OMOA CALL TO THE OUTBACK RESIDENTS

OMOA will celebrate the diversity of the Australian outback regions, by revealing the contemporary spirit of the outback and its inhabitants. It is expected to become a major tourism drawcard in Queensland, complementing existing tourism attractions.

OMOA ‘s focus is about the present and future of the outback, stories of the lands, stories of the people and future stories. For example, it will display facts about climate change in the outback and the coping mechanisms that inhabitants have engineered to be resilient and the solutions that they are still working on (not only in Qld, but for all the Australian outback).

While OMOA construction will start in a few months, we are also preparing the exhibitions.

This call is for Outback Residents to contribute to the opening exhibitions.

Residents can contribute to as many calls they wish to; however, we cannot guarantee the use of all the data received.

The data collection will close on April 30th, 2023.

CONSENT

By sending their stories, postcards and soil samples, participants automatically give consent to the following:

• That the purpose of participating is the collection of stories and items that will be used to create an exhibition for OMOA;
• That the data may be displayed in identified form or unidentified (to be specified by the participant) , in full or in part in the OMOA exhibition;
• They understand that there will be no direct benefit to them;
• That their participation in this call is voluntary;
• That if they have any additional questions, they can contact the curator Professor Karine Dupre k.dupre@griffith.edu.au;

Please send all the digital items (e.g. stories, scanned postcards) to omoacharleville@gmail.com

Please send all physical items to

Griffith University Gold Coast Campus

Professor Karine Dupre G39- 3.33

4215 Southport QLD

CALLS

CALL 1: COVID

For this exhibit, we are looking for Outback Residents to tell us about their experience of COVID and its impact on their daily life. For example, it could include stories

• of the lockdown periods
• on how COVID changed their life (or not) in terms of family relationships, work, relationship to the Outback, etc.

If you are interested, please send a text of 5 pages maximum (don’t worry, 5 lines only is also very good!) and, if possible, 1 to 3 pictures to illustrate your text.

CALL 2: TODAY’S WOMEN & MEN OF THE OUTBACK

For this exhibit, we are looking for Outback Residents to tell us about themselves, their mother/father, their sisters/brothers, aunties/uncles or any special woman/man in their life. Specifically,

• How did you find love?
• What makes you happy/ sad in the outback?
• What are the biggest challenges you face in the outback?
• What are the biggest strengths you have developed in the outback?
• What is for you a resilient woman/man?
• What do you think could be changed in the outback and why?

If you are interested, please send a text of 5 pages maximum (don’t worry, 5 lines only is also very good!) and, if possible, 1 to 3 pictures to illustrate your text (for example portrait of the woman and a picture showcasing her relationship with the outback).

Important note: we are looking for contemporary stories, from WWII onward.

CALL 3: POSTCARDS

For this exhibit, we are looking for donation of postcards featuring

• outback landmarks
• outback landscape
• outback advertising
• outback towns

Please send us your postcard(s) or a digitised version (minimum 1MB)

CALL 4: SUSTAINABILITY & INNOVATION IN THE OUTBACK

For this exhibit, we are looking for projects that are symbolising sustainability and innovations in the outback. For example, it could include projects that relate to

• innovation in terms of agriculture, education, technologies, daily life, policies, etc
• sustainability in terms of carbon emission/retention, fuel; resilience of the land, etc.
• what is done today and preparing for tomorrow

If you are interested, please send a text of 2 pages maximum with a weblink to the project and, if possible, 1 to 3 pictures to illustrate your text.

CALL 5: COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

For this exhibit, we are looking for projects, associations, charities that are aiming at improving the Outback and the daily life of Outback Residents.

If you know any, please send a text of 5 sentences maximum with a weblink and, if possible, 1 to 3 pictures to illustrate your text.

CALL 6: SOIL COLLECTION

In one room of OMOA, we will be displaying the different soils of the Australian Outback.

Please send us the equivalent of a full glass with the exact location (e.g. from google map coordinates) where this soil has been sampled from.