The Prime Minister said children should know about former Labor prime minister Gough Whitlam as well as the Liberal Party's Robert Menzies.

"They should know about Howard Florey and Macfarlane Burnet and our other great medical research scientists," Mr Howard said in his fortnightly column for news agency AAP.

"I said in January, and I still believe, that in order for young Australians to be informed and active citizens, they must be taught the central currents of our nation's development.

"At the very least, schoolchildren in this country should have some knowledge of events which have shaped our nation."

Mr Howard is strongly backing a national summit to be held next month as an important step in restoring history courses to Australian schools.

The summit, revealed by The Australian, was convened by federal Education Minister Julie Bishop to bring together what she calls "the sensible centre of the history wars".

It will feature historians and commentators headed by former NSW premier Bob Carr.

Mr Howard said fewer than one in four secondary students took a history course and teaching the subject had become contentious and unfashionable.

He said he had received support from parents. "They want their children to know how Australia came to be settled, and be well informed about key events in our history," he said.

"They want their children to know about indigenous life before the arrival of Europeans.

"They want their children to know about Gallipoli and why we celebrate Anzac Day."

Mr Howard sparked the debate in an Australia Day speech in which he complained history in schools had been replaced by "a fragmented stew of themes and issues".

The Australian subsequently revealed that some state education systems no longer taught history as a separate subject.

The Government has since moved to press states into restoring history as a stand-alone school course.