26 February 2010
The map has moved
Sadly, I just logged on to update Transmission Lines, only to learn that Platial, the platform that hosts my map, is going under. All Platial widgets on the blog have been disabled. I have managed to partly export the map file to re-establish it on Google Maps but the photographs are not displaying. The map is now online and embedded in the blog, but I will need to restore the photographs. In the interim, you can look at the photos on flickr or facebook.
24 February 2010
A growing EPT family!
Further to my previous post, I received a long email from Leo di Rocco, son and nephew of two former EPT workers. I did ask my mother about this family, and she said that she had heard my father make reference to the name but didn't know the people. From what Leo has explained, his family members and my father weren't working in same the places. I so loved receiving this email - he expresses sentiments very similar to mine. As the children of migrant workers, we are always proud of what our families have contributed to this country. However, I should let Leo speak for himself as he has kindly given me permission to post his email to this blog. He also promises to send some photos.
Hello Linda,
My name is Leo Di Rocco and I saw your web page at least a year ago. I was just surfing the net and came across it. I must say I was impressed. I sent you a lengthy message but I believe you did not receive it. My brother recently contacted you and I hope this email finds you well. You appear to have the same sentiment about your fathers involvement with EPT as we do. EPT played a huge role in our family. My dad Donato Di Rocco (operaio specializato) started working with SAE in 1938 before the second world war and in 1951 together with my uncle Camillo Di Rocco (cuoco) came to Australia with EPT, they were part of the original 20 man contingent that arrived and undertook to build transmission lines. They endured many hardships but under all conditions they did not falter and the job got done. They were part of a greater family which was EPT, the modus operandi was set and the company flourished due to the attitude of these men including your dad..
To undertake and tell their story would be a huge task. The men that made up EPT were very unique they were given tasks, opportunity to prove themselves and gave all their ability to criss cross this country and put transmission lines through sometimes very difficult and dangerous places. Rain, hail and/or shine the line went through. The Australian Government at the time gave this team an opportunity to build and they did..A group of men mainly Italian were creative and specialised in setting up new procedures in making the building of transmission lines easier faster and safer.Although at times they had to rely on pure muscle power to get the job done they were undeterred.. I was with EPT as a young graduate engineer the construction manager told me, and I have never forgotten this "Men are not good for nothing they are good for something we need to find out what that is"..
EPT become and was a force in the construction industry it had a very large fleet of vehicles, specialised construction equipment and plant along with an enviable fleet of cranes of every shape, size and capacity.
The years between 1951 and 1980 were the formative years, the ensuing years to 1988 saw the demise as the company could no longer exist in its shape in a changing economic climate, well at least that is what the powers to be led us to believe . I remember as a youngster riding alongside my dad in world war two surplus jeeps and trucks that were used in construction. He would take me from Marayong depot too Dural or Bonnyrig i got a real buzz out of that and my dad telling me to study and get some qualifications or I would have to work hard to make a living, all I was thinking was this life would be for me, wide open spaces. My uncle would prepare a good Traditional italian meal (pasta asciutta and steak for seconds) for the many men that returned from a solid days work. You need to keep the troops fed. EPT camps were fitted out with great kitchens, food was plentiful (the list of food would be to long to describe but just think of a good delicatessen or the buffet breakfast at the hilton) at breakfast there was a variety of foods to eat and one knew to pack a good lunch as the day was going to be long and hard..
Unfortunately the corporate mentality crept in, greed, asset stripping and all value of the past forgotten brought in the demise of Oriolos EPT. I for one experienced the fraternity that existed it is something one cannot forget and it will be difficult to recreate. The chapel on the hill still exists but it fights for its existence, it serves the Italian community of Blacktown, the Italian community that was brought together because of EPT. Inside the church are two plaques that list all the people that died during their service with the company, this in itself is unheard of only men that fight in wars end up on a monument in the town square the resided in before going to war... A company with its own chapel and priest... Many of the older guys of EPT have passed away but many who are in their eighties reflect and talk about their experiences fondly.
There must be hundreds of photographs layng in personal albums... It would be a huge project to bring all the information together but it could be a worthwhile outcome for someone to put it all together.. Anyhow, although I did not know your dad, yourself or his family I feel that I do know you and I do understand how you feel and rightly so we share proudly in their contributions.
Regards
Leo Di Rocco
Hello Linda,
My name is Leo Di Rocco and I saw your web page at least a year ago. I was just surfing the net and came across it. I must say I was impressed. I sent you a lengthy message but I believe you did not receive it. My brother recently contacted you and I hope this email finds you well. You appear to have the same sentiment about your fathers involvement with EPT as we do. EPT played a huge role in our family. My dad Donato Di Rocco (operaio specializato) started working with SAE in 1938 before the second world war and in 1951 together with my uncle Camillo Di Rocco (cuoco) came to Australia with EPT, they were part of the original 20 man contingent that arrived and undertook to build transmission lines. They endured many hardships but under all conditions they did not falter and the job got done. They were part of a greater family which was EPT, the modus operandi was set and the company flourished due to the attitude of these men including your dad..
To undertake and tell their story would be a huge task. The men that made up EPT were very unique they were given tasks, opportunity to prove themselves and gave all their ability to criss cross this country and put transmission lines through sometimes very difficult and dangerous places. Rain, hail and/or shine the line went through. The Australian Government at the time gave this team an opportunity to build and they did..A group of men mainly Italian were creative and specialised in setting up new procedures in making the building of transmission lines easier faster and safer.Although at times they had to rely on pure muscle power to get the job done they were undeterred.. I was with EPT as a young graduate engineer the construction manager told me, and I have never forgotten this "Men are not good for nothing they are good for something we need to find out what that is"..
EPT become and was a force in the construction industry it had a very large fleet of vehicles, specialised construction equipment and plant along with an enviable fleet of cranes of every shape, size and capacity.
The years between 1951 and 1980 were the formative years, the ensuing years to 1988 saw the demise as the company could no longer exist in its shape in a changing economic climate, well at least that is what the powers to be led us to believe . I remember as a youngster riding alongside my dad in world war two surplus jeeps and trucks that were used in construction. He would take me from Marayong depot too Dural or Bonnyrig i got a real buzz out of that and my dad telling me to study and get some qualifications or I would have to work hard to make a living, all I was thinking was this life would be for me, wide open spaces. My uncle would prepare a good Traditional italian meal (pasta asciutta and steak for seconds) for the many men that returned from a solid days work. You need to keep the troops fed. EPT camps were fitted out with great kitchens, food was plentiful (the list of food would be to long to describe but just think of a good delicatessen or the buffet breakfast at the hilton) at breakfast there was a variety of foods to eat and one knew to pack a good lunch as the day was going to be long and hard..
Unfortunately the corporate mentality crept in, greed, asset stripping and all value of the past forgotten brought in the demise of Oriolos EPT. I for one experienced the fraternity that existed it is something one cannot forget and it will be difficult to recreate. The chapel on the hill still exists but it fights for its existence, it serves the Italian community of Blacktown, the Italian community that was brought together because of EPT. Inside the church are two plaques that list all the people that died during their service with the company, this in itself is unheard of only men that fight in wars end up on a monument in the town square the resided in before going to war... A company with its own chapel and priest... Many of the older guys of EPT have passed away but many who are in their eighties reflect and talk about their experiences fondly.
There must be hundreds of photographs layng in personal albums... It would be a huge project to bring all the information together but it could be a worthwhile outcome for someone to put it all together.. Anyhow, although I did not know your dad, yourself or his family I feel that I do know you and I do understand how you feel and rightly so we share proudly in their contributions.
Regards
Leo Di Rocco
17 February 2010
Another child of EPT
This week, I received a message via facebook from a man who wondered whether our respective fathers had worked together in Sydney. Even though I've received only a small number of messages from people who have had some involvement in EPT, I didn't anticipate that the Transmission Lines project would result in any networking among the children of former EPT workers, both in Australia and overseas.
In the message, the sender explained that his father worked at EPT and his uncle was a cook in the outer Sydney camp at Marayong, where my father lived for a couple of years. The cooks in these camps played a vital role and I remember my father often talking about the camp cooks and the good food he and his fellow workers enjoyed.
I'll investigate this story with my mother who, after marriage, sometimes lived in the camps as well, working in the kitchen. If memory serves, I believe she was living at Marayong and that an EPT cook was responsible for teaching her how to cook.
In the message, the sender explained that his father worked at EPT and his uncle was a cook in the outer Sydney camp at Marayong, where my father lived for a couple of years. The cooks in these camps played a vital role and I remember my father often talking about the camp cooks and the good food he and his fellow workers enjoyed.
I'll investigate this story with my mother who, after marriage, sometimes lived in the camps as well, working in the kitchen. If memory serves, I believe she was living at Marayong and that an EPT cook was responsible for teaching her how to cook.
26 March 2009
The Making of Modern Australia
This morning I emailed the ABC project, The Making of Modern Australia, to ask if I could include some extracts from Transmission Lines. I received a positive response with the suggestioned that I write a bit of a story about my father's experience working as a rigger and linesman, some anecdote from his past, and include a photo or two, and some audio perhaps, from your archives. The story of energy infrastructure (and the people who ‘powered’ it) is very much one of modernity and progress in Australia (as well as migration and multiculturalism), so I am delighted to be able to include an extract from it!
The Making of Modern Australia is a new online history project – and soon to be ABC TV series – that is inviting people from all over Australia to tell their personal and family history stories online. As both a broadband project and TV series, The Making of Modern Australia will be an unofficial people’s history, with individuals and families sharing their stories of life in Australia since 1945.
By logging onto www.makingaustralia.com.au people can upload their stories through a combination of photos, home movies, live webcams, sound recordings and text. Dust off the old family albums, or finally grab a digital camera and interview a friend or relative about what life was like for them growing up, getting married and making a home in Australia.
Those interested in having their family stories featured in the TV series are urged to get started and upload their material before mid-April. All stories will be showcased on the website as a lasting record for others to enjoy and comment on.
If you’d like more information on the project, visit the website or contact Elissa McKeand on 02 8568 3100 or email elissa.mckeand@essential-media.com
Post your story to PO Box 283 Annandale NSW 2038.
The Making of Modern Australia is a new online history project – and soon to be ABC TV series – that is inviting people from all over Australia to tell their personal and family history stories online. As both a broadband project and TV series, The Making of Modern Australia will be an unofficial people’s history, with individuals and families sharing their stories of life in Australia since 1945.
By logging onto www.makingaustralia.com.au people can upload their stories through a combination of photos, home movies, live webcams, sound recordings and text. Dust off the old family albums, or finally grab a digital camera and interview a friend or relative about what life was like for them growing up, getting married and making a home in Australia.
Those interested in having their family stories featured in the TV series are urged to get started and upload their material before mid-April. All stories will be showcased on the website as a lasting record for others to enjoy and comment on.
If you’d like more information on the project, visit the website or contact Elissa McKeand on 02 8568 3100 or email elissa.mckeand@essential-media.com
Post your story to PO Box 283 Annandale NSW 2038.
29 August 2008
Photographs from SLQ talk
My partner, John, took some photographs of me speaking at the State Library recently. Here are a couple of them. Top is me speaking and below is Helen Cole and me having a catch up and cup of tea afterwards.
22 August 2008
Extract from my SLQ presentation, 16 August
Notes and extracts from my presentation at the SLQ on Saturday, 16 August.
As a writer-artist who works with text and narrative, I am interested in the possibilities of artist publishing. I am interested in how these media and publications can bring the personal and the public into contact, making the personal a little more exposed and the public a little more private. I only ever make small overtures to these ideas, rarely grand statements or gestures. So I do acknowledge that I am just scratching the surface and going for the obvious. I'm also defining some limits for users - this isn't a utopian, wikinomics type experience - in terms of what can be added or changed on the sites. So there are many other places you can go with Web 2.0 like Wiki and video sharing and other things.
There's also a lot of conversation happening in the background of the work. Uncovering all these materials - the map, the photographs and the tapes - has prompted conversations around the family circle. Just a couple of weeks ago, my older sister and I were driving off the Gateway Bridge at the southern end where we encountered a fairly impressive and dense array of transmission lines. My sister asked me, "Do you remember dad calling them alta linea?" Alta linea is the Italian for 'high lines'. That is probably the title I should give the project or some addition to it in the future.
The biting question is what this project has to do with artists' books. For me, it's always interesting to look at things from the outer edge. I'm not for a second suggesting that this work is an artist's book, but I do suggest that it shares some commonalities with artists' books. There is a line of flight (or several lines of flight) between them. We know they are not the same, but the boundary that distinguishes them is quite unclear. And there's been quite a lot of literature that talks about tendencies in artists books and publishing. At a Mackay Artists' Book Forum a few years ago, Sydney-based artist Nola Farman talked about the 'fugitive'. And for me that's a exhilaratingly uncertain and rebellious space to inhabit. So I think, in these electronic spaces, we're really exploring multiple literacies, perhaps fugitive literacies. And there is even more literature about the question of digital literacies. But, as Nola says in her conference paper, the narrative of the fugitive is usually unresolved. When a something (an object, subject, event) ceases to be on the run or in hiding, it ceases to be fugitive.
My sense of the work is that it doesn't - can't - stay still. It needs to be invented and reinvented. So I'm also exploring ways of developing this work as an online book using the Diffusion Generator produced by Proboscis, a UK artist group and consultancy. The eventual book will be downloadable for free. I'm also thinking about a series of prints using the photographs. There's more that can be done with elements to tell the story in many and varied ways. Or alternately, to tell different stories from the same elements.
The map is central in this project. There's an explosion of social mapping in the online world and the group I just mentioned, Proboscis, are innovators in this area and they do a lot of work with mobile media, mash ups and social media. About 20 years ago, a project I was working on organised to bring Sue Clifford from Common Ground to Brisbane. Sue was a great advocate of social mapping and exploring psycho-geography and Common Ground developed very important quilting and other community art projects that focused on mapping, environment and place. So I have had an abiding fascination with topography and cartography - having spent much time exploring postmodern theory, I was very interested in the relationships between the cartographic and trajective imaginary and narrative.
So there's a new awareness of mapping and various DIY practices of cartography which are becoming integral to our storytelling. Even the mainstream media are seeing the value with projects like ABC Earth which pegs news stories to places. The term 'neogeography' descrived the merging of user data and experiences with online mapping technologies. So really, we're just talking about a more subjective engagement with mapping and charting space and talking about the map as narrative. This relationship between map and story is what I am exploring.
My family often recalls our lives as an itinerary. First we lived here, then worked there, then moved elsewhere. Much of that was, of course, framed by my father's working life. This project gives you a way into that.
Transmission Lines Presentation
I really enjoy this Web 2.0 environment - it's been described as 'an attitude, not a technology' - and I really enjoy social networking, content sharing, user-generated content and crowd sourcing. Recently, I was reading a call for papers for a journal that speculated that Web 2.0 is more like a topology than an attitude or a technology. Topological in this context means "repeated production of selfsame space via variation". For me, it's also trajective in the sense that John Rajchman discusses.View more presentations from linda carroli.
As a writer-artist who works with text and narrative, I am interested in the possibilities of artist publishing. I am interested in how these media and publications can bring the personal and the public into contact, making the personal a little more exposed and the public a little more private. I only ever make small overtures to these ideas, rarely grand statements or gestures. So I do acknowledge that I am just scratching the surface and going for the obvious. I'm also defining some limits for users - this isn't a utopian, wikinomics type experience - in terms of what can be added or changed on the sites. So there are many other places you can go with Web 2.0 like Wiki and video sharing and other things.
There's also a lot of conversation happening in the background of the work. Uncovering all these materials - the map, the photographs and the tapes - has prompted conversations around the family circle. Just a couple of weeks ago, my older sister and I were driving off the Gateway Bridge at the southern end where we encountered a fairly impressive and dense array of transmission lines. My sister asked me, "Do you remember dad calling them alta linea?" Alta linea is the Italian for 'high lines'. That is probably the title I should give the project or some addition to it in the future.
The biting question is what this project has to do with artists' books. For me, it's always interesting to look at things from the outer edge. I'm not for a second suggesting that this work is an artist's book, but I do suggest that it shares some commonalities with artists' books. There is a line of flight (or several lines of flight) between them. We know they are not the same, but the boundary that distinguishes them is quite unclear. And there's been quite a lot of literature that talks about tendencies in artists books and publishing. At a Mackay Artists' Book Forum a few years ago, Sydney-based artist Nola Farman talked about the 'fugitive'. And for me that's a exhilaratingly uncertain and rebellious space to inhabit. So I think, in these electronic spaces, we're really exploring multiple literacies, perhaps fugitive literacies. And there is even more literature about the question of digital literacies. But, as Nola says in her conference paper, the narrative of the fugitive is usually unresolved. When a something (an object, subject, event) ceases to be on the run or in hiding, it ceases to be fugitive.
My sense of the work is that it doesn't - can't - stay still. It needs to be invented and reinvented. So I'm also exploring ways of developing this work as an online book using the Diffusion Generator produced by Proboscis, a UK artist group and consultancy. The eventual book will be downloadable for free. I'm also thinking about a series of prints using the photographs. There's more that can be done with elements to tell the story in many and varied ways. Or alternately, to tell different stories from the same elements.
The map is central in this project. There's an explosion of social mapping in the online world and the group I just mentioned, Proboscis, are innovators in this area and they do a lot of work with mobile media, mash ups and social media. About 20 years ago, a project I was working on organised to bring Sue Clifford from Common Ground to Brisbane. Sue was a great advocate of social mapping and exploring psycho-geography and Common Ground developed very important quilting and other community art projects that focused on mapping, environment and place. So I have had an abiding fascination with topography and cartography - having spent much time exploring postmodern theory, I was very interested in the relationships between the cartographic and trajective imaginary and narrative.
So there's a new awareness of mapping and various DIY practices of cartography which are becoming integral to our storytelling. Even the mainstream media are seeing the value with projects like ABC Earth which pegs news stories to places. The term 'neogeography' descrived the merging of user data and experiences with online mapping technologies. So really, we're just talking about a more subjective engagement with mapping and charting space and talking about the map as narrative. This relationship between map and story is what I am exploring.
My family often recalls our lives as an itinerary. First we lived here, then worked there, then moved elsewhere. Much of that was, of course, framed by my father's working life. This project gives you a way into that.
21 August 2008
Freestyle Books Blog & Feed
Just to let you know that the State Library of Queensland has been keeping a blog in conjunction with Freestyle Books. I've added the RSS feed to this site (just scroll down the right hand side of the screen).
16 August 2008
Freestyle Books Presentation
Yesterday I gave a presentation about Transmission Lines at the State Library of Queensland. Thanks to everyone who attended. Hoping you will stay in touch with me and the work.
Also, having now done the talk, I'll develop some of those ideas for the blog. In particular, I will do some more writing about neogeography and psycho-geography as well as reflect more on how Web 2.0 can be used for writing projects. As I mentioned in my talk, unlike many of my colleagues and peers, I don't specifically develop technology for my writing projects and am quite content to explore or use existing tools and platforms as writing spaces.
Also, having now done the talk, I'll develop some of those ideas for the blog. In particular, I will do some more writing about neogeography and psycho-geography as well as reflect more on how Web 2.0 can be used for writing projects. As I mentioned in my talk, unlike many of my colleagues and peers, I don't specifically develop technology for my writing projects and am quite content to explore or use existing tools and platforms as writing spaces.
26 July 2008
Map Sections
My partner, John, has photographed detail from my father's map. I will be posting these to the Platial map to give a better sense of the coverage of the lines. As you can see from the photo below, my father traced the routes of the lines onto the map while identifying major towns and cities with the pins. Interestingly, where he's used yellow pins, he's drawn lines between them. However, he has also included a number of stand alone blue pins. It's only conjection but I believe this is an intentional colour code (as my father was a rather meticulous man) - the yellow pins indicate lines while the blue pins indicate other jobs such radio towers or other kinds of contract work.
20 July 2008
Back to Work
I’ve been unable to work on Transmission Lines for a while. After being away for a few weeks, my aunt’s health deteriorated rapidly and she passed away. Her funeral was on Saturday and my family has been fully focused on this.
I will now be able to put a bit more time into Transmission Lines and address some inconsistencies and niggling details over the next little while. So today, after reviewing the project planning, I will be get cracking on new tasks.
Also, Susan from the State Library mentioned that the work, on exhibit at the State Library of Queensland as part of Freestyle Books, has been quite popular among visitors. I was quite heartened to hear this. Please feel free to make comments - this blog has that capacity - and add your own thoughts to this work. You just have to click on the 'Comments' link at the bottom of each post. Then you will be presented with an input field and some options for identification. Comments can be anonymous but I will be moderating to keep inappropriate content out.
Regarding Freestyle Books, which I went to see the other day, I just wanted to say what a splendid job Helen Cole has done as the exhibition curator. You can't handle the books, which is always a difficult decision for curators and collections, and this has been addressed by showing several of the works on projected video including Ten Menhirs (1984) by my partner, JM John Armstrong.
I will now be able to put a bit more time into Transmission Lines and address some inconsistencies and niggling details over the next little while. So today, after reviewing the project planning, I will be get cracking on new tasks.
Also, Susan from the State Library mentioned that the work, on exhibit at the State Library of Queensland as part of Freestyle Books, has been quite popular among visitors. I was quite heartened to hear this. Please feel free to make comments - this blog has that capacity - and add your own thoughts to this work. You just have to click on the 'Comments' link at the bottom of each post. Then you will be presented with an input field and some options for identification. Comments can be anonymous but I will be moderating to keep inappropriate content out.
Regarding Freestyle Books, which I went to see the other day, I just wanted to say what a splendid job Helen Cole has done as the exhibition curator. You can't handle the books, which is always a difficult decision for curators and collections, and this has been addressed by showing several of the works on projected video including Ten Menhirs (1984) by my partner, JM John Armstrong.
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