Vale Emeritus Professor Reg Appleyard AM (1927-2025)
We are sad to report that Emeritus Professor Reginald Thomas (“Reg”) Appleyard passed away on 25 August.
Professor Appleyard was President of the Economic Society of Australia (WA) from 1972 to 1974 and was awarded the Austin Holmes Prize in 1992. He was appointed professor of economic history at UWA 1967, a position he held until 1992. His research included studies on immigration and economic history, including a paper titled “The Beginning: European Discovery and Early Settlement of Swan River, Western Australia” (1979).
During his time at UWA Professor Appleyard had many significant national and international advisory roles, including positions with CEDA, the OECD, UNESCO, the International Organization for Migration and the UNHCR. He was a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia and was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in 1999.
As well as having a distinguished academic career, Professor Appleyard made some significant contributions to public policy in Western Australia, for example chairing the influential 2006 independent review of options for bringing water to Perth from the Kimberley.
