O'Neill, Hugh

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Agent TypePersonIdentifierUMA-AG-000001425Activities & OccupationsAcademics - ArchitectureArchitectsGenderMaleHistoryHugh O'Neill was born in Melbourne in 1933. He graduated with a Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Melbourne in 1956. While studying, O'Neill became friends with many Colombo Plan scholars, who taught him about culture and arts from numerous Asian countries. He joined the Australian Indonesian Association in 1956, the start of a life-long association with that country. He also undertook volunteer aid work from 1958-60, served on the Association’s Committee (1962-75), was Chair of the Volunteer Graduate Scheme to Indonesia (1963-70), and President of the Australian Indonesian Association (1969-72). He was also a member (1972-99) and then chair (1983-9) of the National Committee of the Overseas Service Bureau, Australian Volunteers International. In 1974, with others, he co-founded the Indonesian Arts Society.
From 1958-60 O'Neill was an architect and lecturer in the Ministry of Public Works and Housing in Jakarta and Bandung, and then from 1967-68 in Yogyakarta.
O’Neill pioneered the teaching of Asian architecture at the University from 1962, which became and remains a key teaching and research specialisation in a Faculty that was one of the first to take a lead in the training of students from Southeast Asia and the Indian sub-continent through the Colombo Plan.
O'Neill was a popular teacher, and generations of architecture students remember his engaging teaching methods and his emphasis on the social value of architecture. His teaching continued from 2000 at Deakin University’s Cultural Heritage Centre for Asia and the Pacific. He was conferred an honorary doctorate by the University of Melbourne in 2013, and in 2014 was made a life fellow of the Australian Institute of Architects. He was conferred an Order of Australia in 2013. O'Neill died in 2022.Search records of this agent

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Given NameHughFamily NameO'Neill

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Source of DescriptionAustralian Institute of Architects, obituary fo Hugh O'Neill

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Member of OrganisationFaculty Of Architecture (University Of Melbourne)Australian Indonesian Association of VictoriaAustralian Volunteers International

University of Melbourne Archives

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O'Neill, Hugh