21. 09. 2016

This is a Border (town) – Big deal

I have been chatting with various locals about the mysterious white kangaroos. Turns out they might be a bit of a white wash, or a white elephant. No one really has any idea why they are here or why they are important. Ergo, no one really has a strong sense of why they should represent Bordertown and no-one has a strong feeling that the white kangaroos should define the identity of the place.

The perennial regional implication is that once a community agrees on an icon someone puts their hand up to make a ‘big’ one. These big things can simultaneously broadcast identity and give tourists a reason to stop and empty a little spare change out of their wallets. Admittedly, this is somewhat of a 70’s model and many of our nations big things are in need of a facelift ( physically and culturally ). A case in point might be Larry the Lobster who lives at Robe just down the road from Bordertown.   Larry has been the focus of a crowd funding campaign over the last year to try and gather energy and resources to give him a bit of fiberglass botox. However, the $30k that was raised is just not going to cut it and Larry remains in limbo.

The District Council of Kimba is currently seeking someone to give their giant galah a makeover. I’m wondering whether we might convince them to give it a bit more of a fluorescent pink tone – something a bit more radical – let’s say desert rave chic – like burning man style – a place where big things go to be set alight and sacrificed. Perhaps we need some wicker man pagan sacrifice of our giant things to appease our giant things god, in order to bring back the talismanic power of Australian big things?

James Dodd