The Basin State
Process & Timeline
Benjamin Allmon’s approach to his projects is always the same – you cannot know a place until you walk it, take the time to learn from the land, and listen to its peoples. This is why he walked 1000km for 51 days along the NSW coastline for his book Foot Notes.
It’s why he spent a year living and walking alongside the Bundjalung people, making traditional canoes and then paddling them for three days along a 70km sea route of connection to the sand islands of South-East Queensland for The Saltwater Story.
It’s why he walked 600km for a month through Queensland’s Scenic Rim, then spent two years interviewing 140 country folk, Ugarapul, and Mununjali peoples, recording stories and lore never before told for The Black & White Braid.
It is what he will do with The Basin State.
Walk, paddle, ride. Look, listen, learn, and ask the question - should the Basin be its own State?
To understand a place, you have to go slow, find the rhythms of the land, its people - there are no shortcuts, especially in a place as expansive, diverse, and complex as the Basin. Therefore, this will be a three-year project, from 2024-2026.
2024 will be spent assembling connections for the book and film. These will range from Indigenous knowledge-holders, farmers, miners, scientists, small business owners and older townsfolk, through to ex-Prime Ministers, economists, corporations, hydrologists, State and local politicians, celebrities with a connection to the Basin, constitutional lawyers, and many more. It is envisaged that each catchment will require between 10-20 interviewees in order to weave together a comprehensive picture of each river.
This period will also be spent in planning the journeys along each river, whether by foot, canoe, horse, or motorcycle, informed by the people on the ground in each catchment. Finally, this is when grants will be sought to fund the project.
2025/26 will be Ben’s journeys down the rivers, which, depending on river length and catchment size, will take between
1–4 weeks each. Coupled with interviews, photo shoots and filming, 1 - 2 months will be devoted to each of the 20 catchments.
2026 will also be devoted to the assembling of interviews, photographs, and the journeys into a book, followed by the publishing process. Simultaneously there will be the assembling and editing of recordings for the podcast, and footage into a film, or documentary series (yet to be determined). The final portion of 2026 will be organising the promotion and launch of both book and film, a series of remote and regional exhibitions and public readings/screenings, entries to film festivals and book awards, and most importantly the delivery of programs into the Basin communities.
These are programs - such as Writing Seminars, Photography classes, Podcasting sessions and elementary filmmaking tutorials - to be delivered by The Basin State creative team to give back to the communities we are connecting with.
These programs are outlined in greater detail in the PROJECT OUTCOMES section below.
Project Outcomes
FILM:
A multi-part documentary series, with Benjamin Allmon as producer and soundtrack provider. The film will be available in DVD format, as well as through streaming and online services. The film will be distributed by Ronin Films, and talks are underway regarding prospective directors, production teams, and executive producers. It is hoped that these key roles - as well as the crew - will be drawn from within the Basin, both Indigenous and non-Indigenous, to ensure an appropriate depth of understanding of the subject matter.
Community Return:
In the spirit of the documentary series Small Towns, Big Stories, the team would want to put a call out to any budding filmmakers in each catchment to come for a day of learning the basics of storytelling through film, so that they can embark upon careers in film, or simply telling the stories of their own community.
BOOK:
A fully-illustrated book (with words and maps by Benjamin Allmon, photography by David Kelly and Carin Garland), comprising 20 chapters that correspond to the 20 major catchments in the Basin. Each chapter will be themed – e.g. The Border Rivers theme will be the history and legacy of Federation, since it is the catchment where Henry Parkes delivered his Tenterfield Oration that lit the spark that fired Federation. With that said, the theme may change or be expanded through what is discovered during research, interviews, and travelling down the rivers, but it provides a framework to give the book a structured format.
Community Return:
Benjamin has run a successful and popular two-hour memoir/travel writing seminar - Taking the Me Out of Memoir: How to Make The Memorable Publishable - in the communities he has written books in before, and would like to offer this to interested writing groups in each catchment. Photographer Carin Garland is also happy to offer a similar service to young photographers in the region, be it through school groups or community groups.
EXHIBITION:
As with Benjamin Allmon’s previous projects, it is envisaged that an exhibition will be developed once the book and film are completed. Typically these exhibitions have incorporated large photographic prints, artefacts and objects, an audio-visual component, as well as seminars, activities and other programs relating to community engagement. The plan is for the exhibition to be toured throughout the Basin, as well as in major metropolitan venues, where the team already have previous connections.
Community Return:
Part of the budget for this project will relate to the creation of traditional Indigenous canoes that will carry Benjamin and local Mobs down portions of some of the rivers of the catchments. As with his previous project, The Saltwater Story, the creation of these canoes and paddling of them is a wonderful opportunity for the transfer of knowledge to the younger Indigenous generations, and to the non-Indigenous communities at large, and after the project/exhibition completion, the canoes would be a part of the local community to paddle into the future.
PODCAST:
Alongside the book and film component, there will be a podcast which, like the book chapters, will be a series of 20 episodes corresponding to each of the major catchments. This will provide the opportunity to be broadcast on radio, online, and through streaming services, as the aural complement to the project. It will also provide the opportunity to showcase expanded interviews unable to make it into the film or book due to time and space constraints. An audio engineer and musician for over 25 years, Benjamin Allmon will combine with an experienced podcast team to deliver a high-quality aural experience that showcases the best of the bush - both the sounds of nature, and the voices of the people who live in the Basin.
Community Return:
Similar to the writing, photography, and filmmaking seminars, the podcast team would be offering locals interested in engaging with this valuable storytelling technique the chance to learn from experienced professionals. This would include recording techniques, soundtrack development, production skills, and most importantly, how to craft a story that keeps the listener engaged.
