The History Council of Victoria is pleased to welcome Professor Nell Musgrove as its new Chair. The outgoing Chair, Emeritus Professor Peter McPhee, will remain as an independent member of the HCV Board. 

Professor Musgrove is a specialist in Australian history, with a particular interest in the history of child welfare and carceral institutions. She has served as a member of the HCV Board since 2023 and has been especially engaged with the HCV’s history advocacy and outreach to secondary and tertiary history students. “Over the past few years serving on the Board, I have been inspired to see how the HCV promotes the value of history across many parts of the community and, as the incoming Chair, I look forward to helping to continue the organisations important work,”  

Professor McPhee joined the Board in 2019 and has served as Chair since March 2020. Under his leadership the HCV reoriented through the challenges of the COVID years and subsequently stabilised within a more challenging funding environment. Peter has brought immense energy and vital networks to support the HCV’s work in advocating for history and promoting the study and writing of history. Most recently, Peter visited Shepparton, Traralgon and Warrnambool with the HCV’s History Roadshow to meet with regional VCE students and lecture on the French Revolution. His long association with the Roadshow goes back to its earliest days, in the 1970s. 

“For me it has been an honour to chair the History Council, which brings together those institutions dedicated to the importance of historical literacy in a vigorous public culture and in enriching our personal understanding of our pasts, the present, and our possible futures”, said McPhee 

Katherine Sheedy, the HCV’s longest standing Board Member, having served on the board since 2005, said “Peter’s leadership has been inspiring and he leaves the organisation in a strong position after six years at the helm. He will be missed as chair, but I’m pleased Peter will remain on the Board. With a change of leadership comes an opportunity to steer the organisation in a new direction. I know that Nell will put her own stamp on things while building on the solid reputation of the History Council’s offerings in public engagement, education and advocacy.”