The Pennants

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The General Store [side view, the centenary mural] 

This tweetyarn is an installment in my online series ...

 'An Outsider: Yarns from the fringe' ... 28 June - 5 July 2014, updated daily.

'The Pennants'
All rights reserved.

In 81, my hometown won Australia's Most Boring Town. Most fun to be had was reading the bowser to see if the numbers had changed over night.
— Siv Parker (@SivParker) July 1, 2014

Several locals disputed this and said it was more fun to lay flat on your back outside the General Store and count the nails in the ceiling.
— Siv Parker (@SivParker) July 1, 2014

A question was asked in Canberra, 'does the Minister intend to use his influence to improve road access, so that tourism may be encouraged?'
— Siv Parker (@SivParker) July 1, 2014

On hearing this, a local remarked, they'd have to first relocate the three sheep that spent most days asleep in the middle of the main road.
— Siv Parker (@SivParker) July 1, 2014

Three years into a drought and it was starting to bite. And then one man hatched a plan, to breath new life back into that little bush town.
— Siv Parker (@SivParker) July 1, 2014

He declared they were going to win the State Championship Lawn Bowls Competition. The only problems were no clubhouse, no team and no green.
— Siv Parker (@SivParker) July 1, 2014

He explained, to gather a team, 'I just go around and say, do you want to play, and if you don't want to play I just go to the next bloke.'
— Siv Parker (@SivParker) July 1, 2014

In no time at all, he had the minimum number to register a team, made up of four long armed shearers, two roustabouts and a cook in reserve.
— Siv Parker (@SivParker) July 1, 2014

When asked later, how they'd found a green in a drought, the team captain replied, 'we used the school hall, it's got carpet, wall to wall'.
— Siv Parker (@SivParker) July 1, 2014

Months later, they'd arrived at the championships, where many others gathered around, to pinpoint on the map, Australia's Most Boring Town.
— Siv Parker (@SivParker) July 1, 2014

Over several days the team progressed through the competition and created quite a buzz, so by the time they won they got a standing ovation.
— Siv Parker (@SivParker) July 1, 2014

The State Champion team returned home and attention followed them there. When asked how they felt, they said 'it's what we do here for fun'.
— Siv Parker (@SivParker) July 1, 2014

And so ends this #tweetyarn. Apologies for the delay. Technical issues. I'll collate it and post it on my blog. Thanks for interest! Night!
— Siv Parker (@SivParker) July 1, 2014

[-o-]

        I really enjoyed this yarn and I'll tell you why.

A year and a half ago, I was finding my feet on social media. 

I'd turned to Twitter and blogging because I just didn't fit in to any literary groups and I needed to find an outlet that suited my need for freedom of expression and creativity, and also was in urgent need of a means of promoting my work.

I'm the type of person who needs to work things out for my self - and against all advice I decided to start writing online, unedited (though I've always tried to keep it neat and tidy) and build a body of work that I could point to and say that is all mine.

Anyone who has experienced a major disappointment and had to start again, would know how that feels. 

My influences have always been the distinctive sound of the bush from the only place I know - my home. I purposely didn't look to see what other people were doing - online and on the page.

If you are an artist - the reason for being is for your own work, and copying another's creativity is as bad as taking credit for another artist's work. It's not just unethical - it's actually skin crawlingly awful if you value art, or specifically writing which in any medium, is what I do.

Early on I realised the number one rule of social media is everyone has their own style. It's near impossible to copy someone else convincingly because what works best is  revealing the unique personality behind the social media presence.

Much the same as any writing is all about the writer's voice.

If I had any advice for anyone - and I am often asked, 'but how do you make a story out of thin air' - I'd say concentrate on engaging people and work on your technical skills (and get yourself a computer that isn't prone to the black screen of death, not blue, black....) and just like any writing, I think you will develop a style of your own. 

The first time I was approached to have a tweet yarn published - Maisie May - was a surprise and an intriguing development. It had never occurred to me that anyone would want to do that, especially as by their very nature, tweetyarns are already published to a world wide audience.  

I'm keen to continue experimenting with multi media platforms  in the same way that got me here - alone and independent - but I am very excited to come across an opportunity to produce content for a work that will be the first of it's kind. (December 2014)

None of my body of work - the social media, the blogging, the writing in any form - would have been possible if I'd stuck with existing networks, and their more traditional routes for emerging writers. 

Tonight's tweetyarn emerged after a day of tweet chats around the pastoral industry - starting with interaction with the day's ABC Radio National show Bush Telegraph and continuing over the following ten hours, with tweeps sharing family histories, personal anecdotes and in one case - and what I hope to continue, a spontaneous collaboration. 

This was always my intention of what a tweetyarn is - it's a continuation of a conversation, a work, a story, across platforms. 

The Aboriginal station workers, the domestics, the shearers and the drovers all made an incalculable and significant contribution to Australia's prosperity. They were not fully compensated for their labour, and they were working on lands that they had been dispossessed of, and then up till the middle of the last century, in many cases, forced to work and, among other controls, denied freedom to leave.

@SivParker @CGLawyers @RNBushTele every conceivable burden and so many inconceivable ones too.
— Drew White (@litbright) July 1, 2014

It is a deep sadness for me personally and for my family, but these days, I take some comfort in knowing that this history and their legacy is slowly becoming more common knowledge. Righting the wrong that is Stolen Wages will continue to be a challenge and a necessity if fairness and mateship is truly valued.

But for now - I hope you enjoy my tweetyarn and please feel free to find me on Twitter.

And thanks to Rhianna Patrick - talented and clever host of Awaye! for the opportunity for me to promote my work.  

There are new writers, new genres, new platforms, and an opportunity for artists like me - who are only artists for the freedom it brings - to follow our ambitions. 

And like all my commissions to date - please feel free to contact me directly via my About page or on Twitter.

'In 81, my hometown won Australia's Most Boring Town.' #tweetyarn OnDusk: The Pennants http://t.co/jANBOuOc2P
— Siv Parker (@SivParker) July 1, 2014