Coordinators: Phillip Roe, Helen Ester, Karl Neuenfeldt, Angela Schlotzer

Members:

Postgraduate Supervisor
Helen Ester
Karl NeuenfeldtYes
Angela Schlotzer
Grayson Cooke
Ross Maguire
Phillip RoeYes
John Firth (ITD)
Lionel Evans
Deirdre Fagan-Pagliano
Jonathon Pagliano
Lyn Costigan
Carole Colville
Warwick Mules (AHS)Yes
Wendy Davis (AHS)
Seth Keen (ANU)

Vision/Mission:

A media research group to develop and encourage media and media arts activities and projects (both practical and research based), especially with local communities on campus and within the Wide-bay Burnett and other regional areas.

Research Directions:

The general research direction of the BMRG concerns both a practical and theoretical engagement with media/new media generally, and within regional areas.  This involves actual engagement with local media/arts related projects on the one hand, and on the other, research into media/new media theory and practice, especially with regard to impact on local media.

Goals: To encourage, facilitate and engage in media and arts related projects, especially in local regions and local communities; and
To conduct research in relation to media, the new media environment, and the impacts on local community and regional media.; and
To facilitate student access and involvement in community media projects and industry liaison activities.

Current Research Projects:

Projects Completed during previous 12 months

“Island Footprints”
Over a forty year period from the mid 19th century, nearly sixty thousand men were brought to Australia from the islands in the Western Pacific-their labour would provide the backbone for the establishment of the sugar industry in Queensland. This is a story about survival, family, faith, and the South Sea Islanders' long struggle for recognition.

Funded by the ABC Regional Development Fund, and produced as a nationally broadcast 1 hour radio documentary for the ABC Radio National Hindsight program (broadcast 17 October 2004), and additionally as 6 x 4 minute segments for ABC local radio (broadcast January 2005, and to be repeated during the next few months).

“Sweet as . . . ”
An exhibition of photographic work by Grayson Cooke, taken as part of the “Sweetsounds” project, was held in Bundaberg in January 2005. Printing and framing for the exhibition was funded by CQU Bundaberg and purchased for their private collection.

“Conference Series”
in collaboration with Transformations online journal.
[http://transformations.cqu.edu.au/conferences/conferences.shtml ]
The first conference, a highly successful one day event titled “Concepts for Change” was held in Bundaberg on 5th November 2004 with Associate Professor Darren Tofts from Swinburne University of Technology as the keynote speaker. 

 “Boom Baby Boom Exhibition”   
A project in conjunction with Bundaberg Arts Centre with the brief “To present a quality contemporary exhibition of visual art with strong educational content based on the impact and influence of the Baby Boomer generation and to highlight the importance and vitality of art and culture in the Bundaberg region”. The exhibition was held in Bundaberg in 2004 and is currently on a national tour of 12 centres which will be completed in August 2006. On May 7, Ass. Prof. Karl Neuenfeldt opened the Hervey Bay exhibition on this tour.

“The Hazzards”
Production of an exhibition and archives of regional arts practice of Bundaberg artists Charles and Sheena Hazzard who have worked in multimedia since the early 1950s.

Projects in Planning/Production

“Source to Sea: Sounds and Stories from Burnett River Country”
This is a multimedia project recording the Aboriginal landscape of the Burnett River from source to sea. It will provide glimpses of a continuing association using photographs of its landscapes, sound recordings of its soundscapes and the cultural importance of the river to both Aboriginal and South Sea Islander people. The project will capture some of the features of this rapidly changing environment and indeed the associated cultural changes of its people. It will illustrate the depth of Indigenous association with the river, coastal and marine areas and will be an invaluable resource to land managers, Traditional Owners, educators and community alike.

This project has already attracted $21,000 of funding from the Australian Government Envirofund, and is pursuing further funding for what is envisaged as a $40,000 project. The project is being run in collaboration with the Burnett-Mary Regional Group for Natural Resource Management and is expected to be completed in early 2006.

"Sweet Sounds from a Sugar Town: Dane Costigan "  
This project incorporates the soundscapes, rhythms and social histories of the sugar industry of the Bundaberg and Mackay regions with the drumming and compositional talents of 20 years old Bundaberg musician Dane Costigan. This is part of a larger and broader “Sugarsounds” project which will include and combine video, music and sounds of the sugar industry. The current project has attracted funding of approximately $10,000 from RCotA, $5000 from an industry partner via the National Library of Australia, with matching $5000 from CQU collaborative industry funding. Still images from some of the associated work can be seen at [http://bmrg.cqu.edu.au/sugarsounds/sugarsounds.shtml ]

“Conference Series”
in collaboration with Transformations online journal. [http://transformations.cqu.edu.au/conferences/conferences.shtml ]
The second conference, “Making Badlands”, will be a 2 day event held on the 1st and 2nd of December 2005 at the CQU Bundaberg campus. Prof. Ross Gibson, Professor of New Media and Digital Culture, Faculty of Design, Architecture and Building, University of Technology Sydney will be the keynote speaker.

“Bundaberg Rum Visitor’s Centre” 
During 2005 Bundaberg Rum is commencing construction of a new Visitor’s Centre on their current Bundaberg site. BR intend this Visitor’s Centre to be a world-class tourist attraction. To this end, in late 2004 BR approached the BMRG with a view towards developing a relationship that would see the BMRG involved in the design and production of interactive multimedia elements for inclusion in the Visitor’s Centre. The BMRG and Bundaberg Rum have recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding stating that BMRG will work towards producing interactive content for certain parts of the new Visitor’s Centre, and that Bundaberg Rum also agrees to work with BMRG and the Bachelor of Multimedia Studies to enable multimedia students to produce or be involved in the production of interactive content for the Centre.

“Australian Stockman’s Hall of Fame”
The Australian Stockman’s Hall of Fame approached the Faculty of Informatics and Communication in late 2004 about forming a relationship that involved students producing content for various events. The first of these events is the Annual Drovers Reunion; the BMRG have brokered a relationship that has 2 Bundaberg students producing a multimedia presentation for the Reunion in late April 2005.

Postgraduate Research Students:

Name / Program / Research Topic

Lionel Evans / PhD program / Organisational communication – Disability groups

Grayson Cooke / Phd /  Bio/techno/Logo – submitted 2005

Angelika Scholtzer / Masters / Information systems & education

Seth Keen / Masters / New Media Video Practice and Theory – completed 2005