A FEW days after the COVID-19 onslaught made it pretty clear that schools across the state would be closing for the foreseeable future, I got a call from DART Connections, the videoconference hub of the NSW Department of Education.
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They were scrambling for online content to share with students across NSW and hoping the Scattered Bones module I co-broadcast from the Australian Fossil and Mineral Museum from 2007 until 2017 was still operative.
They were most disappointed to learn it had been mothballed.
Scattered Bones broadcast to 25,000 students in 750 schools in its time, and that was on a miserly budget of government grants - Bathurst Regional Council never tipped money in to fund it, and didn't see the value in it.
They never showed any real interest, even when the program won the inaugural Museums and Galleries National Award, a 2010 NSW IMAGinE Award and a host of local government culture awards.
Having said that, they sent their representatives across to Perth and down to Sydney to collect the awards; I wasn't council, so I wasn't invited.
It is a mystery for the ages as to why Bathurst, a city that has long self-identified as an important educational hub, would not only allow Scattered Bones to atrophy but never even explore the possibility of getting all of their museums active in the videoconference space, where an annual turnover of 465,000 students (now rising stratospherically) is assured.
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For want of some simple film footage and a curriculum linked workbook, we could now have every museum in Bathurst operating remotely by videoconferencing, linked to hamstrung schools and housebound students desperate for cultural content ... and earning a small fortune.
Instead we have some very costly cultural institutions shuttered, still costing money, but earning nothing.
Bathurst boasts a fine collection of museums and galleries, in what is an outsized contribution to the cultural and educational space based on our population, but it appears that effectively promoting them is not one of the council's priorities. If not, what is?
Put aside the whole COVID-19 clusterflap and consider the issue from Bathurst's self-proclaimed educational prowess and its geographical position in NSW.
I work in schools across remote communities in NSW, and I'm constantly told they (the schools) are desperate for an excursion destination that's not Canberra.
Every school in regional NSW ends up going to Canberra every year - it's old hat. The ACT wins by default because they have so many museums and galleries which the schools can first explore online via videoconference visits.
The teachers and students are at the forefront of experiential tourism, and before they commit to travelling and staying in a place they want to see what's on offer, to ensure they get their money's worth.
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If you venture to the DART Connections website, you'll see videoconference excursions offered by all Australia's major cultural and educational institutions. To see what's on offer in Bathurst Museums you have the option of exploring a static website.
There was a time when that was cutting edge, but things move fast in technology and now it's the equivalent of travelling to Orange by penny farthing; you'd do it if you had to, but only because it beats walking.
I met with Janelle Middleton, the Bathurst Museums manager, more than six months ago to urge her to develop a presence in this burgeoning digital space and maximise the promotional profile of Bathurst's museums and galleries, not to mention tapping into this rich income stream.
I was given the perennial, shop-worn excuses of "too busy", "not enough money" and "not a priority".
These justifications for their institutional inertia will now take on a Utopia-style double-backflip plus spin - these cultural assets will now have lots of time and no money.
Which is a shame, because they could be in front of a very lucrative educational wave that will probably be the next six months breaking and last who knows how long.
I used to blame parochialism for the lack of vision and imagination in the Bathurst cultural space, but now I realise the blame lies squarely with council. It scotches any ideas that aren't its own, playing the role of gatekeeper through to its logical conclusion - nothing happens.
Our priorities are not their priorities.
Any creative initiatives that do take hold against all odds are never nurtured by council, and inevitably die a natural death.
Even their 'initiatives' lack initiative; I mean, a Winter Festival? If Katoomba hadn't kyboshed their excellent Winter Magic Festival, Bathurst would be left looking like Bucks Fizz to Katoomba's ABBA.
Why not explore some of our real history, our genuine foundations? If council can't join the dots to create a whole-of-community festival based on our city's unique background - from goldrushes to bushrangers to Australia's favourite Prime Minister to motor racing to Wiradyuri culture - then bring in some people who can.
We live in the era of the narrative arc - people want to see their story, their lived environment's narrative, reflected back to them, to better understand and contextualise their place in it, as colourfully, truthfully and interestingly as possible.
Bathurst Council seems to be telling our cultural story in Morse code, when the rest of the world is using Facetime.
One of the amusing ironies of this situation (and you have to dig deep for a laugh these days) is that council often infers the ongoing squabble between themselves and the Wiradyuri community over the push to build new racetracks on Wahluu/Mount Panorama is an Us versus Them argument, with Them (the Wiradyuri) being backward looking, clinging to the past, unable to grapple with the future economies.
The Wiradyuri Elders, framed as having an inability to move with the times, have a videoconference module up through DART Connections, broadcasting their Wiradyuri Culture, Lifestyle and Language module out to participating (paying) schools in NSW.
And Bathurst Museums? Tumbleweeds.
