Launceston Historical Society announces 2023 Primary School History Prize

The competition has been running since 2009.

Prize Coordinator, Carol Fuller said that it was started to encourage young people to become interested in the past on the understanding that "the more we know about the past, the better we can live in the future."

READ MORE: Revised Albert Hall costs set to remain under wraps for now

Ms Fuller, a former primary and secondary school teacher, noticed that around this time, history was starting to decline among secondary school students.

Aiming the competition at primary school students is a way of getting them started young, she said.

The competition is based on children finding and answering a question which forms the basis for their historical research project.

In previous years, children have asked questions like

There have previously been some topics that have completely blown away the judges.

"We learn something every year," Ms Fuller said.

One year, a student decided to ask "Are there really badgers at Badgers Head?"

What the student ended up discovering was that there weren't any badgers but that the location was named after a lady pirate called Charlotte Badger.

READ MORE: From suffering to opportunity: Bhutanese refugee settles into Launceston

They then have to answer that question by using historical research methods.

It's not the topic that's important but the methods, Ms Fuller said.

This could involve interviewing people, going to the archives, visiting a library, and using the internet.

"We insist that their references don't just wholly rely on the internet," she said.

"We want the young people to go out and talk to people, to talk to places like QVMAG,, to read books, and also go to museums and find out things like that."

By going through the competition, students learn to look for relevant information and develop their research skills.

Sometimes children have focused on family history and a number of First Nations students have done projects where they've gone and spoken to Indigenous Elders, Ms Fuller said.

READ MORE: Scammers are working hard at tax time - what to look out for

"It teaches the children how to go out into the community and find information but also to make sure they get the correct information."

Primary School Teacher Denise Morgan said that some of the prompts that have inspired her students came from objects around the house.

History might your mothers ring or an antique piece of furniture, she said. It can be from a long way back or more recent.

"If we have knowledge of history, we have knowledge of who we are," Ms Morgan said.

Her students have also benefitted from learning the cycles of history, she said, which was very relevant during the pandemic.

When students are taught that this has happened before you're telling them "We come out the other end," she said.

READ MORE: Hansen goes the distance for Olympic dream

For students the competition brings a better awareness of the richness of this area's history, she said.

The competiton runs from the beginning of semester 2 until the end of the first week in semester 4. The deadline for submissions is 20 October 2023.

The entries are judged by a panel of LHS committee members and certificates of participation and prizes are presented to the students by the Mayor at a ceremony held at the Town Hall in November.

For more information, contact the Launceston Historical Society.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content:

Follow us on Google News: The Examiner