2009 NSW Premier’s History Awards

Premier and Minister for the Arts Nathan Rees unveiled the winners of the 2009 NSW Premier's History Awards. Mr Rees described this year's History Awards winners as outstanding. The winners were announced during a presentation dinner at The Mint last night. Film-maker Michael Caulfield, who produced the Logie Award winning ABC series Australians at War, delivered the 2009 History Awards Address. The winners are....The Australian History Prize ($15,000): Robin Gerster (Brunswick, Vic) for Travels in Atomic Sunshine: Australia and the Occupation of Japan – which details what life was like for the 20,000 Australian volunteer servicemen and families stationed in Hiroshima after WW II. The General History Prize ($15,000): Warwick Anderson (Surry Hills, NSW), for The Collectors of Lost Souls: Turning Kuru Scientists into Whitemen – an account of medical research into a deadly brain disease in Papua New Guinea. Dr Janette Holcomb (Manilla, NSW) was awarded the annual NSW History Fellowship, a $20,000 award which enables a NSW historian to research and produce a work on a subject of historical interest relating to NSW. Dr Holcomb will write a book-length history of the early merchant families of Sydney during the period 1788-1850. To see the full list of winners and judges comments go to the Arts NSW website.