 John Bradley Hirst FASSA (9 July 1942 – 3 February 2016) was an Australian historian and commentator. He has been described as an "historian, public intellectual, and active citizen". Born in Adelaide, Hirst attended Unley High School and undertook his undergraduate and postgraduate study at the University of Adelaide. Abandoning an early desire to become a Methodist Minister, in 1968 he was appointed a lecturer at Melbourne's new La Trobe University, where he remained until the end of his career. His wife and fellow-student Christine accompanied him to Melbourne. They had two children, Catherine and David. Hirst was subsequently head of department and Reader in History at La Trobe. He retired in 2006, and was an Emeritus Scholar at La Trobe until his death. Hirst had a distinguished career "in teaching, supervision and research. He developed new subjects and methodologies to teach them. In addition to those concerning Australian history there was his pioneering subject designed to inform students about Australia's European cultural heritage." This work was published as The Shortest History of Europe and has been translated into nine languages (Swedish, Greek, Chinese, Spanish, German, Portuguese, Russian, Turkish and Korean). Hirst was seconded to the University of Melbourne to edit Historical Studies, Australia's leading historical journal, from 1977 to 1980. In retirement, he travelled regularly to Sydney to instruct, without remuneration, groups of post-graduate students in thesis writing.
