The 2019 Margaret Medcalf Award was presented by Hon. David Templeman MLA, Minister for Culture and The Arts, at a special ceremony on Thursday morning 27 June 2019.
Quoting the award judges citation, Minister Templeman stated that “Robin Barrington’s article is a sophisticated piece of scholarship integrating Yamaji experiences and emotions with scholarly debates in Australia, producing an innovative work. The winning work makes a significant and unique contribution to the history of frontier violence from an indigenous perspective. The judicious use of visual material plays an integral and active role in furthering the author’s argument in the work, and the article displays a high level of use and exemplary referencing of archival materials”.
Dr Robin Barrington is a Badimia Yamaji woman and a lecturer in Aboriginal history, education and cultural studies at the Centre for Aboriginal Studies at Curtin University.
Three special commendations were also awarded:
• Anna Haebich for her book Dancing in shadows: histories of Nyungar performance, published by UWA publishing.
• Louis Marshall for his University of Western Australia PhD Thesis Surviving the Colony: the impact of the Western Australian convict system on prisoner health, 1850-1877
• Sue Taffe for her book A white hot flame: Mary Montgomerie Bennett – author, educator, activist for Indigenous justice, published by Monash University Publishing.
The judges for this year's award were Ms Catherine Fletcher, State Records Commissioner and Acting Information Commissioner; Professor Jane Lydon, holder of the Wesfarmers Chair in Australian History at the University of Western Australia; and Ms Cathrin Cassarchis, former State Archivist and Executive Director State Records.
