Previously known as Department of History and Political Science.

Historian John Anthony Moses was born in Atherton, Queensland, on 10 June 1930. He completed a Bachelor of Arts degree (1960) and Master of Arts degree (1963) at the University of Queensland before moving to Germany where he completed his Doctor of Philosophy (1965) at the University of Erlangen. After returning to Australia he was appointed as a Tutor in the Department of History at the University of Queensland, where he remained for three decades. He held numerous positions, including Lecturer, Senior Lecturer and Reader. He served as Head of the Department of History from 1986 to 1989. He retired in 1995, though was an Honorary Research Consultant in the Department of History until 1997. He published works on German and trade union history and was editor of The Australian Journal of Politics and History.

Gordon Greenwood (17 Sep 1913 - 4 Nov 1986) was appointed the McCaughey Professor of History at the University of Queensland in 1949. Over the next thirty years he greatly expanded the size and reputation of the History department. He published many texts, and was involved in a range of institutes and organisations over the course of his career. He established the Australian Journal of Politics and History in 1955 and served as the editor until 1982. He was a member of the University Senate from 1953 to 1983. He retired from teaching in 1982 and was made Professor Emeritus in 1983. In 1989 the University of Queensland posthumously dedicated the Gordon Greenwood building in his honour. Helen Derrick is his daughter, and has posthumously published some of Greenwood's manuscripts.