Ernest Scott Prize 2016
The shortlist for the Australian Historical Association’s prestigious Ernest Scott Prize has been announced. On the list is the Centre’s director, Professor Tony Ballantyne, for his book Entanglements of Empire: Missionaries, Māori and the Question of the Body (Auckland University Press, 2015). The Ernest Scott Prize is awarded to the book that has made the most distinguished contribution to Australian or New Zealand history or the history of colonisation.
The judges describe Entanglements of Empire as “a smart, engaging and intelligent new work, which carefully blends New Zealand historical research with new theoretical readings inspired by international scholarship. Pushing disciplinary boundaries, its novel approach in reading the early Missionary-Maori dynamic in a new light, makes this book a new spin on an ‘old’ topic. Employing new frames of reference, guided by a focus on spatial interaction and physical embodiment, this book will invite further re-readings of the early colonial encounter period in New Zealand. Elegantly written, grounded in solid primary research, Entanglements of Empire is focused on re-thinking the history of early colonial New Zealand.”
The winner will be announced at the Kathleen Fitzpatrick Lecture, University of Melbourne, on 26 April.
Congratulations Tony, and good luck!
Centre member wins Ernest Scott Prize 2015
Congratulations to Professor Tom Brooking whose Richard Seddon, King of God’s Own: The Life and Times of New Zealand’s Longest-Serving Prime Minister was co-winner of the Ernest Scott Prize for 2015, with Alan Atkinson’s The Europeans in Australia, Vol 3: Nation. Tom is the second CROCC member to have won this prize awarded for “the most distinguished contribution to the history of Australia or New Zealand or to the history of colonisation”. Angela Wanhalla won in 2014, and Centre director, Tony Ballantyne, was shortlisted in 2013. Click here for the publisher’s info on Richard Seddon.
Seddon biography shortlisted for prize
Congratulations to CRoCC member, Professor Tom Brooking, from all in the Centre for being shortlisted for the prestigious Ernest Scott Prize, awarded by the Australian Historical Association for best book in Australian and New Zealand history. You can read about Tom’s competition here. Three New Zealand history books are shortlisted, including Tangata Whenua by Atholl Anderson, Judith Binney and Aroha Harris, which includes a contribution by another CRoCC member, Dr. Michael Stevens. The winner will be announced at the Australian Historical Association conference dinner in July. Congratulations to all who have been shortlisted!
Dr Angela Wanhalla wins Ernest Scott Prize
At the Australian Historical Association conference in Brisbane last night, 
CROCC member Dr Angela Wanhalla was awarded the Ernest Scott Prize for History. This prize is awarded annually to the book judged to be the most distinguished contribution to the History of Australia or New Zealand or to the history of colonization published in the previous year.
Matters of the Heart: A History of Interracial Marriage in New Zealand was published by Auckland University Press.
As the judges commented “Angela Wanhalla’s ground breaking history of interracial relationships in New Zealand across two hundred years utilises not only the usual range of church and state records but also personal papers, family and local histories to track the lives of couples whose relationship was sustained over a period of time. While Maori women left little trace for the historian, Wanhalla uses analysis of images, particularly photography, to overcome some of the gaps and silences in the record. She takes a broad view of coupling which incorporates common law relationships, Maori ceremonies and Christian marriages sanctioned by the State and also takes account of various debates and legislative action in relation to marriage over time.
“Wanhalla draws on the recent work by anthropologists and historians such as Ann Laura Stoler to explore the history of emotion and sentiment as central to these encounters. She historicises the specific context in which these are expressed and how they changed over time in relation to the society and demographics. She notes that interracial relationships in New Zealand have often been used as evidence of ‘gentle colonialism’ but while her study of intimacy makes an important contribution to overturning simplistic paradigms of race relations on the frontier and beyond, Wanhalla still emphasises the framework of gendered and racial power struggles within which these relationships operated.”
Congratulations to Angela for her ongoing success!
CRoCC member shortlisted for prestigious book prize
Congratulations to Angela Wanhalla, member of CRoCC and the University of Otago’s History Department, for the shortlisting of her recent book, Matters of the Heart: A History of Interracial Marriage in New Zealand, for the Ernest Scott Prize for History for 2014. This prize, given annually to the book judged to be the most distinguished contribution to the history of Australia or New Zealand or to the history of colonization, will be awarded at the upcoming Australian Historical Association Conference in Brisbane in July. Angela’s book was published by Auckland University Press.
