Two Bob’s Worth

Lorna Hallahan and David Hansen are the joint winners of the 2010 Calibre Prize for an Outstanding Essay, the fourth to be presented by ABR, in association with Copyright Agency Limited’s Cultural Fund. The judges – critic James Ley and ABR Editor Peter Rose – chose from almost 200 entries. Both essays appear in this issue. We list the other shortlisted essays on page 29 and congratulate all the essayists.

David Hansen is no stranger to Calibre. His essay ‘Death Dance’ was commended in the inaugural prize, in 2007. In ‘Seeing Truganini’, he has forthright things to say about the recent abortive sale of Benjamin Law’s busts of Truganini and Woureddy, and about the controversy surrounding the promulgation of historical artefacts. Dr Hansen deplores the stigma surrounding such works, and is critical of academic and curatorial timidity and silence.