Having worked during World War II for the Royal Navy as a translator of Japanese, Davis studied Chinese at the University of Cambridge 1946–1948, graduating with First Class Honours.
According to Rafe de Crespigny, "At the time of his appointment he was the youngest professor in Australia, and the head of the oldest department of Asian studies.
"[1] The founder of the Oriental Society of Australia (1956) and the editor of the Journal of the Oriental Society of Australia after the return of Ian Nish to the United Kingdom, Davis also authored scholarly studies of Tao Yuanming and Du Fu, edited an anthology of modern Japanese poetry, and translated the autobiography of Mitsuharu Kaneko.
[2][3] Along with Liu Ts'un-yan at ANU, Davis substantially "shaped the tenor and direction of research into Chinese literature and studies [in Australia] for the next twenty-five years.
[6] An obituary by John Manning Ward called Davis "a fine scholar, sensitive, imaginative and exceptionally learned.