Media Release 06 Jan 2010
Dr Jane Davis is the recipient of the State Library’s second Battye Fellowship. Dr Davis’ project will challenge the current widely-held assumptions about settlers and the Australian environment. It will focus on twenty-one colonists who settled in the South West of Western Australia between 1829 and 1907, and the extent to which they developed a sense of home and belonging through their relationships with and perceptions of the landscapes they encountered.
Applications for the Battye Fellowship were sought during April and May of 2009. Applications were judged by Dr Andrea Gaynor, Professor Richard Nile, Kris Bizzaca (Member, Library Board of WA), CEO and State Librarian Margaret Allen and Dr Sarah Brown, Battye Historian.
Dr Sarah Brown said, “There were many interesting and high quality proposals and judging was not easy. In enabling Dr Davis’ study of some of Western Australia’s most famous settlers, it is anticipated that the Fellowship will generate further interest and questions about this period of WA history and will challenge the dominant pioneer narrative that portrays colonists as threatened and alienated by a harsh environment”.
The results of the research project will be made available in due course.
Notes for Editors
In honour of the 50th Anniversary of the Battye Library in December 2006, the Library Board of Western Australia established an award, known as the James Sykes Battye Memorial Fellowship.
The aim of the Fellowship is to foster research and publication into aspects of Western Australia based on the unique collections of the Battye Library.
The Fellowship, up to the value of $20,000, was established through the Leah Jane Cohen bequest, and includes use of office space at the State Library, Perth Cultural Centre.
Dr Jane Davis has a BA with honours in history and a PhD in history, both from the University of Western Australia. Since completing her PhD, Dr Davis has become involved with a number of projects in diverse areas. These include writing the text for Memories of Times Past - Australia, a book about Australia at the turn of the twentieth century that is being managed by Bookcraft in England; research concerned with the internationalisation of the University of Western Australia that focuses on student exchange; assisting with a chapter on the history of science at the University of Western Australia for the university's centenary history to be published during the centenary celebrations in 2011-2013; and coordinating short courses in Australian Studies for American university students currently enrolled at the University of Western Australia.
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For further details regarding the Battye Fellowship please contact Dr Sarah Brown, Battye Historian (08) 9427 3165 email: sarah.brown@slwa.wa.gov.au
