Good Weekend at 30 …

Fairfax’s weekend colour magazine Good Weekend is celebrating an anniversary – “Three decades of great story telling” – by reprising thirty of the very best features re-published in a special ‘Classics’ series “Good Weekend at 30”.

Pleased to report that a story that I worked on with mega talented journalist John van Tiggelen is amongst them.

“Another Country” was originally published in the mag as the cover feature on the 15th of May 2008 (blimey – was it really that long ago) … and told the story of, in Johns incisive wonderfully descriptive words and my images, the plight of the residents of the troubled Cape York Peninsula indigenous community of Aurukun.

The publication of the story stirred the pot somewhat and it was an important catalyst for change in conditions in far too long neglected aboriginal communities. Certainly some of the observations made just six years ago are not as appropriate or apparent now.

The Fairfax promotional image for “Good Weekend at 30” is below … and my cover is bottom row third from left (indigenous children with wallaby). You can read John’s excellent “Another Country” and see some of my accompanying pics (in some cases badly cropped by online subs) at … http://www.smh.com.au/good-weekend/gw-classics/another-country-20140828-109ira.html . You may read all the excellent selected “Good Weekend at 30” feature stories by visiting … http://www.smh.com.au/good-weekend/gw-classics/ 

Also below is my favourite image from the Aurukun set (before being savagely hacked by subs !). It was used on page 1 of the Sydney Morning Herald to promote the original publication of “Another Country” back in 2008.

Aurukun images © Brian Cassey