In Memory of Emeritus Professor Tony Johns: Remembering a Brilliant Mind and Beloved Mentor

Emeritus Professor Tony Johns was a towering figure in the humanities, whose scholarship shaped generations of students and colleagues across the world. His contribution set enduring standards of intellectual rigour and cultural understanding that continue to define the College of Asia and the Pacific today. He remained actively engaged with our community as a mentor, colleague, and friend, and he will be missed greatly  

Professor Helen Sullivan | ANU College of Asia and the Pacific Dean

Early in the evening of Sunday, 26 October 2025, friends and colleagues of Emeritus Professor Anthony (Tony) H. Johns AM received news of his passing, aged 97.

Tony was born in London in 1928 and was introduced to now-Southeast Asia during his compulsory military service, when he taught English to Malay recruits through the Army Education Service in Johor. A pioneer of Indonesian and Malaysian Studies in Australia, Tony’s fascination with the region would shape a lifetime devoted to scholarship, teaching, and cultural understanding. Intoxicated by this experience, he undertook a BA and a PhD in Malay Studies from the School of Oriental and Asian Studies in London, completing both in just 5 years from 1950-1954. Subsequently, he worked as an English teacher in Sumatra with the Ford Foundation. In Sumatra, Tony met his wife and lifetime colleague,  Yohanni.

Together with Yohanni, Tony arrived in Canberra in 1958 to begin a decades-long service to the study and teaching of Indonesian, Malay, and Arabic at ANU. Tony was initially recruited to teach Indonesian and Malay at Canberra University College, which soon became part of ANU. In 1963, Tony was appointed Professor of Indonesian and Malay Studies and later served several terms as Dean of the Faculty of Oriental (later Asian) Studies. In 1963, Tony and Yohanni established the Indonesian Language program at the ANU, the strong foundations of which have continued to produce many of Australia’s leading scholars, diplomats, public servants and business leaders in Australia-Indonesia relations ever since. Generations of scholars of Indonesia thrived under Tony’s kind mentorship and countless students were inspired by his passionate teaching. His engagement with traditional manuscripts of the archipelago reshaped our understanding of Indonesia’s place in the Islamic world, while his exploration of modern Indonesian literature helped Australians to relate to the emerging culture of our great neighbouring nation. 

By the late 1960s Tony, drawing on his deepening understanding of Arabic and Islamic studies, had established an Arabic studies program at ANU. As Greg Fealy noted earlier in 2025, “Over time, this program produced a succession of students who combined high-level vernacular Southeast Asian language skills with a command of Arabic,” students whose research remains highly influential in what was then a relatively new area of Islamic studies. Tony’s own research output was extraordinary. Over his career, he published more than 100 scholarly articles and chapters and authored 10 books, covering subjects from classical Malay texts and the history of Islamisation to Qur’anic exegesis, Southeast Asian mysticism, and comparative studies of prophets in Islam, Judaism and Christianity. His writings appeared in many leading international journals on Southeast Asia, Islamic studies, and comparative religion. As the senior academic in the field, Tony’s leadership laid the groundwork for the ANU expertise in Southeast Asian studies from the 1960s through to the present day. In the community, Tony was no less influential – he was a founding member of the Australia Indonesia Associations ACT Branch, and his service to this integral part of Canberra’s multicultural life was recognised this year at the Association’s Diamond Jubilee.

Tony’s approach to research and teaching underscored the inseparability of cultural understanding, historical inquiry, and language proficiency, an approach which continues to shape the teaching of Indonesian studies in CHL today. He retired from ANU in 1993 after 35 years of service and was conferred the title of Emeritus Professor. Even in retirement, Tony remained a fixture in the University’s intellectual life, mentoring postgraduate students and giving guest lectures on Islam and Southeast Asian studies.  Remarkably, well into his nineties he continued to research and write, working on a book manuscript on the medieval Persian theologian, philosopher, and jurist al-Ghazali — the culmination of many years of scholarship. His intellectual legacy is recognised in the ANU Indonesia Institute’ annual Tony and Yohanni Johns Lecture, which showcases groundbreaking work in Indonesian humanities. For the first time for some years, Tony and Yohanni were both in attendance at this year’s lecture. The lecture is supported by the Tony and Yohanni Johns Endowment was made possible by the generosity of Emeritus Professor Anthony Reid, as well as friends and family of Tony and Yohanni Johns – a testament to the deep esteem in which they are held. The 2025 lecture also represented the first opportunity for CHL’s current teachers of Indonesian language, Dr Jarrah Sastrawan and Dr Elly Kent, to express their gratitude for Tony and Yohanni’s pioneering role in establishing the program which they now teach.