The paintings of Julia Griffin

My thanks to Kelly Fuller (ABC New England North West) on Twitter for this one. This painting by Walcha artist Julia Griffin is simply called 2007 Oxley Highway. It really captures the light.

I spoke of the New England painter Harry Pidgeon in Harry Pidgeon's Naturally Touched Cooks Hill Gallery.

I then used Harry's work in part in the The colours of New England. This was an attempt to combine writing, art and photography to paint a picture of the way the colours changed across New England west-east and north-south.

There is quite remarkable variation in colour depending upon height, climate, landscape, human effects and soil. Those of us who know New England well may love our own area's best, but we do see the variation, know the colours.

In one of my historical posts, New England's literary tradition 2 - geography, I looked (as the name says) on the impact of New England geography on our writers and writing, This raises similar issues to New England painting.   

Like Harry Pidgeon's  paintings, Julia's paintings have a special focus on inland New England. This is very different country from that known by many modern New England coast huggers.

This painting by Julia, Rain on the Uralla Road, captures a scene and feel that I know very well. Unless I am mistaken, it is not far from the Kentucky turn-off.

I love the fact that Julia is providing another thread in the growing representation of New England.

If you would like to see more of Julia's work and that of her partner, sculptor and painter Stephen King, you will find their web site here.  

Who speaks for the Hunter?

One issue that has been coming through quite strongly in comments on Hunter Valley media and also on this blog is the perception that planning and Government actions in the Hunter lack coordination and vision. I asked in response to one comment just what bodies were responsible for providing an integrated voice across the Hunter. My respondent wasn't sure, so I went to do some digging.

There is actually a Minister for the Hunter, presently Jodi McKay, the Member for Newcastle. The Minster's role is not very clear, nor is that of her portfolio. If you follow the portfolio link through, you come to the NSW Premier's & Cabinet web site. However, there is no identifiable structure that I can find within P&C that represents the Hunter Ministry. There also appear to be no ministerial press releases as such, although Jodi McKay's electorate web site has some in her role as member.

The NSW State Plan is meant to provide an over-arching framework for development and service delivery within the state. This includes a part labelled Hunter Local Action Plan. This is essentially a list of activities.

   NSW Planning has a section on its web site entitled Hunter Region. When you click on this you find that there is a Lower Hunter Regional Strategy. The rest of the Valley is not covered beyond an earlier assessment  on coal mining in the Upper Hunter.

Beyond any Hunter specific strategies, the Valley is affected by a myriad of other State activities and action plans. So I continued digging to see what might encourage cooperation and coordination between the various councils on one side and all the other bodies affecting the Valley.

Looked at in this way, I found:

• Regional Development Australia - Hunter. This is in fact the rebadged name of the old Hunter Economic Development Corporation. All the regional development boards have had their name changed.
• Hunter Advantage, a business promotion body.
• Hunter Tourism, the Hunter Regional Tourism Organisation.
• Hunter Valley Research Foundation, the now venerable and successful Valley research body.
• Industry Development Centre (Hunter).
• Hunter Business Chamber.

I am sure that there are many other bodies. These were the ones I found through a quick search.

I accept that this post is an incomplete analysis. I think, though, that I can see why the Hunter appears so fragmented.

Moree gains Brisbane air service

I see from the Northern Daily Leader that Brindabella Airlines has launched it's Moree-Brisbane flights.

The photo shows pilots Captain Shane Carr and Captain Todd Kristenson welcoming Brindabella chief executive officer Michael Rasmussen on board the historic Brindabella flight.

I have written a fair bit on this blog about both the history and current position of civil aviation in New England. I really hope that this service succeeds.

Moree's location as the largest centre on the western side of New England creates problems for the town. It's not actually all that far west, about 428k or a bit over five hours driving time from the coast, but its far enough west to create service delivery problems with the way services are now structured. For example, it is a bit over three hours drive to the big base hospital in Tamworth. The time is much worse if you have to rely on public transport.

The service will allow Moree people to access Brisbane services. It will also give Brisbane people better access to Moree.

Queen petitioned for action to improve New England's railways

I see from ABC New England North West that Anthony Hardwick has organised a petition to the Queen to draw attention to the rail situation on the Tablelands and North West.

Now Her Majesty will not able to help because this is matter for her NSW Government. However, I do have a great deal of sympathy for Anthony's desire to attract attention to the issue.

Unlike other states such as Queensland, Sydney's approach to its rail system is narrow, pedestrian and boring. I am not saying that Queensland is perfect, far from it because it suffers from some of the same problems as NSW. But it has promoted its railways as more than just transport.

In posts and in comments on this blog, some of us have discussed ways in which New England's railways present and rebuilt, might be used to more effectively to link and promote New England. I wonder what you think? What would you like to see done? 

Newcastle, Gosford & the boy from Oz.

Back in February 2008 in I wrote of singer Peter Allen in Peter Allen, Armidale and Claire and Eileen Napier - an attack of nostalgia. Now I have a conundrum that my Newcastle readers may be able to answer.

On 25 June, the Armidale Express reported on a visit to Armidale by members of the Gosford Musical Society investigating the singer's live in advance of a production of the Boy from Oz due to start a four week run in Gosford from 6 August.

Now I see from the Newcastle Herald that that there is to be a Newcastle production of the musical running from 4 to 14 August. Does this mean that we actually have two productions of the same musical at the same time in close proximity to each other?   

Belshaw's World - comings, goings and the end of big Australia

PM Gillard’s announcement that she was opposed to the concept of a “big Australia” marked another stage in the population debate that has been underway in this country over the last year or so.

As in all these things, it is not just the absolute number of people, but also their distribution in terms of geography and age that is important. In geographic terms, there are parts of Australia that can sustain, indeed need, more people, while other parts arguably do not.

Last week, the Australian Bureau of Statistics released its latest estimates of the Australian population. We can use these numbers to scope some elements of the debate.

The ABS provides three estimates of the future Australian population, high, low and medium. The existence of three estimates helps explain the variations you will see in the numbers used by people in talking about future numbers.

The ABS estimated that the Australian population at the end of December 2009 was 22.155 million. It projected that by 2051 it would rise to:

• High 40.087 million
• Medium 34.213 million
• Low 30.307 million.

Quite a big variation, isn’t it?

The three estimates incorporate different assumptions. Of these, assumptions about migration rates are the most important because net overseas migration is now the key driver of population increase. Net overseas migration simply means the number of new settlers minus those leaving the country on a long term basis.

The following table shows the relative contributions to Australia’s population growth in the year ended 30 December 2009.

Natural Increase		154,900
Add new migrants	508,000
Less Australians leaving	230,300
Net overseas migration		277,700
Total population increase		432,600

I suspect that in all the debate about migration and population size, very few Australians realise just how many people we now lose each year to emigration. Some return, of course, but many don’t.

The size of Australian emigration actually makes it far easier to cut population growth, if that is what we want. Even if we wanted to cut net population growth to zero, we don’t actually have to ban all new migration, simply reduce it to the point where negative net migration offsets the natural rate of population increase.

The following table shows what the numbers would have looked like in 2009 with a zero total population increase.

Natural Increase		154,900
Add new migrants	75,400
Less Australians leaving	230,300
Net overseas migration		-154,900
Total population increase		zero

This is a pretty extreme case. It would mean drastically cutting all classes of migrant entry, including both family reunion and skilled migration. However, what might happen if we cut immigration back to the point that it simply balanced emigration?

Natural Increase		154,900
Add new migrants	230,300
Less Australians leaving	230,300
Net overseas migration		zero
Total population increase		154,900

As you can see, in this case, we would still have admitted 230,300 migrants in 2009, but the total population increase would have been limited to the natural increase of 154,900.

Now what might this mean in population terms if maintained for, say, ten years?

Well, to begin with, on the 2009 figures, the total Australian population would be some 2.8 million lower than would otherwise be the case. This may or may not be a good thing, depending on your viewpoint.

Equally importantly, the relative distribution of the Australian population would likely have changed quite noticeably. The faster growing areas would continue to attract people from slower growth areas, but the migrant intakes that presently replace them would not be there, reducing population growth.

Take NSW as an example.

In 2009, the state’s population grew by 115,798. Of this, no less than 83,787 came from net overseas migration.

With zero net overseas migration, the state’s population growth would have been just 32,051. Looking over a ten year time horizon and on the 2009 figures, the state’s population growth would fall from 1.16 million to 320,510. Sydney, in particular, would experience a sharp fall in growth.

In my next column I will look at the implications of this, with a special focus on New England.

Note to readers: This post appeared as a column in the Armidale Express on Wednesday 30 June 2010. I am repeating the columns here with a lag because the Express columns are not on line. You can see all the columns by clicking here for 2009, here for 2010

Round the New England blogging traps 15 - crowdsourcing and the texture of life

I have really been enjoying Lynne's new nellbellingen blog, although it should perhaps be bellinger, since it is much about the valley as the town.

For those who don't know either, the town of Bellingen lies on the Bellinger River. The small spelling difference between the two is a constant source of confusion.

The Bellinger Valley is not a big one, a bit over 3,400 square kilometres. On the map, Waterfall Way marks the centre of the Valley. It runs from Urunga up through Bellingen to Thora. Beyond Thora, the road climbs the escarpment.  

 

The Valley is very beautiful. Bellingen itself has become a counter culture centre. Lynne's posts bring out the texture of life in Bellingen and the Valley rather well. Bello Bards deals with another aspect of local life, poetry. 

One of the things that I love about New England is the depth and texture of its life once you drop below the broad patterns imposed by main highways or well know tourist centres. I have tried to capture a little of this in my writing, but a constantly struggle with the size of the task!

The Bellinger Valley is one example, the Wollombi Valley in the south another. The Great North Road runs through Wollombi. I drove this convict built road a lot at one stage in my past, but have to revisit.

In the Valley, Peter Firminger continues to campaign for local interests. Peter is a member of the Cessnock-Kurri Greens, but is happy to recognise contributions from all sides. Conversely, he criticises those who ignore Valley interests.

The big issue at present relates to local planning powers. There are two related dimensions to this. One is the way in which Cessnock Council works. The second is the willingness of the Government in Sydney to over-ride local representation whenever they conflict with Sydney plans.

Further north, Gordon Smith continues his search for the Diggers Graveyard mine. Gordon lives on a block  with partner writer Bronwyn Parry to the east of Armidale. He spends a fair bit of time exploring the gorge country that forms the divide between the Tablelands and coastal strip.

This is country that I knew quite well growing up. However, I did not realise the extent to which it had its own history. Gordon draws a little of this out in his posts. Diggers Graveyard: pest control is, I think, the first of the posts in the Diggers Graveyard series. If you go there and then follow the posts forward, you can follow Gordon's journey.

Archives Outside had a rather interesting article on Crowdsourcing for Archives and Libraries. I mention this not only because Archives Outside does carry New England stories, but because crowdsourcing itself is relevant to the New England web scene.

Crowdsourcing simple means using the web as a vehicle to capture mass volunteer involvement in preserving and documenting material. Wikipedia itself is an example of crowdsourcing.

The effect of crowdsourcing is to broaden content and contribution. For someone like me concerned with the preservation and presentation of past and present life in an area, the results are quite wonderful.  Gordon Smith's Old news from Armidale and New England is an example.

Drawing from digitised newspaper material, the blog has restarted the newspaper presses of the past. Lynne also uses this source.

I find this completely distracting. It's not just the references from time to time to members of my own family and especially my grandfather, nor even the fact that I knew or knew of so many of the people, it's the detail of local life. This is my country and I love it!

I have often complained about the way in which problems of selection, perception and bias in Australian historiography have cut so many of us off from our own pasts.

The internet in combination with techniques such as crowdsourcing actually give us control back. We can access our own past independent of the decisions of researchers, writes and publishers. As we take control, we build our own content that can then be used by others.

I think that that's quite a wonderful thing!   

CSR ends era

The $A 1.65 billion dollar bid by Chinese owned Bright Foods for Sucrogen, CSR's sugar division, really marks the end of an era.

CSR stands for the Colonial Sugar Refining Company. Founded in Sydney in 1855, CSR played a major role in the establishment of New England's sugar industry. As a kid visiting the sugar mills, I found them very impressive. They were, I think, the biggest industrial establishments in Northern New England. Certainly, they were huge to me.

CSR grew to be Australia's second largest company measured by turnover, and one of the top 200 in global terms. With diversification, sugar became a second string. Now, one way or another, CSR will exit its sugar interests.

I just wanted to record the passing. 

Welcome visitor 35,000

Visitor 35,000 arrived a few days ago. He/she came from Melbourne, arriving on the site after a google search on water blogs. This brought them to Water Wars - the Darling floods.

The attached graphic shows monthly visits (yellow) and page views (yellow plus red)over the last twelve months.

The last time I showed this graphic, there was a helpful presentational suggestion. Unfortunately, I am limited as to what I can do at present re editing.

The first post on this blog was in April 2006. Initially traffic was slow; 9,923 visits by end December 2007, then rising to 18,936 by end December 2008. 2009 was better still, but the traffic really accelerated from the start of this year. All good, I think! 

Belshaw's World - Lou, a New England story

Earlier in June I did a column on the 4^th Dungog Australian Film Festival (Armidale Express, 2 June). This followed an earlier column (19 May) on New England’s rich film history.

Let me follow those columns with a question. Is the Belgrave actually going to show Lou, the movie?

I only have the web site to go by, but so far the answer appears to be no. Why is this important?

Well, to begin with, it’s a pretty good film. Just to quote a few excerpts from the reviews.

• “A small film with a lovely heart” – David Stratton, At The Movies
• “A notable Australian film which deserves the right kind of gentle applause” – Jake Wilson, The Age
• “Nothing short of magic” – Jo Chichester, Vogue
• "Exquisite" - Chris Kennedy, Canberra Times
• Her film moved and delighted me." - Evan Williiams, The Australian.

Then, too, it is a New England film set and made in Murwillumbah. This is country that most New England people, inland or coastal, will recognise.

Growing up, I loved Australian films. I even organised an Australian film festival in Queanbeyan. Then I turned off Australian films.

I am not absolutely sure why. Partly, I think, there were some very bad films. There were also too many films that, while good, dealt with topics that I really didn’t want to watch!

I was not the only person to turn off Australian films. Australian audiences in fact turned off the local film industry en-masse. Finally, it got to the stage that to promote a film as an Australian film meant box office death.

This did not mean that Australians were not interested in local product. While film was going down, many Australian TV series were very successful. Further, many went on to global sales.

Australian films have always had a battle getting distribution.

Most people don’t remember, it was a very long time ago, but NSW Country Party leader Mick Bruxner was the first person to introduce legislation that attempted to require cinema chains to include Australian content.

Bruxner did so for several reasons.

He was worried at the way that US films were leading to the substitution of US terms for Australian terms. He had also been lobbied hard by his cousin, Charles Chauvel, about the difficulties faced by Australian producers.

Chauvel, a film maker with strong New England connections, was actually pretty successful in attracting money and distribution. His 1949 film Sons of Mathew, another film with New England connections, was a very big budget film for its time. Still, Chauvel knew the realities of life.

The 1950s really were dog days for Australian films. The failure of Captain Thunderbolt to get proper distribution was a sign of the times. Then came what now seems like a golden age for Australian film when demand was such that Australian films were common in local cinemas.

Today we are back to the 1950s in distribution terms. This is what makes it so hard for even a good movie like Lou, good films but without the drawing power of something like Animal Kingdom. Mind you, even Animal Kingdom had its battles despite the current popularity of the topic.

This is why Australian films have come to rely on viral marketing, despite the difficulties involved. This is also why the Dungog Film Festival has become so important.

The aim of viral marketing using tools such as Facebook or You Tube is to attract the support necessary to get and hold distribution. For its part, Dungog provides a platform to gain initial recognition because so many reporters and critics attend.

None of this will work if you don’t have a good film. Even with a good film, it’s still a chancy business, compounded by the fact that so many film people do not appear to know how to use the new media.

I have puzzled over this one, for you would think that they would. Part of the problem, I think, is that movies as such have become a bit of a ghetto in which those involved speak just to those involved.

Back in the eighties, I put it in advice to then Commonwealth Industry Minister John Button in this way: Government policy has created a game park for cultural lions. I then gave some examples that may be unfair to repeat.

Finishing, if you do get a chance to see Lou, please do so.

Note to readers: This post appeared as a column in the Armidale Express on Wednesday 23 June 2010. I am repeating the columns here with a lag because the Express columns are not on line. You can see all the columns by clicking here for 2009, here for 2010