About the Council
The Federation of Australian Historical Societies (FAHS) was established in 1977, has eight constituent members, one in each state and territory, and is the national peak body representing the interests of about 1,200 historical societies and about 100,000 members throughout Australia.
Their members provide hundreds of thousands of hours of work to collect documents and images, research and publish history, present public lectures and exhibitions, protect and preserve built and place heritage, collect material objects and exhibit them in museums, and make an invaluable contribution to heritage tourism.
As described in its Constitution, FAHS communicates with government and public officials to inform them about issues affecting historical societies and museums, and to advocate the interests of historical societies and museums. FAHS also provides access to a variety of guides and training materials to assist historical societies.
A list of past presidents is available here.
Office-Bearers
President and Royal Historical Society of Victoria Delegate
Dr Rosalie Triolo PhD MEd BA DipEd OAM FRHSV
Rosalie writes and presents widely in History education and Australian history. For 13 years, she taught History in Victorian secondary schools before taking her knowledge, skills and convictions into other settings. She knows that historical content can provide fascinating study, career and leisure options; she believes also that it can inform present and future ways of living. For over 25 years at Monash University, Rosalie shared these thoughts and specialist practice with large cohorts of History student-teachers now working Australia-wide.
Rosalie served as President of the History Teachers’ Association of Victoria (6 years), Board member (further 24) and was awarded Life Membership (2005). In addition to being the Federation of Australian Historical Societies President (2024-), she is a Royal Historical Society of Victoria Councillor (2014-), former Vice-President (2022-24), former-Chair of its Historical Societies Support Committee (2022-24, still contributing) and a RHSV delegate to FAHS (2020-). She was the school History teaching representative on the Australian Historical Association Executive (2010-20), the secondary and tertiary History representative on the National Archives of Australia (Vic) Consultative Forum (2004-15), is Victoria’s representative with the Australian National Museum of Education (2015-) and is a member of many history and heritage organisations. She has received many awards, and more details can be found on the Monash University website.
Immediate Past President and Royal Australian Historical Society Delegate
Ms Christine Yeats FRAHS
Christine is an archivist and historical researcher with a strong interest in local and community history. Over her 35 year career with State Records NSW (now Museums of History NSW), Christine played a leading role in managing and enhancing access to the State’s archives. She continues to advocate for the importance of archives, historical literacy and the preservation of Australia’s documentary heritage through her roles in peak history and heritage organisations spanning many years and through her continuing engagement with key areas within the history and heritage sector.
Christine is the current Chair of the Jessie Street National Women’s Library Board, Senior Vice-President of the Royal Australian Historical Society (RAHS), Convenor of the Assessment Sub-Committee of the UNESCO Australian Memory of the World Committee, Chair of Independent Scholars Association of Australia (ISAA) NSW, a member of the Australian Dictionary of Biography NSW Working Party, the immediate past President of the FAHS and a past President of the ISAA National Committee. In addition Christine is the Review Editor of the Journal of the Royal Australian Historical Society and Editor of the ISAA National Newsletter.
In 2023, Christine was awarded a RAHS Fellowship in recognition of her contributions to advancing education in Australian history.
Senior Vice-President and Historical Society of the Northern Territory Delegate
Associate Professor Don Garden, OAM FFAHS FRHSV
Don is a former President of the Federation of Australian Historical Societies and of the Royal Historical Society of Victoria, former Co-Chair of GLAM Peak Australia and a former member of the Australian Heritage Council. He is Honorary Secretary of the Royal Society of Tasmania, a Council member of the Royal Societies of Australia, Honorary Secretary of the Amy Sherwin Fund, an Adjunct Associate Professor at James Cook University, a life member of the National Trust of Australia (Victoria) and of the Albany Historical Society, and a member of a number of other community history and heritage groups.
For many years Don taught History and Environmental History at the University of Melbourne. He has written seventeen books, a mixture of local and regional histories, biography, company history, an environmental history of Australia and the Pacific and a history of El Nino events in Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific.
Junior Vice-President and Royal Historical Society of Victoria Delegate
Ms Margaret Anderson FFAHS
Margaret is Director of the Old Treasury Building in Melbourne. She is a council member of the Royal Historical Society of Victoria and deputy chair of the History Council of Victoria. Margaret is also a member of the Brunswick Historical Society. For most of her career she has practised as a public historian in museums across Australia, although she also taught history and material culture studies at Monash University in the 1980s. Her publications and presentations include articles on women’s history, the history and demography of the family and the practice of public history.
Honorary Treasurer and History West: Royal Western Australian Historical Society Delegate
Mr Nick Drew
Nick fulfills the above roles for the Federation of Australian Historical Societies and History West: Royal Western Australian Historical Society while being a HW: RWAHS Councillor, Convenor of its Affiliated Societies Committee, its Assistant Treasurer, a member of both the Tours and Events and Building Maintenance committees and assistant in HW: RWAHS's History West Shop with sales of Western Australian books.
Nick is Treasurer also of each of the Friends of Battye Library, Perth, and the Western Australian History Foundation. He lives in Perth with his wife Dr Pamela Statham Drew.
Honorary Secretary and The Royal Historical Society of Queensland Delegate
Dr Ruth Kerr OAM PhD BA BLegal Studies DipLib Sc FRHSQ FFAHS
Ruth is a professional historian with special expertise in mining history, local and organisational history, and the history of railways. Ruth has served the Federation of Australian Historical Societies twice as President (2000-04 and 2012-14) and serves as above. She had a long career in the Queensland Public Service at the Queensland State Archives, Crown Law Office, the Parliamentary Library and Department of Mines and Energy, working in the area of Native Title in the Queensland State Government. She was the recipient of the Kerr Medal in 2013
Ruth is a former President of The Royal Historical Society of Queensland, and is currently its Honorary Secretary and Library Manager.
Canberra & District Historical Society Delegate
Mr Gary Kent LLB, BCom, Grad Dip Pub Law, Grad AICD
Gary was born in Melbourne and studied Commerce and Law at the University of Melbourne. He moved to Canberra in 1985 to pursue a career in the Australian Public Service including service as Chief of Staff to several Federal Ministers and company secretary of a major Commonwealth agency. He joined the Council of the Canberra & District Historical Society in 2023, of which he was elected a Vice President in 2025. He joined the Royal Historical Society of Victoria in 1981.
Gary has been a delegate to the Federation of Australian Historical Societies since 2025. He has served on the Council of the National Trust of Australia (ACT) since 2018, was its President from 2018-2025 and currently represents the Trust on the Australian Council of National Trusts. He served for nine years on the Committee of the Friends of the National Library of Australia, including five years as Chair. Gary is a keen genealogist and book collector, specialising in books, manuscripts and ephemera published in and about colonial Victoria. He is a co-author of a 2023 biography of Dr Arthur Andrews, the Albury historian, and co-editor of the forthcoming volume 6 in the series Australian Book Collectors.
Canberra & District Historical Society Delegate
Mr Nick Swain
Nick Swain has been a member of the Canberra & District Historical Society since 2007. He is a former President and currently its Secretary.
Nick has written and lectured extensively about the early history of the national capital, including co-authoring a book on one of Canberra’s oldest shopping centres – Manuka - and recently publishing another book about the impact of urban expansion on an historic area bordering Canberra. He actively promotes the protection and celebration of the heritage of his local area and is a long-time member of his local residents’ group. He has led successful efforts to nominate several places to the Australian Capital Territory Heritage Register.
Nick has been involved in a number of projects to enhance CDHS’s digital presence so that more of its collections can be more widely known and accessed. These projects include developing a new website with a Trove accessible catalogue of the CDHS collection, setting up the Canberra History Facebook page which now has over 5,000 followers, and arranging the digitising of thousands of historic photographs.
History Trust of South Australia Delegate
Julia Garnaut
With more than a decade of experience in South Australia’s GLAM sector, Julia has spent the past twelve years as Curator of History and Exhibitions for the City of Holdfast Bay, leading major collection and curatorial projects and diverse public programs that explore the rich history of South Australia’s coastline.
Julia’s practice is grounded in social justice and First Nations history, with truth‑telling and reconciliation central to her work. In 2019, Julia co-curated exhibition Tiati Wangkanthi Kumangka (Truth-Telling Together) alongside senior Kaurna elders, with the exhibition winning the National Award in 2020 from the Australian Museums and Galleries Association.
Previously Curator at the Burnie Regional Museum in Tasmania, Julia brings extensive experience working with volunteers, historical societies, galleries, and museums, along with a strong commitment to advocating for South Australia’s GLAM sector.
History Trust of South Australia/History Council of South Australia Delegate
Dr Lainie Anderson
Lainie Anderson is a writer and historian whose 35-year career spans journalism, public relations and historical fiction. She has worked at The Times in London, Melbourne’s Herald Sun, and was a columnist with Adelaide’s Sunday Mail for seventeen years. In 2016, Lainie won a Churchill Fellowship to investigate the significance of the 1919 Great Air Race from England to Australia, won by South Australians Sir Ross and Sir Keith Smith, with mechanics Wally Shiers and Jim Bennett, in Adelaide’s historic Vickers Vimy aircraft. She later helped to raise $7 million to relocate the aircraft at Adelaide Airport. Her debut novel Long Flight Home and an SBS TV documentary were inspired by the race and its legacy.
Lainie completed a PhD at the University of South Australia in 2024 on pioneering policewoman Kate Cocks, whose life has inspired Lainie’s novels, The Death of Dora Black and Murder on North Terrace. A member of the Board of Trustees of the History Trust of South Australia, Lainie is also Vice-President of the History Council of South Australia (HCSA), a member of the South Australia Regional Selection Committee for the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust, and was named HCSA's 2023 Emerging Historian of the Year.
Royal Australian Historical Society Delegate
Dr Mark St Leon BEc MB PhD CA
Mark is a retired university lecturer. Descended from the St Leons, one of Australia’s earliest circus families, he has pioneered the study of Australia’s circus and travelling show history, being the author of Circus: The Australian Story [Melbourne Books, 2011]. As Senior Finance Officer of the Australia Council (1983-1994), Mark was responsible for the financial oversight and development of arts organisations throughout Australia. While serving the Australia Council, he organised the first national conference of circus people, the Circus Summit, and established the Sydney Arts Management Advisory Group, now in its 34th year of operation.
Mark has served as a board member of the Sydney Film Festival (1985-91), the Swiss Australian Chamber of Commerce & Industry (1986-92) and the National Institute of Circus Arts (2001-03). He is currently a Vice-President of the Royal Australian Historical Society and has recently acted as historical and resource consultant for a major feature documentary, The Colleano Heart [WildBear Entertainment, 2025]. Mark’s website, The Penny Gaff, devoted to the history of Australia’s circus and travelling show people, can be accessed at: www.pennygaff.com.au.
The Royal Historical Society of Queensland Delegate
Mr Stephen Sheaffe AM BEc LLB LLM
Stephen is a retired barrister after 40 years in practice. He has written ten family history books, convened conferences on local history and has compiled local history books. He has written many history papers and has delivered lectures in Australia and overseas. He is a two-term president of The Royal Historical Society of Queensland and a former president of the National Trust.
History West: Royal Western Australian Historical Society Delegate
Mr Michael Nind
Michael is a Councillor with the History West: Royal Western Australian Historical Society and Vice President of The History Council of Western Australia. Involved with a number of other historical groups and committees, he began researching and writing Western Australian history in 1978, with particular interest in local history, transport history, frontier issues and the development of archives and historical research. Michael considers himself fortunate to have a working life in archives and record keeping.
Tasmanian Historical Research Association Delegate
Ms Caroline Homer
Caroline is President of the Tasmanian Historical Research Association and the Dover History Group. She is a Committee member of the Huon and Kingborough History and Museum Network, and represents the Federation of Australian Historical Societies on the Blue Shield Australia Committee. Formerly Manager of Access at the State Library and Archives Tasmania, and now retired, Caroline dedicates time to collecting, preserving, researching and promoting local and wider Tasmanian history. Caroline is also a keen sailor and kayaker and spends many hours on the water each week of the beautiful Port Esperance Bay.
Tasmanian Historical Research Association/Launceston Historical Society Delegate
Mr Bradley Wood
Bradley has been a Committee Member of Launceston Historical Society since 2018 and is a writer, historical researcher and partner in an education consultancy business that develops learning materials for libraries, museums, heritage sites and schools in Australia. He has worked on archaeological excavations in Sydney and in Tasmania, as well as in Ypres, Belgium. His article, “The Mysterious Journey of Captain Charles Bayley’s Cane”, was a finalist in the Forty South Van Diemen History Prize 2020-21 and was published in The Van Diemen Anthology 2021. Bradley is currently writing a biography of the life of Calcutta convict Henry Rice who led an expedition along the east coast of Van Diemen’s Land in 1820.