I’ve been audio storytelling since I studied radio journalism at the age of 21. I had been working as a freelance print journalist for a couple of years prior to this but there was something about the immediacy and warmth of radio that had me hooked. I went on to work in community radio and eventually as an ABC Radio Rural Reporter based in Dubbo NSW in the early 1990s, working across the State contributing stories to the ABC Western Plains Breakfast Program, NSW Country Hour and Radio National.
In this age of podcasting, I’ve noticed that sometimes it’s the little stories that don’t get told—the quieter voices beyond the city lights, those from the past, or those we just don’t take the time to listen to. These are voices with place-based stories of connection that shape our identity and the places we call home. This page is a link to some of the stories I’ve gathered and shared over the past five years.
Placecloud.io
Placecloud hosts short podcasts (“viewpoints”) on the places around you. Viewpoints can focus on historic buildings, quirky locations, hidden gems, so that you can discover new places to visit. The platform was created by Babak Fakhamzadeh, who is also one of the founders of walk · listen · create (WLC), the home of walking artists and artist walkers. WLC took responsibility of Placecloud in 2023.
An Aussie in Bloomsbury, December 2023
This viewpoint comes on the back of a visit I made to the UK in July-September 2023, where I walked some of the streets of Bloomsbury, Australian author, Stella Miles Franklin did in the early years of the 20th century, when she lived and worked in London.
Bridging History (Dubbo), April 2024
1. Dundullimal Railway Bridge
2. LH Ford Bridge
3. Serisier Bridge
The Bridging History series of viewpoints tell the history of the City of Dubbo on Wiradjuri Country in Central West NSW, between 1818 and 2024, and how the river’s path through the centre of the city continues to shape the landscape and the people. It’s a tale of the colonisation and settlement through built infrastructure that changed the Wambuul Macquarie River forever. The bridges cross water and land with a much older story to tell. Today, you can cross all three bridge sites by walking, running or cycling the Tracker Riley Cycleway that loops around the river.
Vaticinor, 2022-23
As part of the Vaticinor project, the hopes and fears of regional communities in a post-carbon world were gathered from across regions of heavy renewable infrastructure investment who are on the coal face of rapid change. There are 18 stories in the Vaticinor series, all of which were transcribed for presentation in exhibition in 2023.
These stories will become available, in part, at the conclusion of the public exhibition of this work in late 2024.
Sonic Territories: Wambuul, 2022
Stories of connection to the Wambuul Macquarie River between Wellington, Dubbo and Narromine were gathered over several months in the first stage of this project in 2022. It’s hoped this collection will grow.
Mosses and Marshes Story Map, 2019-2022
Stories of connection to the internationally important Macquarie Marshes wetlands of central north-western New South Wales were collected over three years of the Mosses and Marshes project.
kvgoldsmithart.com 