{{Short description|Australian historian}} {{Use Australian English|date=November 2016}} {{Use dmy dates|date=December 2022}} '''Frederick Alexander''' (known primarily as '''Fred Alexander''') (12 April 1899 – 17 March 1996) was an Australian historian who specialised in foreign affairs and policy. He was the founding Head of the [[University of Western Australia]]'s Department of History, where he was instrumental in the development of the history curriculum.<ref name="De Garis 1988">{{Cite book| author = de Garis, Brian| author-link = Brian De Garis| year = 1988 | chapter = Fred Alexander: A tribute | editor = de Garis, Brian | editor-link = Brian De Garis | title = Studies in Western Australian History '''VI''' | publisher = Department of History, [[The University of Western Australia]]}}</ref><ref name= "Limb" >{{Cite journal |last=Limb |first=Peter |title=An Australian historian at the dawn of apartheid: Fred Alexander in South Africa, 1949-50 |journal=The Electronic Journal of Australian and New Zealand History |url=http://www.jcu.edu.au/aff/history/pdf/limb.pdf |access-date=5 February 2010 |archive-date=8 June 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110608082018/http://www.jcu.edu.au/aff/history/pdf/limb.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>
==Biography== The son of a primary school headmaster,<ref name="Alexander 1987">{{Cite book| author = Alexander, Fred | year = 1987 | title = On Campus and Off: Reminiscences and Reflections of the First Professor of Modern History in The University of Western Australia, 1916–1986 | publisher = [[University of Western Australia Press]] | id = 0855642645}}</ref> Fred Alexander was born in [[Victoria (Australia)|Victoria]] on 12 April 1899.<ref name="De Garis 1988"/> He attended [[Melbourne High School (Victoria)|Melbourne High School]], and in 1916 won an exhibition to attend lectures at [[Trinity College (University of Melbourne)|Trinity College]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://digitised-collections.unimelb.edu.au/handle/11343/23470|publisher=[[University of Melbourne]] Calendar|title=Class List. Annual Examination, December 1917|year=1919|access-date=2 October 2020}}</ref> during his studies at the [[University of Melbourne]], where he intended to gain a [[Bachelor of Laws]] degree. However, he developed an interest in history under the influence of Professor [[Ernest Scott]], and deferred his law studies to obtain a [[Bachelor of Arts]] with [[First Class Honours]] in history. He then completed his third year of law studies, but in 1920 he won an [[Orient Line]] scholarship that enabled him to pursue studies at [[Balliol College, Oxford]].<ref name="Limb"/><ref name="Alexander 1987"/>
During his second year at Balliol, he suffered from a recurrent illness, and in 1923 he was advised by his doctors to take a long sea voyage. That year, he sailed for Melbourne; when his ship docked at [[Fremantle, Western Australia]], he took the opportunity to visit [[Edward Shann]], the foundation professor of History and Economics at the University of Western Australia. The following year, after returning to England, receiving the [[Herbertson Prize in History]] along with a M.A., and getting married, he received from Shann an offer of appointment as Assistant Lecturer at the University of Western Australia. He arrived in [[Perth]] in September 1924. He was elected a Fellow of the [[Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia]] in 1944.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Academy Fellow: Emeritus Professor Fred Alexander |url=https://socialsciences.org.au/academy-fellow/?sId=0032u00000D2J4pAAF |access-date=2024-12-18 |website=Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia |language=en-AU}}</ref>
In 1949–50, he spent four months in South Africa as a [[Carnegie Fellow]], an experience which caused him to concentrate on Commonwealth history.<ref name= "Limb" /> He retired in 1966, and later served as Chairman of the Library Board of Western Australia.<ref>{{Citation | last1=Alexander |first1=Fred | title=Library Board collection | publication-date=1976 | url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/32319573 | accessdate=17 July 2018 }}</ref> The [[Alexander Library Building]] is named after him. He died on 17 March 1996.<ref name=":0" />
==Bibliography== Fred Alexander was the author of a great many works. The following are a few of his better known publications:<ref name="Steadman 1988">{{Cite book| author = Steadman, Margaret |author2= Brian De Garis |author2-link= Brian De Garis |name-list-style=amp | year = 1988 | chapter = Fred Alexander: A select bibliography of his published works | editor = de Garis, Brian | editor-link = Brian De Garis | title = Studies in Western Australian History '''VI''' | publisher = Department of History, [[The University of Western Australia]]}}</ref> * {{Cite book| author = Alexander, Fred | year = 1928 | title = From Paris to Locarno, and after: the League of Nations and the search for security, 1919-1928 | location = London | publisher = Dent}} * {{Cite book| author = Alexander, Fred |author2=Francis Crowley |author2-link=Francis Crowley |author3=John Legge |name-list-style=amp | year = 1954 | title = The origins of the Eastern Goldfields water scheme in Western Australia: an exercise in the interpretation of historical evidence | location = Nedlands | publisher = [[University of Western Australia Press]]}} * {{Cite book| editor = Alexander, Fred | year = 1957 | title = Four bishops and their See: Perth, Western Australia, 1857-1957 | location = Nedlands |publisher = [[University of Western Australia Press]]}} * {{Cite book| author = Alexander, Fred | year = 1960 | title = Canadians and foreign policy | location = Melbourne | publisher = Cheshire}} * {{Cite book| author = Alexander, Fred | year = 1963 | title = Campus at Crawley | location = Melbourne | publisher = Cheshire for [[University of Western Australia Press]]}} * {{Cite book| author = Alexander, Fred | year = 1967 | title = Australia since federation | location = Melbourne | publisher = Nelson}} * {{Cite book| author = Alexander, Fred | year = 1973 | title = From Curtin to Menzies and after: continuity or confrontation? | location = Melbourne | publisher = Thomas Nelson Australia}} * {{Cite book| author = Alexander, Fred | year = 1987 | title = On Campus and Off: Reminiscences and Reflections of the First Professor of Modern History in The University of Western Australia, 1916–1986 | publisher = [[University of Western Australia Press]] | id = 0855642645}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *[http://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/792325 Interview with Professor Fred Alexander] [[National Library of Australia]]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Alexander, Fred}} [[Category:1899 births]] [[Category:1996 deaths]] [[Category:University of Western Australia alumni]] [[Category:People educated at Melbourne High School]] [[Category:People educated at Trinity College (University of Melbourne)]] [[Category:20th-century Australian historians]] [[Category:Australian Book Review people]] [[Category:Writers from Victoria (state)]] [[Category:Fellows of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia]]