Professor Peter McPhee AM

Portrait of Professor Peter McPhee

Emeritus Professor Peter McPhee AM FASSA joined the History Council of Victoria in November 2019.

Peter was appointed to a Personal Chair in History at the University of Melbourne in 1993. He was President of the Academic Board in 2002-03, then appointed to the position of Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic) in 2003 before becoming the university's first Provost in 2007-09, with particular responsibility for the design and implementation of the university's new curriculum structures. He chaired the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority in 2007-09, and chaired the Board of Melbourne University Publishing in 2012-17. He continues to teach at the University of Melbourne and regularly speaks about history to school and community groups.

Peter has published widely on the history of modern France, most recently Robespierre: a Revolutionary Life (Yale University Press, 2012); Liberty or Death: the French Revolution (Yale University Press, 2016); and An Environmental History of France: Making the Landscape 1770-2020 (Bloomsbury 2024).

Peter is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Social Sciences. He was awarded a Centenary Medal for services to education in 2003 and became a Member of the Order of Australia in 2012.

He was appointed as Chair of the Board in March 2020.

About

The History Council of Victoria Incorporated (HCV) is the peak body for history in the Australian state of Victoria. Its vision is to connect Victorians with history and to inspire engagement with the past, their identity and the world today. The HCV champions the work of historians and the value of history. It recognises that history can be written about any place, any person, any period. The HCV advocates why history matters.

Events

Our calendar lists all upcoming public events arranged by the History Council of Victoria (HCV), plus events in Victoria, Australia, that are added by our Friends and Members.

If you are organising an event that relates to History, we encourage you to publicise it on our website.

Advocacy

As the peak body for history in Victoria, the History Council makes submissions on current issues. In doing this, the HCV Board is guided by its Advocacy Policy and by the Value of History, a statement developed co-operatively by the HCV and the History Councils of New South Wales, South Australia and Western Australia.

Prizes

Since 2015, the HCV has been pleased to sponsor the Years 9 and 10 category of the Historical Fiction Competition organised by the History Teachers' Association of Victoria.

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Summary

The HCV was formed as an advisory body in 2001 and incorporated in 2003. It comprises representatives from cultural and educational institutions and heritage bodies; history teachers and curriculum advisors; academic and professional historians; and local, Indigenous, community and specialist history organisations.

As the peak body for history, the HCV has both ‘outward-looking’ roles (including advocacy and representation to government and the wider community, consultation, community education, and networking with allied interest groups) and ‘inward-looking’ roles (including member support, information dissemination, and networking between members).

Credits

The History Council of Victoria acknowledges the State Library of Victoria and the Public Record Office Victoria for supply of the archival images that appear on this website.

We acknowledge the National Film and Sound Archive for the right to use of the video footage on the home page, titled "Melbourne: Life in Australia (1966)".

Image credits

Italian sailors on ship at Port Melbourne 1938, Argus Newspaper Collection of Photographs, State Library of Victoria
Chinese procession in Collins near Elizabeth Street 1901, Harvie & Sutcliffe, photographers, State Library of Victoria
People’s homes, Aboriginal station Coranderrk 1878, Fred Kruger Photographer, State Library of Victoria
Chinese nurses at Children’s Hospital under scholarship 1947, Argus Newspaper Collection of Photographs, State Library of Victoria
Ladies physical culture class VRI Melbourne c1931, Public Record Office Victoria VPRS 12903/P0001, 011/02
Melbourne Cup, Derby and Oaks Day, Flemington Racecourse 1936, Public Record Office Victoria VPRS 12903/P0001/4802, 372/30
Flinders Street viaduct at foot of Market Street with advertisement for McRobertson’s Chocolate on bridge, Public Record Office Victoria VPRS 12800/P0003, ADV 1342