Copying and publishing of unpublished manuscript material is subject to copyright restrictions.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 Copying of unpublished material for research purposes is permissible 50 years after the death of the creator of the material.
Please note that material created by D. C. S. Sissons is partly permitted to be copied for research purposes (Boxes 1-4) and partly not permitted to be copied for research purposes (Boxes 5-60).
Preferred Citation
Items from this collection should be cited as '[Title or description of manuscript item], Papers of David Sissons, National Library of Australia, [class number, box number and series and/or file number]'.
Provenance
The papers were donated to the Library by David Sissons.
Arrangement
The collection arrangement and description was determined by David Sissons. In addition, papers originally held in the Manuscript Collection at MS 8230 were amalgamated into this collection by Sissons in June 2006.
Biographical Note
David Sissons was an historian in the Research School of Pacific Studies at the Australian National University (ANU) where his principal fields of research were the history of Australian-Japanese relations and the World War II War Crimes Trials.
Chronology
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 1950 | BA (Hons) University of Melbourne |
| 1951-1955 | Tutor, International Relations; Research Officer, Australian Institute of International Affairs |
| 1956 | Research Assistant to Professor W. Macmahon Ball, University of Melbourne MA Political Science, University of Melbourne |
| 1960 | Visiting Scholar and Visiting Lecturer, Far Eastern Institute, University of Washington |
| 1961-1965 | Research Fellow, ANU, Canberra |
| 1965-1990 | Fellow, ANU, Canberra |
| 1991 | Following his retirement from the ANU, took up a three-year post to establish an Australian Studies Centre at the Hiroshima Shudo University, Japan |
| 2006 | Died in Canberra on 17 October |
Item Descriptions
Class MS 3092. Original consignment
Series 1 (3 boxes) of MS 3092 comprises copies of Sissons' writings from his completed research. The remainder of the collection (57 boxes) consists of research files on such subjects as Australians in Japan; Australian trade and immigration policies towards Japan; Australian involvement in the Allied occupation of Japan, 1945-1950; Japanese prisoners of war in Australia; Second World War war crimes trials; and, Japanese espionage in Australia. The collection also includes material gathered for a biography of Professor James Murdoch, the first Australian professor of Japanese. In June 2006 Sissons incorporated his papers held at MS 8230 into this collection.
Contained in 60 boxes.
Series 1. Writings by Sissons, 1956-2006
This series comprises copies of writings by Sissons, which resulted from his completed research. Included are articles, conference papers, lectures and book chapters. They are grouped into sub-series by topic and listed by title.
Subseries 1_1. Defence
'Australian fears of Japan as a defence threat, 1895-1971', Senate Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence, 1972 (File 2)
'The higher direction of a Multinational Expeditionary Force: the JCOSA-BCOF Experiment, 1945-47' (File 5)
Subseries 1_2. Japan and Australia
'Japanese', in J. Jupp (ed), The Australian people: encyclopaedia of the nation, its people and their origins, Sydney: Angus Robertson, pp635-37 (File 8)
'Karayuki-san: the Japanese prostitutes in Australia, 1887-1916', Historical Studies, Vol. 17, Nos. 68 and 69, 1977 (File 10)
'Japanese acrobatic troupes touring Australasia, 1867-1900', Australasian Drama Studies, No. 35, 1999 (File 14)
'The immigration question in Australian diplomatic relations with Japan, 1875-1919', ANZAAS Conference, Brisbane, 1971 (File 15)
'Immigration in Australian-Japanese relations', Japan and Australia in the seventies, Sydney: Angus Robertson, pp 193-210, 1972 (File 18)
'Australian contacts with Japan in the nineteenth century', Symposium: 'Towards a new vision', Jul 1997 (File 19)
'James Murdoch (1856-1921): historian, teacher and much else besides, Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan, 4th series, Vol. 2, 1987 (File 21)
'Manchester-v-Japan: the imperial background of the Australian Trade Diversion Dispute with Japan, 1936, Australian Outlook, Vol. 30, No. 3, Dec 1976 (File 22)
Subseries 1_3. Australian War Crimes Trials
'Japanese war criminals charged under the War Crimes Act 1945 by Australian military authorities', edited by D.C.S. Sissons (File 26)
'Sources on Austalian investigations into Japanese war crimes in the Pacific', Journal of the Australian War Memorial, Issue 30, Apr 1997 (File 27)
Subseries 1_7. Australia in world affairs
Subseries 1_8. Japanese Government and Politics, 1945-1968
Articles (File 37)
'The dispute over Japan's Police Law', Pacific Affairs, Vol. 32, No. 1 (March 1959), pp34-35
'Recent developments in Japan's Socialist Movement', Far Eastern Survey, March & June 1960, pp40-47, 89-92
'The Pacifist Clause of the Japanese Constitution: legal and political problems of rearmament', International Affairs, Vol. 37, No. 1 (January 1961), pp45-59
Series 10. Australian War Crimes Trials, 1945-1951
The large group of files in this series contain papers relating to Sissons' research into Australian War Crimes Trials. The files are arranged alphabetically, by file title.
Australian War Crimes Section (box 20)
Adachi-Ambon (box 21)
Ambon (box 22)
Ambon - Bismark Sea (box 23)
Borneo (box 24)
Burma-Siam Railway (box 25)
Bougainville (box 26)
'C' (box 27)
'C' - 'E' (box 28)
Finding aids and inventories (box 29)
'G' - Laha (box 30)
Manus - Miscellaneous (box 31)
Morotai Trials - 'P' (box 32)
Rabaul Trials (box 33)
Reconnaissance parties - Wewak Trials (box 34)
Series 13. Australian fears of Japan as a defence threat, 1895-1971
Includes papers relating to Australia in Japanese military plans (1941-1942).
One box
Series 14. Japanese language and linguists in Australia
Includes papers relating to the Allied Translator and Interpreter Section .
One box
Series 18. Japanese and Immigration Restriction Act
Includes papers relating to admission, deportation, alien registration, censuses etc.
Three boxes
Class MS Acc09_106. Consignment added 2009
The Acc09.106 instalment comprises three audio cassettes containing a lecture delivered by Sissons during a seminar on "A-J [Australia-Japan] relations" at Monash University on 11 October 1997; and, a coverless booklet with annotations by Sissons on the "Tokyo trial" of 1946-1948 by Solis Horwitz [1950].
Contained in 1 file.
A-J Relations Seminar, Monash University 11/10/1997 - Tape 1, 11/10/1997 (Item NLA.MS-SAV011048) - Cassette-Box 544
1 item, C120, Compact cassette tape[A-J may mean Australia-Japan]
Container List
| Series | Subseries | File | Box |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1.1 | 1-5a | 1 |
| 1 | 1.2 | 6-7 | 1 |
| 1 | 1.2 | 8-23a | 2 |
| 1 | 1.3 | 24-30b | 3 |
| 1 | 1.4 | 31 | 3 |
| 1 | 1.5 | 32-33 | 3 |
| 1 | 1.6 | 34-34a | 3 |
| 1 | 1.7 | 35-36 | 3 |
| 1 | 1.8 | 37-40 | 4 |
| 2 | 4-5 | ||
| 3 | 6-11 | ||
| 4 | 12 | ||
| 5 | 13 | ||
| 6 | 14-16 | ||
| 7 | 17 | ||
| 8 | 18 | ||
| 9 | 19 | ||
| 10 | 20-34 | ||
| 11 | 35 | ||
| 12 | 35-37 | ||
| 13 | 38-39 | ||
| 14 | 39 | ||
| 15 | 40-45 | ||
| 16 | 46-47 | ||
| 17 | 48 | ||
| 18 | 49-51 | ||
| 19 | 52-53 | ||
| 20 | 54 | ||
| 21 | 55 | ||
| 22 | 56-57 | ||
| 23 | 58 | ||
| 24 | 59 | ||
| 25 | 60 | ||
| 26 | 60 | ||
| 27 | 60 |