Addressing the decline of academic history in Australia

Australian Historical Association conferences are usually a time of celebration -and with good reason.Most of us have just filed results after a semester of teaching culminating in a marking frenzy, and the opportunity for a change of scenery away from the daily grind comes as a relief.We switch our minds to intellectual exchange, and savour stimulating presentations from colleagues.We celebrate high achievers through the regular schedule of prizes presented at the conference dinner, renew established friendships, and make new ones.But we cannot just pretend that all is well.Without wishing to induce despair, which is of little use in any case, we need to bell the cat.Notwithstanding the quality work produced by members of our discipline, and cognisant of the bright young faces that evidence a never-ending flow of new and emerging talent, we are a discipline in decline.We need to acknowledge this, face up to it, and do what we can to reverse what is now a well-established trend.This forum was initiated as something of a conversation starter -a way to share awareness and develop a wider understanding of the problem, and to begin the process of developing strategies to turn the situation around.In 2017 Paul Sendziuk and I surveyed every History grouping in Australia and New Zealand and gathered comprehensive data about staff numbers, types of appointment, gender and seniority, and student numbers. 1 As far as we could tell from the relatively imprecise previous counts, staff numbers had held reasonably steady since about 2000, and History was making good progress -and far better progress than most other humanities disciplines -in evening out its historic gender disparities. 2 The report we produced from the survey was not exactly awash with good news, but it did have its bright spots.It also gave the Australian Historical Association and Heads of History, who had commissioned the report, a firm baseline against which to measure future developments in the discipline.