Historical information

This set of books was given to Cornelius (Con) O’Mahony in 1883 when he won the Bowen Prize Essay Competition awarded by the University of Melbourne. The Bowen Prize was established in 1874 by the Governor of Victoria, Sir George Bowen. This was then awarded annually to the person who was a student or ex-student of the University of Melbourne who wrote the best essay on matters relating to British and British Empire history or literature. Con O’Mahony’s essay was on the Federation of the Australian Colonies. Con O’Mahony, born in Bendigo, studied at Melbourne University in the early 1880s. He was a lawyer in Kepler Street, Warrnambool from the late 1880s to his death in 1920, firstly in partnership with E. Klingender and later operating under the name of O’Mahony and Murray.

Significance

These books are most important because:
1. They are a very attractive set of books with considerable antiquarian value.
2. They were given as the prize for winning the 1883 Bowen Prize at Melbourne University – a prestigious award still today.
3. They were given for a prize-winning essay on the advantages of Federation in Australia. The essay was written 17 years before Federation and so they forms an interesting part of the Australia-wide campaign for Federation.
4. The prize books were awarded to Con O’Mahony who played his part in Warrnambool’s late 19th century and early 20th century history as a prominent lawyer in the town for over 30 years.

Physical description

These ten volumes of books have hard covers in a dark red colour with a gold leather spine and leather reinforcements on the edges of the front and back covers. The front cover has an embossed gold emblem of the University of Melbourne and the spine has ornamental gold, black and red patterning and gold lettering. The insides of the cover have blue, red and orange mottled patterning and this is repeated on the edging of the pages. There are approximately 400 pages in each volume. A typed page on the Bowen Prize is inserted in the front of the first volume and the inscription on every volume is handwritten in black ink. The covers are a little scuffed and slightly torn in some volumes.

Inscriptions & markings

Volume 1: ‘Con O’Mahony Sandhurst Mch 1883’
Volumes 11, 111, 1V, V, V1, V111, 1X, X: ‘Con O’Mahony Sandhurst 2 July 1883’
Volume V11: ‘Con O’Mahony Sandhurst 1883’