Wendouree West residents show love for suburb

“I LOVE living in here, and I am not the only one. This is the place I want to be.” Michael Gray chose to move to Wendouree West to be near his wife Rebecca and their five-month-old son Liam, and he is tired of the neighbourhood being maligned. “I came to visit my mates and wanted to move here as soon as I could,” he said yesterday. “There are great people here.” Mr Gray is just one of the passionate residents standing up for their suburb. After a community meeting on Wednesday attracted more than 50 people, locals have taken to social networking to stand up for their home. A Facebook page titled Wendouree 3355 has had round-the-clock postings as members discussed ways to improve the local community. The meeting was called to respond to media reports and the work of freelance photographer Meredith O’Shea, which residents believe painted a bleak picture of the area. Local retiree Bill Hammond said a minority of residents caused the suburb’s bad reputation. “Most of us here look after our houses, work hard during the day and raise our kids here,” Mr Hammond said.Neighbour Belinda Smith said she and her husband chose to raise their children in the area. “No one is pretending there aren’t problems, but the next step is for us to get together and try and solve them, not to dwell on these pictures,” she said. Ms O’Shea yesterday defended the photographs, published in The Sunday Age and included in the Ballarat Foto Biennale. She said they depict ordinary people living their lives and she had not set out to cause distress. “There is a raw environment to Wendouree and I believe this is what has bred the camaraderie that exists there today. “I feel strongly that my images depicted this,” she said. “I cannot apologise for the pictures — my subjects are proud of who they are.” Sunday Age editor Gay Alcorn said she stood by the work of Ms O’Shea and journalist Peter Munro. She said they had found a profound sense of disadvantage and hopelessness, but that the report had reflected a sense of the community sticking together. “I am concerned about the distress the coverage has caused and have offered to publish an opinion article from someone in the community who wants to put another view of Wendouree,” she said.