'On 21 September 2018 Emeritus Professor Eric Richards died suddenly of a heart attack while in London, aged seventy-eight. This was as sad as it was shocking for his family, colleagues and friends. It was hard to believe that a man of such fitness and vigour, both physical and intellectual, could leave us so unexpectedly. Eric will be remembered as one of the great Australian historians of the last fifty years and one of the great gentlemen of our profession.' (Introduction)