Victorian Community History Awards 2017 Proudly participating in History Week Victorian Premier’s History Award Judges’ Special Prize This award, previously known as the Victorian Community History Award, The judges can award a special prize for any outstanding entry. recognises the most outstanding community history project in any category. This is a book about country. It begins For eighty years her home, Cruden Farm, with consideration of the pre-colonial provided Dame Elisabeth Murdoch with a environment and traditional owners of complex garden for which she had a deep a largely unknown area in north-west and special love. Her gardener for more Victoria, and concludes with the area than 46 years, Michael Morrison, kept becoming nationally and internationally diaries that recorded the daily work in the recognised for the unique qualities of its garden, as it related, for instance, to the natural and cultural landscapes. water features, walled garden, specialised beds, notable trees, and nursery. The The human stories of the Kulkyne diaries provide an invaluable record range from the finely balanced ways of the decisions made about planning of the Indigenous Latji Latji and and planting, watering and weeding, Nyeri Nyeri clans; to squatters and composting and cultivating. pastoralists; hunters, foresters, rangers and railwaymen; and to the earnest The photographs by Simon Griffiths and endeavours of interest groups, each the discussions that emerge from diary focused on the Kulkyne’s natural or entries, combine to delight the reader. The cultural heritage. These stories are woven balance that the two gardening partners seamlessly together into a narrative based achieved in landscaping and maintaining on painstaking research in oral histories the farm grounds is expressed in Lisa and documentary sources, and draws on Clausen’s prose, often reflecting on a deep appreciation of the workings of seasonal change, birdlife, and particular the natural world. This is best illustrated features of the garden. In all, this work is in those sections dealing with the book’s a joy to dip into, or to read fully at leisure. main theme, the restitution of the The book’s production is perfect, from the Kulkyne’s environments after decades Returning the Kulkyne Cruden Farm Garden Diaries gorgeous photography and creative design, of misuse and degradation. John Burch Michael Morrison and Lisa Clausen Published by the author, Melbourne 2017 Lantern (Penguin), Melbourne, 2017 to the bound bookmark and end bands, John Burch set out to write something quality paper, and bark-inspired end- that would be ‘available to any who would papers. be interested’. What he has produced is a book that is history at its very best. Returning the Kulkyne not only adds to our knowledge and understanding of its subject; it is a fine example of the power of historical narrative. 2 3 Collaborative Community Award Local History Project Award This award recognises the best community collaborative work which This award recognises activities that enhance access to records of involves significant contributions from several individuals, groups or significance to local communities. historical societies. For more than 70 years Fletcher Jones The Notables of Collingwood database & Staff was an institution in the clothing contains 104 biographies at present, but industry. From small beginnings in twice that number are in the pipeline of Warrnambool in 1924, the company this ongoing project. Searchable online expanded under the benign and at the Collingwood Historical Society’s enterprising Fletcher Jones; by the 1970s website by alphabetical listing, the it had more than 50 stores throughout the biographies have been well researched by country and had become an Australian society members. icon and a model of collaborative business The subjects of the biographies are past practice. So deeply sewn into the fabric of residents of Collingwood, Clifton Hill, Warrnambool’s local community was the and Abbotsford connected with various company of Fletcher Jones, that its closure Fletcher Jones: endeavours and a few outsiders who sparked a campaign to ‘Save the silver Stories from our Community strongly influenced local development. ball and Fletcher’s garden’ and create a Julie Eagles, Project Coordinator Thus we become acquainted with early website to record the company’s history, www.fjstories.org.au settler James Campbell, diarist Emily staff memories and myriad connections Childers, mirror manufacturer Abbondio with the local community. Notable People of Collingwood Campi, stonemason and politician Charles The website, structured into the two main Collingwood Historical Society Jardine Don, doctor and suffragist Grace themes of the business and conservation http://collingwoodhs.org.au/resources/ Vale, and architect William Pitt. Each entry issues, is replete with images, animated notable-people-2 contains a photograph, where available, stories and videos about a company that with a brief biography, and a link to the had a humane ethos in the cut-throat full entry. Further links lead to research world of clothing manufacturing. The site sources and relevant external sites. is attractively presented, easy to navigate This project will greatly assist researchers and immensely informative. In short, it is of biographical, local and family history. an excellent example of a collaborative It is a fine model for enhancing access community project. to records of significance to local communities. Commendations Commendations Girgarre Many Hands: The First Forty Years of the Australian Celebrating History: Items from the Queenscliffe The Children of the Port Phillip Aboriginal Athol McDonald and Jenny Wadelton Tapestry Workshop Historical Museum Collection Protectorate Girgarre Living History, 2016 HarperCollins for the Australian Tapestry Workshop, R. Brown, J. Grant, S. Lee and D. Sawyer Ian D. Clark and Fred Cahir 2016 Queenscliffe Historical Museum Inc., 2017 Australian Scholarly, 2016 Australian Book Collectors. Some Noted Australian Book Collectors and Middle Park. The Way We Were The Forgotten Factory Collections of the Nineteenth and Twentieth The Middle Park History Group Clunie Walker Centuries. Third Series, Volumes IV and V. Middle Park History Group, 2016 Exhibition, ebook and website: Charles Stitz, Editor https://www.forgottenfactory.com Book of Kells, 2016 4 5 History Publication Award Local History - Small Publication Award This award recognises the most outstanding non-fiction publication or This award recognises the best small, limited-run publication or e-book e-book on Victorian history. which features Victorian local, cultural or social history. Charles Joseph La Trobe, a gentleman This artistically designed and lavishly fond of painting, rambling and botany, illustrated book explores McBean’s legacy was appointed Superintendent of the to the built environment of Castlemaine. Port Phillip District in 1839. Influenced Either as architect or contractor, McBean by the Moravian church, he supported was involved with numerous Castlemaine institutions for moral improvement commercial, municipal and private and parkland for community benefit buildings. The son of a family who migrated in a society preoccupied with self- from Scotland to Melbourne in the 1850s, aggrandisement. Naturally conservative, McBean resided in Castlemaine from he took charge of colonists impatient for 1893 to 1904, and became prominent in separation from NSW and democratic the Presbyterian Church and municipal rights. Tied up with red tape, the need for council. He called his house in the town approval from distant officials, he endured Balerno after his family’s home village the barbs of the wilful Argus and fickle near Edinburgh. public. Even before his appointment as McBean’s signature house style was red Governor of Victoria and the onslaught of brick with tuckpointing and the decorative the gold rushes, he described himself as a features of Queen Anne and Federation ‘grave, careworn potentate’. designs. Assisted by the Castlemaine Elegantly written and meticulously Historical Society, the author introduces researched, this biography carefully many early residents associated with considers issues and shows sympathetic McBean’s work. The book includes a town insight into character. The book is a walk to 22 buildings exemplifying his handsome publication, featuring many style and illustrations of his typical house of La Trobe’s sketches and water-colours. interiors. Inspired by her own McBean Although largely forgotten after his death– La Trobe. Traveller, Writer, Governor Building Castlemaine: The Red Brick residence, the author deftly conveys in accord with the motto of the university John Barnes Legacy of H.D. McBean McBean’s contribution to the distinctive his Government founded, Postera crescam Halstead Press in association with State Robyn Lewis character of Castlemaine. laude– La Trobe steadily increases in Library Victoria and La Trobe University, Published by the author in conjunction esteem. 2017 with the Castlemaine Historical Society, 2016 Commendations Commendations I Like a Clamour. Judge Walpole Willis, Colonial Judge A Journey of Hope and Resilience: Safeguarding Reconsidered. Children for 120 Years Hunt Them, Hand Them: We Are All Travellers: Max Bonnell Lucy Bracey and Fiona Poulton ‘The Tasmanians’ in Port Phillip 1841-42 Celebrating 100 Years of Travellers Aid Australia The Federation Press, 2017 Children’s Protection Society, 2016 Kate Auty and Lynette Russell Alicia Cerreto