John Dunmore

John Dunmore CNZM JP (6 August 1923 – 1 May 2023) was a French-born New Zealand academic, historian, author, playwright, and publisher.

He completed a PhD under historian J. C. Beaglehole at Victoria University of Wellington in 1962, studying the French contribution to the exploration of the Pacific Ocean in the 18th century.

He wrote two major biographies of La Pérouse, and translated and edited his journals (which he rediscovered after they had been misfiled in the French National Archives).

[4] His work was highly regarded by scholars as well as by the public: Dunmore wrote a variety of other books, including a series of thrillers under the pseudonym "Jason Calder".

In his capacity as professor of French, Dunmore was president of the New Zealand Federation des Alliances Francaises, a post he held for twenty years.

[4] Fellow Pacific scholars honoured him with a Festschrift: Cropp, Glynnis M; Noel R Watts; Roger D J Collins; K R Howe, eds.