I was most honoured to represent the Premier this afternoon for the presentation of the Australian National History Challenge Awards and to celebrate the outstanding achievements of the 2015 winners in the National History Challenge.

The National History Challenge is an exciting contest that encourages students to use research and inquiry based learning to discover more about the past.

This year the competition theme was ‘Leadership and Legacy’, which gave the students a broad canvas to explore a range of stories from the past.

Tasmania has an enviable history of involvement and success at both a state and national level in the Challenge, and our history students are highly regarded all around the country.

This year, Tasmania has four students who have between them won three National Prizes in the Challenge. This has placed Tasmania in second place overall at a national level, just beaten by Western Australia with four Awards.

The quality of the entries this year was simply outstanding, and so congratulations must go to all entrants! Unfortunately, there are only a limited number of Awards on offer, and I wish to specially acknowledge the efforts of this year’s winners.

The following students were judged as State winners and received their Award at today’s Award Ceremony:

• History Teacher’s Association of Australia – National Winner: Freya Cox, The Friends School, whose entry was titled ‘Eddie Mabo to Adam Goodes’;

• Museum Exhibit P-6 – National Winner: William Zeeman, Princes Street Primary School, whose entry was titled ‘William Zeeman: A Man and His Community’;

• Australia’s Wartime Experiences – National Winner: Angus Christie and Jack Carr, The Hutchins School, whose entry was titled ‘Kokoda: How it Lives on in us’.

Of the State winners, the Premier’s trophy for the Tasmanian Young Historian 2015 was awarded to Angus Christie and Jack Carr from The Hutchins School.

These students will now travel to Canberra to receive their National Award at Parliament House in the ACT.
Elise Archer, Speaker of the House of Assembly