The Van Diemen History Prize 2022-23
Good writing about history can be engaging, insightful, poignant or intriguing, but the underlying research will always be authentic and rigorous. The biennial Van Diemen History Prize fosters quality writing about Tasmanian history for articles aimed at a general audience.
The prize is for articles up to 3,000 words, on any aspect of Tasmanian history prior to the 21st century.
The winner and a selection of the best entries will be published in an edited volume, The Van Diemen Anthology 2023. (publication estimated to be in mid-2023).
2022-2023: JOINT WINNERS
Anatomy of a Scandal: A Love Triangle in 1820s Hobart Town | Philippa Moore (TAS)
A Difficult Birth: The Van Diemen’s Land Company, 1824-25 | Terry Mulhern (VIC)
COMMENDED
Frank Pogson Bethune: Tasmania's Warrior Priest | Melanie Roylance (QLD)
Gold Amongst the Tin | Ray Bassatt (VIC)
FINALISTS
“Pardoned to serve His Majesty by sea”: The Life of George Briggs | Guy Salvidge (WA)
Port Arthur or Carnarvon: The Changing Landscape of a Former Penal Settlement | Sarah White (TAS)
Mysterious Broken Binding provides Silver Lining | Carla Baker (TAS)
Theatre Royal Hobart - The Architectural Influence of William Gore Elliston, John Lee Archer and Samuel Beazley and their Passion for the Arts | Anne Lee-Archer (QLD)
Judges for The Van Diemen History Prize 2022-23:
Kristyn Harman is an Associate Professor in History and the Deputy Chair of Academic Senate at the University of Tasmania. Her research interests cohere around socio-cultural frontiers including transportation to, and within, British colonies; frontier warfare; Indigenous incarceration; and the Australian and New Zealand home fronts during World War Two. She is the author of Cleansing the Colony: Transporting Convicts from New Zealand to Van Diemen’s Land (2017), longlisted for the Royal Society Te Aparangi Award in the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards, 2018. In 2014, Kristyn won the Australian Historical Association Kay Daniels award for her first book, Aboriginal Convicts: Australian, Khoisan, and Māori Exiles (2012). Kristyn's work is represented in top tier journals including the Journal of Colonialism and Colonial History, and the Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History.
Kirstie Ross is a curator and historian with over 20 years’ experience, working in the heritage sector on both sides of the Tasman. Currently she is Senior Curator of Cultural Heritage at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery in Hobart. She is also a Director on the West Coast Heritage Centre’s Board and a member of the Australian Dictionary of Biography Tasmanian Working Group. Kirstie’s research and writing concentrates on 20th century social history topics, which she enjoys sharing in diverse ways, including Instagram, blogs, exhibitions, radio interviews, as well as academic publications. In 2004 she co-authored the illustrated book Holding on to Home: New Zealand Stories and Objects of the Great War. A highlight of her career was leading the team that curated the award-winning exhibition Gallipoli: The scale of our war, at the Museum of New Zealand, which was a collaboration with Academy Award winner, Sir Richard Taylor.
Tony Fenton majored in Physics and Computer Science at the University of Tasmania and completed a Graduate Diploma in Information Management. Following a period of work for the State Library of Tasmania, he has devoted most of his time to historical research and writing. His long-standing interest in South West Tasmania—brought about by his grandfather, the legendary tin-miner and naturalist Deny King—led to an exhaustive study of the history of Port Davey. Tony’s first book, A history of Port Davey, Southwest Tasmania, Volume 1: FLEETING HOPES (Forty South Publishing, 2017) was shortlisted in the inaugural Dick and Joan Green Family Award for Tasmanian History in 2018 and longlisted in the 2017 Tasmanian Literary Prizes, Margaret Scott Prize. As a finalist in the inaugural Van Diemen History Prize, his essay “Eclipse” was highly commended. In the 2020-2021 Van Diemen History Prize he was joint winner (alongside Terry Mulhern) with his essay “Unsafe Harbour”.
Chris Champion is editor of Forty South Tasmania and a director of Forty South Publishing with responsibility for all editorial functions. He has worked as an editor in Australia and Asia for more than 40 years. The historians on the judging panel will assess all entries and create a short list based on the merit of their historical investigation and writing quality. Chris will then choose the winner based on writing quality.
Previous years
2020-2021: JOINT WINNERS
Tony Fenton (TAS) Unsafe Harbour
Terry Mulhern (VIC) Insubordination and Improper Intimacy: Sex, Violence and Mutiny Aboard the Cape Packet
2018-2019: WINNER
Paige Gleeson (TAS) The Fantasy of the Past: Women’s History at the Cascade Female Factory
HIGHLY COMMENDED
Tony Fenton (TAS) Eclipsed
Terry Mulhern (VIC) St Valentine’s Tears
