Helen Doxford Harris is a professional genealogist and historian of more than twenty-five years standing.  Her interest in history was first developed when she commenced researching her family history. As a member of the Australian Institute of Genealogical Studies (AIGS) interested in cemeteries, she became supervisor of cemetery transcriptions; she also volunteered in the AIGS library. Subsequently she served on the AIGS governing Council, and as editor of the Society’s quarterly magazine The Genealogist. In 1985 she was made an Honorary Life Member of the organisation.

Through a personal connection with the area, Helen founded the Avoca and District Historical Society in 1984, and went on to serve as secretary, president and newsletter editor for a number of years. She was subsequently made an Honorary Life Member of the Society.

The discovery of the grave of a murdered constable in Melbourne General Cemetery led her to the Historical Unit of Victoria Police and to an involvement with the Victoria Police Historical Society. She served as secretary of the Society for many years, and gave regular lectures, on the usefulness of police records for genealogical research. It was through this connection with police records that she met her husband, Gary Presland, who was Manager of the Police Historical Unit at the time.  Together they wrote and published Cops and Robbers. A guide to researching 19^th century police and criminal records in Victoria (1990), which is acknowledged as the best resource on the subject. She was made an Honorary Life Member of the Victoria Police Historical Society in 2007.

Helen and Gary moved to Box Hill in 1993 and Helen was soon on the committee of the Box Hill Historical Society. She has served as both president and secretary of the Society, and continues as a regular volunteer in their Heritage Centre. She is also a volunteer with the Footscray Historical Society.

A member of the National Trust for over 20 years, Helen served as chairman of the Cemetery Advisories Committee for over 14 years, supplying much of the research notes used on the night-time tours conducted by the Trust. The funds raised from these tours were spent on restoring monuments within the cemetery.  In June 2011 the National Trust retrenched a number of senior historians, some of whom had given over 20 years service to the organisation, giving them only a few hours to clear their desks and depart.   Because of her commitment to ethical behaviour and standards, Helen, like a number of other historians, did not renew her membership of the organisation.  The Cemetery Advisories Committee has apparently been disbanded, as of September 2011,  but  the National Trust has neither bothered to advise the committee of this , or to thank them for their years of voluntary service, a poor reflection on the organisation.

Helen was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in 1993 for services to community history; and the inaugural Frances Brown Award for Excellence, awarded by VAFHO, in 2004, for outstanding service and contribution to Family History in Victoria.

She holds a Master of Arts (History) from Monash University. Her thesis, on a Victorian pioneering suffragist was published in 2009 as Helen Hart: ‘Founder of women’s suffrage in Australasia’.

She is a member of the Professional Historians Association.

In 2005 Helen was the first member of the Greens to be elected as a Councillor of the City of Whitehorse, and in 2009 was the first Greens Mayor of the city.  She joined ALGWA, the Australian Local Government Women’s Association, in 2005 and in 2010 was elected State secretary.  In 2011 she was co-opted as the National secretary.

Ministerial appointments:
Member of the Public Record Office Advisory Council (PRAC) from 1991-1993.
Member of the Historic Buildings Management Committee from 1994-1997.