Work by ACPHA delegates over the past year to advance the cause of
professional history at a national level included:

• Circa, the ACPHA national scholarly journal aimed at professional historians
  continues to be produced by PHA (Vic). The 3rd edition is planned for
  publication at the end of this year. As an added encouragement to submit
  articles, ACPHA will award a $500 prize for the best article in the 3rd edition.
• ACPHA continues to work on a Continuing Professional Development scheme.
  The PHA (Vic) trial scheme is expected to be reported on within the next few
  months. We plan to arrange some form of CPD activity in NSW next year, in
  conjunction with the AGM.
• Over the past year the public relations subcommittee (Pauline Curby, Geoff
  Speirs and the NSW alternate Virginia Macleod) has worked on defining a
  more effective PR strategy for ACPHA. The survey of members early in 2012
  showed that ACPHA and the PHAs are doing many things well, but members
  wanted better communication networks and a more proactive approach to promoting their work and the profession generally. The first step in achieving
  this was the introduction of a national quarterly eBulletin which will have input
  from ACPHA and all PHAs, focusing on news and events of interest to
  members and stakeholder groups around Australia. The first of these was sent
  to all members in early August.
• National conferences: The national conference held last year ran for two days and received much positive feedback. ACPHA supports the continuation of
  national conferences, although the only way we are probably able to run them
  is in conjunction with other organisations, thus spreading the administrative
  load. No plans have been made for the next conference.
• ACPHA made two submissions to the Federal government this year, in response
  to a call for public input and comment, in the areas of a National Cultural
  Policy (October 2011) and an Australian Heritage Strategy (June 2012)
• In July 2011 the Australian Historical Association (AHA) invited ACPHA to be
  represented on its Executive Committee. ACPHA has begun attending, on a
  trial basis.
• ACPHA updates the Scale of Fees annually in line with CPI figures; in
  September 2011 this resulted in a 3.6% increase. A detailed explanation of
  the scale of fees for the information of members and potential employers has
  been added as the third page of the scale of fees document and is also on the
  Business Resources page of the ACPHA website. The increase for this year
  (to be posted online soon) will be minimal.
• The 2012 ACPHA AGM was held in Perth on 31 August & 1 September.

Office Bearers 2012-2013

• President: Sonia Jennings (Vic)
• Vice President & Accreditation Secretary: Judy Nissen (Qld)
• Secretary: Geoff Speirs (SA)
• Treasurer: Dr Jennifer Weir (WA)
• Public Relations Officer: Pauline Curby (NSW)
• Minutes Secretary: Kathryn Evans (Tas)
• Webmaster: Alan Davis (NT)

The total membership of PHAs on 1 May 2012 stood at 432 (compared with 434
last year):

• NSW & ACT 110 (last year, 99)
• Northern Territory 13 (14)
• Queensland 70 (74)
• South Australia 41 (42)
• Tasmania 6 (14)
• Victoria 144 (144)
• Western Australia 48 (47)

As always, please feel free to raise national issues with me directly, or via PHA
(Qld) Management Committee members.

Judy Nissen
PHA (Qld) delegate
26 September 2012