Background Notes about the History of SAHANZ

SAHANZ stands for the Society of Architectural Historians: Australia and New Zealand. The society was founded in 1984 when the late David Saunders convened the inaugural conference in Adelaide. There have been annual conferences ever since.

[Before the foundation of SAHANZ, those interested in architectural history, and who wished to meet with kindred spirits, had to attach themselves to gatherings of related but not always directly relevant character, such as the international conservation organisation, ICOMOS].

Prior to 1990, those submitting papers and attending the SAHANZ conferences were based almost exclusively in Australia. From 1990 onwards, steps were taken to become a truly trans-Tasman organisation, by encouraging a greater New Zealand participation: this rapidly bore fruit, with the first SAHANZ conference in New Zealand occurring the following year in Christchurch. Since then the organisation has become increasingly international, with regular participation from those based outside both Australia and New Zealand.

Efforts have been made over the years to escape the predictable dominance of Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide and Canberra, as bases for the conferences. Excursions have been made to Brisbane, Perth, Tasmania and Darwin, as well as to Christchurch, Auckland and Wellington.

Over the last decade, the general flavour of the conferences has changed noticeably. The rising interest in both architectural theory and landscape history, as opposed to more traditional architectural history research, has been strongly expressed in the papers submitted for recent conferences.

A I NEALE. 16.9.99 [with amendments 7 March 2002]