Friday, February 26, 2010

The truth about the Yamba "riots"

Congratulations to Patricia Laurie, The Grafton Daily Examiner and North Coast Voices on this one. Patricia Laurie for putting things in perspective, the Examiner for running the story, North Coast Voices for promoting the truth more widely. Jamie, Kay Yamba 1961

I little while ago I noticed a story in the Sydney about an outbreak of trouble at Yamba. It caught my eye because Yamba has always been a favourite spot for part of my family. Just to add visual interest, this is a shot of Aunt Kay and cousin Jamie at Yamba, 1961.

As is the way with the Sydney media, the story was somewhat sensationalised.  Now Patricia has provided a context.

Some years ago, there was a much bigger outbreak of trouble in Armidale's main street. My thought at the time was thank heavens this wasn't spotted by the Sydney press. Restrained local reporting allowed the matter to be worked through outside the type of sensationalised glare that comes from big city reporting.

And, for the benefit of non New England readers, you are actually far safer in Yamba than you would at the better known Bondi Beach in Sydney. It's not that Bondi is unsafe, just that when you have large numbers of people incidents are more likely to happen.

For those that want to know more, you will find the North Coast Voices post here.   

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