Professional Historian Associations began forming in Australia from 1985. The Victorian body emerged in 1989 from a small group of Monash University Public History graduates meeting monthly with guest speakers. By 1991, this group formed a state-level Professional Historians Association and sought to support members seeking career paths as public historians independent of universities. In Tasmania, the Hobart Urban History Group formed into a Professional Historians Association in 1990.

Within a few years, all Australian states and territories had a PHA in some form. In 1996, the Australian Council of Professional Historian Associations convened from the state-level committees and began work on a National Standard for the Accreditation of Professional Historians in Australia. This was completed in December 1999. The resulting entity, Professional Historians Association, became the peak body for the profession.

In 2018, the PHAs in Victoria and Tasmania merged to become the Professional Historians Association (Vic & Tas) Inc. PHA (Vic & Tas) now represents over 220 historians across two states. We are dedicated to:

  • promoting the concept of professional history and the status of professional historians in the community;

  • maintaining and promoting a code of professional practice;

  • representing professional historians in contractual and employment matters;

  • maintaining a Register of Members;

  • advising members and prospective clients of acceptable standards of employment;

  • collecting and disseminating information of professional and general interest to members;

  • encouraging further professional development through seminars, workshops, and publications;

  • maintaining links with similar organisations.

The PHA (Vic & Tas) Rules of Association comply with the Associations Incorporation Act 1981 (Victoria).

Find out more about what Professional Historians do at our Employ Us page.

Want to know who our members are?   See our Find a Historian page.