Sydney
23 March 2003
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By Fr Tony Hennessy
As a Catholic priest in the diocese of Bathurst. I wish to bring to people’s attention some of the serious but less well known problems that can arise from the drought and the perception of it in cities like Sydney.
Over the past 12 months, much of Australia has suffered a severe drought that has had a devastating impact on farmers and many rural communities.
The impact on the local and national rural economy has been hard.
Many people are aware of some of the problems the drought has brought for the people on the land.
A serious problem that flows from the image of drought is that many towns often have tourist attractions that can be affected by the overall negative portrayal of the Australian countryside.
A very sad picture of country life, in the midst of drought, is often talked about and shown by the media, especially on television news.
For many, the images of empty dams, cracked soil and little grass, feeding stock by hand and having to worry daily about water supply are real and not media beat-ups.
This image of a drought-affected land can, however, adversely affect people’s thinking in the large cities and coastal regions when they are considering travelling and seeing inland Australia.
With the many media pictures of desolation, of a land ravaged by drought, some are deciding not to see the beautiful man-made and natural tourist attractions in country Australia that have not been affected by the drought.
Many of the rural towns in our diocese, while still depending heavily on farming, are also financially dependent on tourism.
When people do not visit these towns and tourist attractions due to a negative view induced by media images, it can have a negative economic impact on the town, too.
It affects them just as much as the drought affects the local farming economy.
The loss of a few jobs here and there or closure of one or two businesses can seriously affect small communities.
I know of a number of church groups in Sydney who, at one stage, were going to visit Cowra to see the Japanese Garden (pictured right and below).
They then decided not to visit this beautiful place after seeing and hearing the stories of the drought in the national media; they thought the
Japanese Garden would have been severely affected by the drought. It was not.
Through personal contact with people involved in tourism in other centres, such as Dubbo and Mudgee, one also hears of people cancelling visits to country tourist attractions because they believe they would not be worth visiting in the midst of a drought; this is not the case.
Tourism is something that is economically important not only for high profile areas like the Gold Coast or the Blue Mountains. Much of rural NSW needs tourism to continue to survive and grow.
There are stories of people from Sydney not wanting to burden some country towns and their tourist attractions by visiting them and using their water supplies.
Some rural towns do have water restrictions, but nearly all would welcome visitors who, by going to see the attractions of their area, financially boost the region and therefore often provide much needed employment in rural communities.
Indeed, sometimes visitors from Sydney and other larger urban areas who attend a tourist attraction in rural NSW are so attracted to that area that they decide to settle there, which is of great benefit to those regions.
As a Catholic priest, ministering in a rural diocese affected by drought, I have written this to show how we can perhaps help rural NSW in a positive way.
We can do this not only by offering up prayers for the ending of the drought and offering moral and practical support to those affected by it, but also by encouraging people in the cities to visit and enjoy the many great tourist attractions in rural NSW.
We would be supporting rural Australia in a very real and positive way while becoming aware of the beauty that is to be found and of the rich history and culture of our inland areas.
Fr Tony is parish priest at St Mary and St Joseph Parish, Orange.