THE DEATH has occurred of writer, teacher and historian Emeritus Professor James Thomas Griffin - a person with a special interest in PNG.

He had a considerable influence around the time of independence in 1975, when he was professor of history at the University of Papua New Guinea.

After retirement, although Jim never really retired in any conventional sense of the word, he was made a professor emeritus of UPNG and became a frequent contributor to the Australian Dictionary of Biography, which includes his notable entries on Archbishop Daniel Mannix and John Wren.

Jim never eschewed controversy, in fact he welcomed it; viewing argument and debate and polemics as an essential part of understanding the human processes that underpin history. 

When one of the writers had much to do with him - in Bougainville in the early seventies - it was immediately clear that Jim the political scientist was at least as acute as Jim the historian.

Jim Griffin was born in Warrnambool, Victoria and died at his home in Canberra on Sunday at the age of 80.

He is survived by his widow Helga and children Justin, Gerald, Denis, Anthea, Cathleen and Gabrielle. A son James predeceased him.

The funeral service will be held on Friday 14 May at St Christopher’s Cathedral, Canberra Avenue, Forrest ACT, starting at 10am.

He will be buried at Warrnambool General Cemetery next Monday.