Track 9: The Dromkeen Medal

You are now looking at the medal that was awarded to Agnes Nieuwenhuizen by Dromkeen founders Joyce and Court Oldmeadow. The significance of children's literature was not lost on the Oldmeadows. This couple dedicated their lives to their love and interest in children's literature and its preservation.

In the late 1950s they founded Oldmeadow Booksellers and in 1974 this was followed by the opening of the Dromkeen Museum. The Museum was established for the public display and preservation of original artwork and manuscripts relating to Australian children's literature. It was also the venue for regular meet-the-author sessions. In 1982 the inaugural Dromkeen Medal was awarded to book seller and author Lou Rees, and since then Mem Fox, Graeme Base and Ivan Southall have been amongst the recipients.

Another key advocate for children's literature is Agnes Nieuwenhuizen, who was awarded the Dromkeen Medal in 1994. Nieuwenhuizen's childhood was by no means conventional; originally of Russian descent her family spent a year in Italy attempting to gain refugee status after World War II in Canada, US and Brazil, before finally arriving in Melbourne. It was here that she visited libraries for the first time, where she developed her passion for reading and later became a secondary school teacher in inner-city Melbourne. It was while teaching a Year 7 class about Alan Marshall's I Can Jump Puddles that, like Joyce and Court Oldmeadow before her, Nieuwenhuizen decided to organise a meeting between the school children and the author.

The day had a profound effect on her and set in motion a new career and life path, which has seen the creation and implementation of many youth-focused literature programs and festivals, and most notably the Centre for Youth Literature, now based at the State Library of Victoria.