WINNER

Vandemonians: The Repressed History of Colonial Victoria 

Written by Janet McCalman.

This lively history corrects misconceptions that there was little convict presence in early colonial Victoria. Janet McCalman recovers the lives of 200 convicts transported to Van Diemen’s Land between 1820 and 1851 who were brought across Bass Strait to the newer colonial settlement of Port Phillip (Victoria). She documents the enduring effects of their impoverished circumstances, of their conviction in Britain and Ireland, and of their transportation to Van Diemen’s Land. She evaluates their impact on Victorian society.

Telling poignant and personal stories with wit and irony, Vandemonians is more than a collective biography. Faced with the difficulty of tracing, through scant records, the lives of hundreds of individuals transported to Van Diemen’s Land, McCalman turned to prosopography, a research strategy focussing on the common characteristics of the group of people as a means of explicating the relationships and activities in the subjects’ lives.

The book is also a fine product of the time and effort volunteered by an indefatigable group of family historians (named in the Acknowledgements) who compiled the dataset drawn on by the talented author. This year’s Victorian Premier’s History Award winner shows how the research and the writing of history, and not just its reading in armchairs and libraries, can be a collective enterprise.

Winner

About Corayo: A Thematic History of Greater Geelong

By David Rowe

Corayo is a municipal thematic history prepared for the City of Greater Geelong to better understand the history and heritage of the city and its wider municipal area. A thematic history is a standard tool used in heritage assessment at the local government level. While About Corayo follows the standard ‘thematic’ structure, it is also a work of significant detail not typically seen in local government heritage studies. It is based on detailed historical research and wide consultation with community members and organisations. About Corayo includes a rich archive of historical maps and images, which are integrated throughout. It also recognises and integrates the history and heritage of the Wadawurrung people, the Traditional Owners of the area. While such a rich and detailed work is beyond the resources of many municipalities, clear benefits arise from its meticulous research, from its comprehensive rather than diluted explanations of the various historical developments, and from its well-grounded contextual understanding of those developments. This outstanding work sets a new bar for municipal thematic histories in Victoria.

WINNER

Queerways

Luciano and Georgia Keats (supported by the Australian Queer Archives)

Queerways combines heritage and story-telling in self-guided walks that capture hidden history in the City of Yarra. Discussing tangible and intangible heritage, the project illuminates and contests mainstream narratives. Queerways charts milestone locations in the history of the city’s LBGTQI+ community, acknowledging that this history is a long one.  The project is comprehensive and attractively packaged, with excellent design and navigation, and with a range of voices included. The facility for the general public to add further suggestions of sites of significance makes the project inclusive to all and allows participation and pathways to more knowledge.

WINNER

‘Report to the City of Moreland on the Place Name “Moreland”’

James Lesh

This six-week project is an exemplary response to an unusual local government brief. By attending explicitly to the evidence, both local and international, and by clearly addressing the requirements of the brief, James Lesh retrieves forgotten pasts and overlooked conceptions underpinning claims about ‘heritage’. This report is a model of ‘applied history’. Lesh reveals heritage in all its complexity. By recovering, without condescension, forgotten contexts for a past naming decision, Lesh has re-enabled a community to make its own decision.

WINNER

Heritage Making and Migrant Subjects in the Deindustrialising Region of the Latrobe Valley

Alexandra Dellios

This fine case study reflects how migrant groups recover their histories of immigration and settlement. Alexandra Dellios examines the community of Morwell in the Latrobe Valley, where local industry has experienced significant change. Dellios demonstrates how a focus on re-constructing personal and familial experiences of migrant labour helps us understand community heritage and industrial history. Dellios focuses on the Gippsland Immigration Park, her example of local migrant involvement in community. Dellios widens our views of multiculturalism.  The book uses pictures, text and statuary at the Immigration Park to structure its themes. Dellios then decodes the locating of the Park and the aims of the overseeing Committee. Each picture, text and statue is charted alongside immigration experiences of individuals and families in the Gippsland area. This ebook is an exemplary analysis of cultural, social, historical and political themes relating to cultural diversity.

WINNER

Extinct: Artistic impressions of our lost wildlife

Benjamin Gray

This beautifully produced and professional work of natural history offers a fresh approach to historical interpretation. By combining art with natural history, Extinct illustrates, in an accessible way, how human activity on our continent has impacted other species. This thought-provoking book interprets the wonder of the natural world beautifully through works of art by many artists in a wide range of media.

WINNER

‘Policing gender nonconformity in Victoria, 1900‒1940’, Provenance: The Journal of the Public Record Office Victoria, issue no. 19, 2021, pp. 33‒42.

Adrien McCrory

McCrory takes the reader on a deeply researched and well-documented journey through fragmentary archival sources to illuminate the policing of gender conformity in the first half of the twentieth century. This is a thoughtful and well written piece, recognising the need to carefully consider past language and context in the use of police records. A model for researchers (professional, family or otherwise), McCrory shows ways to understand archives and histories of individuals and communities previously overlooked and under-researched. Well-chosen case studies, interesting in themselves, reveal the community more generally, and the ways in which the study of the past enriches our understanding of the present.