Structure and Committee
Under its constitution, the Federation has eight members, each of which is the major historical society or organisation in an Australian state or territory, and most of which in turn have affiliated historical societies within their state. In all, there are about 1,000 historical societies in Australia under the umbrella of the Federation.
Each constituent member is entitled to two Delegates to represent it on the FAHS.
The Executive, consisting of the President, Senior Vice-President, Vice-President, Honorary Secretary and Honoray Treasurer, is elected biennially at the Annual General Meeting.
The President, Hon. Secretary and Hon. Treasurer are not counted as Delegates, but must be members of one of the eight constituent organisations.
The FAHS employs a part-time Executive Officer, who also functions as the Public Officer.
 |
 |
 |
Assoc Prof Don Garden (RHSV)
FAHS President
Associate Professor Don Garden is an environmental historian who now works as a consultant historian after teaching at the University of Melbourne for many years. He holds honorary positions at the University of Melbourne and is a Council Member of the Royal Historical Society of Victoria and a member of the Kew (Victoria) Historical Society.
|
 |
|

|
 |
 |
Emeritus Professor David Carment (RAHS)
FAHS Senior Vice-President and RAHS Delegate
David Carment, AM, BA (Hons) UNSW, PhD ANU, FACE, FFAHS is an Emeritus Professor of History at Charles Darwin University. He is the President of the Royal Australian Historical Society, the Council of which he joined in 2008. He rejoined the Committee of the Federation of Australian Historical Societies, of which he is a former Vice-President and Honorary Secretary, in 2008. He is also an Executive Committee Member of the History Council of New South Wales and a current and former office bearer in numerous other history and heritage organisations. His publications cover Australian federal political history, Central Queensland history, Northern Territory history, cultural heritage management and family history.
|
 |
|

|
 |
 |
Esther Davies (CDHS)
FAHS Vice-President and CDHS Delegate
Esther Davies is a retired history teacher and former President of both the Canberra and District Historical Society and the ACT History Teachers' Association. She currently works part-time as a school archivist.
|
 |
|

|
 |
 |
Dr Ruth Kerr (RHSQ)
FAHS Hon. Secretary
Dr Ruth Kerr is an experienced historian in mining, regional, economic and company history, having written several books on these subjects. Ruth has worked in the area of native title, been an archivist at Queensland State Archives and is currently in Strategic Policy in Primary Industries and Fisheries in Department of Employment, Economic Development and Innovation. Ruth is a long term member of the Royal Historical Society of Queensland Council (first female president,1992-1995), an Adjunct Professor of History at University of Queensland, member, past President of Professional Historians Association (Queensland), past President of the FAHS (and Committee member since 1986), and a member of several historical societies. |
 |
|

|
 |
 |
Nick Drew (RWAHS)
FAHS Hon. Treasurer
Since leaving full time employment with Wesfarmers, Nick is now on various committees for the Royal Western Australian Historical Society being a Councilor, Tours & Events, Promotions & Marketing and the Affiliated Societies.
Nick is also Treasurer of the Friends of Battye Library, Perth and the History Council of WA
|
 |
 |
Margaret Anderson (HTSA)
HTSA Delegate
Margaret Anderson is Director of the History Trust of South Australia, a position she has held since 2000. In a career spanning 30 years she has worked as a public historian in museums in Western Australia and South Australia and taught history and Australian Studies at Monash University. Her research interests have focused on women’s history and demography, but she has also written more generally about South Australian history and the practice of public history.
|
 |
|

|
 |
 |
Colin Beard (HSNT)
HSNT Delegate
Colin is a Scientist-Engineer (Surveyor, Hydrographer, Mining Inspector and Hydrologist) as well as an ICT Professional (Analyst/Programmer and award-winning Systems Architect). Parallel to this career he also served 15 years with the Scout Association of Australia (Scout Leader and NT Branch Commissioner) and 16 years as a Director on the Board of a major Australian Credit Union.
Colin is a 4th generation Territorian from two Territory pioneer families who came to Darwin (1893) and Daly River (1911). He has travelled extensively across the Territory and has visited most historical and heritage sites. He has been a member of the Historical Society of the Northern Territory and the National Trust of Australia (Northern Territory) for more than 20 years.
|
 |
|

|
 |
 |
Dr Helen Henderson
Immediate Past President of FAHS and RWAHS Delegate
Prior to her retirement twelve years ago, Helen was a Senior Researcher in Epidemiology in the Health Department of Western Australia.
She has a PhD in Anthropology. She was elected to the Council of the Royal
Western Australian Historical Society in 1996 and became Vice-Chairman in 2001, a position which she still holds. She has been actively involved
for varying periods in: the History Council of Western Australia; the Historical Records Rescue Consortium; Museums Australia (WA); and
the FAHS, of which she has served as Vice-President and President. Helen and her husband, Bill, are currently preparing a biographical account of the life and scientific
contribution of Augustus Oldfield (1821-1887) who was an important botanical collector in
Australia in the mid-nineteenth century. |
 |
|

|
 |
 |
Dr Ian Jack (RAHS)
RAHS Delegate
Ian Jack is Senior Fellow at St Andrew’s College in the University of Sydney and President of the Royal Australian Historical Society. He has retired from the Department of History in that university, where he was a co-founder of Historical Archaeology in 1974. His six-year stint on the Heritage Council of NSW ended in 2005. He is author of Exploring the Hawkesbury; co-author of Australian Pioneer Technology, Industrial Archaeology in Australia, Regional Histories of New South Wales and Australia’s Age of Iron: History and Archaeology; and many articles on heritage and local history.
|
 |
Andrew Lemon (RHSV)
RHSV Delegate
|
 |
 |
Hon. Robert Nicholson (RWAHS)
RWAHS Delegate
Bob Nicholson has spent his life in the law.
After six years as foundation Secretary-General of the Law Council of
Australia, he returned to private legal practice in Perth. In 1986 he was
appointed to the Commonwealth Administrative Appeals Tribunal. In 1988 he
became a justice of the Supreme Court of Western Australia. In 1995 he
became a member of the Federal Court of Australia. After reaching the
compulsory retirement age in 2007 he became President of the Royal Western
Australian Historical Society and now continues on the Council as Past
President. In addition to articles on the law, he has published several
papers on issues of historical moment concerning the law.
|
 |
Dr. Alan Roberts (CDHS)
CDHS Delegate
|
 |
Stephen Sheaffe (RHSQ)
RHSQ Delegate
A barrister, former president of the Royal Historical Society of Queensland, former member of the RHSQ Council and holder of many executive positions on the Council. Currently the president of the Queensland National Trust and the Queensland representative on the Australian Council of National Trusts.
|
 |
 |
Adjunct Professor Judith Smart (RHSV)
RHSV Delegate
Judith Smart is a historian of the Australian homefront during World War I and of Australian women's organisations and activism. She is a past editor of Australian Historical Studies and the Victorian Historical Journal. She is currently working on a history of the National Council of Women of Australia 1931–2006. She holds honorary positions at the University of Melbourne and RMIT University and is a Council Member of the RHSV and vice-president of the History Council of Victoria.
|
 |
|

|
 |
 |
Dr Dianne Snowden (THRA)
THRA Delegate
Dr. Snowden is a professional historian and genealogist based in Richmond, Tasmania, and has served on the Tasmanian Heritage Council including as Interim Chair. She has extensive involvement in a range of volunteer organisations such as the Association for Children with Disability, the Tasmanian Historical Research Association and is currently vice-president of the Coal River Valley Historical Society. She is a Board Member of the National Trust (Tasmania), the Female Factory Historic Site and a member of the State Library of Tasmanian Advisory Board. Since 2008, she has been a member of the National Archives of Australia Advisory Council.
|
 |
 |
John Davies
Executive Officer
John Davies is retired from the Australian Public Service, where he was an Information Technology Officer. He has been working for the FAHS part-time since 2006.
|
|