Appendix K
Discretionary grants
In 2005–06 the Archives awarded grants under four schemes, described below. All grant holders gave public lectures during their tenures and were invited to publish material on the Archives website.
The Archives also helped once again to fund the Community Heritage Grants scheme, together with the National Library of Australia and the Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts.
Ian Maclean Award
In 2005–06 the Archives conferred the Ian Maclean Award for innovation in archives to art curator Eileen Chanin and archivist Stephen Miller. It was the third time the award had been conferred. The two recipients will share a $14,130 stipend to assist them to enhance knowledge of the whereabouts of the archival records of Australia’s early art schools, and to make these records accessible through a database.
During the year Dr Nikki Henningham, a research fellow, historian and Executive Officer of the Australian Women’s Archives Project, completed her Ian Maclean tenure in a project that located archival records of migrant women. The information compiled by Dr Henningham will be made accessible though the Australian Women’s Archives Project website (www.womenaustralia.info).
The Ian Maclean Award aims to provide a paid opportunity to conduct research that will benefit the archival profession. The award commemorates the contribution of Ian Maclean (1919–2003), who worked as an archivist at federal, state and international levels for 50 years, including Chief Archives Officer of the Commonwealth Archives Office from 1961 to 1968 and Director of Australian Archives.
Frederick Watson Fellowship
In 2005–06 the Archives awarded three Frederick Watson Fellowships. Mr Robert Burrell, Associate Professor in the School of Law at the University of Queensland, received a grant of $9000 to investigate the history of copyright reform in Australia in the period between 1900 and 1913.
Dr David Lawrence, Visiting Fellow, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University, was awarded a grant of $1500 to research the Archives’ holdings on E W Pearson Chinnery, who served as Government Anthropologist and then as Director of District Services and Native Affairs in New Guinea during the 1920s and 1930s.
Dr Frances Miley, Senior Lecturer, School of Business, University of New South Wales, was awarded a grant of $3500 to study the history of Australian Army financial decisions.
The fellowship is awarded annually in honour of Dr Frederick Watson (1878–1945), a firm advocate and user of government archives at both the state and national level. He is best remembered for his editorship of the Historical Records of Australia series, produced by the Parliamentary Library Committee. The fellowship is granted to established scholars undertaking research focused on the National Archives’ collection.
Margaret George Award
The Archives selected two recipients for the Margaret George Awards in 2005–06. Dr Nick Richardson, journalist and historian, was awarded a grant of $2310 to explore the relationship between Australian media owner Sir Keith Murdoch and former Prime Minister Joseph Lyons of the United Australia Party.
Dr Sean Brawley, Senior Lecturer, School of History, University of New South Wales, was awarded a grant of $7200 to examine changes made to the White Australia Policy during the World War II conflict in the Pacific and in the early postwar period.
The Margaret George Award provides an opportunity for emergent historians to undertake scholarly use of the Archives’ collection. It is named after a young Australian historian whose research was published after her premature death in 1980.
Summer Scholars
The 2006 winner of the Archives’ Summer Scholarship was Alessandro Antonello, a student at the Australian National University. The scholarship covered his accommodation and travel, and paid him a weekly stipend of $300 for six weeks.
Mr Antonello undertook designated research projects and worked with the Archives’ education team to develop material for use in Vrroom (the Archives’ educational website), and identify ways in which the Archives’ collection could be used to explore biographies. He presented his findings through papers and lectures to Archives staff and gained an in-depth understanding of the national collection and archival research methodology.
Community Heritage Grants
In 2005–06 the Archives again joined with the National Library of Australia and the Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts to fund the twelfth round of the Community Heritage Grants scheme. The Archives contributed $20,000 towards the grant pool, and assisted on the grant steering committee and judging panel. This year, 76 grants were awarded, with a total value of $372,865. In November 2005, grant winners visited the Archives for training in running a small archives, detecting and managing pests in storage areas, and recycling shipping containers for archival and museum storage.