THE Australian Institute of History and Art has awarded Hans Van Hees with a Fellow in recognition of his contribution to the presentation of colonial history.

Mr Van Hees has displayed his collection of colonial Australian artifacts for many years at antique arms fairs all over NSW. He has been a passionate collector all his life and he specialises in the 1840 to 1900 period.

The Institute of Australian History and Art was formed in 1979 to recognise people who excel in their specialised field and succeed by private initiative in acquiring a greater knowledge of their subject than could be obtained from the normal scholarly channels.

Only five people were made a Fellowship at the presentation on Saturday, August 16.

And the presentation is held only once a year. One of the others who were made a Fellow at the same presentation as Mr Van Hees was the now deceased creator of Ginger Megs.

Other Fellows of the society are Edgar Penzig an author and historian focused on bushrangers, Lynette Ramsey Silver a military author and historian, artists Werner Filpitsch and Ian Hanson and Warren Skewes the creator of a saddlery museum.