The Australian Society for Asian Humanities is the oldest academic society in Australasia dedicated to the study of Asia and to the promotion of "the knowledge of Asia in Australia by providing a meeting-place where scholars could present their work to their peers and to the community at large.
Davis as the Oriental Society of Australia, in its early years it was "open to subscribers across the country but the bulk of its members were in Sydney.
[4] The focus on Sydney ultimately resulted in the establishment of the Asian Studies Association of Australia (1975) and the New Zealand Asian Studies Society (1974) rather than a geographic expansion of OSA membership.
[8][9] Its fiftieth anniversary was marked by a conference entitled "World without Walls" held at The Women's College, University of Sydney, opened by Chancellor Kim Santow, and featuring keynotes i.a.
[10][11][12] The founding editor was Ian Nish and early contributors to the journal include Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis, Lo Hui-min, Wang Gungwu and F. H. van Naerssen while recent contributors include Meaghan Morris, Ghassan Hage, Tejaswini Niranjana and Imran bin Tajudeen.