Councillors

The History Council is governed by a Committee of Management.  Committee members are elected from the History Council membership at the Annual General Meeting. The Committee comprises up to seventeen members; fifteen are elected by the corporate and individual membership and two are chosen by the Indigenous membership of the Council.

Committee 2023-24

President: Deborah Gare

Vice President: Michael Nind

Treasurer: Lorraine Clarke

Secretary: Sarah Fulford

Membership Secretary: Vacant

Committee: Shino Konishi, André Brett, Annemarie McLaren, Elizabeth Burns-Dans, Erica Boyne, Joseph Christensen, Lucy Hair, Paul Arthur, Paul Taucher, Rosinda Seara, Samantha Owen, Justin Owen, Sian Ferraz, Sue Lefroy, Toni Church, Vashti Fox

Executive Members

President: Deborah Gare (University of Notre Dame) is a Professor of History at The University of Notre Dame Australia in Fremantle. She is an author and editor of several leading works, including Fremantle: Empire, faith and conflict since 1829 (2016, with Shane Burke), Tom Stannage: History from the other side (2015, with Jenny Gregory) and Making Australian History: The politics of the past since 1788 (2008, with David Ritter). Her research interests are, broadly, Australian, Western Australian and Empire history. Notre Dame’s location in Fremantle has informed Deborah’s own research. In 2014 she published When War Came to Fremantle: 1899–1945 with Madison Lloyd-Jones, described by reviewers as ‘a gorgeous photographic and social history of the town of Fremantle and its interaction with different world conflicts’. Of the nineteenth century, Deborah is writing a biography of Mary Ann Friend (1800-39), an artist and writer who visited the Swan River Colony in 1830. The Friend journal was recently acquired by the State Library of Western Australia.

Treasurer - Lorraine Clarke (Friends of Battye Library) from Swan Genealogy, is a Professional Genealogist involved in researching and compiling family histories. She has worked as a researcher and coordinator on exhibitions such as the 150th anniversary of the arrival of Convicts in WA in conjunction with the Western Australian Genealogical Society Inc and Botanical Wonderland with Dr Lenore Layman in conjunction with State Library of Western Australia and WA Museum. She has published  books and databases on Western Australia History including East Perth Cemeteries, Outback Graves, and Australia’s Last Convicts. Lorraine has also recorded oral histories and conducted research into probates, family history and child abuse victims. Currently she is on the committee of Friends of Battye Library Inc.

Committee Members

Erica Boyne has a Bachelor of Arts in History and Political Science from University of Oregon, USA and a Master of Arts in Public History from Portland State University, USA. She moved to WA in 2010, where she has worked as a Grants and Community Development Officer at the Town of Mosman Park, and as a Curator at Subiaco Museum and the WA Museum. In February 2023, she was appointed Head of History at the WA Museum.

Dr André Brett is Lecturer of History at Curtin University. He is a historian of Australia and New Zealand, with an emphasis on political, economic, environmental, and transport themes. He is the author of four books and the recipient of numerous awards, including the 2021 Max Crawford Medal from the Australian Academy of the Humanities for early-career achievement in the humanities. The University of Melbourne conferred his PhD in 2014

Toni Church (Independent Member) is the Museum Curator and PhD candidate at the University of Notre Dame Australia. Her creative thesis broadly covers the representation of women in Australian museums and galleries, with a curatorial focus on reading the autonomy of the earliest European women who travelled to Western Australia. Toni’s museum experience covers curatorial, collections management and registration, travelling exhibitions, project management and exhibition development with the Western Australian Museum, National Anzac Centre, Sydney Living Museums and the Law Society of Western Australia.

Sian Ferraz is an experienced and highly committed heritage professional with over ten years’ experience in the state government heritage sector in Western Australia. Sian has held a variety of historian, heritage and conservation related roles during this time, and has acquired a broad understanding of the history and development of Western Australia through this lens.

Lucy Hair (Independent Member) is a Professional Historian with considerable experience working on commissioned history and heritage projects. She has worked for State Government, Local Government and as a private consultant. Most recently she was the Research Coordinator at the Centre for WA History, UWA and Local History Engagement Officer at the City of Fremantle. She has also been a Member of the Heritage Council’s Register Committee.

Shino Konishi (Indigenous Representative) FAHA is a Yawuru historian and associate professor in the Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences (ACU). She grew up in Broome and Perth and is passionate about WA’s Aboriginal history. Her research includes the recent book on Rottnest with Ann Curthoys and Alexandra Ludewig The Lives and Legacies of a Carceral Island (2023), and work on WA’s maritime and overland exploration, the Pinjarra massacre, and Indigenous labour in the railways.

Justin Owen (Independent Member) is an Architect who has worked in heritage architecture (on Grade 1 and 2 buildings both large scale and domestic) and heritage landscapes in the UK and Europe (also on heritage landscapes in WA). He is one of the staff at Curtin University’s School of Architecture looking at revision and re-framing of the History and Theory aspects of the course.

Samantha Owen (Independent Member) is a Lecturer in Humanities and Social Sciences in the School of Education at Curtin University. Previously she was a Lecturer in History at Curtin University. She is a historian who studies the (re)building of civil society post-1945, with a particular focus on Europe. Her research considers the relationship between nationalism and education. Samantha has a PhD in History (Reading U., UK), MA (History) (U. Pitt.) and BA Hons. (First Class, UWA) (History and Anthropology).

Former Councillors

Bruce Baskerville (Centre for WA History, University of Western Australia) is an independent public historian, a current UWA Honorary Research Fellow in Humanities and former History Council NSW office bearer (1998-2008).  His general research interests lie in the ways old institutions are transported, re-imagined and adapted in new realms, especially settler societies.  Particular interests include history for heritage purposes, cultural cleansing at heritage sites, reading landscapes, ruins, place-name histories, common lands, vice-regal history, heraldry, symbols of identity, forced migration, convict history, and LGBTIQ histories.  He holds an Honours degree in History from UWA and a PhD from the University of Sydney.

Nick Drew (Royal Western Australian Historical Society) Since leaving full time employment with Wesfarmers, Nick has served on various committees for the Royal Western Australian Historical Society being a Councillor, Assistant Treasurer , Convenor of the Affiliated Societies Committee, Co Convenor of the Book Sale Team and on the Tours & Events Committee. Nick is also Treasurer of the Friends of Battye Library, the Federation of Australian Historical Societies, Canberra and the WA History Foundation.

Kyra Edwards (Indigenous Representative) is a Nyikina and Bunuba woman who grew up in Derby, in the Kimberley area of Western Australia. She is the local history officer for the City of Stirling, based at the Mount Flora Regional Museum. Kyra works closely with the Museum curator, helping manage the museum collection and the city’s local history collection. Kyra is the president of the Oral History WA committee, treasurer and WA representative on the Oral History Australia committee and one of the Indigenous representatives on the History Council of Western Australia. She is currently completing a postgraduate certificate in museum studies. She is the recipient of a 2019 National Museum of Australia Encounter Fellowship, where she is working on developing a digital platform, to share the stories and history of the Mooro Nyoongar community between people locally and around the world.

Pam Harris (Fremantle History Society) has a degree in Social Sciences (with Distinction) majoring in Australian History and Politics and a Graduate Diploma in Information and Library Studies. Pam has worked in libraries for over twenty seven years, most recently as a librarian with the Heritage Council, the Supreme Court Law Library. She has recently retired after eleven years as History Librarian at the Fremantle City Library. Pam has also been actively involved with the Fremantle History Society during this period.

Jenny Gregory AM FRHS (University of Western Australia) is Emeritus Professor of History at UWA, where she taught and researched in the fields of history and heritage for many years. She was Director of UWA’s Centre for WA History, Head of the School of Humanities (2009-15), Chair of History (2007-08) and Director of UWA Press (1998–2006). Her research spans urban history and heritage. Her most recent publications are The Carceral Colony with Louis Marshall (2020), War and Emotions with Bobbie Oliver (2018), and A Man for All Seasons: Essays for Geoffrey Bolton with Stuart Macintyre and Lenore Layman (2017). Other major publications include City of Light: a history of Perth since the fifties, Claremont with Geoff Bolton, and Building a Tradition: a history of Scotch College, as well as the edited collections, Seeking Wisdom: a Centenary History of UWA with Jean Chetkovich (2013), and the Historical Encyclopedia of Western Australia with Jan Gothard (2009). She was inaugural President of the History Council of WA (2003–07 and 2016–20) and a board member of Australia Day WA (2011–18). She is currently a council member of the National Trust of Australia (WA) and a member of the Significant Trees Committee after years as President and Chair (1998–2010), a board member of the History Foundation of WA, and a member of the UWA Convocation Council.

Vanessa Kirkham (History Teachers Association of WA) is Senior School teacher of Modern History, years 8-12. She currently works at All Saints College and has been there since graduating from Murdoch University in 2014. Her previous career was in retail management and training for over 25 years. She has always had a love for History with Russian History and American History being her particular focus. She has also studied the learning curve of the British Expeditionary Forces in World War 1. She has served on the HTAWA committee for two years and enjoys interacting with her fellow teachers.

Bri McKenzie (she/her) (Independent Member) is a practising historian with interests in WA history and history teaching. Bri is currently a lecturer and major coordinator in History at Curtin University where she focuses on curriculum queering and queer pedagogy. Her research interests include WA midwifery history, gay and lesbian activist movements and radical feminist movements. She holds a doctorate in history.

Geoff Moor (Independent Member) is heritage officer at the City of Canning coordinating the local history service, the folk museum operated by local historical society, and the heritage service of the City. National Trust WA councilor and member Classifications Committee; on Motor Museum of WA board and member of various interest groups including the Royal WA Historical Society.  Personal pursuits include WA commercial history – particularly printing; vintage motoring and Western Australian memorabilia. 

Bobbie Oliver (Australian Society for the Study of Labour History) is Honorary Research Fellow in History at The University of Western Australia. Prior to her retirement in 2018, she was Associate Professor of History at Curtin University. Her recent publications include: Radical Perth, Militant Fremantle, co-edited by Charlie Fox and Lenore Layman (Black Swan Press, 2017, 2nd revised edition forthcoming from Interventions, 2019) and A Natural Battleground. The fight to establish a rail heritage centre at Western Australia's Midland Railway Workshops (Interventions, 2019). She is currently researching a history of Australian war resisters and conscientious objectors during the Vietnam War. Bobbie is an Executive Member of the Australian Society for the Study of Labour History, Perth Branch, and of the History Foundation of Western Australia, and co-convenor of the 16th National Biennial Labour History Conference, Perth, 2019.

Cindy Solonec (Indigenous Representative) is a Nigena (Nyikina) woman from the West Kimberley. She has written a social history for a general readership, based on her PhD thesis. The manuscript, ‘Debesa’, is currently with the publishers. Cindy’s research in social history illuminates the ways in which her father a Spanish migrant, in the absence of his heritage in the Kimberley, forged new networks among diverse groups especially Aboriginal peoples. Since 2000 she has worked in the higher education sector as both a general and academic staff at ECU, Curtin, Notre Dame and UWA. As a sessional staff, Cindy lectures and tutors at UWA addressing Aboriginal themes.

John Toohey (Independent Member) B.A Hons History, UWA, 1998, M.A Art History, Concordia University, Canada 2012, member of ICOMOS. Currently PhD Candidate in Art History at Concordia University, Canada, focusing on the Edwardian era British landscape photographs by Fred Judge. Published works include Captain Bligh's Portable Nightmare Duffy & Snellgrove 1998, republished 1999, 1998, 2019; articles in The Conversation on 'Montreal's Mysterious Monument', 'Organic Farming's Fascist Origins'; in Traces Magazine on African-American sailors in the early years of W.A's colonization and the Batchelder Studio, gold rush photographers; in Early Popular Visual Culture peer reviewed articles on William Friese-Greene and World War One photographic postcards of women. His particular interest is in photography and specifically the role vernacular or everyday photographs function as historical documents, but he has also written on the early exploration of the Australian coastline. He lived in Montreal for several years after ten years living and working in Istanbul. He is currently working on three photographic exhibitions in WA, which all have history or sociology as a central theme.