John Melville-Jones, AM (In Memoriam)

In Memoriam: Emeritus Professor John Melville-Jones (AM)

Emeritus Professor John Melville-Jones (AM) was a long-serving member of the UWA Academic community. He joined UWA in 1957 as a Lecturer in Classics and Ancient History. At the time of his retirement in 2012, he had achieved the title of Winthrop Professor in Classics and Ancient History. 

Over the course of his career, he established a reputation as one of the preeminent numismatists in the world, with his Dictionary of Greek and Roman Coins (1990), and three volumes of Testimonia Numaria (1993, 2023) being particularly noteworthy. In addition to this main body of work, he was an active translator of Byzantine and Italian (Venetian) texts from the Middle Ages and Renaissance, including an important translation of the Capture of Thessaloniki by the Bishop Eustathius, published in 1988 in the Byzantina Australiensia series. Moreover, throughout his career he was an active teacher, teaching (amongst other things) Latin and Greek languages and Greek and Roman Art and Archaeology. 

John has also been a distinguished servant of the University in the local community. He was for many years the organizer of the WA chapter of the Friends of the Australian Archaeological Institute of Athens and forged strong connections with the Hellenic community in Perth. He was also a regular contributor to the Roman Archaeology Group from its inception.  

Until late last year, at age 92, John still continued to make contributions to the discipline of Classics and Ancient History and to the School of Humanities. In recent years, John has donated a number of antiquities to the School of Humanities, including some small Greek vases, and a collection of Roman coins. These have since formed the basis of a teaching collection used in a number of CLAN-coded units. He has also donated money over several years to be used for catering purposes for the School’s prize giving ceremonies. Until infirmity overcame him, John was a constant attendee and contributor to the weekly research seminars for Classics and Ancient History, where he continued to mentor emerging students and researchers. 

John Melville-Jones distinction has been noted by several institutions and learned societies in Australia and the United Kingdom. 

He was honored as a:

• Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities, 
• Fellow of the Royal Numismatics Society, 
• Member of the Order of Australia,
• Recipient of an Honorary Doctorate (DLitt) from Macquarie University.