The Australian Bona fide History Awards (or ‘The Hunter Bonas’) gains its inspiration from the Latin ‘bona fide’ meaning ‘In Good Faith’ i.e. genuine, trustworthy.
The aim of the Awards is to celebrate outstanding scholarship and service to Australian history and heritage in the Hunter Region, and at the same time inspire younger people to get involved in historical research and documentation of local heritage.
Since Australia does not have a national award we have decided to start one, but our emphasis remains local history and heritage. We hope that the awards can be used by communities across the nation to promote and acknowledge their local history.
Newcastle and the Hunter Region’s past achievements have all but been written out of the history of Australia. This is a deplorable situation for Australia’s second oldest city and so we wish to recognise and congratulate the people and organisations who have helped to research, document and protect our archival and built heritage.
This work will assist in the quest to attain world recognition for Newcastle and the Hunter Region’s historical contribution to the development of the Australian nation.
Our Award Categories are:
Beacon TowerAward Categories:
Perpetual Bona – Outstanding achievement in the service of history and heritage
Golden Bona – Best Adaptive Heritage Reuse for a building
Academic Bona – Best academic history based upon a local historical theme
Deadly Bona – Best Indigenous History Monograph, article or digital work
Commemorative Bona – Best Commemorative History
The Virtual Bona – Most Popular History related social networking site
Family Bona – Best Family History Monograph or services to family history in the Region
Studious Bona – Best Student Paper or article
Amateur Bona – Best history by an amateur historian
Performing Bona – Best fictional tale, musical, theatrical or dramatic production based on a local historical theme
Broadcast Bona – Best Media work on history
No Bona – For the most inappropriate development or misuse of a heritage treasure or place
The Hunter Bonas Committee reserves the right to create categories depending upon the nature of the work or activity to be acknowledged.
Nominations are now welcome for the inaugural event to be held in April 2010.
Send your nominations to hunterheritagenetwork@gmail.com
The Australian Bona Fide History Awards 