Creation of this Book - Ian McNamee
The
idea
and inspiration for the book came from Ian McNamee, well-known in both
Canberra
and Queanbeyan, who then funded research and writing and physical
production.
This
commitment was driven by a longstanding conviction that the efforts of
people
should not be easily or wilfully forgotten as we revel in what we have,
or even
as we complain about how tough life is.
Ian
has had
a lifelong association with both cities, with family origins in the
Monaro and
broader district. He has had prominent
and diverse roles in business and in community organisations on both
sides of
the border over many years, including key roles in cricket and the
development
of Manuka Oval and other sporting venues.
His
networks and connections, and the respect in which he is held, have
enabled him
to conceive the idea behind the book, identify subjects and
stories, and
interviewees to bring them alive, to fund the production, undertake
active
promotion and distribution of the book, and to draw in support from
other
prominent citizens to contribute to stories, the Foreword, and the
launch.
It
has been
humbling to collaborate with Ian and to learn from his experience, his
work
ethic, and his spirit, passion and sense of community.
I
will be
forever grateful to Ian for the trust he placed in me to develop the
work in
what he approached as a joint venture, and the latitude he afforded me
to develop
other themes and stories that reflected my own background.
The
writing
alone would never have been enough to result in this book.
It has depended on Ian’s drive to conceive,
instigate, fund, guide, bolster and promote the work in ways, in
directions,
and at levels that I certainly could not have achieved myself.
Ian
championed the work with the same passion and drive that he has brought
to many
community-directed activities, causes and organisations over decades of
commitment. It was my very good fortune
to be a recipient of that generous spirit from both Ian and
Robyn.
That generosity now also benefits directly two charities that are
focused on children as our future. The book and those benefits
are just the latest of numerous legacies that Ian and Robyn have
bequeathed to the people of our two cities. They have harnessed
efforts to dig many a well.
My Personal Reflections on Compiling this
Book
Ian
organised for the initial interviews to be undertaken by journalist
Jimmy Buckley, who generously shared his work when he had
to step away to take up another role.
It
was always Ian's intention that the book would rescue stories from the
shadows
and shine a light on the people, drawing out what was concealed or
not-so-obvious.
Once
you start delving into two hundred years of stories representing
thousands of
people, the book becomes a ‘piece of string’. There
are just too many wonderful opportunities to
be explored.
So
perhaps the hardest aspect was not the research or writing but the
decision-making on what to leave out, and the misgivings that go with
that. Many worthy stories of wonderful
people do
not appear in the final. But we have 260
or so profile stories of varying lengths, for people from more than
20 non-British countries of origin, engaged in close to 100
different
occupations.
Big
as it is, it is not an encyclopaedia and it is not comprehensive; it is
a
sampler
or taster.
It aims to whet the appetite
for knowing more about these two cities, both physically and socially.
There
were two broad guiding principles in the writing:
Firstly,
to encompass place, people, and processes – having been trained in
earth
sciences and ecology, I recognise that connections and patterns are the
way
things work, and we have to decipher those.
Secondly,
to focus on stories that are provocative – that prompt responses like:
‘I never
knew that’, ‘I wondered what that was about’, and ‘I wondered who was
behind that’
If a story provoked wonder,
delight,
humour or pathos, then it was a candidate for the book.
...........
It
is not a conventional history book. We
already have multiple very capable volumes of work documenting both
cities
through time. This had to be
different.
My
training is that form follows function. To
present a city the book needs to look and feel
like a city. Like the life of any city,
let alone a pair
of cities, the book has stories that emerge and grow at multiple levels
and in
multiple directions.
Look
intently around a city and it is distracting in its diversity of
offerings. The book reflects that.
When
we turn a corner into a different street, we shift from one landscape
to
another, and the book is organised like a magazine so that when we turn
a page
we have a different article.
For
most of us it will not be a read-from-front-to-back proposition. It allows for dipping-in-and-out.
Equally, it allows for following a thread
through time. Or it allows for soaking
up a particular period of time in the life of the cities.
While
it can be a reference book, it is not an academic or scholarly work. Another choice made was to avoid interrupting
the reader with referencing for each piece of information, although
sources are
listed at the rear.
Nor
is it a picture book. There has
been a conscious choice to punctuate text with small but relevant
images,
focused on people rather than buildings, although there are a few of
those
also, to illustrate changing times.
.........
The
cover is designed to be striking, nostalgic, and playful all at the
same time,
based on a 1934 tourism promotion poster for the national capital by
James
Northfield. Into that we have planted
seventeen objects that represent both Canberra and Queanbeyan, across
more than a
century, with most of them referenced and/or shown in the book.
.........
It
has been humbling to prepare this book. The
stories present hardships and setbacks,
fighting spirit, ingenuity,
entrepreneurship, creativity, and a now-rare work ethic.
It
has made me sit up and take more notice of people and places and
objects, and
appreciate what it has taken for them to be available to me, with
genuine
gratitude to those who have gone before me.
I hope that is true also for the reader.
Mark
Butz
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