Students track Onslow social change

Tracking the changes in Onslow is the focus of a project being run by Edith Cowan University.

Onslow has been going through massive change since Chevron announced the go ahead for its multi-billion dollar Wheatstone LNG project.

The Tracking Onslow project has been running since last year and two magazines have been produced with help from some budding journalists from ECU.

ECU journalism senior lecturer and project leader Kayt Davies said the project was a collaboration between the university and the Shire of Ashburton.

“Being from ECU we’re separate enough from the whole thing,” she said. “We really don’t have a position on it and we’re able to come in and be quite clear that we are here to record all the different views.

“We’re not pushing it for Chevron — we don’t care if people like Chevron or not — we don’t care if people like the Shire or not. “So if there is discontent we can document it.”

Some of the stories covered by the latest magazine include transient workforce accommodation on Thevenard Island, the suspension of the council and in-depth profiles of residents and Onslow organisations.

Shire of Ashburton community development executive manager Deb Wilkes said this was a unique opportunity to track the changes happening in the town.

“We were really keen to have this tool by which we could independently monitor what was happening and then respond to that,” Ms Wilkes said.

She said the Shire was really happy with the two products already released.

“We’ve got that beautiful tracking of the physical changes in town but we can also track what people are thinking and feeling,” Ms Wilkes said.

The magazines will be produced every six months with the project expected to run for three and five years.

To view the magazine and read more about the project, visit www.trackingonslow.com.