{"id":243,"date":"2010-09-28T05:54:35","date_gmt":"2010-09-28T15:54:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/halsteadpress.com.au\/site\/?page_id=243"},"modified":"2022-05-19T16:50:03","modified_gmt":"2022-05-20T02:50:03","slug":"wild-cattle-wild-country-media-release","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/halsteadpress.com.au\/site\/wild-cattle-wild-country-media-release\/","title":{"rendered":"Wild Cattle & Real History"},"content":{"rendered":"

NT Prize Update: Awkward moment or second thoughts?<\/h3>\n

IN WHAT SEEMED to be a last minute aboutface, the 2010 NT Chief Minister’s History award went ahead in mid May.<\/p>\n

Judges disqualified five of the six entries. The remaining entry\u2014An Awkward Truth\u2014was given the prize.\u00a0 Read on for more …<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/address>\n

MEDIA RELEASE 11 May 2010<\/span>
\n<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Australia\u2019s History Wars could be breaking out on a new front, with the controversial decision of an academic judging panel to hold back this year\u2019s NT Chief Minister\u2019s History Book Award<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Days before the advertised presentation, one of the judges has told Halstead Press publisher, Matthew Richardson, that every book entered was ruled out by the judges\u2019 \u201cclassical interpretation of historical research\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

The judges refuse to consider Halstead\u2019s entry Wild Cattle, Wild Country<\/em>, by Anne Marie Ingham. Richardson has been told that because it is based on oral history sources the judges cannot judge it as a history book. They do not recognise oral history research as classical history research.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat about Thucydides and Herodotus?\u201d asks an amazed Richardson\u2014referring to the Greek historians who founded the classical history tradition. \u201cThey insisted on basing their books on eye witness accounts, but the judges would have to rule them out because their oral research wasn\u2019t classical. It\u2019s an insult to the cattle men, and the Aboriginal people on the stations. It disparages everyone whose experiences won\u2019t be counted as history just because they didn\u2019t generate written records.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Academic historians are beginning to line up behind some of the eliminated books. \u201cI\u2019ve seen Wild Cattle, Wild Country<\/em>\u201d, says Assoc. Prof. Paul Ashton: \u201cIt must have taken years to research and its sources are carefully identified. It is hard to see how the history of the Northern Territory can ever be written without that level of oral research. Insisting on textually oriented research is a remarkable misunderstanding anywhere\u2014and especially where so much of the past is stored in people\u2019s memories.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The Award was to have been announced on 13 May\u2014the eve of the NT Writers\u2019 Festival. What happens instead may hinge on the outcome of protests raised with the Chief Minister\u2019s office by some of the publishers. \u201cNarrowly managed awards have a way of haunting prizes,\u201d says Matthew Richardson, \u201cpeople still talk about the \u2018lost\u2019 Booker Prize, and Dobell\u2019s claim to the 1943 Archibald. This is an issue that matters well beyond 2010 and the borders of the Territory.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

PROF. PAUL ASHTON is head of the UTS Public History Centre. His new book, History at the Crossroads<\/em>, is due for release in July. MATTHEW RICHARDSON has 24 years\u2019 experience editing history. His next book, The West and the Map of the World<\/em> will be published by MUP in August.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

BOTH ARE AVAILABLE FOR INTERVIEW\u2014CONTACT HALSTEAD PRESS 02-92113033<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

HALSTEAD RESPONDS ON ORAL HISTORY<\/h3>\n