tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-256376572024-03-13T22:31:17.524+11:00New England, AustraliaJim Belshawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10075614280789984767noreply@blogger.comBlogger1417125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25637657.post-41984961643901217982023-10-21T18:04:00.000+11:002023-10-21T18:04:07.606+11:00New England Passings - Brian Hardaker <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgH5KnACPV09MtQ8R36WwOi5ishmAzq81PeQuXQMgtM-2hOae_ApjYx-sVvRgAfKSAua-j0qc6qaGr2dM6lN_QcbEKkRGDde8AOP98V_Ai7F5rLP87Pp3Sv7jQkrNjv1f95GPASSxtAIR7uZU1ubrbayy6Pf4KuXMidO7HlQtQ4fuVT5z9GWU70XQ/s843/brian-hardaker-sq-843x675.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="675" data-original-width="843" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgH5KnACPV09MtQ8R36WwOi5ishmAzq81PeQuXQMgtM-2hOae_ApjYx-sVvRgAfKSAua-j0qc6qaGr2dM6lN_QcbEKkRGDde8AOP98V_Ai7F5rLP87Pp3Sv7jQkrNjv1f95GPASSxtAIR7uZU1ubrbayy6Pf4KuXMidO7HlQtQ4fuVT5z9GWU70XQ/s320/brian-hardaker-sq-843x675.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />Professor Brian Hardaker has died. Professor Sunjana Adapa prepared this obituary that I have taken the liberty of repeating in full. <div> </div><div>"It is with deep sadness I share that Emeritus Professor Brian Hardaker, UNE Business School, passed away on Tuesday 10 October. Brian’s wife reached out to our colleague Dr Emilio Morales and shared the devastating news. Brian’s wife also informed Emilio that before he passed away he wished the best for all UNE colleagues. </div><div><br /></div><div>Brian Hardaker was an Emeritus Professor in the UNE Business School. He started his career in Agricultural Economics working at the University of London, then Cambridge University, UK, before coming to UNE in 1967 as a Lecturer in the (then) Department of Farm Management, which later merged with Agricultural Economics. </div><div><br /></div><div>Brian retired from UNE in 1995 having reached the rank of Professor (Personal Chair). After he arrived at UNE he joined a group of young and enthusiastic scholars, led by the late Professor John Dillon, who became interested in risk in agriculture. Brian was a co-author with Jock Anderson and John Dillon of a pioneering and influential book on the topic, published in 1977, called Agricultural Decision Analysis.
Subsequently, Brian was the lead author of a book, published in 1997, called Coping with Risk in Agriculture, which was an update of the earlier publication. Two subsequent updated editions have been published. </div><div><br /></div><div>Since Brian retired, he worked as a private consultant and as an Honorary Professor at Curtin and Wageningen Universities, as well as an Associate at the Norwegian equivalent of the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES).
Brian was a Past President and Distinguished Fellow of the Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society (AARES). He published approximately 350 research outputs, in the form of books, major reports, and journal publications. </div><div><br /></div><div>Brian’s contribution to UNE Business School and UNE will be sorely missed and my heartfelt condolences are with his family members."</div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript"><!--
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The combination of personal circumstances with covid has had a devastating
effect. It’s not that I had covid, just that covid made life very disruptive
and difficult.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Two posts this year on my personal blog (Covid woes -
further failures in public policy, Covid woes - virtual lockdowns) look very
briefly at covid policy issues from a personal perspective. Covid has demonstrated
the continuing importance of the states. It has also provided very tangible
evidence of the continued importance of our fight for New England self-government.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Because we don’t exist in a formal sense, because we have no
power, the covid measures that might have protected us, that might have allowed
us to manage, were simply swamped in that blancmange called NSW. We do need our
own state. </p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript"><!--
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The newly refurbished space will be ready at the end of September and we are now looking for fresh talent to become the operators. </p><p>Our NERAM community knows how important the success of the café is to providing an outstanding visitor experience at the Museum. A great museum that offers a great dining experience creates a cultural and culinary destination and we think that the NERAM café has infinite potential.</p><p>Expressions of interest to be the café operator close on October 15th 2020. You will find details <a href="https://www.neram.com.au/visit/neram-cafe/" target="_blank">here.</a> </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-udY8PH7CZL8/X03ez25y-JI/AAAAAAAAQqw/vgi_3qwOFKw7S9mBw-pkK9t0rZI-oK3cgCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/NERAM_outside_dusk.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="307" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-udY8PH7CZL8/X03ez25y-JI/AAAAAAAAQqw/vgi_3qwOFKw7S9mBw-pkK9t0rZI-oK3cgCLcBGAsYHQ/w410-h307/NERAM_outside_dusk.jpg" width="410" /></a></div>The above comes from the official NERAM release, but is actually fairly dry. What is it about NERAM that makes this an an attractive proposition? Why do we need you, people with skills and flair? Let me explain.<p></p><p>Armidale is a university city with a population of 23,000. It offers superb educational facilities, a varied life style combining metro and country, NBN to the premises connections, more sporting facilities that you can (to use an old phrase) poke a stick at. </p><p>Armidale has more writers, artists, publishers and intellectuals per head than any equivalent city in the country. This leads to a vibrant intellectual life. </p><p>Within Armidale, NERAM has a special place as the repository of some of Australia's greatest art collections including the Hinton and Coventry collections. It's openings and facilities are an integral element in city life. </p><p>Interested? Then let's look at some nuts and bolts. </p><p>If you take on the challenge, you have two key markets. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EjIlSpULDJc/X03lEMrM76I/AAAAAAAAQq8/GxxV0sYi8ZQo7kNKFvf-g39z2L71Zz0lgCLcBGAsYHQ/s900/20150505-autumnColour-2.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="675" height="512" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EjIlSpULDJc/X03lEMrM76I/AAAAAAAAQq8/GxxV0sYi8ZQo7kNKFvf-g39z2L71Zz0lgCLcBGAsYHQ/w384-h512/20150505-autumnColour-2.jpg" width="384" /></a></div><br /><b>Armidale autumn scene</b><p></p><p>The first and largest is the local and regional population who come to NERAM for openings, festivals such as the Black Gully Festival or just for breakfast, lunch or coffee. The second is the visitors who come from out of town as tourists, to visit family or for particular activities and who stay for a coffee or a meal. </p><p>This includes a significant event component, making catering a major potential source of revenue. </p><p>If all this sounds good, what might go wrong? A bit, actually. </p><p>To begin with, and as you might expect given my description of the city, Armidale has a large number of reasonable coffee and food places. </p><p>As part of the museum precinct, NERAM is about a mile from the city centre. No foot traffic. While you will get some traffic from NERAM visitors, you will have to work to get locals to come to you. This will take time. </p><p>You will also need to work with NERAM and with other bodies including the University to get people to come for events and occasions. The University has its own competitive facilities on campus, but will still cooperate in terms of special events. </p><p>I suppose in all this that the biggest question is just how you to define your competitive edge. How do you build on the facilities and location that you have? I suppose, and this is based on my own experience, that you localise and regionalise. The region has a plethora of wine and produce. Why not sell that as well?</p><p>I am not an expert in hospitality, but I do think that this option now presented is worth a serious look! </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p> </p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript"><!--
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</script></div>Jim Belshawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10075614280789984767noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25637657.post-2114259945611286642020-05-29T10:20:00.001+10:002020-05-29T10:21:14.937+10:00Musings on the end of New England's local and regional mediaOn 17 April 2020 (<a href="https://newenglandaustralia.blogspot.com/2020/04/reflections-on-suspension-of-armidale.html" target="_blank">Reflections on the suspension of the Armidale Express and other ACM mastheads</a>) I discussed the implications of the suspension of newspaper publication by Australian Community Media. I concluded:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>I hope that this break in printing might actually force us to ask what we want from our papers, to challenge the papers and especially management on the service they provide, to answer the question why they are important to us. I accept that this is naive view, but I am tired of managements that treat papers as simply another masthead.</i></blockquote>
Following that post, we learned that as part of its changes, ACM had closed the <i>Express</i> office in Armidale. It had been the<i> Express</i> office since the early part of the twentieth century. To recover capital, Fairfax had sold the office in 2015. The office was sold on the basis of a secure lease to 2019 plus 3 x 5 year options until 2034. Now the office was unceremoniously exited. The local historical society managed to save some of the bound back copies now stored in the meeting room.<br />
<br />
On 18 May 2020 in a post on my history blog I provided a consolidated list of posts on <a href="http://newenglandhistory.blogspot.com/2020/05/consolidated-posts-on-history-and.html" target="_blank">the history and changing role of the media in Australia's New England</a>. In that post I also mentioned that I was writing a series of columns on the history of the New England media. These will start to come up shortly.<br />
<br />
In my 17 April post I mentioned the suspension by News Corp of publication of most of its community and regional media. Now the company <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-05-28/news-corp-cuts-is-your-local-paper-affected/12295320" target="_blank">has announced</a> the next stage of restructuring. The following table provides details of New England newspapers that will now be digital only or have ceased publication entirely. <br />
<br />
<table border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="MsoNormalTable" style="border-collapse: collapse; border: none; mso-border-alt: solid #CCCCCC .75pt; mso-yfti-tbllook: 1184; width: 638px;">
<tbody>
<tr style="mso-yfti-firstrow: yes; mso-yfti-irow: 0;">
<td style="border: solid #CCCCCC 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid #CCCCCC .75pt; padding: .75pt .75pt .75pt .75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Tweed Daily News<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-left: none; border: solid #CCCCCC 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid #CCCCCC .75pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid #CCCCCC .75pt; padding: .75pt .75pt .75pt .75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Digital only<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 1;">
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid #CCCCCC 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid #CCCCCC .75pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid #CCCCCC .75pt; padding: .75pt .75pt .75pt .75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Ballina Advocate<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid #CCCCCC 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid #CCCCCC 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid #CCCCCC .75pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid #CCCCCC .75pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid #CCCCCC .75pt; padding: .75pt .75pt .75pt .75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Digital only<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 2;">
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid #CCCCCC 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid #CCCCCC .75pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid #CCCCCC .75pt; padding: .75pt .75pt .75pt .75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Byron Shire News<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid #CCCCCC 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid #CCCCCC 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid #CCCCCC .75pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid #CCCCCC .75pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid #CCCCCC .75pt; padding: .75pt .75pt .75pt .75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Digital only<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 3;">
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid #CCCCCC 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid #CCCCCC .75pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid #CCCCCC .75pt; padding: .75pt .75pt .75pt .75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Coffs Coast Advocate<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid #CCCCCC 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid #CCCCCC 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid #CCCCCC .75pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid #CCCCCC .75pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid #CCCCCC .75pt; padding: .75pt .75pt .75pt .75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Digital only<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 4;">
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid #CCCCCC 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid #CCCCCC .75pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid #CCCCCC .75pt; padding: .75pt .75pt .75pt .75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Grafton Daily Examiner<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid #CCCCCC 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid #CCCCCC 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid #CCCCCC .75pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid #CCCCCC .75pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid #CCCCCC .75pt; padding: .75pt .75pt .75pt .75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Digital only<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 5;">
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid #CCCCCC 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid #CCCCCC .75pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid #CCCCCC .75pt; padding: .75pt .75pt .75pt .75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Lismore Northern Star<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid #CCCCCC 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid #CCCCCC 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid #CCCCCC .75pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid #CCCCCC .75pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid #CCCCCC .75pt; padding: .75pt .75pt .75pt .75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Digital only<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 6;">
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid #CCCCCC 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid #CCCCCC .75pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid #CCCCCC .75pt; padding: .75pt .75pt .75pt .75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Newcastle News<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid #CCCCCC 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid #CCCCCC 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid #CCCCCC .75pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid #CCCCCC .75pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid #CCCCCC .75pt; padding: .75pt .75pt .75pt .75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Digital only<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 7;">
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid #CCCCCC 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid #CCCCCC .75pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid #CCCCCC .75pt; padding: .75pt .75pt .75pt .75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Coastal Views<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid #CCCCCC 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid #CCCCCC 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid #CCCCCC .75pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid #CCCCCC .75pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid #CCCCCC .75pt; padding: .75pt .75pt .75pt .75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Ceasing publication<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 8;">
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid #CCCCCC 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid #CCCCCC .75pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid #CCCCCC .75pt; padding: .75pt .75pt .75pt .75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Northern Rivers Echo<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid #CCCCCC 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid #CCCCCC 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid #CCCCCC .75pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid #CCCCCC .75pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid #CCCCCC .75pt; padding: .75pt .75pt .75pt .75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Ceasing publication<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 9; mso-yfti-lastrow: yes;">
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid #CCCCCC 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid #CCCCCC .75pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid #CCCCCC .75pt; padding: .75pt .75pt .75pt .75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Richmond River Express
Examiner<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid #CCCCCC 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid #CCCCCC 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid #CCCCCC .75pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid #CCCCCC .75pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid #CCCCCC .75pt; padding: .75pt .75pt .75pt .75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Ceasing publication</span><span style="font-family: "segoe ui" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div>
To this list we can add two Queensland newspapers with strong historic connections to New England. </div>
<div>
<br />
<div>
<table border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="MsoNormalTable" style="border-collapse: collapse; border: none; mso-border-alt: solid #CCCCCC .75pt; mso-yfti-tbllook: 1184; width: 638px;">
<tbody>
<tr style="mso-yfti-firstrow: yes; mso-yfti-irow: 0;">
<td style="border: solid #CCCCCC 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid #CCCCCC .75pt; padding: .75pt .75pt .75pt .75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Warwick Daily News<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-left: none; border: solid #CCCCCC 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid #CCCCCC .75pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid #CCCCCC .75pt; padding: .75pt .75pt .75pt .75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Digital only<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 1; mso-yfti-lastrow: yes;">
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid #CCCCCC 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid #CCCCCC .75pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid #CCCCCC .75pt; padding: .75pt .75pt .75pt .75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Stanthorpe Border Post<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid #CCCCCC 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid #CCCCCC 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid #CCCCCC .75pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid #CCCCCC .75pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid #CCCCCC .75pt; padding: .75pt .75pt .75pt .75pt;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Digital only</span><span style="font-family: "segoe ui" , sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
</div>
<div>
<br />
I am not blind to the challenges posed by evolving computer and communications technologies including most recently the internet. On and off I have been writing about it since the 1980s. However, I am also very conscious about the ways in which the metro centred corporates with their focus on maximising gains or minimising losses across empires have effectively destroyed the ethos of the country press including the capacity of papers, radio and TV to provide a broader regional voice. In so doing, they have eroded the loyalty of the very audiences on which their commercial survival depends. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
This is not a new process. It began more than fifty years ago. In 1950, every newspaper and radio station in the broader New England was locally owned. When TV came, local or regional ownership was mandated as well, Staff at all levels identified with their communities, saw their roles in local and regional terms. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
By 2000, local ownership was restricted to a few independent newspapers. The ability of local media to define local roles, to cooperate on broader regional issues while being extremely competitive, slowly vanished. Their capacity to grow people diminished too. A remarkable number of New England people across the media have gone onto significant careers.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I suppose that I am in an unusual position. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
My family has had connections with the New England media for many years. As a sometimes political and community activist I have worked with the local and regional media in the North and in Canberra, Queanbeyan and Eden Monaro to try to achieve community objectives. To use an example outside New England, I was constantly in and out of the offices of the <i>Queanbeyan Age</i> carrying press releases and talking about particular concerns. I expected the paper to carry this material and indeed it did. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
As a regional historian, I rely on the newspaper records. As a regional historian, I have written on the history of the New England media and the country media in general. As a regional historian, I have read the board papers of Broadcast Amalgamated, of the Armidale Newspaper Company, of the early days of TV New England. I have seen the way in which they responded to commercial problems including isolation, small scale and access to advertising. The story of the Country Press Association is an example of response, one which enriched Australian life far beyond the local. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
As an analyst and commentator on New England issues, I have watched the way in which the combination of localisation with corporate processes has slowly destroyed my ability to report and analyse. I have watched the way in which the rise of pay walls has diminished the richness of the New England media environment, the capacity to report properly. I have watched the way in which individual outlets have lost all independence. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
At times, this process has brought tears to my eyes. I did not expect to be monitoring and writing about the end to so many dreams. I did not expect our past, the very structures of local and regional life, to be swept away. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I don't know where to go from here. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
At a micro level, what happens to the internet archives of closed outlets? I know that newspapers are no longer the source of record in the way that they once were, but they are the only record we have. The internet may have improved our access to information, but it has also destroyed the survivabilty of the very information on which we depend. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
More broadly, now that our newspapers have abdicated their local and regional roles, now that they have effectively given up, what might take their place? How do I as an activist committed to our local and regional past, present and future get my message across? How do I communicate? How do my older friends find out what is going on? How do we find the resources to create the information and structures to that people depend on?</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
In my own way I am trying to fill the gap especially through Facebook groups. But I just don't know what might fill the gap in a real sense. I am just one person! In the end, perhaps, we are going back to the nineteenth century and the rise of the newspaper press. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Just as there was a gap then, now we need new localised mechanisms. I wonder what form they might take? </div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
</div>
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</script></div>Jim Belshawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10075614280789984767noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25637657.post-58549623489267671502020-04-17T18:10:00.002+10:002020-04-17T18:10:57.845+10:00Reflections on the suspension of the Armidale Express and other ACM mastheads. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EMRU6eic0Co/Xpj22y8uXTI/AAAAAAAAQQg/x7hlnY8j1XU30Mg9XSvXbYYbcbrjdeQjgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/ACM%2Bdailies.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="675" data-original-width="1200" height="225" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EMRU6eic0Co/Xpj22y8uXTI/AAAAAAAAQQg/x7hlnY8j1XU30Mg9XSvXbYYbcbrjdeQjgCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/ACM%2Bdailies.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<b><span style="color: red;">ACM's daily newspapers. Source <a href="https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/6722087/acm-suspends-non-daily-newspapers-stands-down-employees/?cs=14225&fbclid=IwAR2l2kH25GHlozE6oFGjA9F-YVQdrwicO6mRGYBfg0Ay92a0EBib4uxp7D8" target="_blank">Canberra Times</a></span></b><br />
<br />
Covid-19 has claimed another victim. On 14 April, Australian Community Media (ACM) announced that as a consequence of the impact of covid-19 and associated shutdowns, it:<br />
<ul>
<li>was temporarily closing its printing sites in Canberra, Murray Bridge, Wodonga and Tamworth from April 20 until June 29 2020</li>
<li>was suspending publication of a number of non-daily newspapers. Limited news coverage would continue on websites of publications affected by the temporary shutdowns </li>
<li>had given notice to landlords of more than 30 small offices around the country that it intends to exit lease arrangements</li>
<li>had stood down staff affected by the suspensions of printing and publication.</li>
</ul>
The printed editions of ACM's 14 daily newspapers including the <i>Northern Daily Leader</i> and <i>Newcastle Herald</i> would continue, along with the weekly editions of the company's leading agricultural publications, such as <i>The Land </i>in NSW, <i>Farm Weekly</i> in Western Australia and <i>Queensland Country Life.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-H0XzW6kGFoE/Xpj9WlBcuUI/AAAAAAAAQQs/dGK4L1vhdTsEP5xVD6UX7HS8K4AIQbLyACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Armidale%2BExpress.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="75" data-original-width="450" height="66" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-H0XzW6kGFoE/Xpj9WlBcuUI/AAAAAAAAQQs/dGK4L1vhdTsEP5xVD6UX7HS8K4AIQbLyACLcBGAsYHQ/s400/Armidale%2BExpress.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
The suspended newspapers include the <i>Maitland Mercury </i>and <i>Armidale Express, </i>the second (1843) and third (1856) oldest newspapers in NSW.<br />
<br />
The ACM changes followed the earlier decisions by News Corp Australia to <a href="https://mumbrella.com.au/news-corp-suspends-60-community-print-titles-623279" target="_blank">pause production</a> on 60 community newspaper titles in NSW, Victoria, Queensland and South Australia from April 9 and by the Nine group to cease printing several of its magazines and lift-outs. In making the changes, News Corp offered a migration strategy to try to encourage readers to switch to the the electronic version.<br />
<br />
During this same period regional commercial TV broadcasters signaled their intention to cancel regional news services in the absence of direct financial assistance.<br />
<br />
The Commonwealth Government has apparently<a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-04-15/regional-media-bailout-to-help-industry-last-coronavirus-slump/12151382" target="_blank"> announced</a> announced a $50 million package to support public interest journalism across TV, newspapers and radio in regional and remote Australia. This appears to be a repackaging and extension of an existing scheme. At this point, I have been unable to find any real details on either Communications Minister Fletcher's or the ACMA websites.<br />
<br />
<b>Discussion</b><br />
<br />
I suppose that I should begin with a declaration of interest and indeed bias. I have been a columnist for the <i>Armidale Express </i>for many years and have a long family connection with the New England media. Those who follow my blogs will also know that I have been very critical over many years of the strategies adopted by media groups and especially those owning country media in responding to changing technologies and markets. One side effect has been loss of market position and relevance within the communities they serve.<br />
<br />
I make this point now because in direct personal and on-line discussion I have found to my consternation that while some agree with me that action is required to preserve local and regional media, others say why does it matter? They haven't provided real news for years.<br />
<br />
I know that some of my colleague will bristle at this. They have tried to provide reporting and maintain focus in a world of constant corporate shifts, of big city and enterprise games, a world in which the purpose of local and regional media as defined by people like Ernest Sommerlad has been lost. One measure of this is the sheer discontent among a significant proportion of their present and ex customers.<br />
<br />
I have tried to explain to my sceptical friends and contacts why I regard the preservation of local and regional media to be of fundamental importance. To extend my argument, I am going to take a city and then a country example.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FBjauO81Z4k/XplKCIRMleI/AAAAAAAAQQ4/6rzqCSV1Ul8R-2Jyo_kq7F3chDArC7-QQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Southern%2BCourier.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1386" data-original-width="1183" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FBjauO81Z4k/XplKCIRMleI/AAAAAAAAQQ4/6rzqCSV1Ul8R-2Jyo_kq7F3chDArC7-QQCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/Southern%2BCourier.png" width="341" /></a></div>
The <i>Southern Courier</i>, a previous weekly free News Corp paper with print now suspended, services south eastern Sydney. It's fairly typical of the breed, full of glossy real estate ads and promo advertorial along with some local news stories. It must sound an unlikely example for me to pick to illustrate my point.<br />
<br />
For my present purposes, the population in south eastern Sydney can be broken into three groups.<br />
<br />
The first is those who just live there, They may like their area, but their focus is elsewhere. They have little interest in local news. To them, the paper is just junk mail that ends up in their letter box or as waste on the lawn.<br />
<br />
The second somewhat smaller group is those who have some connection with the area. Their children may go to school there, they may be involved with some local group, they may have some interest in what's on, what the councils are doing. They will pick the paper up and then put it in the trash.<br />
<br />
The third and by far the smallest group is the community activists, the ones who are really interested in general and in particular causes including council activities. To them, the <i>Southern Courier</i> has been critical. How so? Well, the paper with its local focus provides a vehicle that is read by councillors, state and federal parliamentarians and by those in the mass media interested in stories with a local flavour.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1sXdc0niO7o/XplPgooqGKI/AAAAAAAAQRI/Y96GC2ecmw0-JMeTaa6nJMz5mwVll9PAgCEwYBhgLKs4DAMBZVoB-__yK1yegyjqbLInmXRNitKFDH9ZcDEjZgr8kkvEOtRU_SlMRrNxeOk5cFdlNc58gxPdVi4cjrUZk2tR5SvpmJiTpnAy4aqlB8JjqJYFrWp-AuuD-quYK0GozTt8vyDDwsy63y6W07raYl1jdsaB_q7UzafyRWQ7rZSntY_k7NSoI26n8CJ76ok4ULHbCbNA4d4IQFJoj17kJvhMZGWDc85yeg_yfxnnJlacRpEh0KAYmOJJOiZbpd83yJwgwoFnJOn1yus3FHp5bKmO5vs8kx0pdplIURZFjchmCEFhT76CWhxWnjNREn267eSOdoh5zl4dHyaZtOC4D_sTmjMbV6TAaXMGCfLZr1ToSyWvt5YwjOHzoCu7mDMkLq6hHzmBaRG3TrUjO6LTHJm9G1EwolxXh4kOx2lh7AsCULt6ZuOk10gwYJU-BZ0X-V4QkZvslMM42Uu36pS0tUeUqETI1iT_TF-vQRxcGW8-TnmwpcgyoakFsIY6aGUyX8LrqrnhATbkiwN8dxe-kJ2D2JOpwHRfNWKP1Nhidoe9J5kFvx603ZXO0RIt1CiRxIzfrbpp6RatY9czTXUAcAFxz6LRiMLRuWW6CNs_TMIGl5fQF/s1600/Astrolabe%2Bpark.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="225" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1sXdc0niO7o/XplPgooqGKI/AAAAAAAAQRI/Y96GC2ecmw0-JMeTaa6nJMz5mwVll9PAgCEwYBhgLKs4DAMBZVoB-__yK1yegyjqbLInmXRNitKFDH9ZcDEjZgr8kkvEOtRU_SlMRrNxeOk5cFdlNc58gxPdVi4cjrUZk2tR5SvpmJiTpnAy4aqlB8JjqJYFrWp-AuuD-quYK0GozTt8vyDDwsy63y6W07raYl1jdsaB_q7UzafyRWQ7rZSntY_k7NSoI26n8CJ76ok4ULHbCbNA4d4IQFJoj17kJvhMZGWDc85yeg_yfxnnJlacRpEh0KAYmOJJOiZbpd83yJwgwoFnJOn1yus3FHp5bKmO5vs8kx0pdplIURZFjchmCEFhT76CWhxWnjNREn267eSOdoh5zl4dHyaZtOC4D_sTmjMbV6TAaXMGCfLZr1ToSyWvt5YwjOHzoCu7mDMkLq6hHzmBaRG3TrUjO6LTHJm9G1EwolxXh4kOx2lh7AsCULt6ZuOk10gwYJU-BZ0X-V4QkZvslMM42Uu36pS0tUeUqETI1iT_TF-vQRxcGW8-TnmwpcgyoakFsIY6aGUyX8LrqrnhATbkiwN8dxe-kJ2D2JOpwHRfNWKP1Nhidoe9J5kFvx603ZXO0RIt1CiRxIzfrbpp6RatY9czTXUAcAFxz6LRiMLRuWW6CNs_TMIGl5fQF/s400/Astrolabe%2Bpark.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<b><span style="color: red;">Save Astrolabe Park demonstration</span></b><br />
<br />
Astrolabe Park lies at the end of the street I used to live in in Daceyville, Sydney. It's an open space area that is also one of the few leash-free dog areas in Sydney.<br />
<br />
With space now so scarce in Sydney for playing fields, the proposal was that the Park should be taken over for sporting fields. This was a serious challenge involving major sporting codes who wanted to establish high performance facilities.<br />
<br />
For some obscure reasons, the locals plus dog owners from elsewhere were outraged. I became involved about twelve months before I returned to Armidale when I was, quite literally, bailed up be a neighbour that I knew in the street: "you will help won't you, Jim." I did so and in so doing met more people in that little suburb than I had in the previous five years. I am still a member of the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/996902353802305/" target="_blank">Friends of Astrolabe Park</a>. <br />
<br />
In the end the Park was saved, at least for the present. I'm not sure that it would have been without the <i>Southern Courier </i>because that provided the initial platform. In treating the <i>Southern Courier</i> as just another masthead, in thinking that it can provide the same service with subscription behind a paywall, News Corp has guaranteed its extinction at least as an effective voice and probably its very survival itself. <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YhF8syThuy4/Xpla-FsUhgI/AAAAAAAAQRU/C5vsrRf0VBActo7hmQ7QJczGKlcS1bBJQCEwYBhgLKs4DAMBZVoBQ1hgZbY2Qj-n4i2JJjoySrs6LZ9HfMLGxBgcxaVIYlgCKrUKceTr0FumJCOcAL10fu1l4RPf6uTlL8aByJGZ6auMekRZ4cgpBl50YzHDySf9wNEKiPsPDUvLAjbja0kkMzZeo69E2WgIicbbpmPb3dbrtZojVzAiUsR9N0nUnJlzRItiBfFhmhKDCIaxC74Y3nwDyBlYd6o-slVAg3OzUNVkWWuBMKbOyNKo1C_V3u_S4cPR8VkNqqsQiMaQdR6jzdiptqN03unEjBZWfha9Ikii609EL_pRGrKLbc102PpGhip8hnOVwal5eRc8WluQ8W3tcq75Y3XDyYp9Ak7Br2X1MbFvMDZ-Cobc_4TCQ883niAWupvUhUhbi5UNLUPeXr35Jo42p8G2bepPG4fNHaqDssM9vr1UMcJH_dQ9A8DiWTvKcHruizgOF6eNaZ75HjBvo3ob1blM6sPQXUPyrAgE44_wAmSKibB99GWI3V4e1bnQcA6q-QTJRH8LNbewH4dq2mm5hIERSsIMzMHSQ5bwcHv4kkOc9dPLk4r_NYTOxhCvc33xrh3U6yygQVZrOy6Tl-XzmiuwzwRllbDioAv9QC7wovHBVMNy75fQF/s1600/Armidale%2BExpress%2B2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="908" data-original-width="639" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YhF8syThuy4/Xpla-FsUhgI/AAAAAAAAQRU/C5vsrRf0VBActo7hmQ7QJczGKlcS1bBJQCEwYBhgLKs4DAMBZVoBQ1hgZbY2Qj-n4i2JJjoySrs6LZ9HfMLGxBgcxaVIYlgCKrUKceTr0FumJCOcAL10fu1l4RPf6uTlL8aByJGZ6auMekRZ4cgpBl50YzHDySf9wNEKiPsPDUvLAjbja0kkMzZeo69E2WgIicbbpmPb3dbrtZojVzAiUsR9N0nUnJlzRItiBfFhmhKDCIaxC74Y3nwDyBlYd6o-slVAg3OzUNVkWWuBMKbOyNKo1C_V3u_S4cPR8VkNqqsQiMaQdR6jzdiptqN03unEjBZWfha9Ikii609EL_pRGrKLbc102PpGhip8hnOVwal5eRc8WluQ8W3tcq75Y3XDyYp9Ak7Br2X1MbFvMDZ-Cobc_4TCQ883niAWupvUhUhbi5UNLUPeXr35Jo42p8G2bepPG4fNHaqDssM9vr1UMcJH_dQ9A8DiWTvKcHruizgOF6eNaZ75HjBvo3ob1blM6sPQXUPyrAgE44_wAmSKibB99GWI3V4e1bnQcA6q-QTJRH8LNbewH4dq2mm5hIERSsIMzMHSQ5bwcHv4kkOc9dPLk4r_NYTOxhCvc33xrh3U6yygQVZrOy6Tl-XzmiuwzwRllbDioAv9QC7wovHBVMNy75fQF/s400/Armidale%2BExpress%2B2.jpg" width="281" /></a></div>
Not unexpectedly, Armidale is my second example.<br />
<br />
Many of the points I made about the <i>Southern Courier </i>apply to the Armidale, but more so. For many and especially older residents, the print <i>Armidale Express</i> is their only source of local news. Most are not active on-line. They may listen to the radio or TV news which carry some local stories but the print <i>Express</i> whatever its imperfections is central especially when it comes to things such as hatches, matches and dispatches.<br />
<br />
Like many people in Armidale I am active in the on-line world. It is quite a vibrant world that does give me a lot of local news, allows me to promote my own causes, but it's quite imperfect because it is actually quite limited.<br />
<br />
I was talking to friends today in town who belong to the it does not matter if the print <i>Express</i> closes group. I challenged this, pointing out that so many people still relied on it. I asked them where they would get their news? You see, one issue is that the news pyramid actually depends on the existence of a solid initial source point. Take that away and you have a gap that cannot be filled.<br />
<br />
Can the e-edition of the paper substitute? If we ignore the older people who will die out, it may at least partially in the longer term. But it's not there yet and may never get there. I am drifting into strategy questions that link back to the start of the post. So keeping things simple.<br />
<br />
If at this point the print edition vanishes, then it will leave a gap that cannot be easily filled, that will impoverish local life in ways that cannot be easily seen. This applies to other papers as well.<br />
<br />
I hope that this break in printing might actually force us to ask what we want from our papers, to challenge the papers and especially management on the service they provide, to answer the question why they are important to us. I accept that this is naive view, but I am tired of managements that treat papers as simply another masthead. <div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript"><!--
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</script></div>Jim Belshawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10075614280789984767noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25637657.post-50529407542593609692020-02-11T20:44:00.000+11:002020-02-11T20:44:02.107+11:00Stockton Beach revisited<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7S1MbTTCz80/XkJzvmYJcKI/AAAAAAAAQH4/8FyUQns9bIEnnLW3jxl1XJp1aXAZ3P1ZQCEwYBhgL/s1600/Stockton%2BBeach%2BErosion%2BAB%252CC%2Bphoto%2BSave%2BStockton%2BBeach.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="627" data-original-width="940" height="266" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7S1MbTTCz80/XkJzvmYJcKI/AAAAAAAAQH4/8FyUQns9bIEnnLW3jxl1XJp1aXAZ3P1ZQCEwYBhgL/s400/Stockton%2BBeach%2BErosion%2BAB%252CC%2Bphoto%2BSave%2BStockton%2BBeach.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
Back in 2008, I carried a post, <a href="http://newenglandaustralia.blogspot.com/2008/11/new-england-story-stockton-beach.html" target="_blank">New England Story - Stockton Beach</a>, telling a little of the story of Stockton Beach.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: red;"><b>Photo: Cabins threatened following erosion at Stockton Beach near Newcastle. Photo Save Stockton Beach</b></span></blockquote>
I was reminded of this by an ABC story <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-02-11/newcastle-beachside-cabins-in-danger-of-toppling-into-sea/11953274" target="_blank">Newcastle beachside cabins in danger of toppling into sea after wild weather</a>. There have been erosion problems for some time.<br />
<br />
I was glad to have been reminded of my original post for its quite a good yarn. Some of my points were challenged in comments and especially the existence or otherwise of Tin City. I haven't resolved this. However, Tin City remains a recognised shooting location for some of the scenes in the first <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mad_Max" target="_blank">Mad Max</a> movie.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript"><!--
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b><span style="color: purple;">Award-winning audio fiction series from the ABC. Walk the streets of Fitzroy, Melbourne, shaped by gangsters, migrants, Aboriginal activists, the working poor. Now, it’s fancy shops and hipster bars. Until you really look.</span></b></blockquote>
Now I'm not totally sure about the fiction part. I think that its more observations, imaginings and anecdotes that paint a vivid picture of life in Fitzroy. I find it fun. Having just moved back to Armidale, I thought that it might be fun to try the same thing here. I also thought that it might be a break from the historical or analytical stuff I normally write, something that would give me more freedom to experiment and roam.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2gHW8mltQNM/Xdc2A5ppxcI/AAAAAAAAP-8/DvhJFxFIUswJwUbgROo5v06v0c05msysgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Smoke%2BArmidale%2B1%2B20112019.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="675" data-original-width="1200" height="225" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2gHW8mltQNM/Xdc2A5ppxcI/AAAAAAAAP-8/DvhJFxFIUswJwUbgROo5v06v0c05msysgCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/Smoke%2BArmidale%2B1%2B20112019.png" width="400" /></a></div>
The first episode, <a href="http://belshaw.blogspot.com/2019/11/armidale-diaries-1-smoke-rolls-in.html" target="_blank">Armidale Diaries 1 the smoke rolls in</a>, appeared yesterday on my personal blog. My old friend Noric Dilanchian wrote on my public face book page:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>Jim’s mise en scène. The style works. Recalls quirky French rural townlife films of old, one from the 1980s that I recall by Claude Chabrol. Awaiting this style’s evolution. </i></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>Stretch target, find a videography and music researcher to deliver audiovisual justice for the smoky scene you set.</i></blockquote>
<div style="background-color: whitesmoke; text-indent: 10px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Mise en scène literally means </span><span style="background-color: transparent;">the arrangement of the scenery, props, etc. on the stage of a theatrical production or on the set of a film or, alternatively, </span><span style="background-color: transparent;">the setting or surroundings of an event. That's not a bad definition, but I think of it in terms of the texture of life within a frame. </span></div>
<div style="background-color: whitesmoke; text-indent: 10px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: whitesmoke; text-indent: 10px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent;">I am going to try to run the series every Thursday. in terms of Noric's challenge, think of it as something like a script that audio can be added later. </span></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Jxpnyg4_8S0/XdIihPx5eqI/AAAAAAAAP9c/IVswZlzw7xkV5tV1r6_1u1OPVjFrX0xuQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Khalid%2BAdi%2Band%2Bhis%2Bfamily%2Bcolouring%2Bin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="678" data-original-width="1014" height="266" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Jxpnyg4_8S0/XdIihPx5eqI/AAAAAAAAP9c/IVswZlzw7xkV5tV1r6_1u1OPVjFrX0xuQCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/Khalid%2BAdi%2Band%2Bhis%2Bfamily%2Bcolouring%2Bin.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
Back in August 2017 (<a href="http://newenglandaustralia.blogspot.com/2017/08/armidale-to-settle-200-refugees.html" target="_blank">Armidale to settle 200 refugees - overview and discussion</a>) I reported that Armidale long fight to become a refugee resettlement centre had finally been successful.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: red;"><b>Khalid Adi and his family colouring in. Photo <a href="https://www.armidaleexpress.com.au/story/6492081/stories-connect-ezidi-art-and-photo-exhibition-opens-this-weekend/" target="_blank">Armidale Express</a>.</b></span></blockquote>
Two years later Armidale is home to some 400 Ezidis.<br />
<br />
Earlier in 2019, the New England Writers' Centre launched Stories Connect, a major program focussed around encouraging creative expression and making connections between newly- resettled Ezidi refugee families and other members of the Armidale community, through the sharing and creation of stories, pictures and music.<br />
<br />
Supported by generous grants from the Regional Arts Fund, the Country Arts Support Program, Create NSW and Settlement Services International, with much-appreciated support from Armidale Regional Council, Arts North West and NERAM, Stories Connect launched in June. Over several months it featured a range of activities and events, from creative workshops for school age children and teenagers to community storytelling sessions; from the creation of documentary photographs by emerging photographers.<br />
<br />
Stories Connect showcased the wide range of local talent and potential, both within the Ezidi and wider segments of the Armidale community. It’s been a great success, culminated in a popular exhibition at NERAM (the New England Regional Art Museum). Now a short documentary film has been released showcasing the project. It's rather good.<br />
<br />
I have been asked not to embed the video because the Centre wants people to view it on its website. You will find the link <a href="http://www.newc.org.au/stories-connect.html" target="_blank">here</a>. The Armidale Express story on the launch of the NERAM exhibition is <a href="https://www.armidaleexpress.com.au/story/6492081/stories-connect-ezidi-art-and-photo-exhibition-opens-this-weekend/" target="_blank">here</a>. <div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript"><!--
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mRjHhN6h74c/XceUuQW6FfI/AAAAAAAAP6g/c_YWLCEEcdMWCgnJ9UA6SuvJuHTtlny1gCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/fire%2Bmeets%2Bthe%2Bsea%2Bbush%2Bfire%2BDarawank%2Bphoto%2BMartin%2BVon%2BStroll.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="724" data-original-width="960" height="301" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mRjHhN6h74c/XceUuQW6FfI/AAAAAAAAP6g/c_YWLCEEcdMWCgnJ9UA6SuvJuHTtlny1gCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/fire%2Bmeets%2Bthe%2Bsea%2Bbush%2Bfire%2BDarawank%2Bphoto%2BMartin%2BVon%2BStroll.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
The land has been on fire. Across the broader New England fires have raged with loss of property and life. ABC Coffs Coast<a href="https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=2363945477159158&set=a.1768470513373327&type=3&theater" target="_blank"> reproduced</a> a poem by Armidales' Troy Gerdes based on <i>I love a sunburnt country</i> that caught the situation.<br />
<br />
"I love a Sunburnt country, a land of sweeping plains.<br />
But I’ve gotta tell ya mate, I like it better when it rains.<br />
The countryside is dying and there’s just no end in sight, and just to rub salt in the wounds, the bush has caught alight.<br />
The landscape is on fire from Brisbane to the Gong<br />
And everybody’s asking “where the hell did we go wrong?<br />
But we can get through this one if we help each other out, take care of your neighbour , that’s what Aussies are about.<br />
The rain is going to fall again , the good times will return. But living in Australia means at times it’s going to burn.<br />
So if you need a helping hand, just give a mate a call. We’re all here to help you out and catch you when you fall.<br />
The RFS, the SES, the Firies, and police, all put their lives upon the line to help to keep the peace.<br />
So hats off to these heroes and thanks for all you do<br />
And I hope when this is over we can make it up to you!"<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9mAW4P3O9Fc/XceW7zq6VzI/AAAAAAAAP6s/26K9VQbGIrY5AYZiJJGk3gno70Cmolz4wCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/bushfires%2B2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="487" data-original-width="649" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9mAW4P3O9Fc/XceW7zq6VzI/AAAAAAAAP6s/26K9VQbGIrY5AYZiJJGk3gno70Cmolz4wCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/bushfires%2B2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
The fires have been dreadful. Last night's <a href="https://www.nbnnews.com.au/" target="_blank">NBN News, </a>(the link is to NBN News general site; I couldn't find the specific story), contained some of the most gripping and dramatic coverage that I have ever seen. They deserve an award for the coverage.<br />
<br />
Community reaction to the fires has been truly remarkable in terms of those who fought and those that responded to events in whatever way they could. <br />
<br />
I would have followed the story anyway, but now living back in the area I followed with particular interest. Exactly where were the fires, what did it all mean, who did I know who lived in the immediate area? I followed the social media feeds from people I knew especially on the Tablelands wondering if changing wind directions would bring the fires towards them.<br />
<br />
The fires have become caught up in the debate about climate change especially among the political warriors of left and right, but also among worried citizens.<br />
<br />
The fires have been hailed, if that's the right word, as exceptional, a much misused word, evidence for climate change. This has led to responses pointing out, correctly, that there have been worse fires and that the fires of themselves prove nothing.<br />
<br />
The problem with these generalised discussions is that they lack practical content. If anything, they sidetrack discussion on the problems we face.<br />
<br />
To avoid becoming caught in unnecessary arguments over climate change, I suppose that I should make my own position clear. <br />
<br />
As an historian, I am well aware that climate varies over time. As a simple example, sea levels have varied by around 130 metres over the last 100,000 years. I therefore have no problem with the idea that the climate may change. Indeed, I would expect it.<br />
<br />
I also find the idea of human induced climate change intuitively plausible because I find it hard to see how the pumping of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere since the beginning of the industrial revolution could not have an effect. I accept too, if cautiously, that part of the effects of climate change is likely to be increased variability in climate, more extreme events. However, this is where my problem with some of the discussion on the New England fires comes in.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sBARf2DarIE/Xcep7VYKBCI/AAAAAAAAP7A/UbyJdmwJO1I5ZiyOUtUkVf6ksvHzz4xegCEwYBhgL/s1600/bushfires%2B3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="609" data-original-width="720" height="337" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sBARf2DarIE/Xcep7VYKBCI/AAAAAAAAP7A/UbyJdmwJO1I5ZiyOUtUkVf6ksvHzz4xegCEwYBhgL/s400/bushfires%2B3.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
Climate change is a macro problem and has to be dealt with first at that level. This requires action to limit the emission of green house gases.<br />
<br />
My personal preference here has been some form of carbon tax because it provides a market mechanism. The tax could have been set low and then adjusted as more evidence became available. Among other things, this would have taken a lot of the heat out of the debate over coal.<br />
<br />
This is a macro debate. Accepting that climate change is happening, it is already clear that the effects will be a geographically distributed, creating a pattern of winners and losers. If one is going to respond in a sensible way to things like changes to the risk of fire in a particular area, one has to know what the changes might be. Otherwise discussion becomes sound and fury signifying nothing. Generalised statements won't cut it except at a very high level of generality. <br />
<br />
This is where the debate over the Northern fires come adrift. They lack real policy content because we just don't know what the specific effects of climate change might be in the broader New England. Here I want to put forward a specific hypothesis based on history over the last few thousand years that is potentially testable by those more knowledge in climatology than me.<br />
<br />
Northern NSW is generally wetter than Southern NSW. The reason for that is that the area lies in the overlap between northern and southern weather systems. The dividing line is traditionally based on a line running inland from around Port Macquarie. South of that line, southern patterns dominate. North of that line to the Queensland border, systems overlap. Further north, northern weather patterns dominate.<br />
<br />
I accept that this simple analysis is a gross generalisation. I stick my head up with a degree of trepidation. However, given all this, what happens if the effect of climate change is to move the northern systems north, the southern systems south? The result is likely to be a drought/fire zone in what was a previously a relatively well watered area.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript"><!--
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MIjrhVrxKO8/Xa46G1PhiXI/AAAAAAAAP30/C9sDbJFEVfoLyGdMZm0v9PI86OB6m4V4ACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/art-connections-banner.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1094" data-original-width="1600" height="436" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MIjrhVrxKO8/Xa46G1PhiXI/AAAAAAAAP30/C9sDbJFEVfoLyGdMZm0v9PI86OB6m4V4ACLcBGAsYHQ/s640/art-connections-banner.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
Created by <a href="http://www.artsnw.com.au/" target="_blank">Arts North West</a>, Art Connections (31 Oct to 4 Nov 2019) is a large-scale arts trail experience and coordinated open weekend showcasing the diverse arts and cultural venues of the New England North West.<br />
<br />
This event connects communities and highlights the significant contribution made by artists and cultural workers to the region’s economy and community identity.<br />
<br />
Nestled in the mountains of the New England and scattered throughout the plains of the North West are numerous hidden gems waiting to be discovered. Creatives busily working away on their kitchen tables, in the garden shed, a shop in the main street, converted shipping containers or a purpose-built studio, drawing inspiration from the landscapes and environments that surround them in the beautiful New England North West to make and produce unique and diverse works.<br />
<br />
Art Connections, has been developed to capture the creative venues of the New England North West, from the larger-scale venues such as commercial galleries and volunteer-run museums to the quirky artists run initiatives and studios off the beaten track, compiling a comprehensive database disguised as the North West Arts Trail Directory and Open Weekend.<br />
<br />
Art Connections is more than one event – it is, in fact, a series of over 50 destinations across almost 100,000 km2. It will bring visitors into the smaller villages and towns of the New England North West, to explore and experience regional New England. This project connects communities and highlights the significant contribution made by artists and cultural workers to the region’s economy and community identity.<br />
<br />
These trails will reveal what locals have known all along, there is something special and unique about our region. The self-drive Open Weekend on the weekend of the 31 October to 4 November provides the perfect opportunity to meander through the picturesque changing landscapes of the New England North West, the environment in which creativity and inspiration is drawn from.<br />
<br />
Arts North West covers an enormous part of the New England North West. From bustling regional centres, to rural towns and remote villages, the vast differences between these communities include the obvious; size and location but there is an overarching similarity between them all, individuals and collectives building community identity through the power of creativity.<br />
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<a href="http://www.artsnw.com.au/artstate-tamworth-2019" target="_blank">Artstate Tamworth</a> will be held as part of Art Connections featuring a number of interconnected activities. <br />
<br />
You can download a copy of the Art Connections directory <a href="https://www.artsnwconnect.com.au/" target="_blank">here</a> or pick up a hard copy at one of the many participating venues and tourist centres. <div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript"><!--
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<br />
Well, I am now in Armidale. I still don't have the internet working properly, that requires connecting to the NBN, but can access the internet using a hot spot created on the mobile. This is potentially very expensive, but meets my immediate needs.<br />
<br />
After such a long delay in blogging, the move was creating distractions and delays long before the intensive move period, traffic to my blogs has declined greatly. I have to rebuild and that will take time.<br />
<br />
I will write about the move, after all it has been a big and all consuming one, but for the moment I simply want to record that I am back blogging.<br />
<br />
I look forward to a return to regular posting, to the on-going conversation with blogging friends old and hopefully new!<div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript"><!--
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<br />
Applications will open on August 5 for the inaugural Varuna/New England Writers’ Centre Fellowship, which, through a competitive process, will offer the Fellowship winner a week’s inspirational writing residency in the beautiful surroundings of Varuna, in the Blue Mountains. The Fellowship package will offer full board and accommodation at Varuna, funds towards travel, a one-on-one consultation with a Varuna expert and more<br />
.<br />
The Fellowship will be open to all writers, at any stage of their career, and working in any literary genre, who are either currently living in the New England region (defined as the federal New England Electorate) or who have previously lived there for at least five years. Assessment of applications will be conducted by a panel of New England-based literary professionals to establish a shortlist of three finalists. From this, Varuna will select the winner, to be announced in early December, with the Fellowship to be taken up in 2020. For all details of the Fellowship and information on how to apply: see<a href="http://www.newc.org.au/varuna-fellowship.html" target="_blank"> here.</a><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: red;">‘We’re so delighted to be partnering with New England Writers’ Centre on this new fellowship,’ said Veechi Stuart, Executive Director of Varuna. ‘Supporting the arts in regional Australia is key to what we do, and we’re keen to be part of the rich tradition of poetry and writing that New England inspires.’ </span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: red;">We are very grateful for the support of the Copyright Agency’s Cultural Fund, whose generous sponsorship has helped to make this inaugural Fellowship possible. The Copyright Agency is a not-for-profit rights management organisation that ensures artists, writers and publishers are fairly rewarded for the reproduction of their work. Its Cultural Fund provides grants to creative individuals and organisations for a diverse range of projects which aim to enrich Australian cultural life.</span></blockquote>
New England has indeed many writers. I used to be able to follow them all, but that became impossible a few years ago with all the growth. I hope that this initiative really pays off.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript"><!--
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5vISZbHGYtM/XO5M4pz3y_I/AAAAAAAAPoQ/5O-gQ-3aPuIhFmGtYBMJUQyjGjMJRGqjwCEwYBhgL/s1600/Woden-Towers-Bowe-St-810x702.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="703" data-original-width="810" height="346" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5vISZbHGYtM/XO5M4pz3y_I/AAAAAAAAPoQ/5O-gQ-3aPuIhFmGtYBMJUQyjGjMJRGqjwCEwYBhgL/s400/Woden-Towers-Bowe-St-810x702.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
In December 2016 I <a href="http://newenglandaustralia.blogspot.com/2016/12/evaluating-evaluation-ey-apvma-and-move.html" target="_blank">examined</a> the Ernst & Young cost-benefit evaluation of the proposed move of the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Authority (APVMA) from Canberra to Armidale.<br /><div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b><span style="color: red;">Proposed Canberra High Rise </span></b></blockquote>
It's fair to suggest that I was not impressed with the way E&Y presented the costs of the move compared with the benefits, I thought that it was shoddy analysis in methodological terms. I also thought that it ignored the dynamic benefits of the move, something I was going to write more on.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
For a variety of reasons, including time and the rapid unfolding of events I did not follow up. Now I want explore one element of what I was going to say, the implications of Canberra's continued growth. The trigger here was a 27 May 2019 piece by Katie Burgess, <a href="https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/6180445/the-areas-in-canberra-flagged-for-intense-urban-infill/" target="_blank">The areas in Canberra flagged for intense urban infill</a>. To quote from one part of the article. </div>
<div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: red;">Canberra's population increased from about 375,000 in 2012 to 402,500 people in 2016, but is expected to rise by a further 7000 people a year to 589,000 by 2041. </span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: red;">Around 100,000 new homes will need to be built between 2018 and 2041 to meet that demand, the planning strategy says, equating to nearly 12 new homes a day. Canberra Times </span></blockquote>
When I moved to Canberra to work, the population was around 65,000, a bit over four times Armidale's population. Armidale plus Tamworth's population was around Canberra's total. Now in considering the population of the ACT, you have to consider the over-flow effects. When I moved to Queanbeyan to live, it's population was quite a bit smaller than Armidale, Now it's population is around 37,000, well over Atmidale and not far from Tamworth's. . </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
When I moved to Canberra, inland New England had two full seats and bits of others, Canberra had one seat, Now Canberra has three seats, inland New England one and a little bit of another. Between now and 2041, and ignoring flow-on effects, Canberra is expected to add around another 187,000 people, more than the present population of inland New England. By then in the absence of change, inland New England will be down to one seat that will have to spread east and west to maintain the required numbers. </div>
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<br /></div>
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While many factors have contributed to these trends, the single over-whelming one is the decision to establish a capital at Canberra. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div>
Now for all the hyper-ventilation in the <i>Canberra Times</i> over the APVMA move, you can see that it has negligible impact in Canberra beyond a marginal reduction in the growth pressures facing the city, a marginal reduction in the new infrastructure spend.required to ease growth pressures. For Armidale with a population around 24,500, the move is relatively more significant, but can still be absorbed without requiring additional infrastructure.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I now want to broaden my focus a little to bring in the remainder of New England, Hunter to the border by considering the dynamic effects of Canberra's growth, .</div>
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<br /></div>
<div>
When I moved to Canberra, the trip to Sydney along the narrow highway took over four hours. Now it's down to three hours on the expressway and will shorten. Along that highway strip, the expansion of both Sydney and Canberra is slowly crawling towards each other, creating a single conurbation. The establishment of fast rail, this seems likely, will accelerate the trend. A Sydney-Canberra-Melbourne fast rail would further consolidate the dominance of the South-East. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I remember the first grapes being planted around the ACT. Now the growing Canberra market, the most affluent marketplace in the country, has provided a base for rapid expansion that in turn draws visitors and adds to the tourist trade. While parts of the country are experiencing some rural depopulation, Canberra people are moving out looking for new experiences. Then down on the South Coast, Canberra is driving the development of coastal tourism. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
This southern growth process is being further driven by other factors. Wagga Wagga, one of the fastest growing cities in regional NSW, is only a bit over two hours from Canberra. Albury-Wodonga is a bit over three hours from Canberra, about the same from Melbourne. Further north, the line from Sydney to the Blue Mountains to Bathurst to Orange is another growth line. Bathurst benefited from early NSW Government shifts in public administration, while both Orange and Bathurst have benefited from relative closeness to Sydney facilitating weekend traffic and the growth of food and wine. Both Orange and Bathurst are presently a bit over three hours from Canberra.</div>
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<br /></div>
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I haven't attempted to fully analyse the way all these bit fit together, but perhaps i can use an example to illustrate, The growth of Charles Sturt University has been solidly based on its expansion in the regional cities of Southern and Central NSW. </div>
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If we now turn to New England, we find a very different picture. In the south, the growth of Newcastle has been influenced by the growth of Sydney. In discussions including discussion on "regional development" Newcastle is often seen as an out-rider, a place to absorb Sydney population pressures. The linkages that once existed between Newcastle and the broader North have diminished to the detriment of both, in part because of the southern focus. </div>
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In the far north, the rapid population growth in the Tweed Valley and, to a degree further south, have been driven by the growth of the South East Queensland urban conurbation, creating a degree of isolation and dislocation. Along the coastal strip between the Hunter and the border, the rapid increase in population associated with sea change including retirement brought people but largely without jobs beyond service jobs. Of course there are some pluses, but now these are some of the lowest income areas with some of the highest youth unemployment in the country. Unlike the growth high income Canberra, the growth of say Coffs Harbour has had very few broader spin-off benefits. </div>
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I find it interesting that the biggest infrastructure issue on the North Coast, the re-development of the Pacific Highway, is focused on a road whose primary purpose is to link Sydney and Brisbane. Of course it's important because the congestion on that road from through traffic has caused deaths and great local inconvenience. You can see why locals are concerned.But it's not actually going to add any new jobs of the type the coast needs. </div>
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Inland, the towns and cities have been struggling just to hold. Growth has increased, but the puffery associated with each town's boosters with their local focus sets towns against each other. Armidale wants the APVMA. The Mayor oft Tamworth was critical because Tamworth needs jobs and this is special pleading for Armidale. Tamworth wants a university campus, its the only city of its size in NSW that does not have an equivalent. I don't see Armidale Council rushing to support. </div>
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Meantime, the North's relative decline continued. This will continue until the North starts focusing in a more integrated way on cross-linkages and mutual support. Take the dynamic effects of the APVMA re-location as a simple final comment.</div>
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The E&Y study compared the local expenditure benefits by comparing the whole ACT with the then Armidale Dumaresq Council area. The ACT benefits would be greater because more of the flow-on effects would be retained there as compared to to the Armidale Dumaresq LGA. Let me turn that on its head. The dynamic benefits will be greater in Armidale just because the benefits from the spend will flow onto a wider area. That includes expenditure in Tamworth and on the coast. </div>
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. . </div>
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. . </div>
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</script></div>Jim Belshawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10075614280789984767noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25637657.post-48938581078367249522019-05-09T19:15:00.000+10:002019-05-09T19:17:53.552+10:00Antony Catalano's challenge -a possible ten time profit but only if he discovers his papers ' local and regional roots <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wEBwO_i65tU/XNPYaJV4tTI/AAAAAAAAPlY/Q8sNp94yTQUMgcZKe8ams6oZt1STnttvQCLcBGAs/s1600/Antony%2BCatalano.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="780" data-original-width="1300" height="240" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wEBwO_i65tU/XNPYaJV4tTI/AAAAAAAAPlY/Q8sNp94yTQUMgcZKe8ams6oZt1STnttvQCLcBGAs/s400/Antony%2BCatalano.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="color: #767676; font-family: "guardian text sans web" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , "lucida grande" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures;">Returning</span></span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #767676; font-family: "guardian text sans web" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , "lucida grande" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures;"> to posting after a gap of almost two months. I want to focus on our media.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #767676; font-family: "guardian text sans web" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , "lucida grande" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #767676; font-family: "guardian text sans web" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , "lucida grande" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures;">With the exception of a few independents, Fairfax and Newscorp ended controlling every press outlet in the broader New England. Once Newscorp came in, access to their papers fell behind paywalls. Then Fairfax introduced a maximum of five views fro certain regional publications. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #767676; font-family: "guardian text sans web" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , "lucida grande" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #767676; font-family: "guardian text sans web" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , "lucida grande" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures;">I got totally pissed off. There were three reasons for this. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #767676; font-family: "guardian text sans web" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , "lucida grande" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #767676; font-family: "guardian text sans web" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , "lucida grande" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures;">One was that people from outside the local area could no longer access local news about the area they had come from, while the papers had lost their idea of a broader regional role, had become totally local. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #767676; font-family: "guardian text sans web" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , "lucida grande" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #767676; font-family: "guardian text sans web" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , "lucida grande" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures;">The second was purely personal. I started as a columnist at the end of 2008, I think. That's a long time ago.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #767676; font-family: "guardian text sans web" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , "lucida grande" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #767676; font-family: "guardian text sans web" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , "lucida grande" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures;">I did not get paid in cash.The only reward i got was a subscription to the paper. I wrote for my own reasons. Then with the shift to the Fairfax pay model I lost even that. I really protested through multiple emails, but could never get a satisfactory response.. Nobody could tell me why I couldn't have my subscription back. It was just Fairfax rules I guess. Today I was trying to check a past column but could not because I was over my five views.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #767676; font-family: "guardian text sans web" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , "lucida grande" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #767676; font-family: "guardian text sans web" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , "lucida grande" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures;">The third reason? I was totally pissed off because I thought that what Fairfax was doing was simple commercial stupidity. They simply did not understand their market possibilities. This is an issue that I will come back too elsewhere. For the moment, I simply note that a Sydney based enterprise focused on metrics struggles to understand local or regional markets. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #767676; font-family: "guardian text sans web" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , "lucida grande" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #767676; font-family: "guardian text sans web" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , "lucida grande" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures;">Now that Antony Catalano has</span></span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2019/may/09/antony-catalano-australias-newest-media-mogul-surveys-his-new-domain" style="color: #767676; font-family: "Guardian Text Sans Web", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures;" target="_blank"> taken ove</a><span style="color: #767676; font-family: "guardian text sans web" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , "lucida grande" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures;">r Fairfax regional we may have a chance. But what a value loss. From $3 billion to $115 million including $60 million real estate. From a very profitable business to one that, on reports, is now unprofitable. Mr Catalona clearly has a challenge in front of him. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #767676; font-family: "guardian text sans web" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , "lucida grande" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #767676; font-family: "guardian text sans web" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , "lucida grande" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures;">I believe that this is a brilliant deal. I believe that he can make a tenfold return on his investment within ten years. But this will happen if and only if Mr Catalano can ditch the Fairfax legacy and go back to the local and regional roots of his various papers. It may be our last chance.</span></span></span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript"><!--
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-UqCwxID20EQ/XHT5RvVRlVI/AAAAAAAAPZ8/EuvBmN3jNmUaVK9F6DNamnwG6rTws97igCLcBGAs/s1600/Morton%2BBlame%2Bit%2Bon%2Bthe%2Brain.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="312" height="400" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-UqCwxID20EQ/XHT5RvVRlVI/AAAAAAAAPZ8/EuvBmN3jNmUaVK9F6DNamnwG6rTws97igCLcBGAs/s400/Morton%2BBlame%2Bit%2Bon%2Bthe%2Brain.jpg" width="262" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: purple;"><b>"Northern New South Wales is a big, fat, subtropical, coconut - and turmeric - laced cliché of heavenliness.</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: purple;"><b>Here in Northern New South Wales, people like to go about barefoot." </b></span></div>
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At Christmas time I took some book vouchers and went across to Harry Hartog's to try to but some books with a connection to Northern New South Wales, my broader New England. The pickings were very thin, the worst they had ever been. Even the second hand book section gave zero results. In the end, the only book I could find was <i><a href="https://thebookroomatbyron.com/p/biography-memoir-autobiography-blame-it-on-the-rain-life-around-byron-bay" target="_blank">Valerie Morton's Blame it on the Rain: Life around Byron Bay</a></i> (:Red Flower Books, 2018). </div>
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Lavishly illustrated with photos, the book is a series of vignettes about beach, bush but mainly locals - with a dash of cane toads, ticks and gold top mushrooms. Did you know that some people lick cane toads because the poison contains a powerful hallucinogenic? That was certainly news to me. </div>
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While the book references Northern New South Wales, it is actually about the Northern Rivers, more precisely still that part of it covered by the Byron Shire, even more precisely the town of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mullumbimby" target="_blank">Mullumbimby</a> and surrounds. </div>
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It is not clear to me when people started to call the Northern Rivers Northern New South Wales. It seems to link to administrative naming by the Sydney Government, most recently the decision to name the local health district covering the Northern Rivers the Northern New South Wales Local Health District. Whatever the cause, the misuse of names has become an absolute pain. It's not easy when naming conventions take away the identity of your entire area. </div>
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-HGzXrLFfoHc/XHUEJiabqNI/AAAAAAAAPaI/9dHi6vUXFVAQyhww690z7XESW-QKlnQBACLcBGAs/s1600/Aerial_perspective_of_Mullimbimby.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="800" height="400" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-HGzXrLFfoHc/XHUEJiabqNI/AAAAAAAAPaI/9dHi6vUXFVAQyhww690z7XESW-QKlnQBACLcBGAs/s400/Aerial_perspective_of_Mullimbimby.jpg" width="298" /></a></div>
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Valerie moved to Byron Shire some twelve years ago and now lives in a rain forest near Mullumbimby. a very pretty town. Nearly everyone that features in her book is a new arrival. I could only identify one local born person. That reflects the changes that have swept across the North since the 1970s. </div>
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Australian poet and artist Edwin Wilson's <i>The Mullumbimby Kid: a portrait of the Poet as a Child </i>(Woodbine Press, 1973) present a picture of life in the area before the changes, as does Shirley Walker's <i>Roundabout at Bangalow </i>(University of Queensland Press 2015), . When I was at university, some of my friends came from Mullumbimby, following the path of Wilson and Warlker out into the broader world via education in Armidale. </div>
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First the counterculture and then the sea change movements brought great changes, changes facilitated because the decline in dairying made relatively cheap land available .A proper history of these changes remains to be written, but they were quite profound. </div>
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This is reflected in Valerie's book. This is a very local world made up of people with particular view who seem to have very little linkage with the surrounding regions, more in common with the patterns of life in Australia's inner city areas. Except, perhaps, that those in Byron Shire have developed particular patterns linked to their local environment. They are the same, but different, with trends accentuated by .smaller size. According to Wikipedia, link above, Mullumbimby has the lowest vaccination rates in Australia. </div>
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This is not a criticism of the book, simply a reflection on my reactions to it. The book is not high literature, although it's well and simply written. Rather, it presents a clear and interesting picture of a some ways unique life in a particular area at a particular point in time. It's worth a read whether you are in Australia or elsewhere. . </div>
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</script></div>Jim Belshawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10075614280789984767noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25637657.post-69059555486918484362019-02-25T19:00:00.000+11:002019-02-25T19:02:49.853+11:00Port of Newcastle. another example of the malign impact of Sydney centric decisions that ignore the North?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5cpt8s0HfWE/XHN-3M6DhgI/AAAAAAAAPZY/IOufFJngi0UUh-csHJs187BHkc2yvdNiACLcBGAs/s1600/Port%2BOf%2BNewcastle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="800" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5cpt8s0HfWE/XHN-3M6DhgI/AAAAAAAAPZY/IOufFJngi0UUh-csHJs187BHkc2yvdNiACLcBGAs/s640/Port%2BOf%2BNewcastle.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="color: red;">Port of Newcastle. another example of the malign impact of Sydney centric decisions that ignore the North?</span></b></div>
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On 25 February 2019, the <i>Newcastle Herald </i>carried a story by Michael Parris (<a href="https://www.theherald.com.au/story/5922276/port-inquiry-finds-key-privatisation-details-kept-secret-from-parliament/?cs=12&utm_source=website&utm_medium=home&utm_campaign=latestnews" target="_blank">NSW port privatisation inquiry finds key details kept secret from Parliament, calls for policy review</a>) reporting on the preliminary report of the NSW Public Works Committee <i><a href="https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/lcdocs/inquiries/2516/Final%20version%20of%20report%20-%2025%20February%202019.pdf" target="_blank">Impact of Port of Newcastle sale arrangements on public works expenditure in New South Wales</a></i>.</div>
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I first reported on the proposed sale of the Port of Newcastle back on 28 January 2014: <a href="https://newenglandaustralia.blogspot.com/2014/01/competition-heats-up-for-port-of.html" target="_blank">Competition heats up for Port of Newcastle</a>. It was only a very brief note in which I said that there appeared to be little opposition to the sale within Newcastle, perhaps because part of the sale proceeds was to be allocated to Newcastle infrastructure. Even then, I was quickly corrected when regular commenter Greg wrote :</div>
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<span style="color: red; font-family: inherit;">"Actually Jim, there has been a fair amount of opposition in Newcastle. The port of Newcastle is substantially different to both Port Botany and Port Kembla in that the government would not be selling a business so much as a) a tax stream (ie. charges for use of the port facilities) and b) an awful lot of prime harbourside land which will severely restrict what can be done on and around the harbour for the next century. In particular, a container terminal was promised for the port a decade ago. That would have been logical to service the north of the state and help relieve congestion around Port Botany. This government has canned that and it is likely that the sale of the port will see hopes fade of a container terminal ever being built in Newcastle. </span></div>
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<span style="color: red; font-family: inherit;">There is also resentment that the money for infrastructure in Newcastle is tied in to the port sale, yet the dollar figure is set in stone. If the port gets sold for closer to say $1bn (highly likely), Newcastle won't see a zac more than that already promised from the sale. The state has made that absolutely clear. I don't think that there are too many people who believe that it is a good deal for Newcastle. The sale of the port will benefit Sydney more than it does Newcastle."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">In April 2014, then NSW Premier Baird <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-04-30/nsw-government-sells-port-of-newcastle-for-1.75-billion/5421800">announced </a>that a 98 year lease over the Port of Newcastle, the world's biggest coal port, had been sold for $1.75 billion. Of this amount, $340 million would go to Newcastle projects to aid the city's revitalisation. So it was sold for much more than projected, with just under 20% going to Newcastle projects.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">What was not known at the time<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 10px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"> was that previous sale agreement of the leases to NSW Ports over the southern Port Kembla and Port Botany provided that the State Government would provide a financial reimbursement to NSW Ports should container traffic at the Port of Newcastle pass a certain trigger point. This clause was inserted to maximise the immediate cash to the Government in Sydney. T<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 10px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">he subsequent sale agreement for the Port of Newcastle included a clause that the new owners would have to reimburse the NSW Government should container traffic trigger the compensation clauses under the original agreement for the sale of Ports Botany and Kembla. The effect was to make a new container terminal un-economic.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 10px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">These restrictive practice clauses were confidential, but inevitably peaked into the public domain. partly because the Port of Newcastle began to seek to develop a container port </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">O<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 10px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">n 10 December 2018, the ACCC (Australian Competition & Consumer Commission) </span><a href="https://www.accc.gov.au/media-release/accc-takes-action-against-nsw-ports" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: transparent; color: blue; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 10px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" target="_blank">announced</a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 10px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"> that had instituted proceedings in the Federal Court against NSW Ports Operations Hold Co Pty Ltd and its subsidiaries Port Botany Operations Pty Ltd and Port Kembla Operations Pty Ltd for making agreements with the State of New South Wales that the ACCC alleges had an anti-competitive purpose and effect.</span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 0px; orphans: 2; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 10px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 10px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
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“We are alleging that making these agreements containing provisions which would effectively compensate Port Kembla and Port Botany if the Port of Newcastle developed a container terminal, is anti-competitive and illegal,” said ACCC Chair Rod Sims.</span><br style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 10px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: transparent; display: inline; float: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 10px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
</span><br style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 10px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: transparent; display: inline; float: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 10px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
The following day, 11 December 2018, the Port of Newcastle </span><a href="https://www.portofnewcastle.com.au/News-and-Media/Items/2018/Newcastle-Container-Terminal-to-deliver-savings-for-regional-NSW-report.aspx" style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 10px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" target="_blank">released </a><span style="background-color: transparent; display: inline; float: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 10px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">a commissioned report on the economic impact of a container terminal at the Port of Newcastle. This suggested (among other things) that a modern container terminal would cut land transport costs for northern NSW businesses by $2.8 billion by 2050. This would, according to Port of Newcastle CEO Craig Carmody, increase exports from Northern NSW including the Hunter by $1 billion by 2050</span><br style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 10px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: transparent; display: inline; float: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 10px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
</span><br style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 10px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: transparent; display: inline; float: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 10px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
"Businesses in Newcastle, Singleton, Tamworth, Gunnedah, Port Macquarie, Kempsey, Liverpool Plains and Narrabri can look forward to savings of more than $500 per standard container, if they shipped their goods through Newcastle rather than Port Botany or Port of Brisbane," Mr Carmody said.</span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; display: inline; float: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 10px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 10px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
With these actions, the originally secret agreements preventing the Port of Newcastle competing against Port Botany and Port Kembla in the container trade finally entered full public gaze. It had been some time coming.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 10px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 10px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><b>NSW Public Works Inquiry</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 10px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: black;"></span><b></b><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: inherit; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 10px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">On 10 November, 2018, a month before the ACCC action, the NSW Public Works committee established an inquiry into the matter. It's terms of reference were; </span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 0px; orphans: 2; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 10px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" /><div>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 10px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">"1. That the Public Works committee inquire into and report on the impact of Port of Newcastle sale arrangements on public works expenditure in New South Wales, including: </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">(a) The extent to which limitations on container port operations currently in place following the sale of the Port of Newcastle contribute to increased pressure for transport and freight infrastructure in New South Wales, specifically: </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">(i) the Westconnex Gateway project (ii) the Port Botany Rail Line duplication </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">(iii) intermodal terminals and rail road connections in southwest and western Sydney </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">(iv) other additional public road infrastructure requirements due to the additional road freight movements in Sydney under the existing port strategy. </span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /> (b) The nature and status of the port commitment deeds, the extent to which they contain limitations on container port movements, and the terms and binding nature of any such commitments. <br /><br /> (c) The extent to which container port limitations contribute to additional costs for NSW industries who are importing or exporting from New South Wales, especially in the Port of Newcastle catchment. <br /><br />(d) Any other related matters. <br /><br />2. That the committee report by 28 February 2019". </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The committee members were:</span></div>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">The Hon Robert Brown MLC Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Chair </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">The Hon Taylor Martin MLC Liberal Party Deputy Chair* </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">Ms Cate Faehrmann MLC The Greens</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">The Hon John Graham MLC Australian Labor Party </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">The Hon Trevor Khan MLC The Nationals </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">The Hon Scot MacDonald MLC Liberal Party</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">The Hon Lynda Voltz MLC Australian Labor Party</span></li>
</ul>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The Committee reported on 25 February 2019. It found:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">:</span></div>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">Finding 1: The Port Commitment Deeds including the conditions of sale and the levy were not disclosed to the public or the Parliament: </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">Finding 2 26 That the limitations on Newcastle container port operations following the ports transactions have not significantly impacted expenditure required on transport infrastructure projects in Sydney.</span></li>
</ul>
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It recommended:</div>
<ul>
<li>Recommendation 1: That the Legislative Council consider establishing an inquiry into the ports transactions, and specifically container limitations and associated financial obligations contained within the Port Commitment Deeds, at the conclusion of the Federal Court proceedings involving the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission and NSW Ports or at such time as the House determines. </li>
<li>Recommendation 2: That the NSW Government conduct a detailed investigation of freight rail options between Ports Botany, Newcastle and Kembla, including options for line duplication and dedicated freight-line construction, to ensure strategic future corridors are preserved, to optimise rail modal share of freight transport, to better align capacity to meet future demand and to improve the rail service reliability. </li>
<li>Recommendation 3 35 That the NSW Government conduct a review of the state's ports policy, including the potential for a container terminal at the Port of Newcastle, at the conclusion of the Federal Court proceedings involving NSW Ports, or at such time as the House determines.</li>
</ul>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b></b><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><b>Commentary</b><br />
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I am still working my way through the analysis, However, some things stand out. Note that I am looking at the report from a Northern NSW, a broader New England, perspective. I make no apologies for that.<br />
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The analysis is very Sydney centric. I have seen this type of analysis before dating right back to the Cohen Commission inquiry into a proposed Northern state. There the analysis focused on railways, the apparent economies associated with the Sydney port rail network and the additional costs associated with developing an alternative system. Leaving aside costing and pricing issues, the way that then NSW rail freights were set provided an artificial surplus to the Sydney railway network carrying Northern good that then became a cost, the analysis was based on what was not what might be.<br />
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I thought that was the case here too. It is heavily set within existing plans, existing structures. The Port of Newcastle is seen as an extension of the Sydney network and analysed in that context. In a way, the approach adopted by the Port of Newcastle in emphasising certain savings that would accrue to Sydney through (for example) reduced infrastructure spend encouraged that approach. Disprove those, or at least cast doubt on them, and the case starts to fall to ground.<br />
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Assuming that I understand the arguments correctly, the evidence ran that the majority of container traffic was Sydney bound and that, further, the economic locus was shifting to the south and south west, effectively isolating Newcastle, The argument here seems to have been two fold. That expenditure and planning should be focused on the existing infrastructure and that these trends made it unlikely that a container port at Newcastle could be viable.<br />
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I have commented before about the way in which present development dynamics are progressively disadvantaging and indeed fragmenting the North The evidence presented to the committee seems to support that view. However, the whole analysis misses certain key points.<br />
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The anti-competitive clause itself should never have been there in the first place. It artificially increased the price that was paid for the long term lease at the cost of the Port of Newcastle, Newcastle and indeed importers and exporters across Northern NSW who might have benefited from alternative shipping options. It also artificially increased traffic through the Botany Bay and Port Kembla, creating an economic incentive for further investment to manage the increased traffic.<br />
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One can argue about the quantum, one can argue about the extent to which container traffic at Newcastle would be viable, but it remains an economic distortion introduced by the Sydney Government whose costs are born by those in the North.<br />
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In this context, and this in part reflects the way the committee's terms of reference were written., there is actually no recognition in any of this of the North as an economic and geographic entity with its own interests. How might we use a container terminal at Newcastle? How might we combine it with other infrastructure to encourage Northern development.? I think that these questions are worth asking. <br />
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<br />
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</script></div>Jim Belshawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10075614280789984767noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25637657.post-76704487903227048472019-02-18T21:54:00.001+11:002019-02-18T21:57:21.980+11:00Another blow to the North; Paywalls damage regional reporting - and cohesion - across Northern NSW, the broader New England<br />
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-flAAYWSmzS0/XGptxlGfe8I/AAAAAAAAPXk/NlxRxG-cb_QAHXaaBJ1gCgn5le4L6UGTACLcBGAs/s1600/Victor_Thompson.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="298" height="400" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-flAAYWSmzS0/XGptxlGfe8I/AAAAAAAAPXk/NlxRxG-cb_QAHXaaBJ1gCgn5le4L6UGTACLcBGAs/s400/Victor_Thompson.jpg" width="247" /></a></div>
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On Monday 5 January 1920, Victor Thompson as editor of the <i>Tamworth Observer</i> (<i>now Northern Daily Leader</i>) re-launched the campaign for self-government for the North with an editorial on country neglect. Over the next eleven issues, he published a series of articles calling for the establishment of a new state in Northern NSW. </div>
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Following the initial success of the Thompson campaign, a meeting of Northern newspapers held at Glen Innes in March 1920 agreed to form a New State Press League and Press Propaganda Executive with Thompson as secretary to direct an intensive propaganda campaign. <br />
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Over the next twelve months, the twenty-seven newspapers that had joined the League funded the Propaganda Executive to distribute news and editorial material to Northern newspapers. By August 1920, sixty newspapers from the Upper Hunter to the border were publishing League material. </div>
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These newspapers were intensely parochial, dedicated to their own communities. They were also in competition with each other. And yet, they could combine together to campaign for Northern interests.<br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #cdcdcd; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "roboto" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 300; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: black;"><br /></span></span>
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<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: transparent; display: inline !important; float: none; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><b><span style="color: lime;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">n Sommerlad’s view, the provincial editor who had “a right conception of his office”, and was not afraid to offer constructive criticism, was the most important citizen in the community. “He can be a local king-maker if he guards jealously the sacred flame and wins and holds the confidence of his readers</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">.</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">” Rod Kirkpatrick</span></span></span></b></span></div>
<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike><span style="color: black;"></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><span style="color: lime;"></span><span style="color: yellow;"></span><span style="color: black;"></span><span style="color: orange;"></span><b></b><span style="color: lime;"></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2VzL3QBDvg8/XGp1ekbDdFI/AAAAAAAAPXw/9WPubEDKkFMAtdycq2pGPk467ivpgPoXQCLcBGAs/s1600/E%252520C%252520Sommerlad3_sm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="800" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2VzL3QBDvg8/XGp1ekbDdFI/AAAAAAAAPXw/9WPubEDKkFMAtdycq2pGPk467ivpgPoXQCLcBGAs/s320/E%252520C%252520Sommerlad3_sm.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
The role of the country and New England press was articulated by pressmen such as<a href="http://halloffame.melbournepressclub.com/article/ernest-christian-sommerlad" target="_blank"> Ernest Christian Sommerlad</a>.<br />
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Sommerlad <span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">was a shrewd businessman operating a business, but b</span>elieved in the profession of journalism and he had a very particular view of the role of the newspaper, something he articulated many years later in his book <i>Mightier than the sword; a handbook on journalism, broadcasting, propaganda, public relations and advertising</i>. (Angus and Robertson 1950).<br />
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To Sommerlad, reporting was a critical part of the role, promoting the interests of the area served by the paper an equally important part, leading public opinion a further important part. In these roles, he did not see the interests of, say, Glen Innes in narrow parochial terms but as part of a broader whole.<br />
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All the Northern editors were well aware of the power of local parochialism, a parochialism that had so often impeded cooperative effort. Recognising their own marketplaces, they sought to overcome this to greater or lesser extent by featuring stories from elsewhere in the North, by combining to support cooperative action beyond immediate town boundaries. So many things that we now have exist because of that. Whenever papers played just to the local, their own towns were the ones who finally lost.<br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: lime;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.northerndailyleader.com.au/story/5907351/our-say-does-tamworth-need-its-own-uni-with-armidale-up-the-road/?cs=12485&fbclid=IwAR2ZHZOfw5ykOueJ8j8oWkBHuBUySQNhxgDudLSy_VON3srOkxdXcsfgivs#comments">Our say: Does Tamworth need its own uni with Armidale up the road?</a> <i>Northern Daily Leader </i>15 February 2019</span></span></span></b></div>
<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike><span style="background-color: lime;"></span><span style="color: lime;"></span><b></b><span style="color: lime;"></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><span style="color: lime;"></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
In 1950, all the Northern media from Newcastle to the border was locally or regionally owned. By 2000,almost none were. Newspapers became mastheads, parts of chains. Their focus became parochial. This process was accentuated by the decline in the sense of the broader Northern identity after the loss of the 1967 new state referendum. The result is an intense localism that benefits neither the papers nor the communities they seek to serve.<br />
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In the past, papers would report and support things that were seen to be of benefit to the broader North. That is no longer true. Over the last twenty years they have all become so narrow that I cannot think of a single example where one paper has campaigned or at least editorially supported an initiative in another place on the grounds that it would benefit the North as a whole. I stand to be corrected here, mind you.<br />
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The problem with the heading I quoted above is that it plays into the Armidale v Tamworth meme, something that both the local papers have played to before. Of course Tamworth needs its own campus, although that to my mind should be a UNE campus because that facilitates cooperative effort. Otherwise, it's just more fragmentation of the North.<br />
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<span style="color: lime;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Paywalls localise, stop people following the broader story, further fragment th</b></span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">e North</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"></span><span style="color: lime;"></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
This particular post was triggered by the introduction of paywalls on the main Fairfax papers in the North from the <i>Newcastle Herald </i>north thus extending the paywalls across much of the Northern press. The effects are quite pernicious, made more so because the number of visit before the wall hits is limited to five a month. They reflect a very particular view of the role of the papers and the markets they serve.<br />
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It hits me hard because I try to write about and report on the whole North. This means constant browsing and checking I simply cannot afford to subscribe to every paper. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">So now I find myself, for example, effectively locked out of Newcastle. </span>The problem is made worse because of the narrowing of coverage in individual papers.<br />
<br />
Does all this matter? Well, it depends upon your perspective. If, like me, you interested in the broader North then I think that it does. But it also locks out people such as the broader New England diaspora who remain interested, can be interested, in particular issues and areas but who do not wish to subscribe to a paper when they are no longer interested in the detail of local life. I think that the practical impact here is to further narrow the influence of papers, extend the influence of other forms of media.<br />
<br />
From a purely personal and practical perspective, I have to try to work out how I can maintain my broader analysis when my access to the main papers is limited to headline scans and a carefully rationed click through. My frustration is increased because when I search through google I keep coming across firewalls, if I see a FB or twitter feed and click ditto outcome. At least with the Fairfax papers, there are some smaller papers not behind firewall, while there is at least that miniscule 5 story limit. With the Northern Rivers papers now controlled by Newcorp, the firewall appears absolute. <br />
<br />
No doubt I will find a work-around solution. but it is another blow for the North as a whole and indeed, in the end, for the papers themselves. <br />
<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-tI1a7Ak_UkE/XFvw2T0I3pI/AAAAAAAAPWc/JoNZnJLN--oAAWJM-hDu66MfetVfwasKgCLcBGAs/s1600/Sophie%2BMasson.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="675" data-original-width="1200" height="225" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-tI1a7Ak_UkE/XFvw2T0I3pI/AAAAAAAAPWc/JoNZnJLN--oAAWJM-hDu66MfetVfwasKgCLcBGAs/s400/Sophie%2BMasson.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b><span style="color: red;">Sophie Masson, French Australian writer and chair, <a href="http://www.newc.org.au/" target="_blank">New England Writers' Centre</a></span></b></blockquote>
I received an email today from Sophie Masson, writer and chair of the New England Writers' Centre. The heading to the letter email read: <i>"Watch great interviews with fantastic Pitch Independent publishers on the brand-new NEWC You Tube channel!</i><br />
<br />
The email went on:<br />
<blockquote>
<span style="color: red;">Dear members, </span></blockquote>
<blockquote>
<span style="color: red;">A new year, and we have a new and exciting initiative! The brand-new New England Writers' Centre You Tube channel is now up and running, and features 13 fantastic interviews with 12 of the fabulous publishers and editors who visited our region during Pitch Independent in August last year. There's also a video interview with Michael Webster, Chair of the Small Press Network, who also travelled to Armidale specifically for Pitch Independent, from his base in Melbourne. </span></blockquote>
<blockquote>
<span style="color: red;">The School of Arts in the Faculty of Humanities, Arts, Social Sciences and Education(HASSE) at UNE partnered with us in Pitch Independent, with the Small Press Network giving in-kind support. Dr Ariella van Luyn and Dr Beck Wise of UNE, who work within its Writing program, interviewed, recorded and edited the interviews, with the approval of all the interviewees. Many thanks to them for all their hard work, and to all our Pitch Independent for giving so generously of their time and expertise. </span></blockquote>
<blockquote>
<span style="color: red;">This is an absolutely fantastic resource not only for NEWC and our region's writers and illustrators, but also for anyone interested in the publishing industry in Australia and its thriving small and independent sector. </span></blockquote>
<blockquote>
<span style="color: red;">So head over to the channel, and have a look and a listen, there is much to enjoy and learn:</span></blockquote>
I did indeed head.to the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCe4PJFbjj0gzhLQeYhAN8aw/videos" target="_blank">new channel</a> and think that it is valuable. I think, too, that it illustrates a little of the variety in modern writing, in part because of the thing the series misses out. We live in a world that has ever more opportunities for writers, but diminished opportunities for actually making a living. Listening to the various pod casts, I did think that we were missing out on some of the things in youngest's world, the world of YA and beyond.<br />
<br />
This is a world of the merger of media. Still, at the end you have to get published and a book is the tangible form. <br />
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JzNkLIHzdZ4/XEQCpOcygaI/AAAAAAAAPTo/VAZbYx6uMIQP1-qnb-fZIWsdHyBVqScMQCLcBGAs/s1600/Joseph%2BBackler%252C%2BView%2Bof%2BTenterfield%252C%2B1861.%2BState%2BLibary%252C%2BNSW.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1199" data-original-width="1600" height="478" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JzNkLIHzdZ4/XEQCpOcygaI/AAAAAAAAPTo/VAZbYx6uMIQP1-qnb-fZIWsdHyBVqScMQCLcBGAs/s640/Joseph%2BBackler%252C%2BView%2Bof%2BTenterfield%252C%2B1861.%2BState%2BLibary%252C%2BNSW.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="color: red;">Joseph Backler, <a href="https://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/choose-painting-sponsor?fbclid=IwAR3VbNczdph5aw9O8N7-B7ddofIEAt6iNPIK964iJEJlaC_2sBAosPvki_4">View of Tenterfield 1861</a>, Mitchell Library, State Library of NSW</span></b></div>
<br />
Robert Heather, former head of the New England Regional Art Museum and now Director Advancement, Communications and Events at the University of New England, kindly sent me links to paintings with New England connections. This is one of them.<br />
<br />
The painter himself was something of a journeyman painter. Convicted of forgery and transported to Australia in 1832, Backler travelled widely across regional NSW and Queensland in search of portrait and landscape commissions. When he arrived in a town, Backler would advertise his services in local papers. He visited Tenterfield in 1860 on his way to Brisbane.<br />
<br />
Backler's Tenterfield painting is one of those that the State Library Foundation is seeking sponsorship for to help conservation and preservation. Robert thought that it was a sufficiently important one in local terms that the need should be publicised. <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YA0RFhInW4I/XEQB1j1oflI/AAAAAAAAPTg/u4vAFDDVBJo-BEetvl7iKdxA58YbL7AWgCEwYBhgL/s1600/Attributed%2Bto%2BJoseph%2BFowles%252C%2BMajor%2BJames%2BNunn%252C%2BAustralian%2BMounted%2BInfantry%2Bc1840.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1050" data-original-width="767" height="400" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YA0RFhInW4I/XEQB1j1oflI/AAAAAAAAPTg/u4vAFDDVBJo-BEetvl7iKdxA58YbL7AWgCEwYBhgL/s400/Attributed%2Bto%2BJoseph%2BFowles%252C%2BMajor%2BJames%2BNunn%252C%2BAustralian%2BMounted%2BInfantry%2Bc1840.jpg" width="291" /></a></div>
Digging through the paintings <a href="https://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/choose-painting-sponsor?fbclid=IwAR3VbNczdph5aw9O8N7-B7ddofIEAt6iNPIK964iJEJlaC_2sBAosPvki_4">presented </a>by the State Library for sponsorship, I realised that I had no idea of the depth of their collection nor of the number of paintings with New England connections. I found over 30 artworks with some connection to the broader New England. This is another example.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b><span style="color: red;">Major James Nunn, Australian Mounted Infantry c1840, attributed to Joseph Fowles, State Library of NSW</span></b></blockquote>
Now James Winniett Nunn of the NSW Mounted Police is quite an important figure in New England history for his role as officer in charge for the massacre of Aboriginal people at Waterloo Creek in 1838. I had never seen an image of him.<br />
<div>
<br />
Robert's message came as I was reading Antipodean Perspective: Selected writings of Bernard Smith (edited by Rex Butler and Sheridan Palmer, Monash University Publishing, 2018). <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Smith_(art_historian)">Smith</a>, one of Australia's famous art historians, has been a favourite of mine for many years. He was the one who really introduced me to the history of Australian art around 1970, although I had had exposure before that.<br />
<br />
Some of the early pieces in the book deal with Smith's views on the role of the art museum. Smith was a bit of an iconoclast, a man of firm views. He was concerned about the way that special exhibitions detracted from the gallery's primary collections. To his mind, a key role of the curator was to document and understand existing collections, to place them in context so that they became more broadly accessible. A policy that combined a focus on a limited number of special pieces with special exhibitions meant that the total collection gathered dust.<br />
<br />
While Smith compared the failings of Australian state galleries with some of their London compatriots, he was not blind to the practical difficulties involved. The careful examination of individual works, the establishment of their provenance, their placement in an historical context, all took money which was in sort supply. Galleries had to make judgments, to satisfy funders public and private, people and organisations who did not always see the value of careful long term work.<br />
<div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UtVJnIgoK5o/XD2zKl7_OsI/AAAAAAAAPSU/BxO7ddIp04c982nl-kUm0r9mVywKYvd7gCLcBGAs/s1600/Frances%2BCory%2B%2528Mrs%2BEdaward%2BGostwyck%2529%252C%2Bc1820s.%2BArtist%2Bunknown.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1050" data-original-width="977" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UtVJnIgoK5o/XD2zKl7_OsI/AAAAAAAAPSU/BxO7ddIp04c982nl-kUm0r9mVywKYvd7gCLcBGAs/s320/Frances%2BCory%2B%2528Mrs%2BEdaward%2BGostwyck%2529%252C%2Bc1820s.%2BArtist%2Bunknown.jpg" width="297" /></a></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b><span style="color: red;">Frances Cory (Mrs Edward Gostwyck), artist unknown, c1820. State Library of NSW. </span></b></blockquote>
<blockquote>
<b><span style="color: red;">The Corys arrived as free settlers in 1823 and, in 1828, were raising cattle and horses on a large holding at Paterson, in the lower Hunter district. This rare early colonial likeness shows Frances ‘Fanny’ Cory at about 28 years of age. She is dressed in the fashions of the late 1820s which saw the addition of fussy Elizabethan-style ornamentation to the previously uncluttered Empire line. </span></b></blockquote>
Smith believed, too, that public galleries should combine exhibitions of work by current artists with displays from the collection. He also had a reasonably broad view of what constitutes art. Finally, he was a great supporter of the broad education role that he believed galleries should play.<br />
<br />
While reading Smith, I was thinking about the role of regional galleries across the broader New England. Added force was given to those thoughts by the identification of yet more colonial paintings with New England connections. Before going on, I note that the regional or bigger public galleries are are only part of New England art history and current cultural life. There are smaller local public and private galleries, a multiplicity of artists and a range of private collectors. <br />
<br />
While I have traced some of the history of the museum movement across the North, I haven't properly tracked the public galleries themselves. There is a problem here, for most galleries emphasise the date they received their first collection rather than the date the gallery opened for the first time. This was often in temporary premises and could be years after the first donation. Then there could be another long delay until permanent premises were acquired or constructed. The relatively large regional galleries that we know today are all relatively recent in historical terms. Their collections are also quite varied since the core reflects the varying interests of those who donated the collections.<br />
<br />
On Smith's measurements, I think they do a pretty good job in terms of presenting the collections, in education services and in their displays by living artists. They do so despite limited resources with funding dependent especially on councils and on sporadic often project based NSW Government grants. There is some sponsorship, but the local pool of funds is relatively smaller than it was in the past and more hotly contested. This places the galleries in competition with each other and with other cultural institutions. <br />
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-llrhfms0kgM/XEP24e3OzfI/AAAAAAAAPTE/LAafDZ8KYMM9Zx0NCLauKgxBpbBIPQ0hQCLcBGAs/s1600/Tom%2BRoberts%2BEdwad%2BD%2BS%2BOgilvie%2B1894-95.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1050" data-original-width="854" height="400" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-llrhfms0kgM/XEP24e3OzfI/AAAAAAAAPTE/LAafDZ8KYMM9Zx0NCLauKgxBpbBIPQ0hQCLcBGAs/s400/Tom%2BRoberts%2BEdwad%2BD%2BS%2BOgilvie%2B1894-95.jpg" width="325" /></a></div>
Recognising the constraints as well as just how well many are doing, I would argue that current approaches suffer from two weaknesses. In arguing this, I want to return to Bernard Smith.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b><span style="color: red;">Tom Roberts, Edward D S Ogilvie 1894-95, State Library of NSW. <a href="http://saturday%20morning%20musings%20-%20new%20england%27s%20ogilvie%20dynasty/" target="_blank">Edward Ogilvie</a> commissioned Roberts to paint this accomplished, richly coloured portrait at Ogilvie’s extensive Clarence River property, Yulgilbar, north of Grafton. </span></b></blockquote>
An art historian, Smith argued strongly that Australian painting had to be seen in its European context. To his mind, that provided a richer. deeper understanding of individual works. However, in then writing about Australian art he created an historical and visual framework that became a living entity in its own right. But, with exceptions largely linked to Sydney and Melbourne, he did not discuss regional variations in Australian painting.<br />
<br />
This leads me to my two weaknesses as I see them The regional galleries may place certain paintings or artists in a broader context, they may point to certain local links, but they generally do not provide any picture of the total oeuvre of New England related work nor of the ways those paintings fit into New England history. This story remains untold.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ldhBaVQVKB8/XEP-WwT8M0I/AAAAAAAAPTQ/l3cmR9bcZm4fehxEbI0qkuijGdvCaoKNgCLcBGAs/s1600/Tom%2BRoberts%2B-%2BOn%2Bthe%2BTimbarra%2B-%2BReek%2527s%2Band%2BAllens%2Bsluicing%2Bclaim%2Bc1894.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="936" height="256" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ldhBaVQVKB8/XEP-WwT8M0I/AAAAAAAAPTQ/l3cmR9bcZm4fehxEbI0qkuijGdvCaoKNgCLcBGAs/s400/Tom%2BRoberts%2B-%2BOn%2Bthe%2BTimbarra%2B-%2BReek%2527s%2Band%2BAllens%2Bsluicing%2Bclaim%2Bc1894.jpg" width="400" /></a><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b><span style="color: red;">Tom Roberts, On the Timbarra - Reek's and Allen's sluicing claim c1894, Art Gallery of NSW. This painting probably dates from the same trip in which Roberts began the Ogilvie painting. </span></b> </blockquote>
The second related weakness, at least as I see it, is that while the galleries show current work, they do not really put that into any context. Of course they say something about the artist and the nature of the work, but it tends to be very one dimensional.<br />
<br />
Like Bernard, I am an historian, although I make no claim to be either an art historian or critic. But I am conscious of the way in which I see patterns in art especially linked to area and style.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mOQ5l7rWwEw/XEQH52xku3I/AAAAAAAAPT0/F4JdyFavh_wEdex70nPe23x288kbq5kXgCLcBGAs/s1600/Rain%2Bon%2Bthe%2BUralla%2BRoad%2BJulia%2BGriffin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="569" data-original-width="840" height="216" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mOQ5l7rWwEw/XEQH52xku3I/AAAAAAAAPT0/F4JdyFavh_wEdex70nPe23x288kbq5kXgCLcBGAs/s320/Rain%2Bon%2Bthe%2BUralla%2BRoad%2BJulia%2BGriffin.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b><span style="color: red;"><a href="http://juliagriffin.com.au/" target="_blank">Julia Griffin</a>, Rain on the Uralla Road</span></b></blockquote>
Back in 2009 I tries my hand at a photo essay, <a href="http://newenglandaustralia.blogspot.com/2009/09/colours-of-new-england.html" target="_blank">The Colours of New England</a>, looking at the way colours changed across the North. In writing, I used a combination of paintings and photos with dashes of poetry. In the nine or so years since then I have added films, more paintings, more photos, more poetry and prose to deepen the picture that I had in my mind.<br />
<br />
It would be nice to think that over the next decade our larger galleries might broaden their focus to make part of this story more accessible to New England audiences. There is a considerable story to be told. </div>
</div>
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