Professor Anthony Crothers Milner AM

A distinguished Asia specialist, Professor Anthony Milner is an historian with a particular focus on Malaysia, Indonesia and ASEAN. A commentator on Australia-Asia issues, he has also been a leader in building Australia-Asia dialogues.

Tony’s research on the history of ideas and political culture in the Malay world has provided him with an ‘in depth’ understanding of the role that values and cultural perceptions play in Asian regional relations.

Appointed Basham Professor of Asian History at ANU (Australian National University) in 1994, he became Dean of Asian Studies two years later. Before coming   to ANU he spent two years as Head of Southeast Asian Studies at the University of Kent, England. He has been a Professorial Fellow of the University of Melbourne since 2006.  He has degrees from Monash University and Cornell University.

At the Australian Institute of International Affairs Tony served as Research Chair and President of the ACT Branch, and has been made a Life Member. At the  Asian Studies Association of Australia he was Editor of both the Asian Studies Review and the Southeast Asian Publication Series.

Tony was elected to the Academy of Social Sciences in 1995. Apart from serving on the Federal Government’s Foreign Affairs Council, he has been on the Executive Council of the Australia-Thailand and Executive Council of the Australia Malaysia Institute. He also served on   the Council of ANU, and was a Panel Member of the Australian Research Council.

Tony has held a senior visiting appointment at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton, USA, as well as a range of other roles at universities and research institutes in Singapore, Japan, Germany and Malaysia.

Among his numerous publications is a three-volume study of Australia-Asia relations and a series of books and articles on Malay history, starting with Kerajaan: Malay Political on the Eve of Colonial Rule (1982).

Tony was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in 2007 for service to education in the field of Asian studies as an academic and author, and to international relations through the development of cross-cultural education and outreach activities.