Daniel, A., Gibson, M. (2009) ‘Boganvillea: Creative Industries in Outer Suburbia’. Presentation to ‘Regions, Regionality, Regionalism: Australian Perspectives’ Symposium, Institute for Regional Studies Association UK, Melbourne, December 2009, < http://www.slideshare.net/AnnaMDaniel/boganvillea>.

1. BOGANVILLEA
Creative Industries in Outer Suburbia
Anna Daniel & Dr. Mark Gibson
National Centre for Australian Studies,
Monash University
Presentation to State of Australian Cities,
Nov09

2. ‘City’ and ‘Suburb’
• The role of media (a creative industry subsector)
• The role /(burden?) of history
• Consumerism, pursuit of material possessions in malls
• McMansions on quarter acre blocks, pram city
• Passive and uninspired (Ashbolt 1966)
• The Australian Ugliness (Robin Boyd 1960)
They said:
Behold the man -the Australian of today -on Sunday morning in
the suburbs when the high decibel drone of the motor-mower is
calling the faithful to worship. A block of land, a brick veneer, and
the motor-mower beside him in the wilderness -what more does
he want to sustain him? (Allan Ashbolt 1966)
Poverty of spirit and a barrenness of mind (Miranda Devine 2004)
- replace with Deveney ‘Dead Eyed Wage Slaves’ quote?

3. Changing Suburbs
• 3 key drivers of future economic growth are:
– Creative industries
– SMEs
– Suburban employment patterns.
• Inner urban prejudice in creative industries research
• 4 key changes: cheaper space; cultural diversity; the internet;
polycentric city structures.
• So what is the state of creative industries in the outer
suburbs?
They said:
…the issue with Sydney’s eastern suburbs, the set, is they will
very, very proudly say “oh I never go west of the city.” And
their cultural limitation is actually held out as a point of pride
(CBD based Consultant)

4. Creative Suburbia
• To listen to creative practitioners in the outer suburbs:
Frankston, Dandenong, Redcliffe and Springfield.
• Address factors that may affect the movement of jobs to the outer
suburbs
• Emerging themes: diversity, technology, financial resilience, space
use, entertainment precincts
• Frankston
They said:
they’re very open, they’re a bit slow, they have time, you know, they’re
not … as stressed. …And they bring all that to the public realm and
sometimes they, like we all do, they step outside of that. They step
outside of their own limitations for reasons which are quite unexpected.
…. Sometimes they even engage in conversation (Frankston Street
Artist)

5. Frankstonbogan
• Bogans
• ‘Franghanistan’
• History
• Gateway town
They said:
Frankston’s got a bad name … across the board generally. I mean
a radio station a while ago, about six months ago were running a
funny series of you know, the bogans in Frankston (Frankston
Artist)
you only really have to walk down to Frankston station to see why
it could be a good source of inspiration (Frankston Producer of
Horror films)
Well of course the St Kilda set would say well the reason why
you’re having success on the world scale, Frankston, is because the
world doesn’t know what a bogan place you are, we do. …. (CBD
based consultant)

6. Frankstonvillea
• Proximity to bay and bush
• Space - physical, symbolic and romanticism
• Complex sociodemographic area
• Cleanest Victorian beach, ‘Sustainable city’, ‘Liveable
community’
• Hubs
They said:
it’s still got a very sort of rural feel about it and the thing that I really like is
its proximity to the bay, to the water … which is one of the main reasons I
initially set up business here rather than closer to the city (Frankston
Graphic Designer).
I always thought that it would make the perfect artist’s colony ... young
people gravitate towards Frankston the way young people used to gravitate
towards St Kilda (Frankston Author)
I’m free in this area … I’ve got that freedom to do what I want to do
(Frankston Visual Artist)

7. Is this the case elsewhere?
They said:
this is a fascinating place to work … you’re really forced to pay
attention and think about something.… there’s a lot more that unites
people than divides them .. they’ve got so much culture at their
fingertips … but you mightn’t see it. But it’s there and it’s IN them, a
lot of these people are carrying it in them like a flame that they’re
keeping burning and all they need is a venue to express it in and off
they go. … Dandenong I think the energy comes because they’re all
thrown together, I think that’s what it is and it sort of percolates.
You’ll get people here like Italians saying “isn’t it” at the end of
sentences like Indians tend to do. Which is really interesting, there’s
a sort of a cross over thing happening (Dandenong Librarian).
Dandenong
Perception Our Interviews
‘Struggletown’, Dullsville Multicultural
Suburban crime hub Positive
People forced out for cheap
land
Strong communities
Tolerance

8. The New Suburbanism?
• Kotkin - Polycentricism
• Employment opportunities
• Placemaking
• Low cost change
• But not a policy panacea (Clifton & Cook 2007)
They said:
Culture drives regeneration in many ways, from inspiring
landmark buildings through to reviving the decaying centres of
market towns to bringing a community together around an arts
event (DCMS 2004).

9. Concluding points
• We have identified hundreds of creative industry practitioners in
the outer suburbs. The development of suburban creative
industries is important to future SME and economic growth.
• A reminder that the outer suburbs are not an amorphous
homogenous monoculture, they are dynamic, evolving unique
communities of individuals. More complex.
• In light of forecast population growth, the Australian Planning
and Policy community should consider responses towards
creativity in the suburbs:
– The growth of creative businesses in the suburbs
– Promote the potential for job creation in creative industries,
as well as place making
– We recognise the importance of broadcast media in
placemaking, but should greater prominence be given to
other creative industries?
• The ‘perception dissonance’ goes both ways
They said:
culture is a set of shifting energies, always creating new
formations (Jose 2009)Reg Mombasa