Recently announced 2014 NSW Premier’s History Awards Shortlists have given us some very interesting reads from local and Australian history to the world history, from books to multimedia.

When talking about history the interpretations are varied. So it’s worth our attention to see what the latest publications are and what the authors have to say about what’s happened. History is a mirror to the future. Reading history books makes us think and act differently if the past lessons are learned properly.  

Australian History Prize

Broken Nation by Joan Beaumont (Allen & Unwin)

The Aboriginal Story of Burke and Wills: Forgotten Narratives, edited by Ian Clark and Fred Cahir (CSIRO Publishing)

The Forgotten Rebels of Eureka by Clare Wright (Text Publishing)

General History Prize

Encountering the Pacific in the Age of Enlightenment by John Gascoigne (Cambridge University Press)

Antipodean America: Australasia and the Constitution of U.S. Literature by Paul Giles (Oxford University Press)

Lamaze: An International History by Paula Michaels (Oxford University Press)

NSW Community and Regional History Prize

The Wallpapered Manse: The Rescue of an Endangered House by Peter Freeman (The Watermark Press)

Coast: A History of the New South Wales Edge by Ian Hoskins (NewSouth)

Sydney Mechanic School of Arts: A History by Garry Wotherspoon (Sydney Mechanic School of Arts)

Young People’s History Prize:

The Road to Gundagai by Jackie French (HarperCollins Publishers)

Yoko’s Diary, Edited by Paul Ham, Translated by Debbie Edwards (HarperCollins Publishers)

Australians All by Nadia Wheatley, illustrated by Ken Searle (Allen & Unwin)

Multimedia History Prize:

Public Intimacies: The 1974 Royal Commission on Human Relationships, Michelle Arrow, Catherine Freyne and Timothy Nicastri (ABC Radio National Hindsight)

Persons of Interest – Gary Foley (Ep 3), Haydn Keenan (Smart Street Films)

The Reef (www.the-reef.com.au), Iain McCalman (Penguin Group Australia/Spring in Alaska)