I love a Ratbag City

Apparently they sent the worst convicts to Newcastle. This may be useful to consider when reading this post.

I recently responded to a series of questions about Newcastle from Siobhan Curren who, among other things has brought my attention to the Not True in Newcastle blog (now a regular pleasure of mine) and one of the questions she asked was What do you love and hate about Newcastle?

I won't go into the negative bit but I will share what I love.

I love a Ratbag City and this place has ratbaggery in every stormwater drain, upended trolley and vacant streetscape. Its got it down every residential street where houses butt up to workshops and concrete stormwater drains criss-cross the suburbs. Where the floating dock changes the city skyline with every new ship under repair. Everybody seems to continually tut-tut about the state of Hunter Street and the emptiness of the East End and I'm sure this stems from a compulsion for commerce. But I dig the mixed-up vacant uselessness of it all. Hear this you urban planner types : just because a public space is not 'activated' it doesn't mean it's defective.

So although this is a city perched on the coastline with a dramatic sweep of natural beauty, it's not just a pretty place built for leisure. The industrial history and working port fill it with colour and character and craziness. I curated an exhibition last year based on the iconic Star Hotel and here is an excellent specimen of the ratbag city in full glory. More here.

I'm actually trying to get somewhere with this so please stay with me and despite wanting to write a 2000 opinion piece of all this, I'll resist. Yesterday I went to a book launch of the sweetest children's book by Meg Mckinlay and Leila Rudge (Leila is a Newcastle based illustrator). While enjoying the launch of Duck for a Day, I let my daughter Pollyanna take part in several ducky games and I checked out the books.

I found this.

Trevor Dickinson. I love your work. This is the second series of a little zine full of old world illustrations that document this ratbaggery perfectly. He has taken my ratbag city and presented it to the world as slightly joyful and sometimes a little sad.