CATCHMENT 43: Launceston History Images

Abstract

When we interrogate 'place' we tread on tender ground. “A place belongs forever to whoever claims it hardest, remembers it most obsessively, wrenches it from itself, shapes it, renders it, loves it so radically that he remakes it in his own image.” ― Joan Didion

It's touchy stuff 'place' and invokes all kinds of deep emotional responses to it. “Where you come from is gone, where you thought you were going to was never there, and where you are is no good unless you can get away from it." Flannery O'Connor, Wise Blood.

Speaking of place, O'Connor said "where is there a place for you to be? No place... Nothing outside you can give you any place... In yourself right now is all the place you've got” ... and its true!

If you are a 'blow in' where you come from at best can only teach you about 'placedness' ... not yours but placedness alone ... and no matter how long it has been since you've arrived, contemplating 'hereness' and 'elsewhereness' locates you on the planet ... and here ... and it keeps on posing questions.

Here is an exploration of Launcestonian placedness with layered histories in mind.

Ray Norman February 2016

Pages

Launceston History Images

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