John Hirst (FASSA, FAHA) earned his doctorate from the University of Adelaide. A leading Australian historian, he is an Associate Professor at La Trobe University. His areas of research include colonial Australia and national identity. He is deputy chair of the Council of the National Museum of Australia and a Board Member of Film Australia. He has been active in the Republican movement.
He has also published other works of Australian history including Adelaide and the Country 1870-1917 (1973) and A Republican Manifesto (1994). In 2009 Hirst published The Shortest History of Europe.
