Search Bayside
Search results
Ron Rathbone Local History Competition
The Ron Rathbone Local History Competition encourages people to explore Bayside’s rich, diverse and vibrant history.
The competition is named for Ron Rathbone who was first elected Mayor of Rockdale in 1968 and held the position for a record four terms. He was a passionate historian who loved the local area so much that he wrote more than 15 books and numerous articles on the history and heritage of our area.
Entries are now open for 2025
We are now accepting entries for the 2025 Ron Rathbone Local History Competition with a category for high school students and the Open Category for adults.
Open Category | Prize Pool $7,000 including $5,000 for the Winner
High School Category | Prize Pool $2,000
Bor 2025, we have introduced an optional theme to focus on the role of women during WWI and/or WWII.
Bayside Council welcome studies and stories on the contribution of women from WWI though to the WWII period, both in the military and/or volunteer organisations as it relates to the Bayside local area. Entrants are welcome to write on a specific person, organisation or place so long as it is connected to the Bayside area. It could be a woman who was born in the area, or lived here during the wars, a woman who worked for the war effort locally, or it could look at contributions women made that impacted our area.
Alongside this special theme, you can also submit a paper on any topic that relates to the Bayside area.
Please carefully read the Guidelines and Conditions of Entry below to ensure you submit an eligible paper. There are also guidelines for the referencing and formatting of the papers, for both Open and High School.
Entries for both categories close 5pm, Thursday 17 July.
For questions or more information, email our Local History Librarians on local_history@bayside.nsw.gov.au
Open Category
For questions or more information, email our Local History Librarians on local_history@bayside.nsw.gov.au
The Open Category is for anyone to enter and encourages original research into the history of Bayside written in a long form essay. Entrants may submit an entry on the optional theme on the role of women during WWI and/or WWII, or on Bayside's history, regarding any aspect of its past, suburbs or people.
Final submissions will be judged based on how closely the work relates to the history of Bayside, and how professionally they are researched and written. You can see the full list of criteria under Judging criteria.
Open Category Competition Guidelines and Conditions of Entry
High School Category
The High School Category is open to all high school students and encourages them to develop their own research and writing skills while learning about the history of Bayside.
Essay Topics
Students are invited to submit an essay based on one of two options:
Option One
An essay answering the question: "Explore some of the different ways women contributed to Australia's war efforts during World War I and/or World War II, in the military and/or in volunteer organisations."
Please relate the question to the Bayside LGA. Personal connections and stories are welcome to build on the essay.
or
Option Two
An essay on a subject or topic chosen by the student that explores an aspect of Bayside’s local history. Suitable topics include Bayside residents, places, organisations, or events of historical significance in the Bayside Council area.
High School Category Guidelines and Conditions of Entry
Information for Applicants
About Ron Rathbone
Ron Rathbone was first elected Mayor of Rockdale in 1968 and held the position of Mayor for a record four terms. He was a passionate historian who loved the local area.
More information: Ron Rathbone's biography
Judging Criteria
Open Category
Entries will be judged on the following criteria:
- How closely the work relates to the history of the Bayside Council Local Government area.
Research may be submitted on any topic that is related to any part of the Bayside Council area. Bayside covers the suburbs of Arncliffe, Banksia, Banksmeadow, Bardwell Park, Bardwell Valley, Bexley, Bexley North, Botany, Brighton-Le-Sands, Carlton, Daceyville, Dolls Point, Eastgardens, Eastlakes, Hillsdale, Kingsgrove, Kogarah, Kyeemagh, Mascot, Monterey, Pagewood, Ramsgate, Rockdale, Rosebery, Sandringham, Sans Souci, Turrella and Wolli Creek. How much original historical research and consultation of primary and secondary sources the work involves.
Entrants must submit an original piece of research. If the research work has previously been submitted to an academic institution as an assignment or has been used as part of or in connection with any other project, it may still be submitted; however, it must be presented in a style appropriate for entry into the Award.
- How well the sources used are documented in footnotes and/or in a bibliography.
- How much new information, or how many new historical connections or interpretations, the work provides.
- How strongly the work adheres to its chosen topic or theme. It is suggested that works submitted have a clearly stated aim or objective, or that entrants include in their introduction an outline of their chosen topic or research subject.
The professional quality and the style of the work and the writing itself (presentation, pagination, spelling, grammar, layout, etc.).
It is expected that an entry will be a significant piece of work that makes a genuine contribution to our knowledge of the history of the Bayside Council area, or that offers a new interpretation of existing historical knowledge. There is no prescribed maximum word limit for an entry, a minimum length of twelve A4 pages is generally expected.
High School Category
Entries will be judged on the following criteria:
- Does the work relate entirely or substantially to the Bayside Council area?
- Does the work fit within the scope of the task?
- How much research has been undertaken and what source material has been used?
The judges will look highly on entries that draw on a number of different sources. Many general local history books and photographs are available through the Bayside Library Service.
Students are also encouraged to consider searching the National Library’s Trove website where numerous early newspaper articles, maps and photographs can be found.
- Is the work entirely the student’s own?
Students are encouraged to use and quote from different sources, however any quotes used should be placed in quotation marks and the source of the quote given in a footnote. The work should be in the student’s own words and not copied from a book or website.
- Does the work acknowledge what sources have been used?
The judges expect that students will include footnotes and/or a bibliography to show where they found the information on which their work is based.
- The overall quality of the work.
The judges will grammar and spelling, the use of images and appropriate captioning, adherence to entry requirements regarding length, and expression.
Which suburbs can I write about?
Your submission can be about any location within the Bayside Council area, which includes all or part of:
- Arncliffe
- Banksia
- Banksmeadow
- Bardwell Park
- Bardwell Valley
- Bexley
- Bexley North
- Botany
- Brighton-Le-Sands
- Carlton
- Daceyville
- Dolls Point
- Eastgardens
- Eastlakes
- Hillsdale
- Kingsgrove
- Kogarah
- Kyeemagh
- Mascot
- Monterey
- Pagewood
- Ramsgate
- Rockdale
- Rosebery
- Sandringham
- Sans Souci
- Turrella
- Wolli Creek
Where can I find resources and information about Bayside's history?
Our library catalogue is a good place to start your research, we also provide access to several online databases and research resources, including the popular family history database Ancestry.com:
The National Library Trove site also has useful resources, including photographs, available online.
What document format should I use?
You must submit your written piece by attaching it in PDF or Word (doc, docx) format to the online application form.
If you prefer, you may submit a hard copy of your entry to Rockdale or Eastgardens libraries.
2024 Winners
Open Category
Olga Sedneva - Tempe House. Change of Purpose, Change of Landscape
High School
Riya Yeshwant-Suvarna, St George Girls High School - History: Made to Be Remembered
Recognition of Effort - Open Category
Kodie Mason - What does the life of Biyarung reveal about the participation of Indigenous people in Indigenous and colonial society and economy in the 19th century?
Recognition of Effort - High School
Joshua Osei-Agyei, Sydney Technical High School - A Crook Cooks River
Previous entries