People in the big eastern cities may take it for granted, but as those of us who live and work in the bush know: distance matters.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
I was reminded of that fact this morning by a random but not unusual occurrence.
I got a notification on Facebook that a “friend was going to an event near you”.
When I checked it out, I laughed as the friend and the event in question were both in Sydney.
Now it may be that the IP address of my corporate computer is Sydney-based but even so, given the amount of data Facebook collects about our lives, it should be smart enough to realise Sydney is 3000km away from Mount Isa and not exactly “near” unless you are taking into account the relative distance to, say, the planet Mars, where alas there are few events that Facebook deems fit to notify me about.
If Americans have the excuse their knowledge of geography extends to the belief that Africa is a country then public relations flaks in Australia have no excuse.
Yet every day I get emails from people (usually based in “nearby” Sydney) who tell about a “local event” I might be interested in, only to discover they are talking about Brisbane, Townsville or Cairns.
I’m not sure whether to put this down to laziness or stupidity but it is annoying to be on the receiving end of this nonsense.
I’m sure I’m not alone in suffering these ridiculous assumptions about distance.
Australia is a vast continent and getting to anyplace from Mount Isa takes a lot of time, money and energy.
Flights are expensive and only go to Brisbane. So for instance when head office needs someone to travel to our sister paper in Katherine NT, it’s cheaper and quicker to send someone from Brisbane than from Mount Isa, despite us being half as close again.
Or when one of my journalists wanted to return home to see family in rural NSW, it involved a roundabout trip of three plane flights. The recent Mount Isa school excursion to the snow delayed by fog in Canberra, faced a nightmare return journey until Qantas came to the rescue with a one-off direct flight.
Citydwellers take note, the tyranny of distance is real in this part of the world.
Derek Barry