Master of Philosophy graduate Fiona Giles has been named a joint winner of the 2026 Margaret Medcalf Award, one of Western Australia's most prestigious honours for archival research.
The award recognises outstanding use of the State Archives Collection and was recently presented by the Minister for Creative Industries Simone McGurk at the State Library of Western Australia.
Fiona's award-winning project, Our Horrible Asylum, explores the social history of the Fremantle Asylum, now Walyalup Fremantle Arts Centre, through an innovative board game that immerses players in the experiences of former patients and staff.
Supervised by Notre Dame’s Associate Professor Robyn Creagh and Associate Professor Leigh Straw, the project combines design thinking, architectural heritage and historical research to transform archival material into an engaging public learning experience.
Selected from a record field of 15 shortlisted entries, the project demonstrates how creative approaches can bring archival research to life and deepen public engagement with Western Australia's history.
For Fiona, the project was an opportunity to challenge conventional approaches to heritage interpretation.
"I wanted to contribute to a critique of authorised heritage discourses by focusing on the experiences of patients and staff in a building now considered to have exceptional cultural heritage significance," Fiona said.
"The project shows the potential for creative methods to engage people with challenging histories and encourages a deeper understanding of the past."
Fiona's research was supported by the Australian Government's Research Training Program (RTP) Scholarship.
Notre Dame congratulates Fiona on this outstanding achievement and the significant contribution her research makes to innovative heritage interpretation.
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