The RHSV Weston Bate Oration

Weston Bate (1924 – 2017) served on the Council of the Royal Historical Society of Victoria from 1990 – 2005, and was President from 1991 – 1997 and 2002 – 2005. While President, he visited historical societies most weeks, and led many excursions to regional Victoria. He inspired hundreds of historical societies to pursue history with more skill, passion and tenacity. He instigated History Week and the creation of curatorial advisers for historical societies. The RHSV celebrated the 50th anniversary of the publication of Weston Bate’s seminal work, Brighton, in November 2012 with a grand dinner at the Savage Club and a conference, the papers appearing in the Victorian Historical Journal, issue 279, June 2013.

Through donations, the RHSV has created the Weston Bate Fund which support the annual Royal Historical Society of Victoria Weston Bate Oration which was inaugurated in 2018 with a lecture by Stuart Macintyre. The oration will be delivered at the Society’s AGM each year. The fund will also support projects to increase the engagement of young people with history. (adapted from Richard Broome’s obituary of Weston Bate in The Age)