HCSA Historian Awards Winners announced

The annual Historian Awards were announced at the History Festival closing celebration on 31 May.

Historian of the Year: Dr. Heidi Ing

In recent years, Dr Ing has launched History at the Historian, a successful networking series that brings experts and enthusiasts together in the iconic city pub. She’s the co-creator of The House of History, a major seminar stream for this year’s History Festival. She has also supported academic research across Adelaide’s three major universities, as well as a landmark survey into South Australia’s history research landscape. She’s active in almost a dozen history organisations spanning genealogy, archives, pioneering history, medical heritage and community training.

Emerging Historian: Kelly Bonato

For transforming historic South Australian photographs through digital colourisation and building a thriving online history community via her platform A Colourful History.

Life Long Historian: Emeritus Professor Margaret Allen

A pioneering historian who has dedicated 60 years (and counting) to the advancement and celebration of women’s rights and education in South Australia.

Digital Technologies Award: Martindale Stories Website Team

For their innovative ‘slow digitisation’ project using immersive 3D models and community-led storytelling, including strong partnerships with Ngadjuri Elders.
Check out their website here.

Contribution to Regional or Community History: Kimba & Gawler Ranges Historical Society

For over 40 years of dedicated volunteer service preserving regional heritage through museum collections, school partnerships and local history projects.

Oral History Excellence: Madeleine Regan

For her long-standing commitment to documenting migrant histories through oral testimony, particularly her acclaimed project on Veneto market gardeners in Adelaide.
Check out her website, Veneto Market Gardeners 1927.

Wakefield Press Essay Prize: Dr André Brett

For his essay “So Unusual, So Horrible, and So Rapid in the Fatal Result”: The Death of James Garden Ramsay and Summertime Railway Travel in Colonial Australia.

This compelling essay uses the story of a tragic accident to illuminate the broader experiences and environmental challenges of summertime railway travel in colonial South Australia, offering unique insights into evolving safety standards, climate responses and the realities of travel during the late nineteenth century.