Issue No. 1 (September 2000) — Queensland Regional Imaginary: Past and present

abstracts

By Denis Cryle, Betty Cosgrove & Ray Boyle

The article outlines the regional origins of Birch, Carroll and Coyle in Queensland with special reference to Rockhampton and the Wintergarden theatre. The emergence of a distinctive regional theatre designed to attract new audiences for Hollywood product, along with live entertainment capacity, were major factors in sustaining the dominance of BCC in regional Queensland for almost half a century.

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By Jim Douglas

Beginning with the example of GANGgajang's song The Sounds of Then, this discussion explores whether or not there is such a thing as an Australian sound in popular or rock music. Of particular concern are the actions of transnational corporations, the Internet and governments in the creation or subversion of such a notion. Sometimes national or transnational groups appropriate regional or local identities in order to 'infiltrate'a society. Such groups are often concerned with misappropriation of 'the local' in order to acquire a particular hegemonic position. Rather than resisting the forces of global capital, so-called 'local' sites may indigenise aspects of Imperialist cultures. However, ignoring the reality of contemporary global organisations is folly. Not only that, but 'local'cultural forms will always survive so long as there are those that wish to have a 'voice'of their own. And, in the case of rock music, is the national point of origin really all that much of an issue?

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By Jacqui Ewart

This paper examines the role regional media play in constructiing a region’s publics. It examines how journalists at one regional newspaper conceptualise the public and investigates how these concepts are played out through a series of articles from the same newspaper.

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By Wendy Madsen

Young women wishing to train as a nurse during the early part of this century, entered into a hospital environment which taught them not only the skills of nursing, but also skilled them in how to be a nurse. Along with learning how to do a dressing, they learnt obedience,and while learning how to clean the pan room, they learnt about hierarchy and the traditions of nursing. Trainees were required to live and work within the confines of the hospital grounds,and as such, developed a distinct culture that was a compilation of work, moral and traditional elements.

This paper will use a combination of oral and documentary sources to examine the development of the nursing culture and the transformation of nursing students within the ward environment of the Rockhampton Hospital between 1930 and 1950. Focusing on a small regional hospital allows one to gain a greater understanding of the nursing culture, and to investigate this culture to a greater depth as it existed in one location. In particular,aspects of reinforcing the nursing culture will be examined, that is the communication channels that had to be followed, delegation of duties and the nursing hierarchy, and the socialisation of trainees by other trainees as part of the informal educational processes.

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By Warwick Mules

A series of films commissioned by the Queensland government in 1898 were made, showing a variety of scenes of metropolitan Brisbane and rural regions of Queensland. This paper examines some of these films in terms of the way they constitute a ‘colonial imaginary ’ involving the positioning of the spectator in time and space. By drawing on Metz’s ideas of the cinema apparatus, as well as Foucault’s arguments concerning the surveillance of space, the paper shows how these films can be read in terms of an imagined audience based on immigration policies at the time. Overall, the paper argues that films from previous eras should not be read simply as objective representations of a social context, but in terms of an imaginary constitution which is virtually located within the real, and involving a range of rhetorical and aesthetic practices and modes of presentation.

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By Karl Neuenfeldt

This article explores the transformative effects of the compact disk (CD) on the Australian folk festival scene using the 1998 Australian National Folk Festival as a case study. Edited interviews and analysis highlight how CDs circulate along with musicians and music genres in a global cultural economy and musical technoculture. The CD is characterised as a marketing and musical product; a kind of cultural and symbolic capital; and, a pivotal part of the musicality, sociality,and commerciality of the folk festival scene, while it simultaneously helps transform musical and performative genres.