The history of the Australian Music Therapy Association

History of the Australian Music Therapy Association The Australian Music Therapy Association (AMTA™) was established at the first music therapy conference in Australia, held in Glebe, Sydney in 1975. The conference was organised by Ruth Bright, and she had drafted a Constitution for AMTA™, which was provisionally approved on Saturday August 2nd 1975.  It came into effect at the 2nd music therapy conference one year later. Prior to the establishment of AMTA™ a number of significant events had laid the path for the development of music therapy in Australia. These events can be divided into two periods – 1903-1950, and 1950-1975 and you can read more about that here. During this time many pioneers initiated music therapy in different parts of Australia, and in the early 1970s plans were underway to establish a professional organization, and Australian music therapy training. The first course in music therapy was developed at the University of Melbourne between 1974-1978. Dr Percy Jones and Mr Max Cooke were instrumental in getting the course approved through the University’s committees and the first students began in 1978. The course was a 4-year undergraduate degree, with subjects in music therapy introduced in years 3 and 4. The inaugural group of students went on to play major roles in music therapy:  Dianne Allison, Helen Shoemark and Alison Short all served as Presidents of AMTA; Renate Marek was the first music therapist to work in the Northern Territory, and Veronica Cosgriff relocated to Norway where she practised music therapy for many years. A course in music for therapy was developed at Frankston State College from 1978-1983.  The course was designed as an enrichment course for teachers, and several graduates met the requirements for certification and developed careers in music therapy, including Richard Thompson, Jeanette Milford and Dot Newland. The course was initiated by the late Jim Ogden who had trained in the US. The 4-year undergraduate degree at the University of Queensland was established in 1990. Moya Evans provided sessional lectures, then in 1993 Dr Jane Edwards was appointed the inaugural lecturer in music therapy. Graduate diplomas in music therapy were established at the University of Technology, Sydney (1994) and Dr Alison Short was appointed inaugural lecturer to that course. Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy had created a privately-run Creative Music Therapy course at Dural, NSW (1994), but gained affiliation with the University of Western Sydney in 2002. Enid Rowe was instrumental in the early years of that course. Mr Robin Howat came to Australia from England in 1993 and made a major contribution to the training course now at UWS. Later, in 1996, the National Registration and Education Board (now the Education Committee) chaired by Dr Jane Edwards undertook a substantial overhaul of the education documents, and validation of training courses was implemented in 1996. All four universities up-graded the graduate diploma courses to Master’s coursework degrees (2005-2006), and the University of Melbourne and the University of Queensland offer Masters research and PhD programs. Ethics committee An ethics committee was established with the task of producing a Code of Ethical Behaviour for all members of the Association.  This first Code of Ethics was produced in 1978,which included guidelines for professional conduct, standards of practice, research ethics, procedures for enforcement on the Code and avenues of appeal. The Code of Ethics revised in 1992, and again in 2001. Continuing Professional Development In 2004, the membership of AMTA™ voted to implement Continuing Professional Development (CPD) as a requirement for ongoing registration.  This process was implemented in January 2005.

Read more about the history of the Australian Music Therapy Association here.