THE single most question I’ve been asked by my more junior colleagues in more than 30 years of journalism at Sunraysia Daily is: “How do I start this story?”
As I sit staring at a blank screen on my final day (for the time being) I’m asking the same question.
How do I summarise my 34 years at Sunraysia Daily and the almost 100 years of publication?
how can I adequately acknowledge all those (much more talented) journalists and other staff that have come and gone before, and during, my time here?
The answer is simple – I can’t!
Mere words could not articulate what we have meant to Sunraysia Daily and what Sunraysia Daily has meant to us.
What I can say is that it’s been an awesome ride and we have never taken that for granted.
We have been in the enviable position of complete strangers trusting who we are and what we do, day in, day out; and it has been a privilege for all staff involved.
As much as the media industry and Sunraysia Daily has changed from my first day until 10,666 editions later today – we have always been family.
Together we have rolled with the punches, accepted our inadequacies, celebrated community milestones and mourned their losses.
We have, and will always be, here for the community. That has been our job.
Today, I will look back with pride at how we have, often in trying and emotionally-draining circumstances, grown our staff and, in turn, grown with the community.
There has been only one way that we have been able to achieve that – as family.
As businesses, individuals and the wider community have struggled and hurt in recent times, we have struggled and hurt with them.
Only today, we are feeling that struggle and hurt in our own lives.
But we will persevere, we will support and care for one another, as family should, with the view of a much brighter future.
It has been a “one in, all in” frame of mind that has got Sunraysia Daily to its 100th year, pausing now in an effort to come out the other side of this crazy world in which we now live.
There is not enough room in this newspaper to thank all of those in the community who have supported us – in work, in play and in need.
You know who you are! In signing off, just three words – the Latin insignia of the Elliott Newspaper Group, owners of Sunraysia Daily, for the best part of a century – come to mind.
Non Eget Arcu. In English it translates to: “Fight on without a string to your bow.”
And that’s what we’ll continue to do … as family.
