Policies

The HCV is committed to a culture of child safety and has adopted a Child Safe Policy to guide its activities that involve children. Click here to access the HCV's Child Safe Policy and Procedures as a PDF document.

Our Advocacy Policy can be accessed via the Advocacy Projects page.

Our Epidemic-Pandemic Policy and Procedure can be downloaded as a PDF.

Our Privacy Policy can read here, or downloaded as a PDF

Statement on a First Nations Voice to Parliament

The History Council of Victoria is the peak body for history in Victoria, comprising representatives from cultural and educational institutions and heritage bodies. The HCV advocates the importance of historical literacy in a well-educated citizenry. The study of the past and telling its stories are critical to our sense of belonging, to our communities and to our shared future. The history of all places and times is our concern, but we use our public programs and the Lynette Russell Award to highlight knowledge of First Peoples’ histories.  

As a body of institutional representatives across the fields of history, historical records, history teaching and heritage, the HCV notes the profound importance of the referendum concerning a First Peoples’ Voice to Parliament. Our engagement with the history of this land is the basis for our support for the aspirations in the Uluru Statement from the Heart and our view that First Peoples must be recognised in our Constitution. We acknowledge that First Peoples lands were seized without formal cession or treaty, and that survival despite often deliberate discrimination is a daily reminder of both extreme disadvantage and the strength of Indigenous cultures.

This response is supported by a majority of individual Board members but does not necessarily represent the views of all of the institutions they represent.

Publications - Annual Reports

The Annual Report for 2022-2023 was finalised in September 2023 and you can see earlier Annual Reports here: https://www.historycouncilvic.org.au/annual-reports

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.


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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.


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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.


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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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Support

Ways to support us:

Subscribe to our free newsletter: https://www.historycouncilvic.org.au/subscribe
Endorse the Value of History statement: https://www.historycouncilvic.org.au/endorse
Find us on socials: Twitter / Facebook / YouTube


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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