Oskar Hermann Khristian Spate (30 March 1911 – 29 May 2000) was a London-born geographer best known for his role in strengthening geography as a discipline in Australia and the Pacific.
It was during this period that many of Spate's characteristic personality traits revealed themselves: he studied both English as well as Geography, thus cementing a deeply humanistic tendency that would become obvious in his future thinking.
In 1944, he moved to the Inter-Service Topographical Department in New Delhi (and later Kandy, Sri Lanka) where he was a major in charge of the section of the office dealing with Burma.
However, Spate left England in 1951 to become the Foundation Professor of Geography in the Research School of Pacific (and Asian) Studies at the newly established Australian National University.
Spate's more humanistic tendencies made him uncomfortable with these trends and in 1967 he was appointed Director of the Research School of Pacific (and Asian) Studies, Australian National University, a more administrative position which allowed him to avoid entanglement in disciplinary debates.