EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST

It seems that since the concept of a ‘Tamar Publication’ was floated among a network of people dissatisfied with what passes for a “regional press” in 21^st Century Tasmania, indeed Australia, the idea has taken root. The assumption on the part of the ‘Press Barons’ situated 'elsewhere' seems to be that local people in the regions are aspiring towards metropolitan urbanism – albeit a paler shade thereof – but this idea is both flawed and increasingly irrelevant.

When we start talking about “the Paris end of Charles Street”, and comparing a precinct with Melbourne’s Lygon Street, and in a congratulatory way, you just know that the plot has been lost somewhere along the way to such an idea. You also know that it is a 'blow in' talking.

The Tamar/Esk region is neither ‘wilderness’ nor ‘pastoral’, it is what it is with its own idiosyncrasies. Even if the colonials wanted to imagine that ‘this place’ reminded them of home elsewhere – Cornwall for heaven’s sake – and for whatever reason, looking back, and thinking ahead, you just know that a point has been missed somewhere. 

For 30,000 plus years before the British arrived the pakana and palawa people – The First Tasmanians –  clearly knew who they were, where they were and how to be in the world. And, they were doing so in ways that we might yet aspire towards if respect is paid to our ‘placedness’.

If cultural tourism is to be any kind of economic force the people of the Tamar/Esk region need to be ‘at home’ here without imagining themselves as a paler shade of elsewhere – because we are not. If ‘Tamareskians’ are not at home in their own skin, in their own place and with their own stories, how could they possibly welcome ‘Elsewhereians’ into their place and make them at home? What could they possibly have to offer them that would be worth having or coming here to experience? Tourists aspire to being comfortably at home elsewhere – even if it is somewhere exotic.

For these, and many other reasons, ‘Tamareskians’ need a vernacular press that belongs to the 21^st Century and to ‘this place’. No longer can the inhabitants of a boardroom somewhere else deliver ‘the goods’ to us. 

Perhaps the globalised narratives that are being ‘tweeted’ at us from afar in 140 character soundbytes can be delivered by them but not our stories. We might need to be aware of this stuff but we do not need to be drowned in it.

So, against this background is there a core of ‘investors’ willing to give a ‘Tamar Publication’ a go? We are looking for collaborators more than anything else. That is people with ideas, skills, ability, resources, cash even, to invest in a ‘community cultural enterprise’ that delivers more than a cash dividend. 

Not all dividends are paid in cash

If this sounds like anything you or any of your associates would want to be a part of as either a mentor, contributor, collaborator, advertiser, client, or even donor, then an ‘Investors Meeting’ has been planned for Tuesday July 24 at 2.00pm with Ian Pattie moderating the proceedings. 

Please eMAIL an 'Expression of Interest' and you will be included in the planning loop.

Please eMAIL Tandra Vale: oceanview@tassie.net.au with your Expression of Interest and contact information. We look forward to hearing from you.

You may also use the COMMENT SECTION below to register your interest and provide your eMAIL address.

For information go to https://tamarweekly.blogspot.com/p/draft-plan.html