I've been working on a new series of images, Mallee Town, over the past few months in the Wimmera Mallee region of Victoria. It's a region that I haven't really visited too much, apart from a trip to Lake Tyrrell late last year and a much earlier trip down the Silo Art Trail.
The landscape is so flat and dry, dotted with small farming towns, or the remains of towns. Even though it's not traditionally 'dramatic' in the sense that there are no mountain peaks, rock formations, or rugged coastlines, there is something that attracts me. Perhaps it's the sense of open vastness, with wide open skies, fields that stretch forever, and long straight roads going for hours. Perhaps it's the sense of adversity, struggle against, and with, nature, the wonder that produce can be coaxed from such dry sandy conditions. There are moments, particularly approaching the NSW border when the dry scrublands gives way to lush verdant orchards of citrus, or almond, or vineyards. Deep green trees and grass bordered by orange and red sand.
I've particularly been drawn to the small towns that have faded away as local farms are absorbed into larger businesses, and their populations move on to the regional cities. I find the remains of once vibrant communities so interesting, imagining the generations that used the lone church in the middle of a field, the overgrown football fields that no longer house a team, tennis courts growing over with weeds, and old school houses with seemingly ubiquitous succulents overgrowing in their old gardens.
I've also been fascinated by the small areas of nature preserves, so often affected by salinity, with dead trees standing in barren sand, or salt scrub stretching across old orchards. Interspersed with these old stories are signs of current success, with modern techniques succeeding in the place of old. Remotely controlled plows, seed sausages, shiny new metal silos in the place of the old concrete hulks. Everywhere you look there's a story of old struggle and new success.
You can see my series titled 'Mallee Town' in my portfolio under 'Works'. I'll also be adding to my travel photography guide soon, adding a section on the Mallee stretching all the way up over the NSW boarder to Mungo National Park.
