Premier unveils 2009 History Awards Winners
Winners of the 2009 Premier’s History Awards - Anthony Hill, Robin Gerster, Janette Holcomb, Warwick Anderson, Caroline Ford, Premier Nathan Rees, David Bollen, Dylan Blowen, Rachel Landers and Michael Caulfield (keynote speaker).
Premier and Minister for the Arts Nathan Rees today unveiled the winners of the 2009 NSW Premier’s History Awards.
“It’s an honour to celebrate the NSW Premier’s History Awards in their 13th year,” Mr Rees said.
“New South Wales was the first State to sponsor annual awards recognising the work of our historians.
“I hope that with the encouragement of these awards, our writers, filmmakers and other students of the past will continue to explore and explain our history for future generations.”
Worth a total of $75,000, the awards were presented in five categories – Australian history, NSW community and regional history, general history, young people’s history and multi-media history.
Two History Fellowships were also awarded – the NSW Archival Research Fellowship and the NSW History Fellowship.
Mr Rees described this year’s History Awards winners as outstanding.
“A total of 182 entries were received across the five categories and the quality of entries was extremely high,” Mr Rees said.
“I congratulate all winners on their success and thank them for their contribution to our understanding of Australia and the world.”
The winners were announced during a presentation dinner at The Mint tonight. Film-maker Michael Caulfield, who produced the Logie Award winning ABC series Australians at War, delivered the 2009 History Awards Address.
The judges for the 2009 NSW Premier’s History Awards were Emeritus Professor Ros Pesman (Chair), Dr Margo Beasley, Dr Peter Cochrane, Dr Josephine May, Ms Mari Metzke and Dr David Roberts.
2009 NSW PREMIER’S HISTORY AWARDS WINNERS:
The Australian History Prize ($15,000): Robin Gerster (Brunswick, Vic) for Travels in Atomic Sunshine: Australia and the Occupation of Japan – which details what life was like for the 20,000 Australian volunteer servicemen and families stationed in Hiroshima after WW II.
The General History Prize ($15,000): Warwick Anderson (Surry Hills, NSW), for The Collectors of Lost Souls: Turning Kuru Scientists into Whitemen – an account of medical research into a deadly brain disease in Papua New Guinea.
The Multimedia History Prize ($15,000): Rachel Landers (Avalon Beach, NSW) and Dylan Blowen (Avalon Beach, NSW) for A Northern Town – a documentary film which explores the history of race relations in the NSW town of Kempsey as seen through the Indigenous and non-Indigenous residents of an Indigenous-owned aged care facility.
The NSW Community and Regional History Prize ($15,000): David Bollen (Goulburn, NSW) for Up on the Hill: a History of St Patrick’s College, Goulburn – as well as detailing the college’s 125-year history, it also explores the broader history of education and religion in Australia.
The Young People’s History Prize ($15,000): Anthony Hill (Yarralumla, ACT) for Captain Cook’s Apprentice.
Dr Caroline Ford (Petersham, NSW) was awarded the annual NSW Archival Research Fellowship, a $15,000 award which enables a NSW historian to make substantial use of the records collection of the State Records Authority of NSW to research an aspect of the State’s history. Dr Ford will write a history of Sydney’s relationship with its ocean foreshores, from the 1820s to the 1920s.
Dr Janette Holcomb (Manilla, NSW) was awarded the annual NSW History Fellowship, a $20,000 award which enables a NSW historian to research and produce a work on a subject of historical interest relating to NSW. Dr Holcomb will write a book-length history of the early merchant families of Sydney during the period 1788-1850.
Read the Judge's comments here
Read the full transcript of Michael Caulfield's speech here