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Giese wins 2018 Victorian Premier’s History Award for ‘The Maddest Place on Earth’

10 October 2018   Books+Publishing
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Clinical psychologist Jill Giese has won the 2018 Victorian Premier’s History Award, worth $5000, for her book The Maddest Place on Earth (Australian Scholarly Publishing), announced as part of the Victorian Community History Awards in Melbourne on 8 October.

Giese’s book is a history of mental health during the Victorian gold rush, a time when Victoria had the highest rate of what was then referred to as ‘insanity’ in Australia. Giese looks at the local explanations for the record number of people being held in the state’s asylums, with a combination of scholarly and imaginative writing.

Among the other winners were:

Judges’ Special Prize ($500)

  • Barro-abil Our Beautiful Barrabool Stone: History and Use of Barrabool Sandstone (Jennifer Bantow & Ros Lewis, self-published)

Collaborative Community Award ($2000)

  • ‘A Secondary Education for All?’ A History of State Secondary Schooling in Victoria (John Andrews & Deborah Towns, Australian Scholarly Publishing)

Local History Project Award ($2000)

  • Silent Lives: Women of Warrnambool and District 1840-1910 (Elizabeth O’Callaghan, Warrnambool and District Historical Society)

History Publication Award ($2000)

  • Granville Stapylton: Australia Felix 1836, Second in Command to Major Mitchell (Gregory C Eccleston, Evandale Publishing)

Local History – Small Publication Award ($1500)

  • Art Captured: Hans-Wolter von Gruenewaldt, Prisoner of War Camp 13 Murchison: His Story and His Art (Hans-Wolter von Gruenewaldt & Kay Ball, Murchison and District Historical Society)

Centenary of World War One Award ($1500)

  • Lest We Forget: Southern Mitchell Shire Volunteers Who Served in World War One (Grahame Thom & the Kilmore Historical Society)

History Article (Peer Reviewed) Award ($500)

  • ‘The Happiest Time of My Life’: Emotive Visitor Books and Early Mission Tourism to Victoria’s Aboriginal Reserves (Nikita Vanderbyl, Aboriginal History).

Run as part of History Week, the Victorian Community History Awards recognise the work of individuals and organisations that are ‘committed to telling stories of local history’. The awards are presented by Public Record Office Victoria in partnership with the Royal Historical Society of Victoria.

For more information about the Victorian Community History Awards, and to see the full list of winners, click here.

 

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Category: Awards Local news