Public Record Office Victoria and the Royal Historical Society of Victoria have awarded podcaster Alexandra Pierce the Oral History Award for Women, Conscription, War.

Richard Broome presents Alexandra Pierce with her award

The judges said:

“The 15-episode podcast, Women, Conscription, War, tells the story of the Melbourne women who opposed the Vietnam War and the National Service Act from 1965-1972. Each thematic episode weaves together narratives from fifty-eight oral history interviews conducted by Alexandra Pierce for her project, while also including (through the website) contemporary archival documents, photographs and protest ephemera and invaluable bibliographies of primary and secondary source material. This podcast is an inspiring example of the power of oral history to allow historical actors to make sense of their experiences, to bring us along with them on that journey of understanding, and to recreate and explain a momentous period of Victorian and Australian history – through the stories of women who made history in so many ways. Created as a response to a gap in the historical record, this podcast series fills that gap and then some. The podcast approach makes the women’s stories and the wider history accessible to a wide audience. The fact that this history podcast was produced by a solo oral historian without institutional support is truly inspirational.”

The full 2024 Victorian Community History Awards can be found here: https://www.premier.vic.gov.au/art-critic-biography-wins-premiers-history-awards