Each year the Branch offers the Tom Sheridan Scholarship to an honours or postgraduate student researching or working in the fields of labour or social history (broadly defined). Valued at up to $1,000, the award includes a year’s membership of the Branch.
The scholarship is named in honour of Tom Sheridan, a founding member of the South Australian Branch and a significant contributor to labour history in the state. The award is intended to support emerging scholars in their research and to encourage new work in labour and social history.
Applications
The Sheridan scholarship is awarded annually to an applicant who best demonstrates their capacity or potential to make a significant contribution to our knowledge and understanding of the history of the Australian working class.
Applicants must be postgraduate students currently enrolled at a public university in South Australia. Disciplines of study may include economic, political, social or cultural history, political economy, gender, minorities or media studies, or any other field of study which contributes to the purpose of the award outlined above.
Applications must include the name, address, contact details (email address and phone number), university of affiliation, details of a registered postgraduate award and research topic, a short statement (max 100 words) in support of the application along with the names and contact details of two referees. It must also include evidence of the applicant's research capacity, such as the research proposal accepted by the applicant's registered institution, chapter(s) of a thesis or book, a long-form essay, or a journal article.
In assessing the applications, the Society may also consider the degree of innovation evident in the research techniques or methodology; the practicality of the project's objectives; and the referee reports.
The successful applicant will be announced at the Annual General Meeting of the Society.
Applications for 2026 have now closed. Submissions should be addressed to the Executive at labourhistorysa@gmail.com
Previous Scholarship Winners
2025: Alex McKenny (University of Adelaide) on how the defection of communists to the Australia First Movement shaped fascism in Australia
2022: Nix Herriot (University of Adelaide) on labour-environmentalism in Australia, c. 1975-2020
2021: Yianni Cartledge (Flinders University) on a comparative history of international labour migration from Ikaria, Greece, to South Australia and elsewhere
Special Commendation: Shiralee Farley (Flinders University) on the history of the Jervois Basin Ship's Graveyard
2019: Jack Crawford (University of Adelaide) on the resurgence of the South Australian labour movement in the Federation era after the setbacks of the great strikes of the 1890s
2018: Victoria Fielding (University of Adelaide) on trade union narratives in five major Australian industrial disputes
2017: Rachel Harris (University of Adelaide) on wartime women munitions workers in World War II South Australia