Rate My Professor Judy Bennett

Emeritus Professor Judy Bennett is a distinguished historian at the University of Otago's Department of History. She obtained her PhD in History from the Australian National University in 1980, with a thesis on the economic history of the Solomon Islands. Her primary research interests encompass Pacific history, environmental history, and the historical relationships between Australasia and the Pacific Islands. Bennett's scholarly work examines themes such as colonial resource management, wartime impacts on Pacific societies, and the cultural and economic significance of commodities like coconuts.

Throughout her career, she has contributed significantly to the field through editorial and advisory roles. She served as co-editor and remains a board member of The Journal of Pacific History, and is on the editorial board of Pacific Affairs. Bennett assesses grant applications for the Australian Research Council and referees manuscripts for journals including Agricultural History, Pacific Studies, and Global Environmental Politics. She is a board member of the Pacific History Association, a member of the Forest History Society, and affiliated with the University of Otago's Centre for Research on Colonial Culture. As lead investigator, she directed two Marsden-funded projects: "Mothers' darlings of the South Pacific" (2010-2012), co-led with Associate Professor Angela Wanhalla, which produced the 2016 book Mothers' Darlings of the South Pacific published by the University of Hawaii Press and University of Otago Press; and "Constant coconuts" (2015-2017), exploring the history of coconuts in the Pacific. Her extensive publication record includes books such as Wealth of the Solomons: A History of a Pacific Archipelago, 1800-1978 (1987), Pacific Forest: A History of Resource Control and Contest in the Solomon Islands, c.1800-1997 (2000), Natives and Exotics: World War II and Environment in the Southern Pacific (2009), Oceanian Journeys and Sojourns: Home Thoughts Abroad (edited, 2015), and Mothers' Darlings of the South Pacific (co-edited, 2016). Recent peer-reviewed articles feature "Growing coconut palms in the Pacific Islands: Colliding knowledge and values" (Environment & History, 2022), "Fluid frontiers and uncertain geographies: US controls on immigration from the Pacific, c.1880-1950" (Journal of Pacific History, 2021), "World War II and the Pacific" (Cambridge History of the Pacific Ocean, 2023), and "Tonga’s monarchy and the country’s coconut industry, c.1945 to Independence" (Journal of Pacific History, 2025).