Denis Joseph Murphy (6 August 1936 – 21 June 1984) was an Australian Labor Party politician, historian and biographer. Born in Nambour, Queensland, Murphy was the youngest of nine children and went to an all boys Catholic school, St Joseph's Nudgee College. After graduating, he went on to study high school PE teaching and later became an educator at Redcliffe State High School. As Murphy worked he went back to university and completed his master's degree in Queensland's state enterprises in 1965 at the University of Queensland. In 1966 he left his job as a PE teacher and took on a full-time position at the University of Queensland. Before his rise in politics, he was an academic historian and researched extensively in Australian History.
In 1981 he was elected the President of the Queensland State Labor Party. In 1980, Murphy wrote Labor in Power, which received negative responses particularly from Bede Nairn, another Labor Party Historian, "attacked the book's uncritical discussions of Labor and its affiliated unions".
Legacy
After Murphy's death, a number of tributes were made to commemorate his life and the work that he did during his time as an historian and Labor Politician. The dedication was co-authored by a number of Murphy's former colleagues at the University of Queensland such as Kay Saunders, Murray Johnson and Brian Costar.