LOUIS BURKE | Culture | CONTACT
In the channel country town of Mt Quilby, the nation’s black sustainable backbone has failed us once again as the local Gwangarri Coal Mine has had to shut shop leaving 60% of local families without a source of income.
While most small towns would yield to the capitalist tides of failure, Mt Quilby simply refuses to be beaten and has made an agile pivot to a different kind of semi-precious rock.
“All those years I spent digging coal with my bare hands won’t be for nothing,” stated recently redundant miner Stuart Foot who was going to let go for ignoring correct mining protocol anyway.
“These hands were built for nurturing harmful rocks with an inflated price tag. Now where’s my jet lighter?”
Although inland Australia is littered with a Great Depression dandelion salad’s worth of small towns that have been emaciated by departing industries, city dwellers only really register this plight if there’s meth involved or if they’re passing through and their kid needs a wee.
It is for that reason that so many Mt Quilby residents have turned smoking meth and because there seriously seems to be no point to anything right now so fuck all of you putrid dogs.
“It’s just like it was before except some of the profits made stay in town now.”
“And seriously, did one of youse actually hide my fucking lighter or something because I’m gonna lose my shit if I can’t fucking find it!”
