I joined The West Australian’s regional network as a reporter for the Great Southern Herald in 2021.
I worked in a solo newsroom as a graduate in Katanning, where I independently wrote stories of community, worked as the paper’s photographer and made editorial decisions for the weekly newspaper.
I was the first reporter to be based in the region in over 5 years, so had the task of mending ties with community that had been devastated when their over century old paper was taken away only a couple of years earlier.
November 2020 - December 2021
Reporter
Crafting stories of community
The Great Southern is the heartbeat of WA’s agricultural sector, the industry that helped build this state.
But since mining has taken over as WA’s predominant export, the region has gone from being a booming cultural hub of the state, to a place that once was.
The Herald is WA’s second oldest paper, and is one of the region’s remaining icon’s from a time that has now gone by.
With over half the population over the age of 65, the newspaper is still the main medium for news for much of the population, but had been forgotten and neglected, produced externally from Perth, for years now.
It was my job to reconnect the paper with community, and tell stories of a place enriched in history.
From unearthing stories of inspiration from figures who have shaped their community, to shedding light on the positive and negative implications of colonialism on the region, to local politics and even the importance of sport in the region, I covered all forms of local news.
I had to carry myself with a certain level of professionalism as the known face of the paper. In the time I was at the Great Southern Herald, the paper rose to the third fastest growing regional paper in Western Australia.
Photography
Alongside my journalistic responsibilities, the newsroom I worked in didn’t have a photographer, so I had to learn how to take newspaper quality photos.
Utilising a Cannon DSLR camera, I quickly grew to love the art of photography and being able to tell my stories through imagery.
From photographing sport to crime scenes to live sport to inspirational people in community, I had over 250 images featured in newspapers throughout Western Australia in the year I worked with The West.
You can see my full gallery here.
Working to a deadline
The paper came out every Thursday, no matter what. So, there was no excuses for not getting the paper out each week.
I treated the paper as if it were a weekly assignment, and would work as long overtime as needed to make sure it would be done.
In times of breaking news stories, there was a timeliness factor to getting the story out. I’d often arrive at a scene with little idea of what is happening, all while needing to get a story written and published within the hour.
This often meant needing to go straight to the source, identifying key figures, and being efficient in asking the right questions and picking out the crucial details for print.
Breaking news stories often carried weight in the responsibility in correct reporting, so these points only became more crucial when a big news story would strike.