The HCNSW Annual History Awards were announced on Tuesday, 10 September, 2024 at a ceremony in the Chau Chak Wing Museum Auditorium.  More than 85 members and guests helped to celebrate the winner’s achievements.  

The winning entries took us on a journey through time, delving into the captivating stories and rich cultural heritage of New South Wales.  There was a very strong and diverse field of applications for the Awards this year, and the judges issued not only awards in every category, but in some cases, also Commendations.  Emerging historians’ work featured strongly this year.

This year’s judging committee comprised of Associate Professor Jan Lanicek, Associate Professor Julie McIntyre, and Dr Naomi Parry Duncan. The judges, as well as the History Council of NSW Councillors, commend this year’s winners and thank the generosity of donors, cultural partners and the NSW government who continue to advance and promote the public understanding and appreciation of history. 

Read about the winning entries below.

To find out more about the HCNSW Annual History Awards, click here.

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(Click on the different pages of the below gallery to see some of the event photographs.)

The First Nations History Award

The First Nations History Award is sponsored by Professor David Carment & Dr Stephen Gapps.

The winner of the 2024 First Nations History Award is Kazan Brown for her Submission on Warramgamba Dam and associated artworks.

This award is for Kazan Brown for her Submission into the raising of the Warragamba Dam Wall and her beautiful associated artworks. Faced with the threat that the Warragamba Dam wall would be raised and precious Gundungurra sites inundated, Kazan went deep into her family history and demonstrated her family’s unbroken connection with the Burragorang Valley, mobilising archaeological and environmental reports to support her claims. This is an outstanding piece of work from Kazan Brown and her community that shows the vitality of Gundungurra knowledge and culture. The Creation Story of Wollondilly and the important stories of Gurangatch and Mirragan and the White Waratah have guided Kazan Brown through her successful advocacy to protect the Aboriginal heritage around Lake Burragorang. This is Aboriginal history brought into the public sphere for powerful purpose and the judges congratulate Kazan on her work.

In accepting the 2024 First Nations History Award, Kazan Brown provided the following thanks:

I would like to thank Trish Hill and Doreen Lyons for nominating me for this Award, my daughter Taylor for her ongoing support  and the History Council of NSW. I wrote the submission because our voice and our story was not included in the EIS report, we needed to be heard. It was just something I had to do. I never thought it would be heard by so many people. I’m still surprised it won an award.  I’m very grateful it’s been recognised.

Special Commendation: Tim Calabria ‘Reconciliation and the Reinvigoration of a Child Rescue Impulse after Bringing Them Home, 1997-2008’

Special Commendation: Dr Nikolas Orr ‘The Black Power and Red Power Origins of Aboriginal Iconoclasm in Australia’

The committee commended Tim Calabria for his essay ‘Reconciliation and the Reinvigoration of a Child Rescue Impulse after Bringing Them Home, 1997-2008’ and Dr Nikolas Orr for his essay ‘The Black Power and Red Power Origins of Aboriginal Iconoclasm in Australia’. The judging panel was impressed by the high quality of the submissions for the award this year, and their range.

The History Council of NSW’s First Nations History Award, originally named the Aboriginal History Prize until 2020, was first awarded in 2016. Its purpose is to encourage students and other beginning historians (up to post-doctoral career) in the writing of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander history from original sources. Indigenous Australians are strongly encouraged to submit entries.

The winner receives a citation and a prize of $2,500. The winning entry will demonstrate excellence in addressing its subject, proficiency in the use of original materials and clarity of exposition.

Addi Road Award for Multicultural History

Addi Road Award for Multicultural History is supported by the Addison Road Community Organisation.

This year’s Addi Road Award for Multicultural History is awarded to Philippa Nicole Barr for her book excerpt: Uncertainty and Emotion in the 1900 Sydney Plague. 

Uncertainty and Emotion in the 1900 Sydney Plague makes a crucial contribution to the study of the 1900 Sydney plague epidemic. The author vividly analyzes the spread of the epidemic and responses to the disease through the lens of emotions. She argues that the uncertainty and fear led officials, medical professionals and journalists to employ symbols like dirt to initiate social policies and interventions. This triggered an increase in xenophobia aimed primarily against the local Chinese population. Through this timely monograph, we learn how emotions and fear shape responses to epidemics, playing into prejudices against ethnic and social groups in society.

The purpose of the Award is to encourage new and emerging historians to discover, analyse and explore multicultural histories and the history of multiculturalism in Australia, helping to increase academic and public engagement in a topic that has ongoing relevance to Australian history and society today.

In 2024, the winner received a citation and a prize of $1,000. The winning entry (essay or multimedia) makes an original argument using primary historical sources and demonstrate the capacity to develop complex arguments linking the past to contemporary, multicultural issues that have, or are currently impacting on the Australian community.

Jill Roe Regional History Award

The Jill Roe Regional History Award is supported by the HCNSW’s Jill Roe bequest funds.

This year’s Jill Roe Regional History Award is awarded to Nadine Wilson for her article: ‘Worimi ‘hearts’, water and fire: the environmental and cultural impact of the Hudson Brothers and a million meters of timber in Sydney’s Garden Palace construction, 1879-1882′

“Worimi ‘hearts’, water and fire” offers an innovative and insightful analysis of settler colonial enterprises’ exploitation of the indigenous land and resources. Focusing on the commodification of timber by the Hudson brothers in the Bungwahl-Worimi country, the author demonstrates the impact of the industrial enterprises on the local ecosystem that irreversibly changed the landscape of the coastal region in NSW. Symbolically, the more than a million meters of timber used for the construction of the Sydney Garden Palace in 1879 were devoured by a fire inferno only a few years later. The article makes a vital contribution to the environmental and cultural history of NSW in the late 19th Century.

In 2022, the History Council of NSW introduced a new Regional History Award. Named in honour of Professor Jill Roe (1940-2017), an outstanding and pioneering Australian historian, the purpose of the Award is to encourage historians at any stage of their careers to discover, analyse, and explore rural and regional Australian history, helping to increase academic and public engagement in a topic that has ongoing relevance to Australian history and society today.

In 2024, the winner received a citation and a prize of $500. 

The winning entry will make an original and compelling argument using primary historical sources and demonstrate the capacity to develop complex arguments linking the past to contemporary, rural and regional issues that have, or are currently having an impact on the Australian community.

The Macquarie-PHA Applied History Award

The Macquarie-PHA Applied History Award is jointly sponsored by the Macquarie University Centre for Applied History and the Professional Historians Association (NSW & ACT). 

Award winner:  The Macquarie-PHA Applied History Award goes to the Collector and District Historical Society for their entry:  Collector History Walk.

The judges were unanimous in supporting the Collector History Walk, which is an augmented reality application initiated by a volunteer-run community history group Collector and District Historical Society and developed in collaboration with Code and Visual.

This is a unique and immersive historical tour around the village of Collector that highlights key events, anchored to historic sites, via an app available in both Android and iOS. This is a remarkable achievement for a small organisation without paid staff and epitomises public history – the public informing the public.

James McNess of Code and Visual accepted the Macquarie-PHA Applied History Award on behalf of Collector and District Historical Society:

It was a great opportunity for us at Code and Visual to work with Annette on this technical challenge. After testing a few prototypes including some of the Sydney Opera House, we were confident we could use this technology to bring her vision to life. Thank you, this is a great acknowledgment for everyone involved, and we hope the history of other local areas can also be brought to life in a similar way.

Special Commendation:  Isabelle Moss for another excellent digital history project, Explained Podcast.

The judges also commend Isabelle Moss for her Explained Podcast. Producing work like this without the support of major institutions requires dedication and tenacity, which is exactly the spirit of public history.

The purpose of the Award is to encourage historians to produce a creative work of applied history drawing on their research. It aims to promote the value of public history and the pursuit of history as a rewarding professional career.

The winner received a citation and a prize of $1,000. The winning entry demonstrated excellence in writing or other media, and the ability to use original source materials, or demonstrated originality of interpreting the past in a contextual way. This work engaged with the field and practice of professional, public and applied history, using the past to inform contemporary concerns, issues and topics in creative ways.

The Max Kelly Award

The History Council of NSW is grateful to Mr Geoffrey Jones for his continuing support and generous donation of the prize money for the 2024 Max Kelly Prize.

Award Winner:  Harrison Croft for his article Of Horses and Humans: The Multispecies Co-Constitutions of the Upper Yarra Reservoir.

This essay stood out in a strong field of contenders for its broad range of sources, crisp prose and confident application of a more-than-human mode of inquiry to a topic that historians would once have confined to a celebration of modern science and engineering. In evidencing the damming of Birrarung/the Upper Yarra as “a process involving humans, horses, trees, and water,” the author has broadened knowledge of place and advanced the practice of more-than-human studies.

Special Commendation:  Ruby Ekkel for her article: Playing Devil’s Advocate: Women’s zoological expertise and the changing reputation of Tasmanian devils, 1908-1921.

Special Commendation: Dr Joshua Black for his article: The Joyless Recovery: Recession, Reform and the Making of Modern Australian Productivity.

It was a privilege to have my work read by leading members of the History Council of NSW, and to be recognised in the company of such wonderful colleagues. The HCNSW awards play a really important role in celebrating the work of our profession, and to be present for the 2024 Annual Lecture and Awards was a distinct joy for me.

The Max Kelly Award of $500 is given annually to an early career historian for a work of excellence in any aspect of Australian history. The Award was established as a tribute to Associate Professor Maxwell John Kelly (1935-1996), the first elected President of the History Council.

Harrison Croft, who could not attend the awards night as he was currently overseas conducting research, provided the following words in accepting the 2024 Max Kelly Award:

My first thanks must go to the panel of judges who deemed this work apparently prize-worthy. It is heartening that in the face of tenuous joblessness, student works can and still do warrant funding from generous donors. I am honoured to receive the Max Kelly Award for 2024. My essay was a little experimental, and I am delighted that the judges approached the concepts with an open mind. My thanks also to Amanda Wells for accepting the award on my behalf, and for spruiking it and drawing it to my attention at the Australian Historical Association annual conference in Adelaide earlier in the year. Amanda is a great credit to the discipline, and a great friend. Final thanks are reserved for Professor Lynette Russell AM and Dr Rohan Howitt, my supervisors at Monash University, without whose guidance this essay would quite simply not exist. They are supremely masterful historians and I am daily thrilled to be able to work with them. I am very sorry to not be able to attend in person. I wish the very best to the other entries.