John Oxley Library Community History Medal

The 2025 John Oxley Library Community History Award was awarded to the Heritage Team at Cairns and District Chinese Association Inc. 

The Lit Sung Goong collection of religious artefacts, once dispersed after the temple’s demolition in 1966, was reassembled over time through generous donations and loans to the Cairns Historical Society. In 2003, CADCAI (Chinese Australian Development and Cultural Association Inc.) assumed custodianship of the collection. Since then, CADCAI's Heritage Team has diligently preserved this significant collection, which captures the cultural and historical legacy of the early Chinese community in Cairns.

In 2025, after 23 years of dedicated work by CADCAI, the collection – deemed of national museum-standard significance – will be fully accessible to the public with the opening of Stage 1 of the Chinese Cultural Centre in Cairns, funded by CADCAI. This monumental achievement reflects years of cataloging, conservation, research, and limited public viewings due to space restrictions. 

The 2024 John Oxley Library Community History Award was awarded to Pama Language Centre.

Since 2015 the Pama Language Centre has been working toward the recording, revitalisation, maintenance and revival of local languages but their efforts go back much further. They work across Cape York with many language groups and dialect speakers to achieve language revival. Groups include: Guugu Yimidhirr, Mpakwithi, Wik-Mungkan, Wik-Ngathan, Wik Ngatharr/ Wik-Alken, Southern Kaantju, Olkola, Uw Olgol, Uw Oykangand, Kuuk Thayorre, Umpila, for the Injinoo Ikya group of language varieties (Atampaya, Yadhaykenu, Angkamuthi, Gudang) and for the Kuku Nganhcarra group of language varieties (Kugu Muminh, Kugu Yi’anh, Kugu Ubangh, Kugu Uwanh, Kugu Mu’inh, Wik-Iiyanh).

Read about the 2024 awards.

The 2022 John Oxley Library Community History Award was awarded to Mithaka Aboriginal Corporation.

Mithaka Aboriginal Corporation holds native title over Mithaka Country in far south western Queensland, encompassing parts of the Barcoo and Diamantina Shires. The award recognises the success of this community organisation in working locally, nationally and internationally to preserve culture and identity into the future.

The 2021 John Oxley Library Community History Award was awarded to Montville History Group.   

Founded in 1983, the Montville Historical Group preserves and shares the history of Montville. In 2021, the group received the $5,000 John Oxley Library Community History Award to support the Montville Stories Series Project, a collection capturing the social history of the region through personal stories. With this funding, the group successfully published 11 books between 2021 and 2024.  

The group acknowledges the vital support of the John Oxley Library Community History Award in helping to complete this project and thanks State Library for their ongoing commitment to recording Queensland’s history.

Explore the Montville Stories project. 

The 2020 John Oxley Library Community History Award was awarded to the Herberton Mining Museum and Visitor Information Centre.

The group was recognised for their efforts to preserve and make accessible their archives and collections through their Community Research Room and Collection Management Overhaul project. Excellent results include the creation of a community research area, the transformation of an overcrowded collection space into a collections operation centre and dedicated archives space, and training volunteers in collection policy and management.

The 2019 John Oxley Library Community History Award was awarded to Caylie Jeffrey.

Caylie's project Under the Lino showed innovative engagement while documenting and sharing Queensland’s cultural heritage.

Under the Lino is s a Brisbane-based community research project inspired by 3 bankbooks from the 1940s and 1950s that Caylie, a Brisbane author,  found beneath the lino flooring of her 1912 Queenslander in Milton. After sharing her discovery on Facebook’s Old Brisbane Album, a comprehensive search for the owners of the documents ensued. Hundreds of amateur detectives unearthed local mysteries and stories that turned Brisbane into a fascinating library of underground stories.

The 2018 John Oxley Library Community History Award was awarded to the Yugambeh Museum, Language and Heritage Research Centre.

The Yugambeh Museum developed a language app to encourage young people and the wider public to engage with Aboriginal languages and heritage.

The 2017 John Oxley Library Community History Award was awarded to the Annerley-Stephens History Group.

The Frank Corley House Photo Project aims to uncover the houses of the inner Southside of Brisbane photographed by Frank Corley in the 1970s. Frank Corley was a commercial photographer who photographed almost every house in Brisbane as he and his wife, Eunice Corley, drove past in their Cadillac in the early 1970’s. Eunice developed the prints in a van that they had converted to a darkroom. A team of door-to-door salespeople would sell the photos packaged in a cardboard calendar priced at 85 cents.

Before Frank passed away, he bequeathed the remaining photos in his collection to the John Oxley Library, which holds around 50,000 Corley photos taken around South East Queensland that were not purchased by residents. The Annerley-Stephens History Group used many of these digitised images in their community engagement activities.

The 2016 John Oxley Library Community History Award was awarded to the Cairns Museum and Historical Society.

Through its museum programs, library, archive, photographic collection, publications and web portal, the Cairns Museum and Historical Society is committed to bringing the stories of Cairns and the region to life. The society operates the Cairns Museum, the Cairns Historical Society Research Centre and the History on the Move School Trailer program.

The 2015 John Oxley Library Community History Award was awarded to the Ration Shed Museum.

The Ration Shed Museum in Cherbourg has been active in collecting local history since opening in 2009. It has worked with State Library on several projects to promote their local history, including exhibitions onsite and online while also participating in our Indigenous Language program. The Ration Shed Museum is also participatec in QANZAC 100 program, from which they launched their Boys from Barambah project. This project will produce an exhibition, a book and a website which proudly display the involvement of men from Cherbourg Aboriginal Settlement and surrounding areas in World War I.

The 2014 John Oxley Library Community History Award was awarded to Adopt a Digger. 

An outstanding example of a voluntary community project, it commemorates the men and women from the Sunshine Coast region who served during the First World War. It was launched in 2010 with the aim of creating an extensive database documenting the 2000+ soldiers and nurses from the region. Local residents and historians, school students and descendants were encouraged to “adopt a digger”, research the person’s military history and upload this information onto their website.

The 2013 John Oxley Library Community History Award was awarded to Brisbane Open House.

The organisation encourages residents and tourists to engage actively with Brisbane's history through architecture. Each year Brisbane Open House unlocks some of Brisbane's architecturally significant buildings for the public to explore through guided tours. This annual event is part of the Open House worldwide family. 

The 2012 John Oxley Library Community History Award was awarded to the Cardwell & District Historical Society.

In February 2011, Cyclone Yasi destroyed the society's museum, however, it continued its efforts to record the events of Cyclone Yasi on the district. The Cardwell & District Historical Society showed great community spirit as they worked together to collect oral histories from the town’s inhabitants in the wake of Yasi while also salvaging their valuable collections.

The 2011 John Oxley Library Community History Award was awarded to Berenice Wright.

Berenice is a researcher who promotes the history of Mackay and does a wide range of community work. She has worked closely with both the John Oxley Library and the Mackay City Library to develop collections that reflect the history of the Mackay region. She has been a driving force behind the Mackay City Library’s heritage collections, which are now a model for the management of regional historical collections in general.

She was awarded an Order of Australia medal in 2008 for her services to the community.

The 2010 John Oxley Library Community History Award was awarded to Geoff Moore from the North Stradbroke Island Historical Museum on Minjerribah.