Previous John Oxley Library Fellowship winners

The John Oxley Library Fellowship is awarded annually to support a research project that uses the rich resources of SLQ’s John Oxley Library and contributes to the creation of new knowledge of Queensland.

The recipient will receive a prize of $20,000 along with a personal work space within the John Oxley Library to utilise the extensive collections and material of the Library in the completion of an individual research project on their proposed topic of interest.

2012 Fellow

Don Watson was the 2012 John Oxley Library Fellowship recipient.

His project aims to make a valuable contribution to local architectural history by extending his previously published research, Queensland Architects of the 19th Century: A biographical dictionary into the 20th century.

Mr Watson's research will not only chronicle the lives and work of Queensland architects, it will record pioneering Queensland life and how our architects have adapted their skills to design buildings appropriate to the climate, new technologies, and times of economic hardship.

2011 Fellow

Heidi Gibson was the 2011 John Oxley Library Fellowship recipient.

Ms Gibson’s project, Border ties, looks at the impact of Papua New Guinea’s independence on the traditional, familial and social networks of the Saibai and Boigu island communities.

The project explores whether there have been changes in the perception and roles of PNG nationals within the Saibai and Boigu island communities since independence; and how any such changes may have impacted upon relationships within families and other social networks that span the border divide.

Her project aims to make a permanent contribution to the John Oxley Library’s oral and digital history collection.

2010 Fellow

Dr Jeff Rickertt won the 2010 John Oxley Library Fellowship for his project proposal ‘Ernie Lane, Australian Labour’s resolute rebel’.

Dr Rickertt used the Fellowship to produce a biography of Ernest Lane, a prominent figure in the Queensland labour movement from the early 1890s until the late 1930s. 

2009 Fellow

Susan Addison and Dr Judith McKay were the winners of the 2009 John Oxley Library Fellowship.

The $20,000 prize went towards their proposal, Cooking up Stories: exploring Queensland's rich and diverse culinary heritage.

Judith is a freelance historian and museum consultant. Susan is a freelance editor and writer. They used John Oxley Library resources to research Queensland's culinary heritage over the past 150 years.

2008 Fellow

The winner of the John Oxley Library Fellowship for 2008 was Gordon Grimwade.

The $20,000 Fellowship allowed Gordon to access the resources of the John Oxley Library enabling him to complete his research into the overland migration of Chinese migrants from the Northern Territory to Queensland in the late 19th and 20th centuries.  He intends to publish a full length, illustrated book aimed at the international market entitled Australia's Long March.

2007 Fellow

The winner of the John Oxley Library Fellowship for 2007 was Dr Martin Buzacott.

The $20,000 Fellowship allowed Martin to access the resources of the John Oxley Library for research into Miraculous Mandarins: A Musical History of Queensland. Queensland is the only state in Australia which has never had a book written on its classical music history. Yet Queensland's musical history is actually more diverse and distinctive than that of any other Australian state.

Martin said, "The Fellowship makes it possible for me as an individual author to write the most important book of my career, but I also intend to use it for the benefit of the John Oxley Library collection as a whole – and in turn for the benefit of Queensland’s cultural history."

 

2006 Fellow

The winner of the John Oxley Library Fellowship for 2006 was Dr Celmara Pocock.

Dr Pocock used State Library of Queensland resources to research populist writer, Henry Lamond. Lamond's love of the Whitsundays and the Great Barrier Reef contributed to their conservation and to their popularity as holiday destinations during the 1920s and 30s. Dr Pocock used resources from the John Oxley Library to build a fuller picture of Henry Lamond, particularly his personal life, development as a writer and his role in tourism and conservation of the Great Barrier Reef.

2005 Fellow

The winner of the John Oxley Library Fellowship for 2005 was Ian Townsend, an ABC journalist.

Ian received the grant to write The Devil's eye: a novel, the story of more than 300 people who drowned in the deadliest natural disaster in Australian history. He drew on sources from the State Library's John Oxley Library collection, such as diaries, ships' logs, reports from the Queensland Native Mounted Police, newspaper articles, original meteorological reports and the account of the Torres Strait postmaster of the time.

2004 Fellow

The winner of the inaugural John Oxley Library Fellowship was Dr Venero Armanno.

One of Queensland's most prominent writers, Dr Armanno was awarded the fellowship from the State Library to research and document part of the State's history in 2005. 

Former State Librarian Lea Giles-Peters said the State Library, supported by the Queensland Library Foundation, established the Fellowship to uncover new historical facets of Queensland and to highlight the State Library resources which were available to the public.

"The John Oxley Library collection is a rich archive of Queensland history with a vast range of original research and reference materials," Ms Giles-Peters said.

Dr Armanno has written several novels including the award-winning The Volcano, Firehead, Strange Rain, and My Beautiful Friend. He has also written three novels for young adults, short stories for a number of anthologies, screenplays and a play that was short-listed for Queensland Theatre Company's George Landen Dann Award.

1999

Outstanding contribution to the development of research collections relating to the history of Queensland:

• Robert Longhurst

Outstanding contribution to the development of the John Oxley Library of Queensland:

• Jennifer Harrison
• Ross Johnston
• Paul Wilson

1996

Outstanding contribution towards documenting the history of Torres Strait Islander communities in Queensland:

• Margaret Lawrie

Outstanding contribution to the John Oxley Library of Queensland History:

• Mamie O'Keefe