The Ernest Scott Prize is awarded annually by the Faculty of Arts at the University of Melbourne. The prize is awarded to work based upon original research which is considered to be ‘the most distinguished contribution to the history of Australia or New Zealand or to the history of colonisation’, published in the previous calendar year.

2011 Winner

A Merciless Place: The Lost Story of Britain’s Convict Disaster in Africa and how it led to the Settlement of Australia by Emma Christopher (A&U) and A Three-Cornered Life: The Historian W K Hancockby Jim Davidson (UNSW Press) are the joint winners of the 2011 Ernest Scott Prize.

Christopher’s and Davidson’s books were selected from a shortlist of five, which included A Private Empire by Stephen Foster (Pier 9), Best of Both Worlds: The Story of Elsdon Best and Tutakangahau by Jeffrey Paparoa Holman (Penguin) and Savage of Civilised? Manners in Colonial Australiaby Penny Russell (NewSouth).