Australasian Society for Historical Archaeology
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The Australasian Society for Historical Archaeology (ASHA) was originally founded as the Australian Society for Historical Archaeology in 1970 by Judy Brimingham, then a lecturer at the University of Sydney. Its aims were, and still are, to promote the study of historical archaeology in Australia.
Initially ASHA published a Newsletter which was important in conveying relevant news and information (often research finding). In 1983 the Society began publishing the Australian Journal of Historical Archaeology under the editorship of Graham Connah. This provided the only venue for publishing the results of historical archaeological research in Australia. As`such it has an important role in making the results of research available and in encouraging discussion on the theory and methods of historical archaeology.
In 1991 the Society was extended to include New Zealand and the Asia-Pacific region generally, and its name was changed to the Australasian Society for Historical Archaeology.
In the mid-1990s the Society's committee moved from being Sydney based to being a more Australasian wide committee (Neville Ritchie, the then President lived in New Zealand) reflecting the growth of historical archaeology in the region.
The Society's activities include public lectures and an annual conference with papers presented by national and international speakers. It promotes the exchange of information and reference material relating to historical archaeology both in Australia and overseas.
It publishes the ASHA Newsletter and the journal Australasian Historical Archaeology, which are distributed free of charge to members of the Society, as well as the Occasional Papers series and monographs
