And the winner for 2026 is … drum roll please … Christine Sykes!
We were extremely pleased that our patron, Di Yerbury, could be with us to celebrate!
Di Yerbury Residency 2026 Judges’ Report
The judges had a difficult time deciding among the extremely worthy applicants and proposed manuscripts. We would like to commend the applicants for their very interesting proposals and wish them well in their future writing.
We took several weeks to come to a final decision. We have worked together on this award for a few years now and have developed a set of relevant criteria to ensure all applications are assessed and evaluated evenly and fairly. This stood us in good stead this year in particular.
The winner’s research and writing plan was meticulously detailed and clearly demonstrated how she would utilise her time in Barnstaple to explore Barnstaple port and identify its characteristics in the 1800s, identify potential hotels which could provide background material and case studies, develop a plan of interviews with proprietors and/or former proprietors, use Barnstaple as a case study to explore similarities and differences in licensing laws and hotels in UK and in NSW in the 1800s, explore Captain Ellis’ connection, and develop a scene where Captain Ellis docks there with his cockatoo.
The author’s Great Aunt Sarah (mentioned in the title of the book) lived at Little Stukely (four hours drive from Barnstaple) and she plans to go there to get a feel for and understand Sarah’s childhood and find out more about the early bricklayer trade, which the family were connected to in those days. Barnstaple is two hours from Plymouth, where the ship left England for Australia. The manuscript will trail the journey of Cocky, which today is preserved at a Sydney museum, from the UK to the Australian pubs and explain the roles and positions of women in hotels at the time in Australia and UK.
As Christine writes in her application, ‘During a period of enormous change in ‘the colony’, Sarah successfully navigated her role as proprietress of hotels, while facing tongue-wagging, court cases over licensing violations and family tragedy. My book will follow Sarah’s journey to become a resilient woman who supported her family and community.’ Christine has an interesting journey ahead, with research here in Australia, including the role of women as publicans, and the Di Yerbury residency has the potential, with her proposal, to be well utilised and an important part of the English story.
We congratulate Christine and look forward to reading her published book.
Colleen Keating and Sharon Rundle
This is an extract from Christine’s proposal:
Seeking Sarah – Cocky Bennet’s Mother will be a historical novel set in the period 1820-1920, based on the exploits of my Great Aunt Sarah. Cocky Bennett was a sulphur-crested cockatoo which had travelled the world on trading ships with Captain Ellis. When Ellis died, Sarah inherited the bird, which lived to an old age at the Seabreeze Hotel at Tom Ugly’s Point in NSW.
My book will explore the reasons for Sarah leaving England, mysterious family rumours and the dramas of running early hotels. It will explore the roles and positions of women in hotels at the time in UK and in NSW. In addition, it will use Barnstaple as a port where Captain Ellis docked with the cockatoo on his voyages.
Sarah Thompson lived in and around Little Stukely, Huntingdonshire from 1844 to 1855. When she was 11, she travelled with her family of 9 (2 parents and 7 children) as assisted passengers on the Lloyd which landed in Sydney on 3 August 1855.
At 25, she married Mr Bowden and they operated the Bowden Club House Hotel in Sydney. When he died, she married the much younger Mr Chas Bennett and they ran the Seabreeze Hotel. When Mr Bennett died, Sarah became the licensee.
The hotels were popular with patrons. Sarah was a renowned raconteur and contributed to the community (e.g. by raising money for beds at the local hospital).
Sarah provided lodging and work for my grandmother, Tamar. Tamar met and married Alfred Shelton (a former ship’s steward) at the Seabreeze Hotel. They had two children, including my mother while living there.
When the media referred to her as Cocky Bennett’s Mother, Sarah attracted international fame due to the exploits, sayings and age of the cockatoo.
During a period of enormous change in ‘the colony’, Sarah successfully navigated her role as proprietress of hotels, while facing tongue-wagging, court cases over licensing violations and family tragedy. My book will follow Sarah’s journey to become a resilient woman who supported her family and community.