The South Australian Historian of the Year Award honours teaching, writing or presentation on historical topics, raising community awareness of history and heritage issues, and strengthening the community profile of history. The judges were unanimous that the 2013 Award go to Patricia Sumerling (MA SocSc ’01), a freelance historian with a passion for telling stories, in books, lectures, radio talks and walks, who has eminently succeeded over the past 30 years in communicating her own fascination with SA’s built heritage, as most notably with pubs and the Adelaide Park Lands, to a broad constituency of people.

Susan Marsden, current History Council of South Australia President and inaugural 2012 Award winner, is also a Flinders alum: PhD SocSc ’95.