Culture mapping west of the Darling

Question added to CDS survey (see post above):

If you could nominate one person from the Central Darling to be made into a figurine,
statue or 'action figure' - who would that be?

I choose this person because...

Am also going to test this question by posting it as my Facebook status (taking out the 'Central Darling' bit). Not anticipating a lot of 'sensible' responses in that venue.

Local action figure? Who?

Michael Keighery dropped in this afternoon (he is Chair of Viscopy, across the road from UTS Shopfront) and was telling me about a residency he has proposed for Wollongong City Gallery around the ubiquitous 'China Cabinet' (or variations of) in people's lives.

We ‘threw around’ a couple of ideas of how we might examine local ‘collections’ (people uploading images of their collections and saying why they value them) and or ‘icons’ (ie, who in the local community should have a figurine or action figure made of them and why?).

The more I think about it the more I like it...am thinking I must include this 'figurine or action figure' question in a CAMRA survey as 'leading people' are important cultural assets, particularly in regional Australia where capacity can be measured by their numbers. And who are the 'superheroes' (leader-enablers) versus 'supervillains' (leader-disablers... yes we all know a few!)?

Mapping survey responses

With the responses (to date) to the survey of Central Darling residents, we have been 'playing' with how to display responses on Google Maps.

For example, in response to the question "What local cultural asset is most important to you?" we produced the following:

View Central Darling Cultural Assets - Cultural Assets in a larger map

Hello all,

Although I am heading off to South America to travel and work for a little while, I will be eagerly following and supporting the CAMRA project and the Central Darling along the way. I look forward to continue reading the www.culturemap.org.au website and all of your findings, opinions and discussions.
Over the past 15 weeks, I have thoroughly emerged myself in all things Central Darling and I have enjoyed listening to everyone’s tales and yarns about the region. I would have loved to have taken a few days to visit the people that I chatted to and the places that we chatted about and to truly understand why they love where they live!
I hope the culturemap website can become a hub for communication between the many key stakeholders, cultural producers and CAMRA staff, an area where people can throw ideas and dreams around and have constructive dialogue that will materialize on the ground level.

The CAMRA project is an amazing one and I wish it all the best over the course of its duration! Also, accolades go out to Lisa Andersen and the people who work on and with the project, your dedication and tireless efforts are duly noted.

Take care.

Cheers,

Josh Edwards

some findings/extracts from my report:

‘Cultural Tourism’ is the predominant category of cultural assets with 25%. Does this mean that the infrastructure and orientation of the Central Darling Shire’s cultural industry is directed towards attracting tourists.
Are these cultural assets a means of economical gain, or are they actually attempting to convey and enlighten others of the cultural heritage and traditions of the region. The latter point comes into relevance here as ‘Heritage Site’ is the next popular with 18%. This appears in the interview with Tara Prowse (2009) as she emphasises the significance that a town’s heritage has in the minds of its residents. An example being the need for the old steam train to be returned in order to display a part of Ivanhoe’s historical story to the world. Considering this, the importance placed on educating and story-telling in the region, it is no surprise that ‘Arts/ Education’ based cultural assets hold 10%.

• A situation that is quite common across regional Australia is the fact that there are "farmers out there with the idea of, 'I'd love to start a tourism venture on my farm', but never know where to start and what's involved” (Group to host agri-tourism workshops, ABC News, 2009) demonstrates the will and potential that resides with a lot of people but at the same time, the difficulties they face and the lack of funding towards these ventures.
• This might be the result of the government misunderstanding what regional communities need, as it is commented, that in Wilcannia, “the problem has for a long time been too many services - chaotic duplication of programs provided by State, federal and local governments and other agencies” (Wilcannia wins the greatest game of all, 2009, p.5) rather than attending to cultural policy.
• When times are as they are in Ivanhoe due to limited attention by the Local Area Government to cultural policy, the “life of Ivanhoe town, revolves nowadays around the school, so the school puts out like a little newsletter every week and you can put in a what’s on page or whatever you want, and the school is really beautiful and it really feels like a nurturing, environment in the middle of a harsher world or something…so even if you don’t necessarily have kids at the school, there are things that are happening around the school to keep the community together” (Prowse, 2009).
• (In a conclusive manner) I believe Donnan’s (2000) comment that “what has always seemed more fascinating to me is that amid the outback's inhospitable wasteland, a living, breathing culture has somehow endured” (p.1) to ring quite true. It is evident from this research that the Central Darling Shire is faced with certain issues, however, looking at the Cultural Asset Database, it is evident that there is not only a diverse and lively array of cultural assets but also the potential for the cultural and creative industries in the Central Darling Shire to continue telling its history and traditions.

Hi Lisa - Just a quick note on Open Street Maps and 'mashing':

• Consider using Open Street Maps as an alternative to Google Maps

  http://www.openstreetmap.org/?lat=-33.8855&lon=151.19779&zoom=17&layers=...

  It doesn't offer as many features as Google Maps e.g. Street View; and I'm not sure how good the data for remote regions is.

  But it's 'open' data.

• Not sure if your datasets can be published/included in the Apps4NSW mashup competition http://www.information.nsw.gov.au/apps4nsw - but that would be a great opportunity.

Central Darling Resident Survey: http://surveys.uts.edu.au/surveys/centraldarlingculturalmapping

As part of the CAMRA project, West Darling Arts, the Central Darling Shire and the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS), want to find out what local cultural assets are important to people who live in the Central Darling, far west NSW.

If you are a resident of the Central Darling Shire – or a frequent visitor to the area - we would be grateful if you would take a few minutes to answer some questions.

Give as much or as little detail as you like. Your responses will be used to better understand and plan for the development of local arts, heritage and tourism.

Start the survey at this link: http://surveys.uts.edu.au/surveys/centraldarlingculturalmapping

If you would prefer to do a telephone interview or if you have any problems filling in the survey please contact Lisa Andersen - senior researcher for this project at UTS - on 02 9514 2902 or email lisa.andersen@uts.edu.au

Also, please pass on this email and survey link to other people you know - we want to hear all opinions and points of view.

Your support in filling in the questionnaire and passing it on is greatly appreciated.

Australian Rural Decay

While I was google mapping the Kinchega Woolshed, I came across this neat Flickr group map, Australian Rural Decay - a "rustylicious, wrack and ruined filled rural decay group". Members post their piccies of ruined buildings, wagons and cars etc.. from 'Gothic' Australia.

See: http://www.flickr.com/groups/aussieruraldecay/pool/map?mode=group