Scholars honoured for giving life to our past

October 30, 2007

The University of New England has demonstrated its expertise in exploring Australia's past with two highly-regarded history awards recognising the work of its scholars. The History Council of New South Wales has awarded its Max Kelly Medal for 2007 to Timothy Castle for an essay on capital punishment in colonial New South Wales, and its John Ferry Medal to Lorina Barker for her outstanding work in local history.

UNE presented Mr Castle with a University Medal when he graduated in March this year with First Class Honours in History. His Honours thesis was on capital punishment in NSW between 1826 and 1836, and his prize-winning essay is based on a chapter of the thesis highlighting "the importance of public reportage of the 362 men and one woman hanged during this 'bloody period'".

A Sydney barrister, Mr Castle benefited from UNE's expert delivery of distance education in following his passion for legal history. He said his legal history education through UNE had truly broadened his horizons and provided invaluable background insight into the law, justice, and power at various levels.

The annual Max Kelly Medal (for university history students) was established in 1997 to honour the first elected President of the History Council of NSW, Associate Professor Maxwell Kelly (1935-1996). Winners of the medal also receive $500 cash and encouragement as an historian at the highest levels of the field.

Winning the medal placed Mr Castle ahead of 21 other candidates from other universities who are all promising historians. He said the award of the medal demonstrated the high standard of History at UNE. "There's a strong tradition of Australian colonial history at UNE, inspired by the iconic historian Russel Ward, author of The Australian Legend," he said. "Most recently, UNE's expertise in the field of Australian history was recognised through its hosting of the Australian Historical Association's regional conference in September. Special mention was made at that conference of the pioneering work of two other Australian historians from UNE: Miriam Dixson for her classic work The Real Matilda (about women and identity in Australia since 1788) and Alan Atkinson, a Professorial Fellow in UNE's School of Humanities, for his landmark series The Europeans in Australia."

Lorina Barker, an Associate Lecturer and PhD researcher at UNE, was presented with the John Ferry Medal during that recent conference. Ms Barker's work was based on the history of her local Aboriginal community at Bourke. The runner-up for the medal was also a UNE History graduate: Margaret Rodwell, who received a citation for her essay describing the managed immigration in the mid-nineteenth century of a community of English labouring families to New England, and their settlement by the Everett brothers on "Ollera" station near Guyra.

The John Ferry Medal is named in honour of the UNE-based historian Dr John Ferry (1949-2004), whose prize-winning book Colonial Armidale is regarded by many historians as the best and most innovative local history written in Australia.

"I would like to pay credit to the entire History team at UNE for bringing Australian history to life and for imparting the key elements of the discipline, in spite of the challenges of external studies," Mr Castle said. "In particular, I would like to acknowledge the support of Dr David Roberts who has played a valuable role in building the profile of our colonial history through the Journal of Australian Colonial History, which he edits at UNE."

Dr Roberts, a Senior Lecturer in History, has enabled research by students such as Mr Castle to reach a wider audience in the history community through publication in the Journal of Australian Colonial History, which is nationally recognised as the flagship of UNE research in Australian history.

THE PHOTOGRAPH displayed here shows UNE's Lorina Barker (left), winner of the John Ferry Medal, with the President of the History Council of NSW, Jill Roe. It expands to include Professor Alan Atkinson (far left), Dr David Roberts (second from right), and Tim Castle, winner of the Max Kelly Medal.

Posted by Jim Scanlan at October 30, 2007 11:29 AM