Maritime History Prizes For 2011

Judging of the 2011 Frank Broeze Memorial Maritime History awards, sponsored jointly by the Australian Association for Maritime History (AAMH) and the Australian National Maritime Museum (ANMM) has concluded.

The winner of the 2011 Maritime History Book Prize, increased this year to $3,500 and awarded for a book published in 2009 or 2010 by an Australian author on any aspect of maritime history relating to or impacting on Australia, is Iain McCalman, for Darwin's Armada – How four voyagers to Australasia won the battle for evolution and changed the world (Penguin Australia, 2009).

Equal runners-up were Ian Hoskins Sydney Harbour – A History (UNSW Press, 2009) and Professor Alan Powell Northern Voyagers: Australia’s monsoon coast in maritime history (Australian Scholarly Publishing, 2010).

 The inaugural 2011 Australian Community Maritime History Prize ($500 and one years subscription to the AAMH) was added to the biennial prize this year for a publication produced by a regional or local museum or historical society that contributes to advancing the field of Australian local maritime history. Our panel of judges unanimously awarded it to the Lady Denman Heritage Complex, Huskisson, for Peter Crabb’s Shipping and Shipwrecks – Stories from Jervis Bay and its Neighbouring Coasts (2010).

Runners up included Wauchope District Historical Society for Ray Cooper & Lynda Turner’s The Sinking of Wollongbar II (2010) and Flagstaff Hill Maritime Village, Warrnambool for Dr Ron Sproston’s The Peacock that became a Legend – The Story of the Loch Ard Peacock (2010).

Thanks go to our panel of judges – Mary- Louise Williams (director of the ANMM), Peter Ridgway (president of the AAMH), and Julia Horne (University of Sydney Historian).

Writers, publishers and readers of maritime history are invited biennially to nominate works for maritime history prizes totalling $4,000, sponsored jointly by the Australian Association for Maritime History (AAMH).

The Frank Broeze Memorial Maritime History book prize is named in honour of Frank Broeze who died in April of 2001. Professor Frank Broeze was one of the founders of AAMH. He served as President of the Association in the 1980s and was the first editor of the Association's journal The Great Circle. He was widely respected as a maritime historian and university teacher.

The Australian Community Maritime History Prize is new for 2011 and will be awarded to a regional or local museum or historical society for a publication (book, booklet, educational resource kit or other media) relating to an aspect of maritime history of that region or community.

Both prizes reflect the wish of the two sponsoring organisations to promote a broad view

of maritime history that demonstrates how the sea and maritime influences have been more

Previous Winners of the Frank Broeze Memorial Maritime History include:

  The first was won by Marsden Hordern for Mariners are Warned (Melbourne University Press, 1989), a study of the explorer of Australian coasts John Lort Stokes.  The second prize was awarded in 2001 for the late Professor Frank Broeze's book Mr Brooks and the Australian Trade. With the agreement and support of the Australian National Maritime Museum, the book prize was named in honour of Frank Broeze. Professor Frank Broeze was one of the founders of AAMH.

 The 2002 prize was awarded to Dr Leone Huntsman for her social history Sand in our Souls: the beach in Australian history (Melbourne University Press, 2001). In 2004 the award went to Encountering Terra Australis: the Australian voyages of Nicolas Baudin and Matthew Flinders, by Jean Fornasiero, Peter Monteath and John West-Sooby (Wakefield Press, Kent Town SA, 2004). In 2007, Dr Edward Duyker OAM won the prize for François Péron – An Impetuous Life: naturalist and voyager (Miegunyah Press, 2006). The most recent winner was John Gascoigne in 2009 for Captain Cook: Voyager Between Worlds (Hambledon Continuum, London 2007).

Frank Broeze