Congratulations to Dr Tom Doig who has won the 2024 Hilary McPhee Award for his thought provoking essay, "Ten years on from Hazelwood: last decade’s second-worst disaster," published in Meanjin in 2024.
Presented annually since 2016, the Hilary McPhee Award recognises brave essay writing that makes a fearless contribution to the national debate. In his essay, Tom reflects on the long-lasting impacts of the Hazelwood disaster on the community, acknowledging the persistence of those who continue to fight for justice.
"I’ve been writing about the Hazelwood mine fire disaster obsessively, angrily, with grief and bafflement, with occasional amusement and endless fasciation, since 2014. The Hazelwood disaster, unfortunately, has it all. Poor planning decisions. Impossibly hot and dry weather. A nightmare blaze and toxic airborne spill that killed dozens and injured hundreds. A ghastly and (at the time) unprecedented vision of the climate-changed future to come."
Founded in 1940, Meanjin is Australia’s longest continuously published journal, and celebrates a record 85 years at the end of 2025. Meanjin's Editor, Esther Anatolitis spoke to the value of the essay, "Tom’s work has contributed a great deal to the public information, debate and intense focus that ensured the community could seek justice via a royal commission. This essay is rigorous, uncompromising and kind. It’s essential reading for all Australians."
Dr Tom Doig is a lecturer of creative writing at The University of Queensland and is also the author of two books on the 2014 Hazelwood mine disaster: The Coal Face (Penguin, 2015) AND Hazelwood (Penguin, 2020). He is the author of Mörön to Mörön: Two Men, Two Bikes, One Mongolian Misadventure (Allen & Unwin, 2013) and editor of Living with the Climate Crisis: Voices from Aotearoa (BWB Texts, 2020). He is currently working on a book about preppers around the world.
