One of the most interesting commissions I’ve had recently was to write about a new pilot boat which was about to be delivered to Port Phillip Sea Pilots. The dangers faced by the pilots in the seas that come howling through the Bass Strait are well demonstrated by the fact that the organisation lost a boat, its crew and a pilot some years back and therefore really does need the safest boats available to transport their staff.
I’ve just posted the articles on the Tear Sheets page of the site.
It has been an awfully long time since the last post but I have been very much taken up with settling into my new country. Since the last post, Rural Press has become Fairfax Agricultural Media and I have continued to work for them.
I have also had quite a few story commissions from the publications Australian Main Roads Construction and Australian Ports News which have involved me in doing telephonic interviews with clients around Australia, Tasmania and New Zealand. I’ve written stories on a wide variety of topic ranging from the stabilising of dirt roads to the finer points of pilot boat design.There are some samples up on the Tear Sheets page of this site.
I’ve missed blogging on a regular basis but have successfully fought off the urge until now. ;-)
I confess that that the pressures of job hunting were getting to me and I was beginning to doubt the wisdom of seeking a new life in Australia. Fortunately, just when things were at their blackest last October, I did finally get a call from one of the organisations I had applied to.
Rural Press, which is based in Ormiston just South of Brisbane, needed an extra subeditor to work on their publications including Queensland Country Life, Northern Queensland Register and a number of others. I have been averaging two or so shifts each week since then, which has lifted a lot of the pressure on me.
The search for something more substantial goes on….
Today is something of a red letter (or should that be Green letter?) day for me because I have completed my first job on Australian soil for an Australian firm. Since my arrival in Australia I have written some IT-related stories for an entrepreneurs’ website in South Africa, which is why my first local job was especially welcome.
I was asked to create a leaflet for Green Grove garden hire to send out with their monthly accounts, advertising the trees and silk flower arrangements they have for hire. I did the product photography, wrote the copy and laid the leaflet out. My sincere thanks go to Therese and Peter Nally for their business.
Just got back from a meeting of the Everton Park Business Club. It’s a networking group run by Sheree Lenton, which meets on a weekly basis in the excellent Luv-a-Coffee coffee bar in the Everton Plaza shopping centre.
I went along a couple of weeks ago to check it out and it turns out that a nice selection of local business people are members. I’ve been to four meetings so far and have found it very informative about local conditions.
One thing I learnt in South Africa from my years as a freelancer is that it is easy to become isolated. Being part of a group is very useful in that regard.
No doubt about it, Brisbane is a very pretty city with some spectacular river views. I’m very pleased with this multi-shot panorama that I stitched together in Photoshop.
I am very pleased to be have been commissioned by a new South Africa-based entrepreneurs’ website to produce a series of articles on various aspects of IT likely to be of interest to their audience. I’ll publish a link to the site as soon as I am allowed.
My head is starting to clear after the shock to the system brought on by the move from Durban in South Africa, my former home, to Brisbane, my new one. I really did think that I would arrive and start work immediately, but it has taken time to adjust to my new circumstances.
In many ways, Brisbane is similar enough to Durban to make it feel eerily familiar. Both are on the east coasts of their respective continents, both were founded in the same year, 1824, and were settled and built by the same sorts of people. They enjoy similar weather patterns, the inhabitants have laid-back lifestyles, and they are important gateways to their respective regions.
Similar, yes, but there are also differences that are taking this immigrant some time to get used to. There is different terminology and pronunciation to get used to as well as new approaches and ways of doing things to be learned. One of the most important things I missed was the critical importance of correctly structuring applications for contract and permanent positions.
Many organisations, including many State government departments, have been advertising for media and/or communications staff for permanent posts or, quite often, on short to medium-term contract. I know myself to be an extremely good communicator but, in spite of those skills and all my experience, I wasn’t even getting to the interview stage. I was feeling pretty low about things but thankfully, after input from Frances Cahill of Emerald Writing & Training, I now know why.
It’s not enough to point to jobs I’ve done and work I’ve produced and expect employers on this side of the water, to be impressed. And so, from here on in, it’s a change of tack and my best foot forward.
I was aware right from the start of my move to Brisbane in February that I would have to get out and start networking. I almost immediately found a great group of former South Africans called the SAbona Business Network, which conducts a number of monthly meetings around the country, including one at Northlakes and one in Cleveland in Brisbane.
I have now been to both and met many new people. There is the added benefit that they have all experienced moving to a new country where they are unknown, and have also had to restart their careers from scratch. I’m looking forward to networking with them in future and assisting them where I can.
My last post marked the end of FishNet for the time being, at least. I will soon be on my way to a new land, to join family, and I wouldn’t have been able to keep the column up while I pack on this side of the water, and get settled on that.
I have been writing FishNet every week, more or less without a break, since July 2006. I’ll certainly miss doing it, but I have to admit that a rest from the relentless weekly deadlines will be most welcome
Why not say au revoir by leaving a comment below?
