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In January 1949, he graduated Bachelor of Arts (with highest honours) from the University of California
(Berkeley). That year he also became a member of Phi Beta Kappa, an American national scholastic fraternity,
election to which was a significant academic honour as less than one per cent of American graduands in a given
year were invited to membership. He obtained a Master of Arts in Geography in 1952 from the same University.
That same year, he received a scholarship from the Fulbright Educational Exchange Program for post-graduate
studies in Australia, first at the University of Adelaide and later at the Australian National University, where he
was admitted as a doctoral candidate researching the geography of Kangaroo Island. Although the scholarship was
for nine months, he stayed in Australia for seven years.
His first experience of the Northern Territory was in May–June 1953 as geomorphologist in an expedition from
the University of Adelaide billed as a ‘Biological Reconnaissance of Central Australia’. Places visited included
Alice Springs, Harts Range, Arltunga, Henbury Craters, Ayers Rock, Mt Olga, Mt Connor, Ernabella, Oodnadatta
and Maree.
Before his doctorate was completed, he became engaged in research at the Australian National University with
the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), from 1955 to 1958, focussing on
the historical geography of European settlement in Central and Northern Australia, and he spent a brief period in
Darwin while working on this project in 1957. This research resulted in two monographs on European settlement
in Queensland and the Northern Territory. On completion of the CSIRO research he continued his doctoral research
on his thesis, ‘The Regional Geography of Kangaroo Island, South Australia’, was awarded a Doctor of Philosophy
degree in 1960.
In 1959 he returned to the United States where he stayed for three years. The first six months of this period
were spent working on a US Navy missile base at Point Mugu in California, under contract from the University
of California (Riverside). This resulted in his monograph, Kwajalein Atoll: Geography and Facilities. During this
three-year period he lectured in geography at the University of California (Riverside) and at the San Diego State
College.
In 1962, Dr Bauer returned to Australia where he established the Geography Department of what is now James
Cook University of North Queensland in Townsville, Queensland. He married June Bousen from Toowoomba,
Queensland, on 1 December 1962.
In 1965 he returned to California after being offered a position at the California State College at Haywood,
where he remained for 10 years. During this period, he undertook visiting professorships at various universities
including: The University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska, in 1966; The University of Victoria, British Columbia,
Canada, in 1966 and 1969–1970, and Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand, in 1972.
Academic posts held throughout his career included: Teaching Fellow at the University of California (Berkeley),
1949–1955; Post-graduate studies and research at University of California (Berkeley), 1949–1952; Post-graduate
research at the Australian National University, 1952–1955, 1958; Lecturer in Geography at the University of
California (Riverside), 1960–1961; Associate Professor of Geography at the San Diego State College, 1961–
1962; Senior Lecturer in Geography at the University College of Townsville, 1962–1965; Associate Professor
of Geography at California State College, Hayward, 1965–1968, and; Professor at California State University,
Hayward, 1968–1974.
In 1974 he returned from California to Australia to the job of Field Director of the North Australia Research
Unit of the Australian National University in Darwin. The unit was formed in late 1972 but he did not take up
duties as its first Field Director until August 1974.
Dr Bauer was absent from Darwin during Cyclone Tracy at Christmas-time in 1974, but he returned soon after
to clean up and salvage his home and other buildings of the North Australia Research Unit that were damaged
by the Cyclone. The next seven years were spent managing the North Australia Research Unit and carrying out
research on the history of agriculture in Northern Australia. He was also a member of the Darwin Community
College Council, 1976–1979.
In 1981 he retired from the North Australia Research Unit and returned to Canberra as a Visiting Fellow in
the Department of Economic History, Research School of Social Sciences, at the Australian National University.
In this role he continued his research on agriculture in Northern Australia, focussing on early attempts to grow rice
and the role played by American capital in the Northern Territory pastoral industry.
Throughout his career, Bauer received several scholarships and grants, particularly for research work with the
University of California and the Australian National University. Major publications produced include: Kwajalein
Atoll: Geography and Facilities, US Navy, 1960; Historical Geography of White Settlement in Part of Northern
Australia, Part 2. The Katherine Region, CSIRO, 1964; and A Guide to Kangaroo Island, Government Printer,
Adelaide, 1953. Other published material included the CSIRO reports on the historical geographic surveys of parts
of the Northern Territory and numerous articles in international geographic journals. He was editor of the North
Australia Research Directory, 1974–1976, and editor of the North Australia Research Bulletin, 1977–1980.
Bauer and his wife, June, retired in Canberra at the end of 1983, and his interests included travel and reading.
Family information; Northern Territory Archives Service, Oral History Interview Transcript, NTRS 226—TS 495; Who’s Who in Australia,
1983.
GREG COLEMAN, Vol 3.
BAXTER, JULIET ELIZABETH: see SHIELDS, JULIET ELIZABETH
BEATON, FRANK (1903–1974), bush worker, labourer, Air Force serviceman and market gardener, and
BEATON, IRENE LOUISA (RENE) nee DENMAN (1908–1988), amateur horticulturist. Frank was born in