Australian historian Alan Atkinson has won the prestigious Victorian Prize for Literature for his third volume of The Europeans in Australia.
The prize is the most valuable of its kind in Australia, awarding the recipient with a cheque for the sum of $100,000.
The final instalment in what turned out to be a 20 year project explores the European presence in Australia from the 1870s to the aftermath of World War I.
Covering a significant period in Australia’s history, the judges were thoroughly impressed, stating that Mr Atkinson’s contribution is “destined to be a landmark work in Australian historiography”.
Happy to have finally finished the trilogy, Mr Atkinson told The Age: “The last volume was an enormous effort.”
Premier Daniel Andrews presented Mr Atkinson with the prize at a ceremony that took place last Wednesday in the State Parliament gardens.