Perth Voice Interactive

THIS year’s Local History Awards in Vincent has a new category for photos taken after 2000.

Over the years the Local History Awards has helped build up a thriving stock of valuable photos and stories.

Mayor Emma Cole says the aim is to encourage people to “rethink what they would normally consider to be history”.

One of the finalists from last year’s awards was a photograph Georgia Kennedy took of two punks in Leederville in 1982.

Freedom

She was 17 at the time, and took a photo of her housemates Dean Lucas (then 16) and Ivan Nemorin, 18, standing in front of the outside toilet in their share house which is now the site of Luna Outdoor Cinema.

“I took a lot of photos of the punk scene around that time,” Kennedy says.

“I was managing a photo shop on Oxford Street which allowed me the freedom to take photos. Film was expensive back then for people our age.”

The awards have contributed to an online library of more than 4000 local images, viewable at photosau.com.au/vincent or in person at the history centre inside the Loftus Street Vincent library, Monday to Friday 9am-1pm.

Along with prizes for pre-2000 and post-2000 photos, there’s a “Life in Vincent” written category for memoirs, history stories or biographies under 2000 words. Info on entering is at http://www.vincent.wa.gov.au/library or 9273 6534, and entries close July 31 at 5pm.

by DAVID BELL