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The 2019 Victorian Community History Awards were announced at the Arts Centre as part of History Week October 2019. See below for a full list of winners and commendations.


Victorian Premier’s History Award

  • WINNER Avenue of Memories by Phil Roberts and the Arch of Victory/Avenue of Honour Committee 

Judges’ Special Prizes (two winners)

  • WINNER The Arsonist: A Mind on Fire by Chloe Hooper, published by Hamish Hamilton/Penguin
  • WINNER Blue Lake: Finding Dudley Flats and the West Melbourne Swamp by David Sornig, published by Scribe  

Collaborative Community Award winner and commendations

  • WINNER Mont Park to Springthorpe Heritage Project by the Springthorpe Heritage Group
  • The Stories of Drouin by the Committee for Drouin Inc
  • East Loddon Remembers Memorial by East Loddon P-12 college, East Loddon Historical Society and Loddon Shire
  • A History of the Broadford Paper Mill by Broadford and District Historical Society Inc
  • Heidelberg’s Busy Bee Signature Quilt 1895-96 by the Heidelberg Historical Society Inc

Local History Project Award winner and commendations

  • WINNER When Roads Were Tracks by Jill A’Vard and Armin Richter, Monbulk Historical Society Inc
  • At Home on the Hill: Stories of Pioneers in the First 30 Years of the Phillip Island Cemetery 1870-1900 by Pamela Rothfield
  • Searchable Database of Properties within the Old Shire of Phillip Island circa 1872 to 1900, Phillip Island and District Genealogical Society Inc
  • Gravel and Bitumen: The History of the Street Names of Bairnsdale by Anthony A. Meade
  • War Worn & Weary: The Convalescent Nurses of Osborne House Geelong 1917-1919 by Cheryl Scott and Margaret Phelan, Osborne Park Association Inc
  • Castlemaine Gold Diggings Map Historical & Modern Place Names by Clive E. Willman, Castlemaine Historical Society Inc

History Publication Award winner and commendations

  • WINNER The Blackburns: Private Lives, Public Ambition by Carolyn Rasmussen, published by Melbourne University Press
  • Gardens of the National Trust of Australia (Victoria) by Anne Vale, published by the National Trust of Australia (Victoria)
  • Mirka & Georges: A Culinary Affair by Lesley Harding and Kendrah Morgan, published by the Miegunyah Press 
  • The Boy From Brunswick: Leonard French, A Biography by Reg MacDonald, published by Australian Scholarly Publishing
  • The Football Solution: How Richmond’s Premiership Can Save Australia by George Megalogenis, published by Viking/Penguin
  • Her Majesty’s Theatre Melbourne: The Shows, The Stars, The Stories by Frank van Straten, published by Australian Scholarly Publishing

Local History – Small Publication Award winner and commendations

  • WINNER More Than Just Housing: The South Port Community Housing Group Story 1983-2018 by Beris Campbell, Janet Goodwin, Heather McKee and Helen Penrose, South Port Community Housing Group Inc
  • Victoria’s Earliest Potteries: Our Convict Era Potters by Gregory Hill
  • Not For Self But For All: A History of the Art Gallery of Ballarat Association by Anne Beggs-Sunter, Art Gallery of Ballarat
  • A Tribute to Those Who Served: Remembering WWI Service Personnel Who Are Buried or Memorialised in the Warragul Cemetery West Gippsland, West Gippsland Genealogical Society 
  • Shedding Light: The Murtoa Stick Shed Saga by Leigh Hammerton, Murtoa Stick Shed Enterprises

Cultural Diversity Award winner and commendations

  • WINNER La Nostra Storia: The Story of Italians in Ballarat by Jan McGuinness, Ballarat Italian Association
  • Building Bridges: From Latin American Stories to Victorian History by Latin Stories Australia and exhibition curators Yunuen Pérez and Antonio González 
  • A Second Chance: the Making of Yiddish Melbourne by Margaret Taft and Andrew Markus, published by Monash University Publishing
  • A Golden Age in Flemington: 10 Years of Active Aging 銀齡十年之旅, Moonee Valley Golden Age Women and editors Edith Chen and Colleen Taylor 

Multimedia Award winner and commendations

  • WINNER If These Walls Could Talk Ballarat Town Hall Audio Tour, City of Ballarat, Way Back When, Russell Goldsmith and Dimity Mapstone
  • Parkville Heritage Walks, Oral History Digitisation and App by the Parkville Association
  • What Courage Such a Thing Takes: The Life of Mary De Garis, Her Place Women’s Museum Australia
  • Carlo Catani Blog by Heather Arnold

Historical Interpretation Award winner and commendations

  • WINNER Carlo Catani: Visionary, Creator, Genius exhibition by CO. AS. IT Italian Historical Society
  • Sale Water Tower Museum, Peter and Ann Synan
  • Vale: Mourning, Remembrance and Spiritualism in Bendigo 1851-1901 exhibition by Emma Busowsky Cox, Dr David Waldron, David Cooney and Leigh McKinnon, Bendigo Art Gallery
  • untitled (seven monuments), a public art project by TarraWarra Museum of Art with Aunty Joy Murphy Wandin AO, Jonathan Jones and Tom Nicholson
  • Suburbia: The Familiar and Forgotten by Warren Kirk, published by Scribe

Oral History Award winner and commendations

  • WINNER Black Saturday: Not the End of the Story by Peg Fraser, published by Monash University Publishing
  • Sharing Our Stories: RASV Oral History Collection, Royal Agricultural Society of Victoria and Way Back When
  • Bungalows of St Albans by Joseph Ribarow, Community Research and Management Services
  • Along the Line: Caulfield to Oakleigh Rail Stories by Glen Eira Historical Society Inc

 

 

Flick through all shortlisted works here:

Victorian Community History Awards Shortlist  2019