2015
08.18
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Front Cover of Eco Bikeway Brochure. PLEASE CLICK ON ALL IMAGES TO ENLARGE

MY VISION FOR BUNDABERG (AUSTRALIA) IN 1998 SEEMS TO BE HAPPENING . . . UNCANNY?

Nothing like a bit of self trumpet-blowing on occasions.

I sent this 4-page prototype brochure to The Bundaberg Regional Council in 1998 – of my vision for Bundaberg  as a future “Eco-Bikeway Capital of Australia.” My letter to Council is dated “16th October 1998.” I created the brochure for my Bachelor of Arts degree. It was an originally-devised assignment as part of an Environmental Studies major.

With hindsight, I find it all rather naïve. Well, the layout and type. But it was all pre-computer for me at the time – so a lot of real (non digital) ‘cut n paste’ was involved. But the ‘futuristic’  ideas were all there: To do a make-over of the Burnett River bank on  Quay Street – shops and restaurants and the like. The illustration here represents the river bank near The Spinnaker restaurant, in Quay Street.

Then there are the bicycle paths, linking Bundaberg city to all beach areas and – in particular – a shady bicycle ride/walk to the Bargara beach area. From there, all other beach areas were to be linked up with similar bikeways.

The original idea for the brochure came to me in 1997, when I bought some ‘fish n chips’ in Bundaberg. Then I tried in vain to find a shady tree along the road to Bargara. I wanted to eat my chips in the cool of a shady tree. But despite driving for miles, not one. Not a single tree along the roadside. It is not much different today either, unfortunately.

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Well, now it all seems a bit uncanny. A lot of these projects seem to be coming to pass. A bikeway to Bargara was in the local newspaper The Bundaberg News Mail recently; bicycle paths turning up everywhere in town. And now, the area in my illustration of the Burnett River (Quay Street) is evidently having a major make-over with shops, restaurants, and the like.

Yes, it is all very uncanny, each time I open the paper and see more of my brochure’s ideas being implemented. Coincidence maybe. Except that I sent the brochure all that time ago. So there is an actual, physical connection. A paper trail. I would like to think that my brochure had something to do with it all. But who knows? You can’t copyright an idea, unfortunately. And besides, usually artists are just the plebs who make little money (except for a few exceptions). Money. Wealth. That is for all those men and women in suits who come in later – take a good idea, and get paid a king’s ransom to implement it. I’ll be happy, idling along doing my Art Blog, and enjoying life. And maybe if Bundaberg puts in some more creative ideas, I’ll be even more happy. But then, I wouldn’t say no to a street named after me. Or my nickname ‘Meals.’ That area down near the river . . . “Meals’ Way” . . . has a good restauranty ring to it . . . I can see it all now . . .

 

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