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=Angus Ross (New Zealand Historian)=

Lieutenant Colonel Angus Ross, MC and bar, m.i.d., Aristeion Andreias,, was Professor of History at the University of Otago.

Ross joined the teaching faculty at Otago in 1934, after his master's thesis on Te Pūoho's raid was judged the best in New Zealand in its year. . His early publications promoted a more nationalist foreign policy for New Zealand. To many peoples' surprise, he volunteered for the war effort in 1940, seeing it as a "morally just" cause.

Ross fought as an officer in the 23 battalion in Greece and North Africa, where he was awarded the Military Cross and Bar, as well as the Greek Cross of Valour. On his return to New Zealand he wrote the battalion's history and remained active in the army for some time

He was appointed as Otago's Professor of History in 1964, and was active on the Vice-Chancellors' Committee and in university administration.

His PhD thesis was published as a book New Zealand Aspirations in the Pacific in the Nineteenth Century

As an Elder of the Dunedin Presbyterian Church, Ross wrote its Centenary History in 1960.

Ross retired in 1976, and remained in Dunedin for the rest of his life.

Personal Life
Angus Ross was born in 1911 on a farm near Otepopo, Otago to a "staunch Presbyterian" family of Scots and Irish settlers.

His aunt Frances Ross, the founding principal of Columba College, supported Angus and his cousin Tom Ross to pursue their secondary and tertiary education. They attended Waitaki Boys' High School and then the University of Otago.

In 1937 he married fellow-student Reda Mackenzie, a great-granddaughter of John Bryce. In 1940 they co-authored the section on the gold rushes in the official 1940 Centennial History of New Zealand. They had one son, Bruce Ross, later vice-Chancellor of Lincoln University and CEO of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry.

Reda died in 1949 while Ross was overseas. In 1951, he married Margot Wood (née Garrett, also an MA Otago graduate in history), and became step-father to her daughter Jocelyn Harris, later Professor of English Literature at the University of Otago.

Military Service
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Academic career
In 1933 the external British examiners judged him the best history student in New Zealand. His Master's thesis, a study of Te Pūoho's epic raid on southern Ngāi Tahu, "revealed an interest in Māori history that was generations ahead of its time". As part of his research, he followed Te Puoho's "astonishing journey" on foot, including crossing the Haast Pass many years before the current road was built.

Ross worked as assistant Lecturer in the History department from 1934 until 1940, gradually taking over more and more of the teaching responsibilities as Professor Elder's eyesight deteriorated.

After demobilisation, Ross studied for a PhD at King's College, Cambridge.

On his return to New Zealand, Ross wrote the official war history of his battalion, the 23rd. "The only person not in it".

Ross was appointed Professor of History at Otago University in 1964; his predecessor William Morrell became Professorial Fellow.

He published New Zealand's Aspirations in the Pacific in the Nineteenth Century in 1964, followed by a volume of essays New Zealand's Record in the Twentieth-Century Pacific in 1969.


 * Both works remain the standard authorities on their subject and helped create a wider awareness that "'the implications of our geographic and historical situation and of the dual racial origins of our people" necessitate our maintenance of a keen interest in the islands of the South Pacific'.

In the 1970s he published on New Zealand's external relations during the inter-war period.

Awards
The Military Cross was awarded in 194x, for reason. Ross gained the Bar in 194y for another reason. The Greek government awarded him the Aristeion Andreias Cross of Valour for his part in helping the King escape from occupied Greece.

Ross was appointed to the Order of the British Empire in 1979, "for services to historical research and education".

Legacy
The Angus Ross Prize is awarded annually by the Otago University Council, on the recommendation of the Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Humanities), to the best student in at least four 300-level History papers in the same year.

The Reda Ross Prize in History is offered to the best student in first year History at Otago.

Labour deputy Prime Minister Sir Michael Cullen credits Ross with bringing him to New Zealand; Ross hired him as a lecturer in 1971. On the other side of New Zealand's political divide, the National Party deputy Prime Minister Hugh Templeton credited Angus' teaching and support for securing him a Rhodes Scholarship.

Authored Books

 * 23 Battalion War History Branch, Department of Internal Affairs, Wellington (1959)


 * New Zealand's Aspirations in the Pacific in the Nineteenth Century Clarendon Press (1964)

Edited Books

 * New Zealand's Record in the Twentieth-Century Pacific (Auckland, 1969)

Selected articles and shorter works

 * Ross, A. (1976). They built in faith: A short history of Knox Church, 1860-1976. Dunedin: Crown Print.
 * Ross, Angus. "Frances Jane Ross". Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, first published 1996. Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand.