Congratulations to Dr Rohan Howitt on winning the Australian History category of the 2026 Prime Minister’s Literary Award!

The South Frontier traces Australia's Antarctic obsession from its origins in the nineteenth century to the creation of the Australian Antarctic Territory and a permanent national Antarctic program in the 1930s and 1940s. It shows how Australians came to imagine their nation as having a natural right, perhaps even a destiny, to explore, exploit and control the Antarctic: as one frontier of an Australian Empire. 

The judges described it as an 'erudite and beautifully written history' that 'compels us to see national history as exceeding the continent and immediate surrounds.'

Congratulations Rohan!