{"id":6255,"date":"2024-07-25T18:47:47","date_gmt":"2024-07-25T08:17:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/?p=6255"},"modified":"2024-07-25T18:50:01","modified_gmt":"2024-07-25T08:20:01","slug":"announcement-julia-archer-wins-june-wwwc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/2024\/07\/announcement-julia-archer-wins-june-wwwc\/","title":{"rendered":"ANNOUNCEMENT: Julia Archer wins the June WWWC!"},"content":{"rendered":"
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We’re pleased to announce the winner of the June WWWC: Julia Archer. Responding to the prompt ‘down by the river’ Julia’s winning piece ‘The Gallery Goer’ follows a down on his luck fellow making the most of things.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Read her winning entry in full below. This is Julia’s second WWWC win \u2013 her first was in May 2023. Read that entry here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

I go to the art gallery most days in the summer and the winter.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

They let you hang around for hours, and there are places to sit. Sometimes there\u2019s special exhibitions, so that\u2019s something new to look at. And if you get tired of the paintings and different bits and pieces, you can watch the other visitors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The school groups are the best, all the kiddies reacting to the art and the rest of it, and the bit of push and shove that can go on. There\u2019s always a teacher explaining stuff and that\u2019s interesting to listen to. I\u2019ve heard so many talks, I even know if they\u2019re dead wrong about something.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My favourite painting is Down on His Luck<\/em>. There\u2019s a bloke out in the bush, by himself, sitting on a log, with a little smoky fire going. He looks like he\u2019s having a really hard time of it. He hasn\u2019t shaved in a long while, and everything he\u2019s got is wrapped in a grey blanket beside the log. But he\u2019s dressed warm enough, and that\u2019s something I\u2019d notice.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Down on His Luck, Frederick McCubbin, 1889<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

So what happened to him? How did he end up like that?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I know what happened to me. Bit too much to drink, a few times. Well, maybe more than a few. Missus took the kids in the end. Then I lost the house.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

But I\u2019ve got a better spot than this bloke. Well, his is nicer<\/em>, the bush and that. But it\u2019s going to be miserable when it rains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve got a good possie under the bridge. The pigeons roost on the other side so that\u2019s alright. I\u2019ve got used to the traffic rolling like a thunderstorm overhead, and the joggers and the cyclists on the river path don\u2019t even notice me up there. The Council don\u2019t move me on. Nah, it\u2019s good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Down on my luck? Yeah. I suppose. But there\u2019s others worse off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every morning I scramble up the bank above the cycle path to the road, and not far along there\u2019s a bus stop, and in fifteen minutes I\u2019m at the Friendship Centre for breakfast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 I can hang out there for a bit, or if the weather\u2019s nice some of us sit around in the park. The church across the park does a lunch for two dollars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And if the day\u2019s too cold, or hot, or wet, I go to the art gallery and hang out with my mate in the picture. He\u2019s actually a down-on-his-luck celebrity<\/em>. Which is funny, if you think about it. I\u2019m one in real life, and the visitors stand for hours with a brochure and study him<\/em>, and pretend they don\u2019t see me at all.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

But life\u2019s pretty good. No complaints.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So last night I was just getting comfortable on the ledge above the concrete slope down to the cycle path. Got my stuff all laid out, and the traffic\u2019s gone a bit quiet, and it\u2019s going to be a good night. Not too cold. Pigeons have stopped cooing, gone to sleep.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then there\u2019s this almighty Bang!<\/em> overhead, something big and dark is rushing down the dirt slope, blocks out the electric light a moment, and Crash!<\/em> onto the path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From the path lights I can see it\u2019s a small white car, on its roof. Engine running.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I  scramble down, kneel on the path, and I can just see a middle-aged bloke inside, hanging head down in his seat belt. He looks at me, and I bang on the glass and point and yell, \u2018Open the window!\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He must press a button, because the glass slides up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018You okay?\u2019 I ask. It\u2019s weird to talk to a man hanging like a fruit bat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Yeah. Think so. Dunno what happened.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018You come off the bridge, mate.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Oh. There was this huge bang. And it rolled over.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Yeah, it did, mate. You\u2019re a bit down on your luck, aren\u2019t you, except you\u2019re not dead, and you could\u2019ve been.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He squints at me, \u2019Where\u2019ve I landed?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve had such a scare, but he\u2019s okay, and I\u2019m okay, and it\u2019s suddenly funny, and I start cackling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Upside down on the river path, matey. Upside down by the river!\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

People are running from all over, they\u2019ve seen him come off the bridge, and they\u2019re yelling into phones and getting down and peering into the car and telling him the emergency are on their way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The pigeons and I aren\u2019t going to get any sleep for hours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We’re pleased to announce the winner of the June WWWC: Julia Archer. Responding to the prompt ‘down by the river’ Julia’s winning piece ‘The Gallery Goer’ follows a down on his luck fellow making the most of things. Read her … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[80],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6255","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-for-fun"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4v1Of-1CT","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6255","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6255"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6255\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6260,"href":"https:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6255\/revisions\/6260"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6255"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6255"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6255"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}