Emily Sadka

Emily or Emma Sadka (1920 – 19 July 1968) was an Iraqi-Singaporean historian and researcher specialising in the Political History of the Malayan region, which she taught at the University of Malaya (Singapore) and in Australian universities.[3]

Emily Sadka
Born1920[1]
Singapore
Died19 July 1968 (aged 47)[2]
Perth, Western Australia
EducationBA, St Hilda's College
Ph.D, Australian National University
Alma materSt. Hilda's College, Oxford Australia National University
OccupationHistorian, academic
Known forResearch about Malaysia
RelativesSassoon Samuel Sadka (father)
Sarah Sadka (mother)
Moshe Sadka (great uncle)
AwardsBritish Malayan Queen's Scholarship
Carnegie Grant

Early life

Sadka was the eldest daughter of Sassoon Samuel Sadka and his wife, Sarah, Jews originating from Baghdad.[4] She was the grandniece of Moshe Sadka, the Chief Rabbi of Baghdad,[5] and the cousin of Singapore Chief Minister, David Marshall.[6]

She studied at the Raffles Girls' School from 1928 to 1935, then joined the special Scholarship Class at Raffles Institute, in 1935, at the age of 16. She was underage for the examination at that time and sat again the following year. In December 1937, it was announced that she had won the British Malayan Queen's Scholarship that provided pass to and back from England, together with the cost of education at Oxford, Cambridge, or any other university, for up to four years. She had been the first Jewish woman to have won this scholarship. Other winners were Lim Chong Eu (18) of the Penang Free School who would go on to become Chief Minister of Penang, Chin Kim Hong (19) of the King Edward VIII School in Taiping and Mohamed Ismail bin Mohamed Ali (19) of Victoria Institution in Selangor.[7][8] She read modern history at St. Hilda's College, Oxford where she obtained a B.A. (First Class Hons.) in History in 1941.[4][9]

She learnt Russian and the Scandinavian languages and in 1942, won a Carnegie Grant to carry out research in Soviet Administration in the former Czarist colonies of Central Asia. In 1946 she had attended the London County Council evening classes in literature and current events and gave a series of talks on the Soviet Union for the Marylebone Literary Institute. She had also served on the committee of the International Youth Centre in London. By September 1947, she was in Australia on break, her work on the subject was nearing completion, and she was planning the presentation of her Ph.D. thesis to take place in England in 1948.[9]

Career

University of Malaya

She joined the University of Malaya as Assistant Lecturer in August 1951.[10]

In June 1953, she was elected Secretary of the Malayan Historical Society (Singapore) under Professor Cyril Northcote Parkinson.[11]

Sieveking Expedition

In August 1953, the only woman in the team, Sadka, having resigned, left on an expedition headed by Acting Director of Museums Dr. G. de G. Sieveking, to investigate the ancient settlement of Kota Batu, a site at Johore Lama, up the Johore River, and probe the remains of two boats embedded in the river's banks.[12]

Pieces of 17th to 18th century Chinese pottery were found among the remains of one of the boats. A local in the area showed them a bowl of Siamese origin that had been found filled with gold coins. According to that owner the coins were subsequently melted down and the gold, sold.[13]

Besides Sadka and Sieveking, the expedition also comprised Dr. Paul Wheatley of the University of Malaya, Dr. C. A. Gibson-Hill of the Raffles Museum, Tony Beamish of Radio Malaya, M. W. F Tweedie of the Singapore Museum, Oswald Theseira of the F.M.S. Museum, Naval Commander-in-Chief (Far East Station) Vice Admiral Sir Charles Lambe, John Senior of the British Army, Wong Lin Ken, Clement Hon, Wang Gung Wu.[14]

The excavation made an important find. This was the first time that the use of masonry in Malay fortifications had been recorded. Of equal importance, the expedition's surveys allowed for more accurate orientation of the internal geography of that settlement. The remains of an ancient Chinese trading ship were also a result of the excavations there.[15]


Journal of Sir Hugh Low

Sadka believed that Hugh Low, third British resident at Perak, was "one of the greatest of Malaya's administrators," but noted that he had been neglected by writers of Malayan history, with only passing references made in the notes made by Swettenham and Winstedt. At that time his private papers could not be located and much of Perak's official records, and those of the Colonial Secretary's Office in Singapore had been destroyed during the Japanese Occupation of Malaya. The only thing, remaining at that time was the first volume of his handwritten journals, at that time kept at the Federal Secretariat in Kuala Lumpur [and now kept at the National Archives of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur], that spanned his first eight weeks in Perak (19 April to 15 June 1877). Sadka worked on deciphering, and transcribing and correcting the text of this manuscript. It was published, two years later, in 1955.[16]

Malayan historical materials in Australia

While carrying out research at the Australian National University, Sadka discovered that there was enough material in Canberra for students to use as a sound basis of Malayan history. She was, at that time, preparing a thesis on The Residential System of Government in the States of Malaya from 1874 to 1895.[17]

Graduate study at Australian National University

Sadka was awarded a research scholarship at the National Australian University in 1954.[17] She had been recruited by Jim Davidson as one of the Australian National University's first doctoral candidates. Her thesis was later revised and published as "The Protected Malay States 1874-1875." While living in the ANU's University House, she became a kind of 'moral muse' and confident for fellow-student and future Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke. [18] The degree was awarded in 1960.[19]

Victoria University (N.Z.)

Sadka began her teaching of Southeast Asian History in New Zealand as Assistant Lecturer at the Victoria University of Wellington. Sadka's undergraduate class in Southeast Asian history was considered innovative for 1958 New Zealand. Historian Anthony Reid (Academic), who had not previously studied history at school, became interested while at the University. He thereafter obtained a B.A. in Economics and History (1960) and M.A.in History (1961).[20]

Return to Australian National University

Jim Davison brought Emily Sadka back to his Pacific History Department at ANU in 1960 as a Research Fellow, promoted in 1962 to a tenured Fellowship after the resignation of John Bastin. In the 1960s she supervised a number of dissertations on Malaysian history.[21]

Early death

Emily Sadka died on 19 July 1968 in Perth, Western Australia,[22] the same year her revised thesis in book form, "The Protected Malay States, 1874-1895," was published.[23]

Three boxes of her handwritten drafts and extracts from various journals are kept at the National Library of Australia,[24] and at the Australian National University's Library.[25]

Bibliography
  • 1968: The protected Malay States, 1874-1895
  • 1964: "The Colonial Office and the Protected Malay States" [in Malayan and Indonesian studies : essays presented to Sir Richard Winstedt on his 85th birthday]
  • 1963: "Malaysia: The Political Background" [in The Political Economy of Independent Malaya: A Case-study in Development: 28-58]
  • 1962: "The State Councils in Perak and Selangor", 1877–1895 [in Papers on Malayan History: 89-119]
  • 1962: "Singapore and the Federation: Problems of Merger" [in Asian Survey 1(11):17–25]
  • 1960: The Residential System in the Protected Malay States, 1874-1895
  • 1957: "Constitutional Change in Malaya: A Historical Perspective" [in Australian Outlook, 2: 17-30]
  • 1955: The Journal of Sir Hugh Low, Perak, 1877

References
  1. "Sadka, Emily - Archives". Australian National University.
  2. Australia, Death Index, 1787-1985
  3. Silcock, Thomas H., and E. K. Fisk. The Political Economy of Independent Malaya; a Case-study in Development. Berkeley: U of California, 1963: xi. Print.
  4. "Review. The Protected Malay States: 1874-1895." The Journal of Asian Studies Vol 30 No. 1 (Nov.) (1970): 237. JSTOR. JSTOR. Web. 27 Apr. 2015. <https://www.jstor.org/stable/2942796>.
  5. "Queen gives honor to Chief Rabbi's Kin." The Jewish Transcript Seattle, Washington 11 March 1938: 8. Print.
  6. Tan, Kevin. Marshall of Singapore: A Biography. Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2008: 293. Print.
  7. "Miss Sadka S.S. Winner." The Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser (1884-1942) 17 December 1937: 3. Print; "Jewish Girl Wins Queen's Scholarship." The Straits Times [Singapore] 16 December 1937: 12. Print.
  8. "Royal Perth Hospital Emeritus Consultant Biographies." Royal Perth Hospital. Royal Perth Hospital, Western Australia, Government of Australia., n.d. Web. 27 April 2015.
  9. "S'pore Girl Studies Soviet System." The Singapore Free Press 10 September 1947: 8. Print.
  10. "University, gets 13 new teachers." The Straits Times [Singapore] 21 August 1951: 5. Print.
  11. "New historical society chiefs." The Straits Times [Singapore] 23 June 1953: 7. Print.
  12. "Seven sail to probe mystery of 'Kota Batu.' Woman will help dig among ruins." The Straits Times [Singapore] 11 August 1953: 20. Print.
  13. "Digging Up History – 300-year-old Fort Found in Johore Lama." The Straits Times [Singapore] 16 August 1953: 11. Print.
  14. "Digging up history." The Straits Times [Singapore], 16 August 1953: 11. Print; "Ming from the river's mud." The Straits Times [Singapore] 19 August 1953: 10. Print; "A short-lived kingdom disappears." The Straits Times [Singapore] 9 September 1953: 6. Print.
  15. "Secrets of an old fort bared." The Straits Times [Singapore] 10 September 1953: 6. Print.
  16. Sadka, Emily, ed. The Journal of Sir Hugh Low, Perak, 1877. [JMBRAS vol. 27. pt. 4.] Singapore 1955: 5. Print.
  17. "Singapore history." The Singapore Free Press [Singapore] 8 April 1957: 2. Print.
  18. Blanche d'Alpuget. Robert J. Hawke: a biography. Ringwood: Penguin Books, 1982: 70-1.
  19. Taylor, Karina. "Authority Records: Sadka, Emily." ANU | Archives Collection. Australian National University, 24 Oct. 2012. Web. 27 Apr. 2015. <http://archivescollection.anu.edu.au/index.php/sadka-emily>. ANU Library catalogue http://anulib.anu.edu.au/ (accessed 24 Oct 2012).
  20. Wade, Geoff, and Tana Li, eds. Anthony Reid and the Study of the Southeast Asian past. Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2012: 4. Print.
  21. Reid, Anthony, "Indonesian Studies at the Australian National University: Why So Late?" Review of Indonesian and Malaysian Affairs 43, no.1, 2009: 54-55
  22. "Deaths." The Straits Times [Singapore] 20 July 1968: 16. Print.
  23. Sadka, Emily. The Protected Malay States, 1874-1895. Kuala Lumpur: U of Malaya, 1968. Print.
  24. "Sadka, Emily: Papers, 1940-1958" (manuscript) | National Library of Australia. Papers, 1940-1958 [manuscript] | National Library of Australia
  25. Australian National University. Library and Sadka, Emma. Dr. Emma Sadka collection. Canberra, 1970.
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