The Royal Australian Historical Society, formerly Australian Historical Society, is a voluntary organisation founded in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

in 1901Helen Doyle, "Royal Australian Historical Society" in Graeme Davison, John Hirst and Stuart Macintyre (eds) ''The Oxford Companion to Australian History'' (Oxford University Press, 2001) via Oxford Reference Online, Oxford University Press.(untitled news report)
''The Sydney Morning Herald'', 16 March 1901, p 7, via National Library of Australia, Historical newspaper collection (images and database online), ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (NSW: 1842–1954) Retrieved 5 September 2011. with Andrew Houison as founding president. Its goals are to encourage the study of and interest in

Australian history The history of Australia is the story of the land and peoples of the continent of Australia. Aboriginal Australians, People first arrived on the Australian mainland by sea from Maritime Southeast Asia between 50,000 and 65,000 years ago, and ...

. It has a membership throughout Australia and many of its activities and facilities are funded by contributions from its members and benefactors. The society is a constituent member of the

Federation of Australian Historical Societies The Federation of Australian Historical Societies (FAHS) is the peak body for historical societies throughout Australia.The Federation of Australian Historical Societieshome page Retrieved 24 August 2010.Cathy Pryor, "A force for the regions", ...

. It publishes the biannual

academic journal An academic journal or scholarly journal is a periodical publication in which scholarship relating to a particular academic discipline is published. Academic journals serve as permanent and transparent forums for the presentation, scrutiny, and d ...

''Journal of the Royal Australian Historical Society'' (''JRAHS''), which commenced as ''The Australian Historical Society Journal and Proceedings'' in 1901, which is the oldest historical journal in Australia, and a quarterly magazine called ''History: Magazine of the Royal Australian Historical Society''.

Purpose

The goals of the society are: *to encourage the study of Australian history and the preservation of Australian heritage *to promote the compilation of authentic records relating to Australia *to acquire, either by purchase, donation or otherwise, and preserve for the use of the society books, manuscripts, newspapers, prints, pictures and all such objects and materials (in any media) as may be considered by the Council to have a bearing on Australian history, and to establish, form, furnish and maintain a library *to promote interchange of information among members of the Society by lectures, readings, discussions, exhibitions of historical significance, tours, excursions and other appropriate means *to print, publish (in any media) and circulate such journals, periodicals, books and other literary or other undertakings as may seem conducive to any of the objects of the society

History

A public meeting in

Sydney Town Hall The Sydney Town Hall is a late 19th-century heritage-listed town hall building in the city of Sydney, the capital city of New South Wales, Australia, housing the chambers of the Lord Mayor of Sydney, council offices, and venues for meetings an ...

on 30 October 1900 resulted in a resolution that an "Australian Historical Society" would be formed, in order to collect and preserve records, prints, photographs, books and other material relating to the history of Australia. The inaugural meeting of the Australian Historical Society on 15 March 1901 was attended by about ten people. The first president was Andrew Houison, and the first patron

David Scott Mitchell David Scott Mitchell (19 March 1836 – 24 July 1907) was a collector of Australian books, founder and benefactor of the Mitchell Library, at the State Library of New South Wales, Sydney.G. D. Richardson,Mitchell, David Scott (1836–1907), ''A ...

(founder of the

Mitchell Library The Mitchell Library is a large public library and centre of the City Council public library system of Glasgow, Scotland. History The library, based in the Charing Cross district, was initially established in Ingram Street in 1877 following a ...

). Membership grew, and in 1918, the Society was granted the right to use the prefix "Royal". The society's first premises, History House, opened at 8 Young Street, Sydney, in 1941, which remained its home until the move to the new (and current) History House at 133 Macquarie Street in 1971.

A. G. L. Shaw Alan George Lewers Shaw (3 February 1916 – 5 April 2012) was an Australian historian and author of several text books and historiographies on Australian and Victorian history. He taught at the University of Melbourne and the University ...

served on the Council of the RAHS during the 1950s and 1960s.

Activities

The society undertakes a range of activities including lectures and workshops, functions, walks, talks, and visits on a wide variety of topics in Australian history. It holds an annual conference which addresses current historical issues in local history and heritage. The society also has a research library with an extensive collection of pictorial and text resources on all aspects of the

history of New South Wales The history of New South Wales refers to the history of the Australian state of New South Wales and the area's preceding Indigenous and British colonial societies. The Mungo Lake remains indicate occupation of parts of the New South Wales are ...

. In addition it administers grant schemes on behalf of the

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

government for the promotion of heritage and the writing and publication of local history.

Publications

The Society's journal is the oldest historical journal in Australia. ''

The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper ...

'' was an active supporter of the Society, and in December 1901 urged that the Society publish a journal, so that the work of the society could reach a wider audience. However, this was not taken up until March 1906, when the ''Journal and Proceedings'', "Volume 1 1901 Part 1", was first published in March 1906 with the standardised library title of "''Journal and proceedings'' (Australian Historical Society)". The first issue included a paper by Alfred Lee entitled "The Landing of Governor Phillip in Port Jackson". Volume 1 consisted of 12 parts which were published quarterly. Improvements in design and the addition of illustrations were introduced in Volumes II and IV (1917), and at the same time the editors announced a shift in editorial direction. Until then the journal had been publishing papers presented at the Society in the past, but from this point it was intended to publish more about the proceedings of the Society. This eventuated in the form of reports of excursions, answers to enquiries, and discussions about past published papers. Between 1918 and 1964, after the society had adopted the "Royal" prefix, its standardised title became "''Journal and proceedings'' / Royal Australian Historical Society".

was editor of the journal from 1954 to 1964, the first professionally trained historian to edit it. From the March issue of Volume 51 in 1965, the journal changed radically, increasing its size to about 400 pages, issued in four parts. At the same time it changed its name to ''Journal of the Royal Australian Historical Society'' (''JRAHS''). The journal was published quarterly until 1992, and since then has been published

biannual An anniversary is the date on which an event took place or an institution was founded in a previous year, and may also refer to the commemoration or celebration of that event. The word was first used for Catholic feasts to commemorate saint ...

ly. The

peer-reviewed Peer review is the evaluation of work by one or more people with similar competencies as the producers of the work (peers). It functions as a form of self-regulation by qualified members of a profession within the relevant field. Peer review ...

, biannual

containing original, previously unpublished scholarly articles and

book review __NOTOC__ A book review is a form of literary criticism in which a book is merely described (summary review) or analyzed based on content, style, and merit. A book review may be a primary source, opinion piece, summary review or scholarly revie ...

s and images. Past issues under their respective titles (1901–June 1918 and 1918–1964) are available online as scanned copies, and the ''Journal'' is available as an electronic resource via

Informit Pearson Education is a British-owned education publishing and assessment service to schools and corporations, as well for students directly. Pearson owns educational media brands including Addison–Wesley, Peachpit, Prentice Hall, eCollege, ...

since 2012. An index of all journals between 1901 and 1985 exists on

microform Microforms are scaled-down reproductions of documents, typically either films or paper, made for the purposes of transmission, storage, reading, and printing. Microform images are commonly reduced to about 4% or of the original document size. F ...

. The ''JRAHS'' has a

Green Open Access Self-archiving is the act of (the author's) depositing a free copy of an electronic document online in order to provide open access to it. The term usually refers to the self-archiving of peer-reviewed research journal and conference articles, as ...

policy, meaning that authors deposit a free copy of an

electronic document An electronic document is any electronic media content (other than computer programs or system files) that is intended to be used in either an electronic form or as printed output. Originally, any computer data were considered as something inter ...

online in order to provide open access to it. Its

ISO 4 ISO 4 (Information and documentation – Rules for the abbreviation of title words and titles of publications) is an international standard which defines a uniform system for the abbreviation of serial publication titles, i.e., titles of publica ...

abbreviation is ''J. R. Aust. Hist. Soc.''. The society also publishes the quarterly

magazine A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combinatio ...

, ''History'', subtitled ''Magazine of the Royal Australian Historical Society''. This grew from the society's newsletter, which began in March 1962 as a monthly supplement to the ''Journal'' and ''Proceedings''. Its magazine format and name commenced in October 1988. During the

COVID-19 pandemic in Australia The COVID-19 pandemic in Australia is part of the ongoing worldwide pandemic of the coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). The first confirmed case in Australia was identified on 25 Januar ...

, the June editions of both publications were made temporarily available to the general public online.

Presidents

The following persons have been president of the society: * 2022–present Iain Malcolm Stuart * 2021–2022 Carol Ann Liston * 2018–2021 Christine Isabel Yeats * 2014–2018 Carol Ann Liston * 2012–2014 Anne-Maree Harriet Cox Whitaker * 2011–2012 David Sulman Carment * 2003–2011 Robert Ian Jack * 2002 Carol Ann Liston * 1999–2001 Ruth Meredith Frappell * 1993–1998 Rosemary Diane Annable * 1988–1992 Carol Ann Liston * 1987 Robert Charles Lewis Irving * 1985–1986 John Michael Bennett * 1982–1984 Alice Hazel Kelso King * 1977–1981 Kenneth John Cable * 1970–1976

Rae Else-Mitchell Rae Else-Mitchell (20 September 191429 June 2006) was an Australian jurist, royal commissioner, historian and legal scholar. He was an active member and office bearer in a number of community organisations concerned with history, the arts, libra ...

* 1963–1969 Allan Ernest Bax * 1961–1962 Harold Arthur MacLeod Morgan * 1959–1960

Alexander Hugh Chisholm Alexander Hugh Chisholm Order of the British Empire, OBE Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales, FRZS (28 March 1890 — 10 July 1977) also known as Alec Chisholm, was a noted Australian naturalist, journalist, editing, newspaper editor, aut ...

* 1954–1958 Charles Herbert Currey * 1953 Karl Reginald Cramp * 1950–1952 James Keith Solling Houison * 1948–1949 George Mackaness * 1945–1947 Guy Drayson Blaxland * 1942–1944 Alfred Ernest Stephen * 1940–1941 John Alexander Ferguson * 1937–1939 Karl Reginald Cramp * 1934–1936

George Henry Abbott George Henry Abbott (1867–1942) was an Australian surgeon, President of the New South Wales branch of the British Medical Association, President of the Royal Australian Historical Society and a fellow of the University of Sydney Senate. Bio ...

* 1931–1933 Owen Esmond Friend * 1930 Harold Francis Joseph Norrie * 1928–1929 Karl Reginald Cramp * 1926–1927 James Henry Watson * 1923–1925 Aubrey Halloran * 1922 John Alexander Ferguson * 1921 Karl Reginald Cramp * 1920 Reginald James Black * 1919 Stephen Henry Smith * 1918 Hugh Wright * 1917 William Albert Braylesford Greaves * 1916 Walter Scott Campbell * 1915 Charles Trimby Burfitt * 1914 Charles Henry Bertie * 1912–1913 Frank Walker * 1911 James Dalgarno * 1910 William Henry Hazell Yarrington * 1909 James Henry Watson * 1908 Andrew Houison * 1907

Joseph Henry Maiden Joseph Henry Maiden (25 April 1859 – 16 November 1925) was a botanist who made a major contribution to knowledge of the Australian flora, especially the genus ''Eucalyptus''. This botanist is denoted by the author abbreviation when citing ...

* 1906 William James Günther * 1905

* 1904

Arthur Ashworth Aspinall The Reverend Arthur "Ashworth" Aspinall (23 June 1846 – 9 June 1929) was a co-founder and the first Principal of The Scots College, Bellevue Hill, Sydney, Australia. He was a Congregational and Presbyterian Minister, and a joint founder of the ...

* 1903 William Henry Hazell Yarrington * 1902

Norman Selfe Norman Selfe (9 December 1839 – 15 October 1911) was an Australian engineer, naval architect, inventor, urban planner and outspoken advocate of technical education. After emigrating to Sydney with his family from England as a boy he bec ...

* 1901 Andrew Houison

Footnotes

References

External links

* {{Authority control Organisations based in Australia with royal patronage Historical societies of Australia 1901 establishments in Australia History journals Publications established in 1901 Biannual journals History magazines Magazines established in 1988 Quarterly magazines published in Australia George Allen Mansfield buildings Magazines published in Sydney