The Professional Historians Association National Conference is a fantastic opportunity to network and engage with other professional historians and people committed to promoting public history. Read about upcoming and past conferences below.
2025 Conference | Save the Date
Professional Historians Association National Conference
25–26 October 2025
Darwin | Larrakia Country
Save the date for the next national PHA conference which will be heading up north to Darwin – Larrakia Country. Join us for a weekend of thought-provoking discussions and collegiate fun as we share our work and experiences in the northern-most capital city of Australia. A call for papers will be released soon with the conference theme and more details to come. Stay tuned!
2023 Conference | Other Histories: Other Audiences
Professional Historians Association National Conference
16–17 August 2023
State Library of South Australia
Other Histories: Other Audiences will showcase the diversity of work undertaken by professional historians. We will explore the challenges we face when practicing history in a range of settings from public and private spheres to every level of government, in education institutions, the GLAMR sector (galleries, libraries, archives, museums and record-keeping institutions) and as sole traders and consultants. Join us for an exciting weekend of discourse, discussion and inspiration.
Keynote speaker: Professor Philip Payton – ‘Writing South Australia: Lessons from Near and Far’
Learn more about the 2023 Conference
2018 Conference | Marking Time
Professional Historians Association National Conference
30–31 August 2018
State Library of New South Wales
Professional historians record the history of places with direct connections to the public: in parks, on monuments, at exhibitions, in archives and publications. 2018 was the culmination of the four-year long commemoration of World War I, and therefore a fitting time to reflect on the challenges we face as professional historians interpreting sites, places and events that become surrounded by myth and emotion. The conference explored the changing ways we mark time and interpret events through traditional and new media in the 21st century.
Keynote speaker: Bruce Scates
Bruce Scates is an Associate Professor in the School of History, University of NSW, and a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia. His publications include Return to Gallipoli, A New Australia, The Cambridge History of the Shrine of Remembrance and Women and the Great War (co-authored with Raelene Frances). The last of these won the NSW Premier’s History Award.