Prime Minister's Prize for Australian History

The Prime Minister's Prize for Australian History was created by the Prime Minister of Australia, John Howard following the Australian History Summit held in Canberra on 17 August 2006. The Summit looked at how the Australian government could strengthen Australian history in the school curriculum.^[1] The winner (or winners) receive a gold medallion and a grant worth A$100,000.^[2]

The prize is awarded to an individual or a group, for an outstanding publication or body of work that contributes significantly to an understanding of Australian history. The subject of works submitted can include, but are not limited to:

• historical events;
• historical figures (including biographies) and
• work covering a relevant subject.^[2]

In 2012, the prize was incorporated into the Prime Minister's Literary Awards.^[3]

2007 inaugural prize

Winners

• Les Carlyon for The Great War
• Peter Cochrane for Colonial Ambition: Foundations of Australian Democracy

Short-listed

• David Branagan for TW Edgeworth David: A Life
• Josephine Flood for The Original Australians: Story of the Aboriginal People

2008 prize

Winners^[4]

• Tom Griffiths for Slicing the Silence: Voyaging to Antarctica
• Robert Kenny for The Lamb Enters the Dreaming: Nathanael Pepper and the Ruptured World

Short-listed

• John Fitzgerald for Big White Lie: Chinese Australians in White Australia
• Philip Jones for Ochre and Rust: Artefacts and Encounters on Australian Frontiers
• Paul Rudd, Stephen Amezdroz, Tony Wright, Wain Fimeri and Matthew Thomason for Captain Cook: Obsession and Discovery

2009 prize

Winners^[5]

• Martin Butler and Bentley Dean for the documentary film Contact

Short-listed

• Grace Karskens for The Colony: A History of Early Sydney
• Marilyn Lake and Henry Reynolds for Drawing the Global Colour Line
• Various authors for First Australians
• Robin Gerster for Travels in Atomic Sunshine: Australia and the Occupation of Japan

2010/2011 prize

Winners^[6]

• Jim Davidson for A Three-Cornered Life: The Historian W K Hancock
• Peter Stanley for Bad Characters: Sex, Crime, Mutiny and Murder in the Great War

Short-listed

• James Curran and Stuart Ward for The Unknown Nation; Australia After Empire
• Paul Daley for Beersheba: A Journey through Australia’s Forgotten War
• Kirsten McKenzie for A Swindler's Progress: Nobles and Convicts in the Age of Liberty
• Penny Russell for Savage or Civilised? Manners in Colonial Australia

References