Stephanie Lunn from Moruya Heads, a Year 12 student at Moruya High School, has bagged first prize in the 2020 Summer Holidays History Competition run by the South Coast History Society.
Entrants were asked to select any topic relating to the South Coast’s history and to submit an article on it that was suitable for publication in ‘Recollections’, the South Coast’s free history magazine.
Stephanie chose a very topical subject – the history of bushfires on the South Coast.
She supplemented this history by interviewing two long-serving local firefighters, Richard Fisher and Arthur Hurrell, and so was able to highlight some of the changes that have occurred in the way bushfires have been fought over the past 50 years.
“Stephanie wrote a very interesting history and presented it in a very professional, engaging and easy-to-read journalistic style,” South Coast History Society’s President Peter Lacey said.
“And she then went the extra mile by supplying good maps and photographs to illustrate what she had written.”
Stephanie has been awarded a prize of $500 for her efforts and her submission will be published in the April-May 2020 issue of ‘Recollections’ which will become available in about three weeks’ time.
“Stephanie’s choice of topic, fortuitously, was an ideal complement to two other articles in the April - May issue of Recollections – one about the effect that the recent bushfires have had on the history and heritage on the South Coast, the other about Aboriginal cultural burning in Australia in the 18th and 19th centuries,” Peter added.
As well as producing ‘Recollections’ every two months, South Coast History Society organizes regular events and activities that are aimed at interesting various groups in the community in history.
The Summer Holidays History Competition is aimed at engaging students who are in their final three years of high school. In contrast, the next event being organised by the South Coast History Society is aimed at Seniors, with free concerts in Merimbula, Bega and Bermagui that will combine a live performance of popular music from the 1960s with an overview of the extraordinary history of that decade.
Further information is available by phoning 0448 160 852.
