THERE must be a good reason our leaders have moved to have Mount Isa officially renowned as the capital of the North West.
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It has a good ring to it, and is a nice way to describe the city – but for most, it should be blatantly obvious Mount Isa is the capital of the North West.
If you go by population size, the city has its nearest rival covered by about 15,000 people (about four times as many residents).
And when you ask someone to name a city from the North West, it’s likely the first city that will pop into their head will be Mount Isa.
Perhaps it’s a sad indictment on the irrelevance of regional cities to state and federal governments that we need to promote our existence.
Mount Isa needs more than signs, slogans and self-promotion to prosper into the future.
Without sounding too cynical, the name change will likely be a costly exercise if it is to be promoted properly, and will take the gloss off the city’s standing as the ‘‘Rodeo capital of Australia’’.
It would be interesting to hear what the Mount Isa Rodeo organisers think about the event being knocked from its perch when it comes to a slogan for the city.
Perhaps there would be more merit in Mount Isa tackling a more audacious name for the city.
Why not the capital of the Outback?
There’s really no contesting Mount Isa is the capital of the North West, but the capital of the Outback poses a winnable challenge.