Story erodes our city's image

Shepparton’s image emerged pretty much in tatters from a story published in the “Extra” section of yesterday’s Melbourne Age.

The Furphy water cart - made
famous in World War one.

The story was, in itself fine, but the image it portrayed of Shepparton, illustrated a city that was limping toward, or has, decided difficulties.

Writer Peter Munro diligently excavated and illustrated all those facts that suggested Shepparton, all of Shepparton, was living on “the wrong side of the tracks”.

Obviously the story was planned and written not to present a rounded picture of life in Shepparton with Munro zeroing in on events, programs and statistics that illustrate the city is socially dysfunctional. It is not.

Ironically, on the same weekend as Monro’s story appeared in The Age, throwing doubt into the minds of readers about Shepparton’s civility, the city hosted and saw the conclusion of eleventh staging of the biennial presentation of the Australian National Piano Awards.

The mission statement for the awards says: “The Australian National Piano Award Shepparton Inc. has the mission of promoting and directing a competition which embodies the highest of national and international music standards, recognises the pursuit of excellence at a professional level, offers educational benefits to performers and provides challenges to the participants.”

Further, the weekend just gone saw a host of events throughout the city for the Joseph Furphy Centenary Commemorative Festival that recognized and acknowledged the work of Joseph Furphy who, writing under the pen name of Tom Collins, wrote the famous piece of Australian literature, “Such is Life”.

The dichotomies between rich and poor cannot be denied as they most certainly exist, but not to any degree of more significance than that of any other regional Australian city or, for that matter, any state capital.

A water bird sits on a log
 close to the centre
of Shepparton.

In fact any journalist worth his or her salary and allowed the time could certainly uncover circumstances similar, or worse, in our capital city, Canberra.

Shepparton, as is most certainly the case with most other towns and cities, is unquestionably feeling the effect of a static economy a fact that is reflected by empty shops in the central business district.

It is, despite the rather troubled outlook portrayed in Munro’s story – “Rolling with the punches” – a city with decided spirit, a city in which its citizens will quickly bond to see off most any difficulty.

Having a daughter, son-in-law and two grandsons living on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast, I have occasionally considered and moving to live there, but the call of my community, this community, saw such thinking quickly abandoned.

Interestingly, Munro is correct, but it is not until you live here, and that gives me a distinct advantage, that he is grossly wrong.

"Thud" in my driveway; a thud that echoes around the world

A heavy monthly thud in my driveway is a reminder of the continuing dilemma of consumerism.

Thud! - "the (melbourne)
 magazine" is in my driveway.

The heavy thud alerts me that the Melbourne Age has arrived complete with its wonderful, but strangely contradictory, publication, “the (melbourne) magazine”.
The full colour, glossy magazine of nearly 100 pages obviously targets a market that is beyond my budget and although I thoroughly enjoy The Age, it unsettles me that my subscription to the paper allows the inclusion of a product clearly directed at the “big end of town”.
Confusingly, I really like the magazine in probably what is a reflection of an inability to truly understand, and personally deal with the differences between “want” and “need” – a dilemma that is ingrained and considered generally, an impasse that has seen world’s nations scurry to South Africa’s Durban for 12 days of climate talks.
I’m unaware of the magazine’s profitability, or otherwise, but its advertising content of frequent full-page or double-page spreads, suggest that those with something to sell see it as a worthwhile vehicle to promote their goods.

Fairfax chief executive
 and managing director,
 Greg Hywood.

The magazine features some worthwhile journalistic stories and alerts readers of many fascinating events happening in and around Victoria’s capital, but in an era in which blatant consumerism is directly linked to climate change, those one hundred or so glossy pages are inherently offensive.
Therein lies the quandary as while the magazine itself is wonderful, the products marketed within it appear wonderful and its intent appears, in a modern historical sense, without question, but it endorses and encourages a way of life our world can no longer support.
Publishers of the magazine, Fairfax Media Publications is, according to its chief executive and managing director, Greg Hywood, investing heavily in digital publication so in time the rather heavy consumptive material costs of the magazine may vanish.
However, what will not by implication go away will be society’s demand for goods that are poorly positioned to help us find out way to a society in which we live in a “five-minute world”; that meaning that most of our daily needs, from work to shopping and leisure and from various services to schooling are all within a five minute five minute bike ride or walk.
Public transport is integral to the five-minute world, but the idea of train, buses and trams seems somewhat remote from the idea behind the magazine, except for their novelty value.
The reality that is climate change floats in like a feather, with the changes to the ambience of our world being almost imperceptible, but if we live with the enthusiasm encouraged by “the (melbourne) magazine” the certain changes will arrive with a thud, a thud that will echo around the world.