The Max Kelly Medal plus a prize of $500 is awarded annually to a ‘beginning’ historian for a work of excellence in any aspect of Australian history. The Medal was established as a tribute to Associate Professor Maxwell John Kelly (1935-1996), the first elected President of the History Council, who died suddenly in 1996.

Nominations for the 2011 Max Kelly Medal are now open. The deadline for entries is 10 December 2010.

Max Kelly Medal 2009

Isobelle Barrett Meyering has won the Max Kelly Medal 2009 for her essay 'Abolitionism, settler violence and the case against corporal punishment: a reassessment of Sir William Molesworth's contribution to the transportation debate'. Ms Barrett Meyering was presented the medal at the Annual History Lecture held at Government House Friday 4 September 2009.

Previous winners

2008 Grant Mansfield
'The Costs of War: patriotism and price-fixing during the opening months of the Great War in Australia'

2007 Timothy Castle
‘Watching Them Hang: Capital Punishment and Public Support in Colonial New South Wales, 1826-1836’

2006 Emily Pollnitz
‘Romancing the Australian parlour: Passion, patriarchy and genteel love songs, 1880 – 1900’

2005 Janet Butler
‘Journey into War: A Woman’s Diary’

2004 Melissa Bellanta
‘Raiders of the Lost Civilisation, Or, Fabulating the Australian Desert, 1890-1908’

2003 Dr Helen McDonald

2002 Clare Alice Wright

2001
The Medal was not awarded.

2000 Claire Hooker

1999 Melissa Harper

1998 Jacinta Feltis

1997 Amanda Card