In this edition of Informed Opinion, we sit down with two esteemed historians, Emeritus Professor Richard Broome and Dr Judith Smart to explore the role of history in education.
Professor Broome, a leading scholar in Australian and Indigenous history, brings decades of experience in historical research, teaching, and publishing. As President of the Royal Historical Society of Victoria (RHSV) and co-editor of the Victorian Historical Journal, he offers deep insights into the evolving landscape of historical scholarship. Dr Smart, a distinguished historian with expertise in women’s history and Australia’s wartime home front, has been instrumental in shaping historical discourse through her scholarship and contributions to the RHSV. Her extensive research on political activism and social change provides a unique perspective on the role of history in shaping informed citizens. Together, they discuss the importance of historical literacy in schools, the challenges of engaging students with the past, and the enduring relevance of the Victorian Historical Journal in preserving and interpreting Australian history.
Emeritus Professor Richard Broome AM taught Australian and Indigenous History at La Trobe University for over three decades. He is currently President of the RHSV and co-editor of the Victorian Historical Journal and was a former co-editor of Australian Historical Studies. He is the author of twenty books, including Aboriginal Australians. A history since 1788 (Allen & Unwin 5th ed., 2019) and the multi-prize-winnerAboriginal Victorians. A History since 1800 (Allen & Unwin, 2nd ed., 2024). He co-edited Analyzing Australian History, a 4 volume VCE text (Cambridge University Press, 2021). His latest co-authored book with the RHSV is The Story of Melbourne’s Lanes (2024).
Dr Judith Smart AM, FRHSV, PhD (History) Monash University 1992, taught at RMIT University for 30 years. She was elected a Fellow of the RHSV in 2012. She serves on the society’s council, is a member of its Heritage and Publications Committees, and co-edits the Victorian Historical Journal. She has served as deputy chair of the History Council of Victoria on which she represents the RHSV. Her publications focus on Australian women’s organisations, women and political protest, and the Australian home front during World War I, and she co-authored, with Marian Quartly, Respectable Radicals: A History of the National Council of Women of Australia, 1896–2006 (2015) and co-edited, with Shurlee Swain, The Encyclopedia of Women and Leadership in Twentieth-Century Australia, at http://www.womenaustralia.info/leaders/index.htm
