Noel G. Butlin AC (19 December 1921 - 2 April 1991) was an Australian economic historian, considered "one of the most outstanding Australian social scientists of his generation, and one of the major international figures in economic history."[1] He was long associated with the Australian National University, the library of which has an archives centre that bears his name.[2]
Butlin was born in Singleton, New South Wales on December 19, 1921.[3] His father was a railway porter.[3] His brother was Sydney James Butlin. Noel Butlin attended Maitland Boys’ High School and the University of Sydney.[3] He worked for Frank Lidgett McDougall, helping to prepare the Australian delegation for the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation conference in 1945.[3]
From 1946 to 1949, Butlin was lecturer in economic history at the University of Sydney.[3] In 1962, he became professor of economic history at the Australian National University.[3] He was professor of Australian Studies at Harvard University from 1979 to 1980.[3]
He became a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Social Sciences from 1956 and a corresponding fellow of the British Academy from 1976. The Economic History Society of Australia and New Zealand hold an annual lecture in his name.[2]
Butlin was appointed Companion of the Order of Australia in 1992.[4]
His posthumous 1993 book Economics and the Dreamtime: A Hypothetical History provides an economic history of Australia that covers pre-European Australia's economy, as well as indigenous society's contributions to early colonial Australia's history.[5][6]
He married Lilias Joan Lindsay, a social worker, in 1946.[3]
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