PHILLIP Island’s Festival of Stories, staged mostly at the new Berninneit Cultural Centre in Cowes at the weekend, had a line-up of speakers that would have done a statewide or national literary event proud.
And after starting off modestly enough with an audience of 50 or so to hear two former Jerilderie women, Rosalie Ham and Sue Maslin, describe how they took Rosalie’s book, The Dressmaker, to world acclaim in the Kate Winslet film of the same name, the event built up a head of steam across the weekend.
Next up on Saturday was aboriginal writer Veronica Gorrie, who as a Gunai/Kurnai woman was brought up in Gippsland, later finding her way to Queensland where for 10 years, between 2001 and 2011, she was a police officer in the Queensland Police Service.
Her first book, Black and Blue: A memoir of racism and resilience, was a product of that experience reflecting on her Aboriginal heritage and the decade she spent in the police force. Released in 2021 Black and Blue won the 2022 Victorian Prize for Literature, one of Australia's richest literary awards.
She has followed up with a new book ‘When Cops Are Criminals’ which “brings together the accounts of survivors, campaigners, and academics, exploring different forms of criminal behaviour by police, the factors that contribute to it, the impact it has on victims, and the challenges of holding perpetrators accountable”.
Now living on country in East Gippsland, Veronica has also written a play, Nullung, presented as a play reading by Melbourne Theatre Company in 2021, the first known time the Gunai language was featured in a stage performance.
Saturday afternoon featured a presentation by ABC Radio host Michael Cathcart with journalist, playwright and author, Hannie Rayson, famous for writing the iconic Australian play Hotel Sorrento, first performed in 1990, but also a number of other acclaimed works.
And also, former ABC journalist Kerry O’Brien on ‘a life in journalism’ and author/activist Rosie Batty with the ABC’s Jacinta Parsons in the evening.
There was a breakout event at The Gurdies Winery on Saturday evening with Wendy Harmer and Alan Pentland.
By Sunday morning audiences in the Berninneit auditorium had swelled past the 100 mark to hear a session titled ‘Truth in Journalism’ with Kerry O’Brien and award-winning freelance journalist and the author of 13 books Margaret Simons, moderated by Jacinta Parsons.
Among the takeaways from the session were, according to Ms Simons, that artificial intelligence (AI) isn’t likely to have the impact on journalism that was first feared, and according to Mr O’Brien, that readers have a fundamental responsibility to educate themselves and become more savvy about which news services they are prepared to trust and what they can believe.
Ms Simons said it was also a pivotal time for traditional media with Facebook, the platform formerly know as Twitter and other social media moving away from news, creating something of a vacuum in delivery.
She said that the bigger news companies, which had seen their advertising revenue eroded by the tech giants, were now fighting back, getting as much as 50% of their revenue from readers who were prepared to pay for news they could trust, declaring that she is currently working for The Guardian in Australia and other clients as a freelancer.
The weekend of stories continued on with Wendy Harmer and Hannie Rayson talking about self-perception and identity with a social session following, including music by Marty Box.
Island Story Gatherers President Lois Gaskin was delighted with the success of the weekend, the turnout by the community and the inciteful presentations from a high calibre of speakers.
“We’re only a small committee and they put in 100s of hours to make it a success. We’re very committed and passionate and I think we’ve really punched above out weight in what we have been able to deliver,” said Ms Gaskin during the weekend.
“We’ve been delighted with the speakers and the glowing feedback we’ve received from the audience,” she said.
Opening the event on Saturday morning, Bass Coast Mayor Cr Clare Le Serve said the council and the region had a strong commitment to arts and culture, including this weekend when the shire was hosting the Inverloch Jazz Festival at one end and the festival of stories at the other.
“In Bass Coast we pride ourselves on having a great arts and cultural program. It provides us with inspiration in our lives and is an expression of the power of creative thinking,” Cr Le Serve said.
Bass MP Jordan Crugnale also attended the opening of the Phillip Island Festival of Stories.