1961. Once returning home, Murphy became an educator at Redcliffe State High School and then left this position in 1965. During his time at Redcliffe State High School, he worked at night doing furniture removals and at one point worked as a railway clerk. In addition to PE teaching, Murphy also taught mathematics and English. At 28 years old (1964) he joined the Australian Labor Party. In 1965 he was given the title of President of the Young Labor Association of Queensland and held this title until 1967. As he worked he went back to university and studied part time, completing a Bachelor of Arts and receiving his PhD in 1965 at the University of Queensland. Murphy's doctorate was an analysis of T.J. Ryan, former premier of Queensland, which received positive responses by the University of Queensland Press, they soon after published it. In 1966 he left his job as a PE teacher and took on a full-time position at the University of Queensland. Career In 1966, Denis Murphy began his career as a tertiary educator and worked at the University of Queensland (UQ) as a tutor in Australian History. Costar and Saunders note that Murphy acquired this position after "completing a masters' qualifying thesis on Queensland's state enterprises". Two years later, as Murphy became increasingly active in the Australian Labor Party (ALP), he subsequently joined the Queensland Central Executive. He was employed by the University of Queensland History Department until 1984. During his time there he published two biographies on Labor politicians as well as five books with which he edited and wrote in collaboration with other tertiary academics. Before his rise in politics, he was an academic historian and researched extensively in Australian History. After working as a tutor in history at UQ for 3 years, Murphy later rose to senior tutor and then in 1975 became a senior lecturer. Bradley Bowden attributes Murphy's rise to his heavy involvement in the Australian Labor Party as he received access to archives by the State Secretary at the time, Tom Burns. Murphy wrote a number of biographies including thirteen submissions to the Australian Dictionary of Biography of which he later became the chairman of in 1974. Whilst at UQ, Murphy oversaw an increase in learning opportunities within the history department as enrolments were raised 96 to 870 in 3 years by his efforts. This, however, had a negative impact on