Robin Allenby (Bob) Gollan was born on 8 December 1917 at Woodburn, New South Wales. He was educated at Wollongong High and Fort St Boys’ School, and undertook an honours degree in Arts at Sydney University in 1939. From 1940-1942 Gollan was a teacher for the NSW Department of Education and spent time as a navigator, Royal Australian Air Force, during World War II. He completed a Master of Arts thesis and his PhD in 1951, at the London School of Economics. From 1946-1952, Gollan lectured in History at Sydney Teachers' College. From January 1953 he was a Research Fellow in the History Department, Research School of Social Sciences at the Australian National University and later promoted to Fellow, Senior Fellow and Professorial Fellow. Gollan, with Eric Fry, was a founding member of the Australian Society for the Study of Labour History established in 1961 and the journal Labour History. From 1976-1982, he was Manning Clark Professor of Australian History, History Department, Faculty of Arts at ANU. Gollan died on 15 October 2007 in Canberra.