diff --git a/docs/conf.py b/docs/conf.py
index 11517ada25..0337c1e6b6 100644
--- a/docs/conf.py
+++ b/docs/conf.py
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@
 import sys
 import os
 
+
 # on_rtd is whether we are on readthedocs.org, this line of code grabbed from docs.readthedocs.org
 on_rtd = os.environ.get('READTHEDOCS', None) == 'True'
 
@@ -26,7 +27,16 @@ if not on_rtd:  # only import and set the theme if we're building docs locally
 # If extensions (or modules to document with autodoc) are in another directory,
 # add these directories to sys.path here. If the directory is relative to the
 # documentation root, use os.path.abspath to make it absolute, like shown here.
-#sys.path.insert(0, os.path.abspath('.'))
+sys.path.insert(0, os.path.abspath('..'))
+
+# Autodoc may need to import some models modules which require django settings
+# be configured
+from django.conf import settings
+
+if not settings.configured:
+    from wagtail.tests.settings import SETTINGS
+    settings.configure(**SETTINGS)
+
 
 # -- General configuration ------------------------------------------------
 
@@ -36,7 +46,9 @@ if not on_rtd:  # only import and set the theme if we're building docs locally
 # Add any Sphinx extension module names here, as strings. They can be
 # extensions coming with Sphinx (named 'sphinx.ext.*') or your custom
 # ones.
-extensions = []
+extensions = [
+    'sphinx.ext.autodoc',
+]
 
 # Add any paths that contain templates here, relative to this directory.
 templates_path = ['_templates']