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2000 Premier's Prize Into the Wadi - Michèle
Drouart Judges' Comments Judges' Comments Judges' Comments
(for Judges' Comments see above) The Shark Net: memories
and murder - Robert Drewe Judges' Comments Judges' Comments Judges' Comments 1999 Premier's Prize Benang is an outstanding
achievement of narrative. It uses the historical record, ideas about revisions
and corrections, and the close emotional range of the recording of family
to make a political and affecting work of loss that is undercut with both
irony and distance. Throughout its five hundred pages it sustains its
original idea of subverting the state-sanctioned policies of race and
genetic make-up, of making the 'first white baby'. This is a major work
of fiction that is always engaged in a struggle against its bleak material,
and it succeeds in that struggle. There is a huge investment evident here
by the writer in researching, compiling and then making anew this material
into an imaginative form. (See above) The Willing Eye is
a powerful volume made up of six sections that set up, at times, remarkable
insights into human life and its complexity. Using the physical act of
giving birth and moving through the life of the growing child, as these
poems do, and focusing on place—on the detail of both landscape and
interior spaces—we are literally taken on a journey. These poems
are direct, mature, sometimes modest-looking, unadorned constructions
that contain a great sophistication and clarity through their use of language.
In searching for answers
concerning a possible miscarriage of justice, Estelle Blackburn has provided
a detailed reconstruction of a series of events which illuminate the social
history of Perth in the 1960s. Focusing on the extraordinary and chilling
crimes of serial killer Eric Edgar Cooke she provides a fascinating insight
into what made Cooke tick, while the narrative makes for engaging, indeed
gripping reading at all times. This may have been a book written primarily
in the attempt to argue the case for a particular individual but the end
product is much more than that. The impressive list of sources both written
and oral is testimony to the extent of her achievement. Packed with inspiring ideas and tips for creating interesting, exciting performances, this large-size, full-colour Dorling Kindersley book will delight children, especially those throughout Western Australia who have participated in educational programs with Reg Bolton's 'Suitcase Circus'. Adults helping children to create a polished public performance will also welcome the range of suggestions for acts, costumes and staging ideas. Well set out, the ideas are easy to follow and generally simple to create using readily available materials. Children portrayed in the book exemplify the United Kingdom racial mix, but this does not detract from its value for an Australian audience. This open-ended love
story is told from the point of view of Sam Lynch, a school dropout who
is pumping petrol for her mother's boyfriend in the small community of
Happy Valley. Sam is unsure that she even has a future until she meets
Zach, the gentle new boy who rides a Vespa and idolises 'The Who', a rock
group from the 1960s. In the spare language of the dialogue and Sam's
musings, Parry captures the insecurities of teenagers, their worldliness
and naivety, the tumult of being in love and the difficulties faced in
a world where teenagers often have little support from adults or their
peers. An authentic and distinctive
culture with its own traditions, mores and expectations has emerged from
the human activity that has taken place in the unique environment of the
Abrolhos Islands. It is brilliantly captured in the frank, unembellished
interviews in this collaborative work, which is enhanced by excellent
drawings and portraits. 1998 Premier's Prize This is a beautifully
written autobiographical account of the author's gradual acceptance of
her child's disability. In this novel the
author uses the physical journey connected with travelling around Australia
as a way of exploring various kinds of inner spaces and the potential
for awakenings. The travellers re-assess their attachment to the land;
they come to terms with a changed view of the cultural and physical landscape,
and they reconsider their marital relationship. Pat Jacobs presents us
with outstanding writing which offers the reader the opportunity to see
the landscape and feel the tensions between the characters. At the end
of the trip nothing remains the same. Happily, the writer resists the
temptation to provide any resolution to these altered situations. This
is skilled writing and a most impressive first novel. Judges' Comments The Gatekeeper's Wife
- Fay Zwicky Judges' Comments This is a much needed
account of Western Australian state discrimination against Aboriginal
people, based on a study of the legislation and planning which lay behind
the removal of Aboriginal children. The authors also consulted a number
of Aboriginal people who had the experience of being forcibly separated
from their families. The authors see the origin of the racist ideas which
underpinned this set of policies in the desire of Europeans to possess
Aboriginal land and employ cheap labour. This is a well-written and accessible
text based on substantial research, which the authors make the basis for
their careful judgement. It has a good bibliography and index and will
be widely consulted by both general and specialist readers for its historical
and contemporary value. Lowe's engrossing
biography of Spinifex is based on a true story told to her by Jimmy Pike,
and her own experiences with dingoes during the years she lived in the
desert. The third person narrative involves the reader intimately in the
pup's life from the time she is captured and reared by Mala, an Aboriginal
woman living a nomadic life, until her return years later, as a mature
dingo. Between times both dingo and Aboriginals alternate between living
traditionally and the white man's world of cattle station employment.
This is an exceptional book in which the well paced narrative and convincing
characters are set against the detailed backdrop of The Great Sandy Desert
in the late 1940's and early '50s. Based on one of the
most celebrated episodes in Irish history, Red Hugh demonstrates once
again that Lisson has made the field of historical fiction her own. With
impeccable attention to historical research and the nuances of Irish English
she has used her educated imagination to brilliant effect to bring this
story alive. Captured by the English in 1587, young Hugh Roe O'Donnell
was held hostage in Dublin Castle for four years as a guarantee that his
powerful father would be unable to forge a united Ulster. The novel follows
Hugh's capture, captivity and two escape attempts, the latter being successful
albeit at a terrible cost. Dominating this compelling narrative is the
character of Hugh, with whom the reader identifies totally as he struggles
to survive the awful conditions of imprisonment, and the harrowing physical
trials of his escape, sustained by the knowledge that his own people were
looking to him for leadership.
Ingle Knight's adaptation of Elizabeth Jolley's Milk and Honey is an original work. It is enormously successful in its act of transformation: of shaping a story into another form, into a work for the stage that relies upon a range of different narrative qualities. The use that Knight has made of characterisation and suspense and, particularly, the skill of selection and assemblage is impressive. 1997 Premier's Prize Robert Drewe's novel The Drowner is the work of a mature craftsman of language, intricately detailed and with a cinematic vision. The skill with which the writer blends historical and imaginative material to make this love story is immense: from deep and imagistic scenes of intimate relations to the span of Western Australian geography and the dilemma of the arid, typhoid-ridden goldfields of Kalgoorlie. The lives of the people in this novel flow with the presence or absence of water, also a metaphor for love. It is a novel about the fragility of sexual love, about people constructing tenuous but sustaining human relationships in strange contexts; it is also about pain, anguish and death. Drewe writes with great skill and detachment about history and the multiplicity of ways of telling and retelling stories and he does this in a prose style that is full of sensual delights. The Drowner is a compelling and rich novel. The stories in Fetish Lives by Gail Jones concern themselves with meditations about acts of artistic creation and speculations on the voices and lives of those responsible, both the makers and those who receive the work. As announced in the title, the fetish is explored as a productive, producing state between art and life. We are offered yearnings and obsessions and desire. This collection is impressive for the remarkable subtleties and nuances of its language. This skill holds our attention; the stories are both compelling and accessible, and at times, carry a gentle, wry humour. There is a darkness about this work, though; an attempt to find some truth about human relations which can be accessible only if all the usual verities are ignored, turned upside down or bypassed. This is usually the terrain of the poet, but Jones explores her ideas through narratives of real and imagined events, and she does so with intelligence and a fine elegance of language. See notes for Premier's Prize Alec Choate's The Wheels of Hama: Collected War Poems represents a major contribution to the war poetry of Australia. The poems span five years of conflict and document adept and compassionate observation of the people and landscapes of the Middle East, and the detritus of war. They include a sense of myth and ancient history appropriate to the area; this inclusion is both knowledgeable and poetically deft. The poems document moments of thoughtful stillness, rest or preparation before engagement in battle as well as battle itself. The tone is balanced and meditative, and full of respect: for what the poet sees, for the readers of the poems, and respect for poetic form. Many of the poems are long and beautifully sustained, giving evidence of the substance of the poet's skills. In one of his poems, Choate observes that "all he need do is watch, at times, and write". His poems are largely the product of these sympathetic observations about the people of cultures other than his own who are caught up in the destruction of warfare. These are narrative poems, written with attention to rhyme and metre, direct and magnificent nature poems and war poems. They are a kind of penance for having taken part in this destructive activity. In Carpet of Silver:
the Wreck of the Zuytdorp , Phillip Playford offers us two histories,
skilfully intertwined. One is about the wreck of Dutch ships on the Western
Australian coast, and of this wreck in particular, with a substantial
account of how these ships operated from Europe to the West Indies. The
second interlocking story is about how the mystery of the Zuytdorp was
unravelled by Museum personnel, by local adventurers and other interested
parties. The story gives full attention to the role of local people on
the coast, including the Aboriginal population. There are excellent photographs
which provide a valuable addition to the clear description of the local
environment. This account unravels the politics of wrecks in Western Australia
and fills in the details of a great story which has previously come to
us only through episodic newspaper reports. Deborah Lisson's A Place of Safety is a most welcome addition to the small collection of quality historical fiction accessible to 10-14 year olds. Impeccably researched, historically and geographically, this well-crafted book combines a strong plot line and convincing characterisation to invite young Australians to explore an important and sometimes unpalatable part of our history. Set during World War II, it traces the developing maturity of London evacuee, Sally Armitage, as she struggles to understand and accept life in a tiny rural town in the south-west of Western Australia. Her adjustment is skilfully juxtaposed with that of her aunt and uncle, who had migrated almost twenty years earlier as Group Settlers, and with that of the Italian community, long-term and respected residents who became objects of suspicion overnight and were interned on Rottnest Island. As Sally is experiencing this complex society, she revels in her discovery of a secret hideaway, and struggles with the harsh reality of a stranger on the run. Nevertheless, it is her endearing and utterly persuasive personality which dominates this splendid novel. In Songs of Strength: Sixteen Women Talk about Cancer, by the Women's Cancer Group, we are presented with clear readable accounts of the changes in the lives of women who have been diagnosed as having cancer. They eschew sentimentality in favour of tough-minded accounts of their experiences and of the changes in their lives because of this illness. This is an unusual book by people who have experienced something widely dreaded by most of the community. There is a note of defiance, even of celebration about this book, which is truly a remarkable achievement. The book has been made with enormous skill and craft; its intelligence shines through the individual compositions as well as the editing and the final shape of the work. Dicken Oxenburgh and Andrew Ross have written an adaptation of Randolph Stow's novel, Merry-Go-Round-in-the-Sea and carefully and skilfully employed both image and impressionism in the original work to make a powerful work for the stage. With seemingly simple threads from the novel, they have built a layered and affecting, and visually exciting, portrayal of a particular Australian experience of nostalgia and yearning and change. The text explores emotional ties between generations, and the incapacity of those who have lost their innocence to return to the stable and simple world they have left behind. The script does great justice to the original work and enhances it, as all good adaptations from one form to another attempt to do. 1996 Premier's
Prize Banjo Woorunmurra and Howard Pedersen's Jandamarra represents a unique collaboration between the traditional custodian of a major episode in Aboriginal-white relations in Western Australia and an academically trained historian, and as such provides a pioneering model for Australian historians. It draws on research from many sources, and while expressing a firmly stated point of view is careful in its use of evidence. Heather Grace's The Lighthouse Spark is a convincing work which makes sense of the past without sentimentality or nostalgia. It is written in a fine clear style which is alert to visual and sensory impressions. Dave Warner's City of Light adapts the genre of crime fiction to local conditions, showing a remarkable imaginative understanding of complex power play and the interaction between sporting, political and police circles. The style is crisp, amusing and full of impact. Dorothy Hewett's Collected Poems brings together a substantial and remarkably varied body of work spanning more than half a century's commitment to a neo-Romantic conception of poetry.
Children's
& Young Adult's Books In Idjhil, Helen Bell's poetic prose and disturbingly haunting pastels combine to produce a powerful portrayal of Idjhil's life among the Nyungar people of the Swan Valley until, at the age of 9, he is taken away by the white authorities. The gentle pace and calm voice of the narrative, together with a potent refrain about the people and the land, are most distinctive. This is a strong yet understated and timely book. Mike Leonard's The Kimberley - A Journey through Northwest Australia is a book of superb and precise photographs presented with the highest standards of production. Sarah Rossetti's Culture Clash is a polished and professional script about the conservation of land and culture which is pitched with great accuracy at its intended audience. 1995 Premier's Prize Glyn Parry's Radical Take-offs is a versatile collection of short stories whose range of storylines will absorb young adults. The deft control of idiom and structured prose admirably captures the tone of adolescent bravado and half-acknowledged anxieties. Simone Lazaroo's The World Waiting to be Made is a warm, witty and moving story of cultural differences and personal conflict in reconciling traditional customs with present realities. Written in a clear, consistent style, this novel portrays the lifestyle of people known as the "In-betweens". It is a tale of irony and sadness in which some vital and memorable characters emerge. Andrew Taylor's poems in Sandstone are intimate and meditative. With sea and sand as his muse he reflects on past experiences, family relationships and contemporary society. George Seddon's Searching for the Snowy, is a highly readable account of a physical and intellectual exploration of the natural and social world of the Snowy River.
Elizabeth Rippey and Barbara Rowland's Plants of the Perth Coast and Islands is a superb combination of scientific exactitude and artistic creativity. It is a wonderful resource book and delightful companion to keep in hand when walking along the western beaches. Heather Nimmo's Whispering Demons is a finely tuned, well crafted script. It deals with conflicts between situation and personal aspirations in a contemporary setting. Premier's Prize Dorothy Hewett's Peninsula is a remarkably powerful collection, elegiac, wise and passionate by turns, with a unique gift for language which conveys strong feeling. Joan London in Letter to Constantine draws complex narrative lines that hook the reader in, requiring work of the reader to keep up with its twists and turns. Moving, deeply felt stories by an important writer who is assured and sophisticated.
The Encyclopedia of Aboriginal Australia is a unique and invaluable reference book, serving well scholars and those interested in all aspects of Aboriginal life, produced in a visually beautiful format. Rosa's Famous Elbow is a book for reading aloud to young children. Mike Lefroy's simple story line has real strength and point, and is wonderfully complemented by Peter Kendall's vibrant illustrations which make immediate overall impact and are full of clear detail and humorous touches. In compiling his very eclectic collection of stories, poetry and graphics, Summer Shorts, Peter Holland has succeeded in coaxing memorable contributions out of new, unexpected and expatriate Western Australian writers. The standard of writing and production is uniformly high. Lois Achimovich's Meektharra is an appealing script, its characters strongly written with poise and grace. It is a straightforward play with a strong plot that works well, uncovering layers of emotional meaning. 1993 - 1982 Premier's Prize |
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