An award has been made to Flinders historian Dr Brian Dickey, who has remained a Research Associate at the University since his 1999 retirement.

Dr Dickey received the South Australian Lifelong History Achievement Award from the History Council of SA – one of four awards presented at the recent South Australian Historian of the Year Awards ceremony at Government House.

History Council President Dr Susan Marsden said the award reflected Dr Dickey’s, “ubiquitous presence in South Australian history at Flinders University, as a teacher, writer, and an energetic supporter of organisations and individuals in the wider community”.

The award recognised both Dr Dickey’s own scholarship and his role as a mentor and teacher to his students. A teacher in the Department of History at Flinders for 33 years, he taught thousands of undergraduates and supervised many honours and postgraduate students, imparting the skills of high-calibre historical research and writing.

The award also cited his record of publications, particularly in the area of social welfare and Australian churches. In addition to personal publications that include a history of Holy Trinity Church, Adelaide, he was a moving force in The Australian Dictionary of Evangelical Biography and also edited the Journal of the Historical Society of South Australia.

The citation stated that, “with colleagues David Hilliard, Peter Howell and Eric Richards, he helped make Flinders University an acknowledged centre of research in Australian history”.