Follow Katya on

WordPress and Twitter

The purpose and drive behind my work with the North Parramatta Residents’ Action Group (‘NPRAG’) over the course of the semester was to volunteer my time and energy in a way that was of use to them—to do work, and to help them, in whatever ways they needed. As a small community group, single-handedly launching a campaign to protest development plans endorsed by big businesses and State governments alike, I quickly realised that they would put to good use any help and support—indeed this was something they told me very early on.

With that in mind, my final project was also always purposed for their use: I wasn’t sure what I was going to make, or indeed what sort of ‘research project’ I would be submitting, but I knew and I wanted whatever I did to be something that was the organic outgrowth of my work with the group, and most importantly something that NPRAG wanted and could use—be it for their own promotional, archival, sentimental (or other) purposes.

After some difficulty in ascertaining what sort of ‘final product’ the group wanted, they asked me to use the video and photographic footage I had gathered at their Fleet Street Heritage Precinct Symposium in a short 3—4 minute video. Suzette Meade, the president of NPRAG, expressed that such a video would be useful for their website in order to give people a succinct but engaging overview of the day. Ultimately, the symposium was important in NPRAG’s campaign against the development proposals, and was designed to facilitate greater public discussion about the precinct, the proposal, and community views on how the precinct could be better developed. Suzette said such a video would be useful in detailing what the day was about, who was there, why it was held, and some of the key ideas that were raised. Thus, in a way, by creating the video I was helping to further publicise NPRAG’s cause, and also in generating further discussion about the precinct and the development proposal.

Thus my final video consists of a ‘snippet’ of the key elements, attendees, and ideas of the day. I was adamant that the video be short, as I understood that anything longer would lose its effectiveness in quickly informing and engaging people about NPRAG’s message. This involved carefully combing through and selecting from several hours worth of footage to choose that which was most relevant (for example, choosing key quotes from the various speakers to encapsulate the core message of their presentations). Thus the ‘argument’ that this video seeks to convey is really NPRAG’s central cause and campaign: that this precinct is by all accounts incredibly historically significant, and should be protected and preserved. This was something that emerged from each of the speakers and discussions on the day, regardless of which group or interests were being represented. So this was an important message to convey.

Another (perhaps more ancillary) argument the video embodies is that of ‘legitimacy’. I believe that a large part of my role working as a history student in filming, editing, and creating this video was using sources to create a credible and public ‘voice’ (or image) for NPRAG as an organisation. Detailing the symposium was important to NPRAG because it was an incredibly successful day (both in terms of attendance by the public, representation by key academics and state and local representatives, and in the discussion and ideas generated on the day). Documenting this successful event therefore adds legitimacy to NPRAG’s campaign, and helps to achieve its goal of conveying itself as a proactive and community-participant organisation, rather than simply a heavily political, wholly-anti-development group.

Thus, I have sought to create a video which combines different types of camera angles, a mixture of video footage and photography, the overlay of soundtracks, and the use of text as well as image, in order to heighten the effectiveness of the video in reaching a wider audience and making people interested in NPRAG’s cause. This was perhaps one of my own arguments or purposes which I sought to interweave in my final project. My work with NPRAG really made me feel that the precinct and its historical significance is too-little known, and that it is crucial (both for the sake of the site’s protection and for the sharing of history generally) that more people should find out about its existence and its significance. This was a key motivating factor in the completion of this final video.

This belief also motivated me to create a personal blog, Writ in Water, which forms the second part of my final project. Wanting to help spread the word about the Fleet Street Heritage Precinct, I had originally hoped to write and generate content for NPRAG through a website that could be dedicated to the site itself. When this did not seem possible, I resolved that I would like to create a personal blog to recount and reflect on my experiences working with NPRAG, and to provide a platform to share (at least from a personal point of view) information about the importance of the site. My blog interweaves text and images, primary information (from my own experiences and what I had gathered) as well as secondary information (on the site’s history). These secondary sources were primarily websites of organisations such as NPRAG, or the Parramatta Female Factory Friends, or public information websites on the North Parramatta area (where secondary sources have been used, they have been credited and linked throughout my blog).

I designed this blog to be quite personal, to read in an anecdotal style, rather than to be affiliated with an official group. This is because I intend it to be a different way of engaging audiences about the precinct, in contrast to the more ‘informative’ mode of the symposium video I made. It is also in this way that I intend my blog to continue after this unit, and be shared by NPRAG and others in order to continue discussion about this issue.

— KATYA PESCE