BOOKS AND ESSAYS
Judges' comments
A professionally trained historian and schoolteacher, Dr Lucas Jordan has produced a refreshingly engaging and sophisticated micro-history that makes a notable contribution to the historiography of Australians’ involvement in armed conflict. The Chipilly Six tells the story of six soldiers of the First Australian Imperial Force who, during the battle of Amiens in August 1918, played a significant, but overlooked, role in the capture of a key tactical feature on the battlefield. Dr Jordan then traces the post-war lives of these six diggers, examining their role in the establishment of commemorative practices and ex-service communities, their family and working lives and the impact of service on their health. Particularly significant are the book’s insights into the politics and social history of Australia’s veterans organisations.
The panel is impressed with the depth of Dr Jordan’s research and his compellingly readable style. He employs a skilful synthesis of methodologies and an impressively broad range of sources to produce a work that capably spans military, social, commemorative, family and medical history. The Chipilly Six portrays a revealingly intimate portrait of the ways in which a global war influenced the lives of six Australian men, their families and their communities.
BOOKS
Depressingly often we see books promoted as “the forgotten story” or “the untold story”. Yet Stealth Raiders tells such a story, of a few daring Australian infantry who . . . so demoralised their opponents that they feared to enter the line against them’ – Bill Gammage
GLOBAL REPORT
Australia: The Land Holds Us: Aboriginal Peoples’ Right to Traditional Homelands in the Northern Territory [Report Digest].
All Indigenous Peoples have the fundamental human right to their traditional lands. This right enables Indigenous Peoples to fully enjoy their economic, social and cultural human rights. This is the digest of a report which highlights the struggle of Aboriginal Peoples to remain on their homelands in the face of policies that have the effect of drawing them away from their ancestral lands into larger communities and urban areas.
“It all begins with an idea.”
My mind is active. I’m deep in the research phase of my next project, a book.
I’m back in the outback, in open country, reconnecting with old friends.
I look forward to sharing more as the work progresses.
Lucas.