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MIN READ
Caitlin Parker from the University of Melbourne’s Community Publishing in Regional Australia research group discusses the impact of writers groups.
In September of last year, five members of the Community Publishing in Regional Australia research group travelled to the Burdekin region in North Queensland to run a workshop on independent publishing at the Burdekin Llibrary branch in Ayr, interview local authors and creatives, and learn about the writing and publishing activities of the area.
The value of independent writing to the area is clear to those who visit. Books by local independently published authors are stocked at the Burdekin Library and at Woods Newsagency, including A Dog’s Diary by George H. Venables, Chill of Blame by Elizabeth Rimmington and Curlew Dreaming by Don Douglas, alongside anthologies produced by local writers groups.
Writers groups are a valuable support for individuals who are participating in what is, at its core, a typically solitary activity. Writers groups provide the opportunity for authors to come together, discuss their craft, and receive feedback on their work. The Burdekin area, which has a population of approximately 17,000 people, currently sustains three distinct writers groups: The Burdekin Creative Writers, Burdekin Night Writers, and the Burdekin Readers and Writers Association.
Burdekin Creative Writers meets in the old courtroom in Home Hill, which is now the radio station from which Sweet FM is transmitted. The group was originally named Scratchy Scribblers and fell within the ambit of the Burdekin Readers and Writers Association, though the two now operate separately. The Burdekin Creative Writers published an anthology of their writing in 2023, instigated by George H. Venables who had experience publishing an anthology with another writers group – WriteAbout, based in Geelong, Victoria – prior to moving to the Burdekin.
The Burdekin Night Writers are an online writers group. Though the group meets online, all members are located in and around the Burdekin. In an interview with our research team, Megan Hippler, member of both the Burdekin Creative Writers and the Burdekin Night Writers, reflected that meeting online ensures that the writers group continues to be accessible to residents of the area who live further outside of town, who are unwell or who cannot drive at night.
The Burdekin Reader and Writers Association organised the Ignite Your Mind Literary Festival which ran for three years in 2015, 2016 and 2018, and their newest project is an anthology in which they seek to gather the stories of the older generation living in the Burdekin community, who were instrumental in shaping the area. Mickey McKellar, one of the organisers of the association, reflected that, “I think it’s part and parcel of the history of this place that needs to be told. And, you know, you get snippets of it here and there, but you don’t get an overarching picture of what actually happened here and how this place opened up.” Their current project aims to fill this gap.
During our interviews it became clear that there is a clear cultural and social benefit to having all these groups present within the Burdekin community. Hippler observed that the members of the writers groups had a variety of reasons for joining, “some people have joined because they’re professional writers, some just for fun. A lot of them are retirees that have just always wanted to write, or always liked it, or it’s a hobby, or it’s just something to do once a month.”
Writing brings all these members of the community together to join in a shared literary activity. McKellar spoke about the benefits of literary events in regional communities, “I think something like a literary festival exposes [people who live in the Burdekin] to a different type of culture. This town is big on events and musical events, which is great, but this is a different culture, but a very important culture.”
Burdekin Creative Writers and Burdekin Night Writers are teaming up to publish their next anthology of writing, and both groups experienced a significant growth in numbers during 2024 as more members of the Burdekin community discovered their groups. Hippler attributed the growth to the visibility the groups gained from the launch of their anthology at the Burdekin Library, publicised on Facebook, and the reciprocal relationship they have established with local newspaper, Burdekin Life, which publishes poems from their anthology. Hippler observed that, “having our local newspaper come back has been a big help… they’re very good at communication.” This is indicative of the broader benefit gained by communities when there are institutions within the community that encourage and support creative practices – the members of the writers groups and the newspaper both benefit from the presence of these organisations in their area.
As a research team, Community Publishing in Regional Australia is investigating how community groups in regional Australia are using technology to publish and distribute books. You can subscribe to our Substack if you would like to read more about our research, or keep up to date with our activities.
