The story of Armidale's successful Ezidi resettlement program

 

Ezidi students. Photo Simon Scott via UNE Life story 

In April 2017 I reported (Bias against the bush in Australian refugee resettlement) on the continuing unsuccessful  efforts in Armidale and Tamworth to make the cities eligible for refugee resettlement, SBS reported at the time on local disappointment: Regional community disappointed by government's rejection as resettlement location. On 11 August 2017 a breakthrough finally came: Armidale to settle 200 refugees - overview and discussion. 

Syrian refugees had been the original target group,  but this attempt failed because those re-settling wanted to be close to other Syrians in Sydney. Instead, Ezidi refugees came to the city from 2018. The Ezidi (Yazidi) are a minority religious group spread especially across Iraq, Syria and Turkey that has suffered considerable persecution most recently from ISIS. Those coming to Armidale came from Northern Iraq and included victims of the Sinjar massacre, 

Successful resettlement faced considerable challenges. Many of those coming had been traumatised, spoke no English, did not drive, had little experience of urban living and limited education. Despite the difficulties, the number of Ezidi living in Armidale grew. The 2021 census recorded that the city had 610 residents with both parents born in Iraq; the majority if not all would have been Ezidi. In April 2023 NBN news reported that there were 650 Ezidi now living in the city and that the resettlement program was proving mutually beneficial to both the Ezedi and the local community. The NBN report includes the TV news item that is worth watching, 

With the growing Ezidi population came new babies. In a story in the Armidale Express (June 2025: not on-line) Lydia Roberts reported that Armidale's population had grown by some seventy babies since the resettlement program began in 2018. Lydia also suggested that the Ezidi population had now grown to about 1200. 

Ezidi Food and Bakery, The Mall, 171 Beardy Street Armidale. Photo Heath Forsyth, story Armidale Express.

With many children already in the group, Ezidi students spread across the schools and into the University.  Now with successful  establishment came initial new businesses with the establishment of two restaurants, two barber shops plus two middle eastern supermarkets with others reportedly in the pipeline. There were some initial reservations in Armidale about making the city a resettlement centre, but these seem relatively limited and have diminished with time, replaced I think with a feeling of pride.

The reasons for the success of  Ezidi resettlement in Armidale deserve detailed analysis. At this point I simply note that many factors contributed to the success of the the resettlement program. 

Armidale had to fight to become the first new regional refugee settlement in eleven years under the Commonwealth Government's Humanitarian Program creating a supportive atmosphere. Local members of Parliament Barnaby Joyce (New England) and Adam Marshall (Northern Tablelands) were supportive. Settlement Services International (SSI) provided coordinating support helping integrate community activities with broader Government support. Community organisations such as Rotary were supported by volunteers who among other things provided English language conversation, driver training, a community garden and personal family support. The schools, TAFE and university combined in a variety of ways to support the initiative. As SSI noted (link above) it was a whole of community approach.

   

Introducing Armidale Diaries

One ABC National Radio programs that I really like is The Fitzroy Diaries: Dispatches from the inner-city suburbs of Melbourne. The ABC describes the program in this way:

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.

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.

The first episode, Armidale Diaries 1 the smoke rolls in, appeared yesterday on my personal blog. My old friend Noric Dilanchian wrote on my public face book page:

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. 

Stretch target, find a videography and music researcher to deliver audiovisual justice for the smoky scene you set.

Mise en scène literally means the arrangement of the scenery, props, etc. on the stage of a theatrical production or on the set of a film or, alternatively, 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. 

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.  

NERAM's Robert Heather to join UNE: he will be missed

On 3 May  Andrew Murray, the Chair of the New England Regional Art Museum (NERAM) announced that NERAM's Director Robert Heather would be leaving NERAM on 22 June to take up a position of Director, Advancement, Communications and Events at the University of New England.

Mr Murray made the announcement with considerable regret, noting that the appointment was an affirmation of Robert’s talents.

"Robert has been leading our Art Museum for just short of three years", Mr Murray said. He ":has made a significant impact in this time, with renovations to the building, new LED lighting, solar panels and the wonderful HINTON permanent exhibition development. He and his team have provided us all with engaging exhibitions, stimulating lectures and vibrant events. Robert has also developed many friendships for NERAM both locally and within the national art community."

"The Board wishes Robert every success in his new career and we thank him sincerely for the contribution he has made to our gallery and our region since moving here from Melbourne. The Board has commenced a search for a worthy replacement as Art Museum Director at NERAM and we expect there to be considerable interest in the role."

"During the likely period between Robert’s departure and the commencement of a new Director, our Manager Curatorial and Exhibitions, Ms Rachael Parsons will become Acting Director."

As I write, I'm listening to the ABC program on the opening of the permanent Hinton collection at NERAM.  It's worth listening too, a very good program. .

NERAM has had some good Directors. Robert has been one of the best with his constant attention to the promotion of NERAM as a cultural icon not just for Armidale but for the broader North. I know that Robert will give good service to UNE, but we will miss him.

Return to Armidale

On 12 April 2018, I returned to Armidale to deliver a paper in UNE's Humanities Seminar series. This post on my personal blog, Reflections in my latest Armidale visit - a mix of travel, history, the town: a mixed bag, reflects on my journey and what I found.

Reflections on the opening of the TAFE NSW Digital Hub in Armidale

Northern Tablelands MP and Minister responsible for TAFE NSW Adam Marshall, left, TAFE NSW Digital General Manager Megan Aitken and Armidale Regional Council Mayor Simon Murray at the opening of the new building for the NSW TAFE Digital Headquarters

While in Armidale for the opening of the new permanent exhibition of the Hinton Collection at the New England Regional Art Museum, I took the opportunity to visit the TAFE campus both to refresh memories and to look at  the almost completed NSW TAFE (Technical and Further Education) Digital HQ building.

It was a warm Saturday morning, a sunny break in in an often rainy weekend. The walk was partially one of those sacred sites tours, a walk along the Creeklands from the the city looking at what had changed, trying to fit the landscape into my past memories. As we walked across the little suspension bridge outside the old swimming pool entrance towards the TAFE, I rocked the bridge to see if it would still swing. It did!

On Monday 26 March, the new building was officially opened. The Armidale Express carried the story. I will leave aside the puffery associated with official releases and focus on a few key issues.

The new centre is central to the plans to restructure the delivery of TAFE courses across NSW, increasing the use of on-line platforms. I have some reservations about elements of those plans, but the centre fits within TAFE NSW's strategic objectives.

I don't think that the centre could have been established in Armidale without the NBN. I have become increasingly disillusioned with former independent New England MP Tony Windsor because of what I see as an increasing rigidity, bias, in his views and responses on issues. However, his role in bringing the NBN to Armidale needs to be recognised. Without him, the new centre would not have been possible. We also need to recognise the work of Adam Marshall, the state member for the Northern Tablelands. He, too, was critical to the move.

As Mr Marshall noted in his press release, at 51 staff the number of jobs involved is not large by the standards of bigger centres. However, it makes an important addition to Armidale. As important as the number of jobs is, the variety in the jobs is more important. More important still is the way that those jobs mesh with Armidale's existing strengths.

Unlike the move of the APVMA (the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority) to Armidale, the creation of the TAFE Digital Hub appears to have attracted little political controversy. That's partly a matter of size, more the absence of vested interest and political responses that bedevil the APVMA move. It's interesting that TAFE appears to have experienced no significant recruitment problems, whereas those are a central issue in the APVMA move.

I have a part completed post updating the APVMA move.  At this point, I simply note that it is hard to get people to move to Armidale, hard to recruit new people to Armidale, when you are told by senior Labor Party figures that the decision to Armidale will be reversed, that you either do not have to move or if you do come to Armidale, you will be forced to return to Canberra.

Postscript Monday 2 April 2018

The brief discussion on this post, more comments would be welcome, reminded me of an earlier post about our attempts to create a network between Armidale schools based on the new new computing and communications technologies: Dreams past: Collective Wisdom, education & the NBN.

On a different site, Robyn Archer pointed to this rather wonderful interview with Arthur C Clarke from 1974. Both Robyn and I are still waiting for the foreshadowed shift to the country!

APVMA announces site for its New Armidale national headquarters

On 12 March the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA)  named 102 Taylor Street and 91 Beardy Street as the site for the authority’s permanent office in Armidale. The site includes the former Armidale Club building and then extends at the back to Taylor Street.

The announcement was made on site by the Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources, the Hon. David Littleproud MP, the Member for New England, the Hon. Barnaby Joyce MP, and APVMA Chief Executive Officer, Dr Chris Parker.

A purpose-built, two-storey office will be constructed by the Stirloch Group (Stirloch), a developer based in Queensland and Victoria that has considerable experience with large government developments.

“This is a significant milestone in the APVMA’s relocation from Canberra to Armidale,” Dr Parker said.

“The APVMA has made a long-term commitment to deliver agvet chemical regulation from regional Australia for the benefit of our clients and stakeholders. We have signed a 15-year lease with Stirloch, with possible extensions.

“Our move to Armidale now has real momentum. We have 15 staff at the interim office at 246 Beardy Street, and that number will double by the end of March.

“More staff will relocate from Canberra and more jobs will be advertised that I hope will attract local talent from Armidale and the surrounds to help us deliver robust regulation and top rate services to Australia’s agvet chemical industry.”

The APVMA will have around 150 staff based at the permanent Armidale office once construction and fit-out is complete in mid-2019.

Canberra Times sleazes over Armidale and APVMA

Photo. Gordon Smith. Armidale Street Scene

One of side-effects from the Barnaby Joyce affair has been further blow-back on the proposed move of the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority to Armidale. The Canberra Times has been running a constant campaign against the move. One can accept that. it's a local paper defending its patch. However, on 21 February it ran a piece Developers swoop on lucrative deal to house APVMA public servants in Armidale repeated in the Age that can only be classified as Canberra sleaze.

These may sound like strong and partisan words. After all, I am on record as supporting the move. Further my links with the city and my support for Northern Development are well known. I am not an objective observer. I suppose that I should note as well that worked in Canberra for twenty years living in Canberra and Queanbeyan, so I know the other side quite well.

To make my point, I will now repeat the whole piece interposed with comments and information. I leave it to you to decide whether or not my assessment is correct given my stated biases. .

The piece begins

The prospect of a new office block to house nearly 200 public servants in Armidale has developers fighting hard for a piece. Up to four sites are thought to have been short-listed for the lucrative build.

When the federal government called for bids to build and own a new headquarters for the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority last year, local and interstate developers set their sights on the small town. Ten proposals were put forward.

Three sites and four development proposals were short-listed late last year. Among the frontrunners are sites with colourful histories in a town that has attracted more than its share of unwelcome headlines.

It's understood a preferred bidder is now in detailed negotiations as bosses race against an ambitious plan to have most of the authority's public servants working in the chosen office block by mid-2019. A decision is expected on the site by the end of February.

Comment

In a way, this opening sets the tone.

As I understand the tender, I haven't seen it, it involves developers putting forward proposals to construct the required office facilities and then to lease them to the APVMA. The Commonwealth is not paying the construction costs. While developers will no doubt build in a profit margin for costing purposes, their return will come from the consequent rental streams. I presume, and it is a presumption, that following completion they will sell the building to a super or other fund seeking a steady income stream.

Hopefully, and the report seems to imply that this is the case, there will be competition among developers, thus keeping costs down. One concern expressed earlier was that lack of competition would force the Commonwealth to meet the capital costs up front.

The project is being built in a "small town". For those who don't know Armidale, it is a university and education city on the New England Tablelands midway between Sydney and Brisbane with a population of about 23,000. It is also a place that has been through some tough times.The Dawkins reforms plus changes in boarding demand (the city is home to three boarding schools, down from five at its peak) cost the city a 1,000 jobs in the 1990s. The city went into free-fall and has only just fought its way back and above its previous population peak.

The project is a substantial one, but this needs to be kept in perspective. Current development projects just completed, under construction or about to begin construction include:

• The $6 million TAFE Digital Hub, the headquarters for TAFE's digital service delivery  across NSW. Thanks to the hard work of Tony Windsor, the previous member for New England, Armidale became a first NBN test site. All the main city has fibre to the premises.
• The redevelopment by the University of New England of its residential college system. The next phase of this has a reported price tag of around $21 million.
• The $65 million construction of a Rural Medical Centre in the Hospital precinct to support doctor training.
• The construction of a new High School at $65 million.

There are others. The only purpose of the list is to put the APVMA build into some perspective. It's big, but in proportion.

I will deal with the final sentence, "Among the frontrunners are sites with colourful histories in a town that has attracted more than its share of unwelcome headlines" a little later.

The piece continues

As Barnaby Joyce struggles through the crisis that has overtaken his political future, there could be pitfalls aplenty for the Canberra bureaucrats trying to give effect to his decision to move the veterinary medicines group to his home town of Armidale. In a small town (population 29,000), where new government buildings are an uncommon windfall and the small development community is coloured by remarkable tales, the choice is perhaps more fraught than most.

While no one in Armidale would name or officially confirm the short-listed bidders, there are limited options and few secrets. Among sites believed to be in the running are a building owned by the brother of Phillip Hanna, a well-known Armidale businessman who has hit the news more than once over his close links to Richard Torbay, the former NSW state MP who was to be the Nationals' federal candidate for New England.

Torbay's candidacy collapsed over his relationship with disgraced Labor powerbroker Eddie Obeid. And, in a neat circle that seems to encapsulate the Armidale community, his withdrawal cleared the way for Joyce to stand for the lower house seat in 2013, launching the ministerial career that led to the pesticides authority's move from Canberra to Armidale.

Comment

It will be five years next month since Richard Torbay's career collapsed in spectacular fashion. He had been a hardworking and popular local independent member who then chose to run for New England for the National  Party. One day he was running, the next he had stood down, a few days later he was subjected to nationally televised ICAC (NSW Independent Commission against Corruption) raids.

Mr Torbay was linked to Eddie Obeid through family connections. Part of the allegations made at the time was that his campaign as an independent had been facilitated by Labor Party money organised by Mr Obeid.

None of us know the truth. Five years down track, ICAC has still not taken any action against Mr Torbay, a delay that has become something of a scandal in itself.

Following the ICAC imboglio, Mr Torbay withdrew completely from public life. There is no evidence that he is in anyway connected directly or indirectly with the current tender.

Phillip Hanna is a member of a local Lebanese business family. Moses Hanna established a local retail business that developed into Armidale's second department store. Phillip, himself a controversial figure, supported and funded  the New England independents including Richard. We will come back to his involvement in the tender a moment. For the moment, and on the evidence provided by the Canberra Times. it appears to have been peripheral.

On the surface, it would appear  that the Canberra Times is drawing some rather long bows in their attempt to present what can only be described as the corruption of Armidale life.  

The piece continues

Hanna's name has come up in relation to another site in the running to build the authority's new headquarters, but it's unclear whether he's behind the bid. The lease of that site is in dispute after a deliberately lit fire in late 2016 destroyed the club that operated there and resulted in the club owner leaving town, deeply sceptical about how business is done in Armidale.

A third site is owned by grazier Peter Maguire – who is no relation of Greg Maguire, the Armidale businessman in the news for providing free accommodation to Barnaby Joyce and his new partner.

Peter Maguire's plan is to knock down buildings on four residential properties on the corner of Rusden and Markham streets, opposite the TAFE, and build the headquarters there. He wouldn't comment.

And the fourth site locals believe was in the mix is at 124 Taylor Street, where the local council approved an application for serviced apartments, but the deal to operate those apartments hasn't been completed.

The empty block is owned by Melbourne businessmen Bret Hartwig, Peter Breckenridge and Richard Minc. Hartwig would not name the developers behind a bid to build the authority's headquarters on his block, but he believes the bid didn't make it past the short-list and has lapsed.

Comment

This reporting appears broadly factual.

The piece continues - the fire at the Armidale Club

 First, to the property at 91 Beardy Street, where Kate Richards' Armidale Club was destroyed by arson in September 2016. Richards says couldn't restart her business after the fire. The owners told her the building was uninsured and couldn't be rebuilt.

But she says she has a 25-year lease on the site, signed in July 2015, and she insists the lease stands – a claim that complicates any new building on the site.    

Property owner Gary Burgess, who owns it with his son Greg, would not comment on the bid this week.

"There's three or four others in the running and I don't know which one's going to get it and I don't want to say anything about it. You would be the same if it was your bit of land," he said.

Asked whether Richards was still the leaseholder, he said "no, no, no, no, no" but would not elaborate.

As for Richards, she knew nothing about the club site being a possible new home for the authority until contacted by The Canberra Times.

She has spent 18 months fighting the loss of her business and, after waiting for the coroner's report on the fire this month, she now plans to sue Burgess for loss of profits and failing to insure the building.

Richards says she spent $80,000 setting up her club, ran it for little more than a year, and just two weeks before the fire she was granted a hotel licence, upgrading it from a club.

Armidale coroner Michael Holmes, reporting in February, found the fire was deliberately lit but did not name a suspect. The police did settle on a chief suspect – an Armidale security guard who shot himself the next day.

Police discounted Richards and her associate Allan St James as suspects, saying the pair were underinsured, had just received an expanded licence, tried to restart afterwards and had been trading well.

They also discounted building owner Gary Burgess, saying he had nothing to gain because the building was uninsured.

They dismissed the idea that the rival Sky Nightclub had started the fire, saying there was no evidence, everyone had an alibi, the Armidale Club was not a real commercial threat and the nightclub had since closed down in any case.

Police also rejected as unlikely that the fire was random, centring their suspicions on a security guard who worked at both nightclubs and at the Armidale hospital.

Police said there was circumstantial evidence of his involvement, including a dispute with a former club employee over a mobile phone that he believed had been left at the club, and his mental state at the time. His new mobile was left at the site after the fire, and he was linked with the bottles of whiskey used to start the fire in the early hours of the morning.

The coroner, though, described the man's suicide as "the matter of real coincidence", saying his death was related to "unresolved personal issues". There was no evidence tying the guard directly to the fire, the coroner said.

Under the heading "A coincidence", the coroner also referred to the competing clubs, saying there was no evidence either way on the suggestion a competitor might have been responsible.

Richards says "very strange things have happened" over the club, including rumours that someone had drawn up development plans for her site before the fire. She says a group of men were at the site the day after the fire and told her they were valuing it.

And she says Hanna approached her within weeks of the fire with an offer to buy her lease, which she was prepared to sell, but he never followed through with a concrete offer or deposit. She says Hanna had told her the site – which includes a large car park behind – was too small for the pesticides authority.

Richards says she tried to buy another hotel after the fire, but lost out to a rival venue, which came up with the $37,000 deposit before she could. The rival never settled on the purchase.

At that point, and after a house break-in, Richards decided it was time to leave town. She has started again with her partner in Adelaide.

"There was certainly a lot of things that were very odd," was how she summarised the rise and fall of her Armidale club.

The Canberra Times does not suggest the fire was connected to the authority's bid. The Coalition's plan to move the authority was an election promise at the July 2016 election, but the order to move wasn't made until November 2016, two months after the fire.

If it is a frontrunner in the bid to house the public servants, it is unclear who is behind the development, with no one prepared to put a name to the bid.

Comment

Again, this appears to be broadly factual reporting. Founded as a men's club, the Armidale Club later became a popular music venue but then went broke before restructuring. The fire remains a mystery, in fact a tragedy for those involved.

Again you have the attempt to maintain continuity with the overall theme both through the fire and Phillip Hanna's initial inquiry. The comment from final owner Garry Burgess suggests that the site is still in the mix. The Burgess' are another Armidale family with previous links to retailing. There is no suggestion by the Times  that Mr Burgess has in any way acted improperly.

The piece continues

Another option is a building owned by Robert Hanna, brother of Phillip Hanna, at 121 Rusden in the middle of the town. It is beside the family's historic department store and Robert Hanna said the single-storey building is vacant at the moment, with a car-parking building adjacent, and a structure strong enough to take extra floors on top. The Armidale business community believes this site is complicated by the existing building and tight time frames, so is perhaps an unlikely option.

While Robert Hanna owns the building and says it would be his development, Phillip Hanna has prepared the bid for him. Phillip Hanna would not comment for this story.

Phillip Hanna is known not only for his links with Torbay but made headlines in 2008 when he was given a three-year suspended sentence after pleading guilty to firing a rifle at a fellow developer the year before.  

Comment

This is again smear by insinuation, going back to Phillip Hanna's past, repeating the linkage with Richard Torbay.

Factually, 121 Rusden is not besides the "historic department store' but on the other side of the block. It's actually quite a good site, but may be ruled out by the difficulties.

The piece finishes

The pesticide authority's entry into New England was marred by controversy when its staff were found working in a McDonald's early last year. Now, 15 public servants, eight of them locals, are in temporary digs shared with Centrelink at 246 Beardy Street while the new office is commissioned. It will not be government-owned but leased from the winning developer.

Commercial property real estate agent Neil Mortimer said the project had generated large interest from developers. Another, John Sewell, said the building was likely to be $3 million to $4 million in value and a "mini-stimulus package" for the town.

"Everyone had their fair crack to do it. It was a very transparent process," Mr Sewell said.

He described the move as "probably one of the best things to happen to Armidale in the last generation" and backed the Nationals' move to decentralise the Australian Public Service.

"The people who work at the APVMA will be the right people to live in Armidale," he said.

Armidale Regional Council mayor Simon Murray said the move held a large potential flow-on effect for businesses and the town's vibrancy.

As for the Canberrans who work for the authority, a deadline looms. The authority says it will ask Canberra-based staff "to signal their intentions" on whether they will move in the coming weeks.

Comment

The earlier McDonald's story was another Canberra Times beat-up. 

I was interested in John Sewell's comment that it was a $3 to $4 million project and thus a mini-stimulus package. I would have thought that it would cost more than that. If you look at the projects I described earlier, you will see how small that is relative to other current projects. Of course, the real prize is the jobs. 

Conclusion

 The Canberra Times attempted to present the process in terms of a process within a corrupt business community competing for a large prize. Now if we look just at the evidence as presented by the paper, we have:

• an apparently transparent Commonwealth process
• with three to four sites of which:
• one may be the site of a former club burnt down in suspicious circumstance 
• a second is owned by the Hanna family with some involvement from Phillip Hanna who has a previous collection with Richard Torbay

 Talk about a biased beat-up. 

Honest History: Frank Bongiorno reviews Ian Johnstone's Armidale and the Great War

On Honest History, Frank Bongiorno's Armidale and the Great War (review of Johnstone) reviews Ian Johnstone's new book Armidale and the Great War.

It is a very good review, an education in itself, using the book to illustrate some of the many textures of that conflict seen through the lens of a local community.

A lawyer by profession, Ian has a long track record in documenting local history.

I am looking forward to reading the book. However, I do not know how to obtain a copy other than by emailing Ian. I do know the book sells for $65 plus $15 postage.

I will find out and post details here so that those interested can order.

Armidale to settle 200 refugees - overview and discussion

In April (Bias against the bush in Australian refugee resettlement) I reported on the continuing difficulties that had been experienced in some New England areas including Armidale and Tamworth in gaining approval as refugee resettlement centres. Finally, a break through.

Armidale Panorama 

The Announcement

On 11 August 2017, the Turnbull/Joyce Government announced Armidale as a new community-driven regional settlement location for the settlement of refugees. Deputy Prime Minister and Member for New England, Barnaby Joyce, was joined by Minister for Social Services, Christian Porter and Assistant Minister for Social Services, Zed Seselja in Armidale for the announcement.

Mr Joyce said the first of an estimated 200 refugees would settle in Armidale in February 2018. 

“Armidale is a good fit as a new regional settlement location for humanitarian entrants to Australia,” Mr Joyce said. “It has a strong, welcoming community demonstrated by the fact that this push for the city to be a settlement location for refugees was driven by the community itself.

“I have absolutely no doubt that Armidale will work closely with the refugees settling here to ensure they can take up all the opportunities available to those who choose to embrace the great lifestyle available in regional Australia.

“Some of the people who will settle here are fleeing unimaginable circumstances which have torn families apart.

“I’m sure that, with the necessary settlement services that will be provided and our welcoming community that refugees arriving in Armidale will be able to make a new start and build a safe, stable future which provides them with the same opportunities that all Australians enjoy.”

Minister for Social Services, Christian Porter, said the addition of Armidale as a key regional settlement site was part of the Government’s commitment to encourage migrant and humanitarian settlement outside the major cities.

“This move reflects the Government’s aim to encourage settlement of humanitarian entrants across Australia, not just in our larger cities and I thank and congratulate the people of Armidale and the NSW Government for their support for this initiative,” Minister Porter said.

Armidale Panorama

“Australia is a welcoming country to refugees. Our Humanitarian Program is growing from 16,250 to 18,750 in 2018-19 and beyond and it’s important that through our settlement services we encourage more settlement in regional areas.

Completing the trifecta of ministerial remarks, Assistant Minister for Social Services and Multicultural Affairs, Zed Seselja, said the about 200 humanitarian entrants settling in Armidale would be primarily drawn from persecuted minorities from Syria and Iraq.

“The Government has focused on resettling women, children and families with the least prospect of ever returning safely to their homes,” Senator Seselja said. “Under the Government’s new Humanitarian Settlement Program, service delivery has been optimised to achieve better outcomes in employment, education and English language.

“We are committed to ensuring humanitarian entrants are able to overcome barriers, start a new life and integrate into Australian society as quickly as possible.

Settlement Services International, which is contracted through the Department of Social Services to provide settlement services, will provide on the ground settlement services to refugees in Armidale. “This will supplement existing services, providing a further boost to Armidale through SSI staff and resources in the region,” Senator Seselja.

“This settlement program in Armidale will build on the additional 12,000 refugees from Syria and Iraq who Australia committed to resettling. “The vast majority of these 12,000 refugees have arrived in Australia, with the remaining families expected to arrive in the coming weeks.

“Armidale provides a similar regional environment to the refugees’ source country,” he said. "The Australian Government carefully considers the establishment of new settlement locations.”  Factors considered in selecting settlement locations include:

• availability of mainstream services such as health and education;
• opportunities for employment;
• the size, cultural and religious composition of potential settlement communities;
• the availability of affordable rental housing;
• the support of the local council and community in welcoming newsettlers;
• the potential for the harmonious settlement of the specific group.

Comment

I have included links to media coverage at the end of the post.

University of New England International Hub

I assume that the majority of this refugee intake will be families, although it could included some individuals. I make this point because 200 sounds like a lot. If the average family size is four, we are talking about fifty families, 100 adults, 100 children. That is large enough to provide for self-support within the group but is small relative to Armidale’s size and existing international community in town, at the university and in the schools. 

In the media coverage, considerable emphasis was placed on the availability of jobs, including jobs in agriculture and at the big tomato growing facility at Guyra which has experienced some difficult in attracting workers. All this may be right, but it misses an important point. We should not assume that people will stay in Armidale.

I have been researching a little of the history of the big migrant camp at Greta in the Hunter Valley. Between 1949 and 1960 100,000 people passed through this camp. Some settled in the Hunter, most settled elsewhere. The camp was a transit point.

The critical thing for the refugees coming to Armidale is that they come to a stable and welcoming environment that can provide them with a base to recover and plan for their future. Hopefully that future will include Armidale, but it may not.

Civic welcome for International Students

While I know that there are some private reservations in Armidale, I have no doubt that the City will be welcoming, It’s had to work hard enough for the opportunity. Here I quote from the Express story:

"The federal government has finally recognised Armidale as a suitable refugee settlement location. It comes after years of lobbying by refugee advocacy groups and Armidale Regional Council.

“It’s not just Armidale who has been pushing for this either,” Sanctuary Humanitarian Settlement member Robin Jones said. 

“Multicultural NSW has promoted it, The Refugee Council of Australia has promoted it, Paul Power [its chief executive] has promoted it, it’s been a long time coming.” 

Dr Jones said this was excellent news for Armidale. 

“We’ve ready, willing and able, let me assure you,” she said. 

The city will also receive a boost in refugee services to assist the new arrivals according to Dr Jones. 

“We already have four services here - and the major one is Northern Settlement Services,” she said. 

“But we also have a refugee nurse - two refugee nurses in fact. “We have STARTTS, which is a councilling service that comes up from Coffs Harbor.“We have TAFE that has the language programs. 

“And we have a community that is very supportive too"

Armidale has already been a centre for some refugee resettlement. Makuach Maluach and his family arrived in Armidale in 2009 as refugees from South Sudan. Now Makuach is set to play college basketball in the US

The question of the availability of support services is a vexed one. I have made the point before that I think the approach adopted by the Federal Government is far too rigid and bureaucratic.

The Armidale announcement was preceded by an announcement on 27 July that Settlement Services International had been awarded a contract to provide settlement services to refugees and humanitarian entrants under the Commonwealth’s Government new Humanitarian SettlementProgram (HSP) in NSW Regional, which covers northern NSW. That contract followed a competitive tendering process that began in September 2016. This means that SSI will manage Newcastle, Coffs Harbour and now Armidale,

I wondered how Settlement Services International meshed with Northern Settlement Services. Digging a little, I found that Northern Settlement Services is a member of SSI and part of the the NSW Settlement Partnership (NSP). Led by SSI, the NSP is a consortium that delivers settlement services in agreed areas of NSW, as of July 1, 2015 until June 30, 2018, under the Department of Social Services’ Settlement Services Program (SSP). Presumably some form of collaboration will be involved in Armidale delivery. 

There has been a fair bit of criticism of NSW co-ordinator general for refugee resettlement Peter Shergold over the failure to resettle refugees in regional areas, as well as the lags that have occurred in Armidale’s case. Reading the Guardian report, I suspect he has been caught between a rock and a hard place. I quote in part::

"NSW co-ordinator general for refugee resettlement Peter Shergold told a resettlement conference in Sydney that efforts to help settle refugees in rural and regional areas would ease pressure on Fairfield and neighbouring Sydney councils. 

He said NSW and Australia’s refugee intakes were “eminently manageable”. NSW took more than half of the additional intake of Syrian and Iraqi refugees, in addition to its regular refugee resettlement program. 

Refugees made up a tiny percentage – 0.14% - of population growth in NSW, Shergold said.  

“But refugees don’t just distribute across NSW. In this last year, relatively few refugees have gone to Wagga, or Albury or Coffs Harbour, or even to Newcastle or Wollongong. To a very large extent these additional refugees have come to western Sydney… they’ve come to Fairfield. That’s the challenge.”  

Shergold said the issues facing Fairfield City Council were “acute”, and that a broader spread of resettlement would ease pressure in that area, and, critically, assist refugees in finding employment.  

“What refugees want is a job. And that has been the most challenging, helping refugees do what they want to do most, which is get employment. 

Armidale Campus, New England Institute of TAFE,  location of TAFE NSW's new digital hub

Shergold welcomed the Armidale announcement, saying the regional city had the necessary infrastructure and support services already in place to help refuges. 

“This decision has the potential to boost Armidale’s local economy, create new business and most of all, become a template for the kind of Australian mateship the world needs to see.”

Now that approval has been given for this group of refugees to come to Armidale, groups in both Tamworth and Glen Innes can be expected to redouble their efforts to achieve similar outcomes for their towns. 

Links 

• Guardian Iraqi and Syrian refugees will be settled in Armidale from next year
• The Armidale Express The federal government has finally recognised Armidale as a suitable refugee settlement location.
• SBS 'Benefits on both sides': Armidale revealed as new home for Iraqi and Syrian refugees
• Official Press Release
• 27 July SSI release on award of contract for delivery of settlement services 
• SSI release on Armidale annoucment

New natural history museum adds to Armidale's attractions and diversity - but can we fix Beardy Street?

The University of New England's new natural history museum is about to open.

Announced back in June 2015, the museum is intended to be a showcase of a new $27 million Integrated Agriculture Education Project precinct. The museum features the skeleton of a carnivorous dinosaur, and a diverse collection of animals, plants, and meteorites, building on the collection previously held by the Zoology Museum.

Armidale has two main museum/cultural precincts. The first centres on Kentucky Street in the south of this city and includes the New England Regional Art Museum (photo), the Armidale and Region Aboriginal Centre and Keeping Place and the Heritage Centre. The second covers the museums and displays at UNE to the north-east of the city.

These are not Armidale's only museums and cultural centres. The Armidale Folk Museum in the centre of the city is one of the oldest and best folk museums in the country.

I still live in hope that Armidale Regional Council can revitalise the centre of the business district with its bookshops, cafes and galleries. Poor planning decisions over a long period have fragmented the small CBD, turning it from a vibrant centre to something of a desolate pedestrian absent zone dominated by relatively small shopping malls at each end.

Beardy Street is the heart of the old Victorian city that constitutes one of Armidale's architectural gems. It should be the heart of the city, providing a central point for visitors and locals alike, a starting point for all the other attractions.

NERAM's John Gale donation

NERAM, the New England Regional Art Museum has received a donation of 11 artworks by leading Australian artists which confirms its position as one of the leading regional collections of Australian art in the country.

The donation from Canberra based land-owner and arts benefactor John Gale OBE will be on display in the Dulce Lindsay Gallery at NERAM from Saturday 17 September 2016 until Sunday 5 February 2017 next to the exhibition Views of Landscape.

The donation of eleven artworks includes paintings by Sir Arthur Streeton, Rupert Bunny, Elioth Gruner, Adrian Feint, JJ Hilder, Hans Heysen, Herbert Badham, Harold Septimus Power and Desiderius Orban that have been selected to complement The Howard Hinton Collection at NERAM.

For obvious reason, NERAM thanked John Gale OBE and everyone involved in making this magnificent donation possible.

From my viewpoint, that's a very interesting collection of painters. I wonder which Badham they have?  As you can see from this BBC news story, Badham (he died in 1961) has really been growing in prominence as an Australian painter. 

The changing face of Armidale

Over at my history blog, I have just finished posting my History Revisited series on the changing face of Armidale. In order, the posts are:

• History Revisited - Tale of a blossoming city
• History Revisited - the changing face of Armidale architecture
• History Revisited - Armidale's blooming colour palette
• History Revisited - Armidale aspired to become 'Cambridge of Australia'

As with many of my photos, this one comes courtesy of Gordon Smith and his lookANDsee blog. 

Another New England artist – Thea Proctor (Armidale)

Continuing from New England artists - Anne Dangar (Kempsey) and Grace Crowley (Cobbadah and Barraba), Thea Proctor was another artist with New England connections. This drawing of her is by George Lambert. 

The story that follows is drawn from the ADB entry (link above) on Thea Proctor.

Alethea Mary (Thea) Proctor (1879-1966) was born on 2 October 1879 at Armidale, elder child of William Consett Proctor, English-born solicitor and member of the Legislative Assembly (1880-87), and his Queensland-born wife Kathleen Janet Louisa, née Roberts.

The family soon moved to Sydney where they lived at Hunters Hill. In 1889 Thea was sent to board at Armidale’s New England Girls School. Her parents separated in 1892 (and were divorced in 1897). With her mother and brother she went to live at Bowral with her maternal grandparents who encouraged her artistic pursuits.

From 1896 she attended Julian Ashton's art school, which emphasized drawing and the latest decorative ideas in composition. Fellow students included Elioth Gruner, George Lambert and Sydney Long (to whom she was briefly engaged in 1898). In 1903 Thea Proctor went to London, studying at St John's Wood Art Schools and with Lambert. 'Beautiful, tall, dark-haired, languorous and dignified', she posed for him and frequented his household. Their exact relationship remains an enigma, but she was 'doggedly devoted' to him and found him intellectually stimulating: their friendship was lifelong.

Associating also with other expatriate Australian artists, notably Charles Conder, Arthur Streeton and Tom Roberts, she was influenced by Conder's fan-designs, Japanese prints and the drawing of Ingres. Preoccupied with line, colour and form, she concentrated on drawing and painting in watercolours. Her interest in decorative work was highlighted by the Chelsea Arts Club balls with their elaborate costumes. On seeing the Ballet Russe in 1911 she exclaimed: 'it would be difficult to imagine anything more beautiful and inspiring'. Her decorative fans and drawings, usually watercolours on silk, were well received when exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts and the New English Art Club.

Returning to Australia in 1912, Thea Proctor exhibited in Sydney and Melbourne; both the National galleries of Victoria and New South Wales bought works, but she was disappointed with the general response and returned to England late in 1914. She soon produced her first lithographs which, although she continued to paint, established her reputation when exhibited by the Senefelder Club. Later she exhibited also with the International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers and at the Goupil Gallery.

Like many expatriates, including Lambert, Proctor settled in Australia after the war. Arriving in Melbourne in 1921, she tried to popularize lithography, but found little interest and returned to Sydney. She joined the Society of Artists and voted with Lambert to award the society's travelling scholarship to Roy de Maistre in 1923. In 1926 Lambert, Thea and others formed the Contemporary Group to encourage young avant-garde artists. The previous year she andMargaret Preston held a joint exhibition in Sydney and Melbourne: both artists included brightly coloured woodcuts in scarlet frames. Although Proctor's work was comparatively conservative, in Australia it was considered 'dangerously modern'. This exhibition and her covers for theHome brought her recognition but little financial reward. In 1932 Art in Australia devoted an issue to her work. She taught design at Ashton's Sydney Art School and privately, introducing many young artists to linocut printing, and in the 1940s taught drawing for the Society of Arts and Crafts.

Considered an arbiter of taste and always elegantly dressed, Thea Proctor wrote on fashion, flower arranging, colours for cars and interior decoration. She organized artists' balls in the 1920s, designed the fashionably modern Lacquer Room restaurant (1932) for Farmer & Co. Ltd and produced theatre décor in the 1940s. In her latter years she continued to encourage young and innovative artists and to paint, in a looser, sensuous manner, carried out portrait commissions, exhibited regularly with the Macquarie Galleries and promoted the neglected work of her relation John Peter Russell. She commented: 'I am not the sort of person who could sit at home and knit socks'.

Unmarried, Thea Proctor died at Potts Point on 29 July 1966.

Armidale’s Brown Street – an iconic street

Today’s New England post, History revisited – Brown Street: an iconic Armidale Street, is on my history blog. It tells part of the story of this iconic street. 

Hillgrove mine to reopen in March

The Armidale Express reports that the Hillgrove  antimony and gold mine will re-open in March. Initially there will be 80 full time jobs but that is expected to reach triple figures before the end of the year.

And the best news is the bulk of those jobs will go to local people.

“The majority are local and the ones that aren’t will be moving here,” Hillgrove Mines chief executive Roger Jackson said.

“There will be no fly-in, fly-out workers except for the odd expert.”

Mr Jackson’s company Bracken Resources paid $30 million to buy the mine from Straits, which had not produced gold or antinomy from Hillgrove since 2009.

Bracken has since ploughed even more capital into improving the site and buying equipment. It is confident there are 3 million ounces of gold and 300,000 tonnes of antimony there to be mined.

At current prices that’s more than $4 billion in gold alone, but the money is already flowing locally.

“We’ve spent $50 million out there and a lot of that has gone to local contractors,” Mr Jackson said.

There were environmental concerns about the reopening mine because of downstream pollution on the Macleay River over Hillgrove's long mining history. Mr Jackson stated that his company had done everything possible to address these concerns.   

“As with any mining operation environmental concerns are high on the agenda, especially in relation to water, but Mr Jackson said his company has done everything possible to deal with those matters.

These efforts include purchase of a microfiltration and reverse osmosis plant, costing more than $2 million, to treat water used by the mine.

From a local perspective, the jobs are welcome at a time when Armidale business is very flat.

Postscript

Today's post on New England's History, History revisited - disease in early New England, provides a past perspective on Hillgrove.

Armidale named top third Australian visitor destination

Sydney's Daily Telegraph (Armidale has beaten out some of Australia's top destinations as the place to head for holidays) was a little surprised at this one I quote: 

"For savvy holiday-makers seeking out the best Aussie destinations in 2014, Armidale is the place to be.

Seriously.

Australian Traveller, one of the nation's top-selling travel magazines, has named the historic New England town as one of the hottest places in Oz to visit this year, third behind only the Kimberley region of Western Australia and the Top End....

But, according to the Australian Traveller list, Armidale beat even the Whitsundays, the Gold Coast, Adelaide, Victoria's "foodie" region and the entire state of Tasmania, among other higher profile destinations on the list, due to its "city-esque vibe amid a country landscape".....

Editor Georgia Rickard said yesterday the list was based on domestic travel trends over the past 12 months and feedback from a recent survey of more than 1000 Australian travellers.

"Armidale is an unusual choice but, surprisingly, it kept popping up across the board," she said.

"It has a reputation of being just another country town, and not necessarily a particularly sexy one. But in fact it's a stunning place with a thriving food culture, beautiful architecture and it is so close to some gorgeous natural surrounds.""

Armidale is a beautiful place. It really is. I was interested in the comments on the story. One person wrote: " Try Newcastle. Beaches, wineries, nice people, like Sydney was 20 years ago. Oh - also has the largest salt water lake in the southern hemisphere...." Newcastle is nice and achieved a much bigger ranking - Newcastle makes Lonely Planet top ten global cities, 2011. Armidale can't quite make that!

Another commenter said: "The place closes down after 12noon on the weekend." Ouch. 

A morning at NERAM - Flora, Cobcroft and Badham's Observing the Everyday

The New England Regional Art Museum (Facebook page) is one of Armidale's premier tourist attractions, home (among other things) to the Hinton and Coventry collections of Australian art. It had been some time since my last visit, and I was keen to see the new exhibitions. I wasn't disappointed. 

The first and showcase exhibition comes from the Art Gallery of Ballarat.  

Called Capturing Flora: passion for the exotick,  this exhibition of  350 original prints and drawings covers Australian botanical art from 1700 to 1900.

The official exhibition description  suggests that it will will take visitors through a historical journey of how Australia’s amazing and diverse flora have been recorded, interpreted and popularised by botanical artists from William Dampier and the early explorers to the present day.

That's true enough, but in doing so it also highlights the fascination that people found in what, to them, seemed the exotic at a time of great fascination in Europe with nature and the natural environment. Within twenty years of the settlement at Botany Bay, Australian plants were being cultivated in a number of European countries.

This first exhibition is very good and I would recommend it, but it was the next two exhibitions that really caught my eye.

The first is Echoes in the Hedgerow by New England born artist photographer Robert Cobcroft. Cobcroft was born in Inverell in 1960 and lived in Armidale until completing his high school education in 1977. After moving to Queensland in 1988, he attended the Queensland College of Art, Griffith University in Brisbane, graduating with an associate diploma of arts in applied photography in 1991. Since then he has established a name as an emerging artist with exhibitions in Australia and New Zealand.

The pioneers of the New England Tablelands brought with them the notion of planting out "New England" as a replica of the English countryside. Cobcoft's landscapes explores the effect created by combining the Australian bush with more than 150 years of planting European trees and shrubs , the imagery translated as a nostalgic, homogenous binding of 19th century ideas together with modern photo technology. Further comments follow the illustration.

This is not a big exhibition, but Cobcroft's work really resonated with me because I grew up in the world he presents. Copies of the works are for sale at $600 for the small, $1,200 for the large. I wish I had the money!

The third exhibition is Herbert Badham's Observing the Everyday. Herbert Badham was a realist painter of social urban life, and renowned for his scenes of Sydney. The exhibition concentrates on the everyday in Sydney mainly during the 1930s.

Painted in 1937, this first painting by Badham is commonly known as Girl at a piano. Digging around, I discovered that the girl is actually Badham's daughter. 

This is quite a large exhibition centred on Badham paintings in the Hinton collection, supplemented by works by works in state regional galleries and private collections, including a small number of works by other artists that fit the theme.

The paintings are organised thematically to show different aspects of Sydney life - the beach, the buildings, scenes of day to day life. We really enjoyed it, but decided to take a break in the middle to have lunch at NERAM Harvest.

This was actually as funny as a circus. Outside in the rain, the men were trying to erect a marque to provide cover for Sunday's BBQ breakfast. "its like watching monkeys using tools for the first time", commented our waitress. "How many men does it take to erect a marque? Four, with one woman supervising."

We had a New England pale ale before lunch, followed by a rather nice why worry sparkling cuvee brut. To maintain the local theme, I had lamb salad. Fortified, it was time to return to the exhibition. 

This next Badham painting comes from 1933 and is called simply Hyde Park. It will be instantly familiar to anyone who knows Sydney. It captures the day scene rather well.

We went round the paintings again, and then started selecting our favourites, Each had to select the top three.

My companion selected Joshua Smith's Peeling Vegetables (1939), Badham's Grocer's Shop (1943)  and Elioth Gruner's The Beach (1918).  I chose Hyde Park, Girl at a piano and an Unk White piece, Dad.

Finally, we left. It had been a satisfying visit.

The exhibitions will be on until 2 February 2014. If you get a chance, do visit. I don't think that you will be disappointed. 

UNE's trimesters hit Armidale economy

It's not on-line, at least at this point, but the Armidale Express is reporting that UNE's new trimester system has hit the local economy hard.

The system allows students to do an extra semester between November and February, a time when the University was previously in recess. It sounds good, but there is a problem.

To accommodate the system, the end date of the previous semester has been shortened by three weeks, finishing end October. Because offerings in the new trimester are on-line, residential students have been leaving Armidale earlier than previously, hitting local businesses. 

Back in Armidale earlier this month, I noticed how quiet the University campus and city centre were, but didn't properly realise the cause.

Judith Ross Smith is leading a campaign to revitalise the Armidale CBD. For those who are interested, you will find the Facebook public group page here. 

Postscript

Siobhan McCarthy's Armidale Express story - Cafes reel over UNE trimester - is now on-line.

In a comment here, Rod wrote:

I don't like the idea of shortening semesters to create trimesters. A similar thing happened to my closest university (SCU) about three years ago. I remember how the students struggled to do the units adequately within a shortened time frame. Eventually the units had content cut or more units were created (of course the number of units needed to complete a degree didn't decrease) and the result is... graduates with less knowledge than before. That is without considering the issues associated with a local economy relying on tertiary education.

Rod, this was something I wondered about. I didn't have time on my last trip to Armidale to properly suss out the on-ground position. You have to talk to a number of coal-face people to get a proper picture. The comments I did get were negative along three lines: some to the supporting systems hadn't been properly worked out; student's weren't dumb - they knew when they were being short-changed; finally, the additional load on staff.

According to a comment on the Express story from one student studying in residence, not all the courses are on-line delivered. When I get time, I will try to properly establish just what courses are offered, how, over what real period and with what content. That will make a standards judgement easier to make.

I won't repeat the Express comments in detail, but I wanted to pick up a couple of themes.

First, the UNE heavies have in fact ignored concerns raised by students and by the residential system. There was on-campus consultation, but Professor Barber's very focused support on one primary solution has raised concerns among alumni. That is, its not consultation but direction and persuasion. I covered this a little in Saturday Morning Musings - UNE alumni dinner.

If you look at my report, you will see how Professor Barber's initial and very enthusiastic for on-line as a low cost profitable delivery device that would allow UNE to compete in the new world actually got quite a frosty response. He was telling the wrong story to an audience scarred by previous university mistakes. UNE might become successful in commercial terms or as measured in Canberra, but what was the point if the UNE experience was lost, if it became just another on-line delivery vehicle. Professor Barber then changed track. I quote from my story: 

"Now I heard Jim Barber start by talking about the university as a business, about the on-line revolution, about the need to deliver a low cost product. UNE, he seemed to be saying, had to survive by delivering a mass, cheap, on-line product. There was not a single word in the first five minutes of business/CEO speak that explained to me why I should continue to support UNE.

From my question, the flood gates opened. It wasn't harsh questioning. It was persistent questioning. Under that questioning, VC Barber gradually gave us reasons for encouragement.

UNE was not going to become, as it first seemed, a low cost provider of mass on-line education. In fact, UNE had chosen to stay smallish. UNE was not going to become just an on-line institution, something that worried many alumni. In fact, UNE was going to use revenue from on-line delivery to cross-subsidise the redevelopment of the University's unique residential model.

And yet, all this had to be dragged out through questioning. Even then, there was no real recognition of the University's history, of what in management speak might be called its unique selling points.

If you now look at the Express story, and I quote:

Ms Woodbury (pro-vice chancellor) said that given the positive student response, the university anticipates that in the coming years there would be more on campus study options as well as seeking alternative uses for the campus over the summer months.

“As the student interest in trimester three grows the university would look to see more on campus and residential schools take place over this period,” she said.

“The university is looking to have a better use of the summer period with a wider range of options with more school and sporting groups and conferences.

“This is a long term plan and I think it is good news for Armidale.”

On the surface, and if you consider Professor Barber's presentation, the University would have appeared to have delivered the first arm, on-line delivery, without the second, ways of managing the impact of change to enhance other aspects of the UNE experience. All the positives are possibles, long term things.

Normally when you introduce a major change, you do two things. You model the impacts on other parts of the system and you do a risk analysis. Now that may have been done, but I have the strong impression that University management was so focused on selling the new approach, on trying to make it work, that they may not have looked at broader issues. As I said, that is an impression.

Turning to another matter raised in the comments, I quote Jack:

So, if trimesters are here to stay, and retail is suffering because of it... what is the solution?

Here is a hot tip, when the students come back, make sure you let them know how valued they are.

Next hot tip; Armidale had better start looking at other ways to turn a buck. Shutting down for all of january - really? That's a business plan nowadays?

As a former Chair of Tourism Armidale, I can tell you that the city is very bad at promoting itself. One of our problems at the time lay in our inability to get people to recognise that it needed too. Part of the problem, too, was the purely domestic focus of many local businesses including those servicing tourists.

Later, I hammered away at somewhat similar themes in my Belshaw World columns. I traced the rise of Armidale inwardness and indeed that of UNE back to the university expansion of the 1970s. Then official NSW projections saw Armidale's population passing that of Tamworth by the turn of the century. Everybody talked about growth. Many were concerned to restrict it to preserve the city's life style.

I talked about the near-death experience that the city and university faced in the 1990s. I argued that Armidale now could not assume that the University would be there in future; other options had to be found. I pointed to the dramatic decline in the name recognition attached to the city and what that meant for the future; and I argued that in promotional terms the city's approach was narrow, unimaginative, unstable, using only a tiny proportion of the sizzle that could sell the city. I also suggested that the university actually suffered from similar problems. Both had become parochial and inward looking.

Was I right? Am I right? I don't know. I do feel that both UNE and the city itself need a reality check plus a large dose of applied imagination.