PO Box 1389
Darlinghurst NSW 1300
Telephone 02 9319 5090
Mobile 0425 312 334
info@redroomcompany.org
ABN 35 103 464 446
MEDIA RELEASE
15 November 2009
DUFFLE BAGS OPENING TO REVEAL ALL
Just what Australians think and feel about the oceans that
surround them will be revealed at a special celebration event on
Thursday Island tomorrow.
Two duffle bags containing hundreds of poems contributed by the general public over the past
six weeks, together with verse from commissioned poets, will be opened and the contents read
at a community gathering at the Gab Titui Cultural Centre.
The poems were collected at various ports as part of ship voyages along the east and west
coasts for the national literary project Sea Things – a scheme aimed at building on Australia's
maritime poetry tradition in a contemporary context.
The “poetic cargo” – from people of all ages and from all walks of life - has been kept secret
throughout.
“The community gathering on Thursday Island represents the ‘big revelation’,” comments
Johanna Featherstone, the Artistic Director of The Red Room Company, the project organiser.
“Right now we don’t know what contributors have been writing. But given the nature of the
travels we are expecting the works to contain many voices, themes and surprises.
“The objective of the project was to ask people to imagine the nation’s sea history through new
work that can be shared nationally and internationally through print, audio, film and web forms.
“It will be exciting to see just what people think about the oceans and waterways that guide their
lifestyles and which have been such a vital and impactive part of the nation’s history.”
Poems written in recent weeks by students of the Tagai State College and from other local
schools will be included in a workshop inspired by the project. Hobart-based poet Graeme Miles
will read a new work at the community gathering.
After events on Thursday Island the complete set of works will be flown to Sydney for a finale
public performance on Sydney Harbour on 26 November.
A special guest at the Sydney performance will be a student from Thursday Island, whose work
was judged the most evocative.
What: Grand opening of the Sea Things Duffle Bags. Time: 5pm
When: Monday, 16 November. Where: Gab Titui Cultural Centre, Thursday Island
Media inquiries: Johanna Featherstone, Red Room Company, on 0425 312 334, or Graham
Cassidy, Cato Counsel, on 0419 202 317
The Red Room Company creates, promotes and publishes a spectrum of poetry by Australian writers, in unusual
ways. The company is not-for-profit and is supported by The Vincent Fairfax Family Foundation, The Australia
Council for the Arts, Arts NSW, The Ian Potter Foundation and The Keir Foundation.
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