2015 Thawley Essay winner
Each year the British based Economist Intelligence Unit publishes a list of the ‘world’s most liveable cities’. In the list published on August the 18th in the Economist Magazine, Australia had four cities, Canada three, and New Zealand one, all included in the top ten. In other words, of the thousands of cities around the globe, eight of the top ten on this list were developed by the British in the late eighteenth or early nineteenth centuries.
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The judges of the essay prize include Michael Thawley (for whom the prize is named) and who until recently was secretary of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. The essay does not reflect his views on Indigenous policy now nor while he was working for the government. He did agree with his fellow judges, however, that the essay best met the prize’s aim of promoting debate about modern Australia and, in linking the moving story of Warri and Yatungka with broader questions about Australia’s approach to Indigenous issues, also best met the criteria of being thought- provoking, insightful and engaging.
Tony Letford is the winner of the 2015 Thawley Essay prize. He is now ‘retired from an undistinguished career as a bureaucrat’ and is concentrating on writing short stories and a screenplay.
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