The Australian Centre and the Faculty of Arts, University of Melbourne
Literary Awards 2013
Judges’ Reports
PETER BLAZEY FELLOWSHIP
$15,000 (approx.) award to further a work in progress in biography, autobiography or life-writing
WINNERS
Michael Farrell for The Case of Jong Ah Sing
Mark Mordue for Tender Prey: The Life and Times of Nick Cave
COMMENDED
Elmo Keep for The Two Fathers
Two submissions stood out in terms of literary merit and the treatment of their subjects. The first was Michael
Farrell’s The Case of Jong Ah Sing, a biographical study of a Chinese gold miner in colonial Victoria who was
incarcerated in Yarra Bend Asylum in 1867, remaining there for over thirty years, until his death. Jong Ah Sing
wrote a diary while in the asylum, and Farrell’s study uses this to pursue a range of fascinating questions
about Chinese life in Australia during this time, and to think about a very particular, challenging kind of colonial
literary expression. Farrell brings a poet’s perspective to Jong Ah Sing, drawing this obscure figure into the
open and making him resonate with contemporary readers.
The second was an extract from Mark Mordue’s Tender Prey, a biography of the musician and singer, Nick
Cave. Mordue’s work carefully probes the life and times of this seminal Australian figure, giving a vivid account
of his early life as a child growing up in Wangaratta in the 1960s. A wide range of local sources add depth and
perspective – and new information – about Cave that readers will very much enjoy. This is a lively, evocative
biography that expertly situates this influential musician in a framework of country living, family networks and
local institutions.
Commendation is given to Elmo Keep for her submission from The Two Fathers, a compelling and evocative
memoir that looked at a daughter’s growing, piecemeal awareness of some hidden aspects of her father’s
remarkable life.
JUDGES
Ms Penny Blazey, Professor Ken Gelder, Dr Jeff Sparrow, A/Professor Denise Varney
WESLEY MICHEL WRIGHT PRIZE
$3,500 (approx.) award for poetry in English by an Australian poet
WINNER
Judy Johnson for her collection of poems titled “Irish Stone” from her book Stone Scar Air Water
Another strong field for this year’s prize. After a strenuous judging process, the
judges managed to agree on a shortlist of three outstanding entries. The shortlist
comprised recent work by Pam Brown, Nicholas Powell and Judy Johnson. The
judges were struck by the diverse strengths of the group: each shortlisted poet
exemplifies a different dimension of contemporary Australian verse, ranging from
post-Romantic lyric to postmodern to a cosmopolitan formalism. This combination
of strength and diversity made judging especially difficult, but after much robust
discussion the panel decided to award the prize to Judy Johnson. Johnson’s
beautiful sequence focusing on Irish localities was not only deeply attentive to the
specificities of place – evoking ‘shards of stone the size of a premature baby’s fists’
and ‘many skins / of effervescent light’ – but also the metaphysical resonances of
those encounters. Johnson joins again the list of eminent poets awarded this
prestigious prize, having already won in 2000 with work which became Nomadic.
JUDGES
Dr Justin Clemens, Dr Bridget Vincent, Dr Sara Wills
ERNEST SCOTT PRIZE
$12,000 (approx.) award for a work in Australian, New Zealand or colonial history
WINNER
Melissa Bellanta for her book Larrikins: a History, University of Queensland Press
A landmark first book by a young scholar, Larrikins stands out for its liveliness, centrality to issues in Australian
culture and politics, and breadth of approach, including attention to patterns of speech and youth behaviour,
style and dress. Melissa Bellanta unpacks the origins of Aussie
larrikinism as a cultural phenomenon (and performance) that originated
on city streets. Noting that Ned Kelly perceived the larrikin as a city
version of himself in 1879, she asks why the larrikin became such a
mythic type in Australian identity formation. Contextualised by a social
history that locates the shaping of a colonial urban youth culture in the
wake of the gold rushes, Larrikins teases out how Australians turned a
term of abuse imported as dialect from the United Kingdom into a
national mythology once merged with the image of the digger during the
First World War. This youth culture – attracted by the pull of the ‘push’
rather than the bush – was ‘flash’, exhibitionist and violent. Part of the
book’s appeal is the way in which Bellanta engages with the language
and conduct of her youthful larrikin subjects, young ‘brazen’ women as
well as men. The quality of research, engagement with the spoken
word, connections with the theatre and visual culture place this
engaging work in a singular category. Its inter-disciplinary achievement
is considerable, respecting the best scholarly conventions of archival
history while deploying analytic and interpretative tools from literary and
cultural studies that illuminate this phenomenon of Australian
history. Based on rigorous primary research, this work addresses a
core aspect of Australianness and Australian sensibility in a refreshing, thoroughly readable but equally
scholarly way.
SHORTLISTED PUBLICATIONS
Tony Ballantyne, Webs of Empire: Locating New Zealand’s Colonial Past, Bridget Williams Books
Graeme Davison and Kate Murphy, University Unlimited: the Monash story, Allen & Unwin
Fiona Paisley, The Lone Protestor: AM Fernando in Australia and Europe, Aboriginal Studies Press
Lyndall Ryan, Tasmanian Aborigines, A history since 1803, Allen & Unwin
JUDGES
Professor Mark Finnane, Professor Philippa Mein-Smith, Dr Richard Tremewan
http://australian-centre.unimelb.edu.au/