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Education**The full details of the 2009 National History Challenge are here **Content on this page:
Write an essay, build a model, make a DVD, produce a play and enter the Challenge! The National Trust is a proud sponsor of the National History Challenge and invites students from years 5 to 12 to enter this research based competition. It gives students a chance to be an historian, investigating their community and exploring their own past and heritage. It emphasises and rewards quality research, the use of community resources and effective presentation. Entrants can progress through Regional, State/Territory and National finals. Students can present their work in one of four formats:
The National Trust’s special category is Australia’s heritage and the Trust offers cash prizes for best entries in each State/Territory meeting the themes: Australia’s heritage: - Australia meets the world State/Territory winners will receive a cash prize of $100. State winning entries may be published in National Trust magazines. A National winner for the Trust’s special category is chosen from the State and Territory winning entries. The Trust’s National winner/s will receive a cash prize of $200 and travel to Canberra to attend the National Presentation Ceremony in Mural Hall, Parliament House. The National winning entry in the Trust’s special category may be published in Trust News Australia The closing date of the competition is 25 July 2008 Information and registration forms can be found at www.historychallenge.com.au. AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL HISTORY CHALLENGE 2007Theme: LESSONS FROM THE PAST Lachlan is a year 10 student at Clarence High School and since he was a small boy, like his father before him he has spent much of his boyhood with his family at the Supply River Falls situated on the West Tamar River near Launceston, Tasmania, which he describes as “an enchanting place.” Lachlan tells us that “an exploration of the site provides us with meaningful lessons from the past about our human endeavours. Time brings all things to an end. People will pass on, buildings become ruins, yet it may be the seemingly inconsequential things that we do that remind others of their roots and provide an entry point to the stories of the past.” |
In his essay, Lachlan explores the history of a name, Adolarius Humphrey, carved in to a rock at the Falls some 203 years ago in 1804 which became, unintentionally, the oldest European monument in Tasmania.
It takes us back to a time when none but the aborigines knew about this tranquil river until in 1825 the area was the chosen site for a flour mill. |
The history of the flour mill and the ruins that remain “illustrate the sustained efforts of many men working hard day and night for years on end in an attempt to make their fortune,” but ultimately the theme that runs through the story is “that the future rarely turns out as planned.” |
As Lachlan concludes, “it may be inconsequential things like the carving of ‘A.H 1804’ that reminds us of our roots and provide an entry point to the stories of our past until they too will one day pass as they travel through time as we all must do.”
The various old documents and oral history which Lachlan used for his research clearly influenced Lachlan and helped him create a beautifully written and lyrical essay which he crafted to provide an enchanting, historically accurate, fascinating and unique record of this beautiful place.  Lachlan Phillips
Contact the National Trust of Australia (Tasmania)
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