The School's research effort goes back about fifty years. The quantity of resource material gathered in that time is very considerable, very diverse and in many cases unique. The School is particularly distinguished in the field of Classics and Ancient History , UNE being one of a small number of universities in Australia where such scholarship continues to flourish. Members play a leading part in the Australian Society for Classical Studies and produce the journal Antichthon . The School also participates in the Australian Archaeological Institute in Athens Visiting Professor scheme and visits by international scholars, under this and other arrangements, are frequent.
Australian History is also an area of unusual excellence.
The School is also currently the home of the Journal of Australian Colonial History , edited by Norma Townsend. Since the early 1970s members of the School have also taken the lead, within Australia, in the research and writing of South Asian history. Howard Brasted has served as the journal's Chief Editor throughout this period, during which South Asia has established an international reputation as one of the three leading research journals in the world in the field of South Asian studies. Denis Wright is currently the creator and custodian of SouthAsiaNet , the internet linkage of South Asia scholars in Australia and abroad. Various aspects of European history, medieval, early modern and modern, have also been the subject of recent publications.