Welcome to the Australia Letter, a weekly newsletter from our Australia bureau. This week’s edition is penned by Natasha Frost, a reporter based in Melbourne.
In August 1972, a group of writers, mainly in Melbourne, published the inaugural issue of a biweekly broadsheet that would document a specific aspect of Australian countercultural life. It began with a critical piece on the “young press baron” Rupert Murdoch.
Over the course of about 40 months, The Digger newspaper featured passionate opinion columns, extensive reviews, and cultural listings, as well as what it described as “gonzo accounts” of Australian life. It covered topics such as sex education, Aboriginal rights, republicanism, and the pleasures of riding a bike.
The paper was associated with some of the most prominent names in Australian literature at the time and played a significant role in launching the career of Australian novelist Helen Garner. (The Digger ceased publication in 1975 due to financial and legal issues.)
Five decades later, another Australian publication is embodying that same irreverent spirit and dedication to ”reportage.”
The Paris End is a longform Substack newsletter launched about a year ago by writers Cameron Hurst, Sally Olds, and Oscar Schwartz, whose ages range from about 25 to 35. (Mr. Schwartz has previously contributed to The New York Times.)
The newsletter is named after the local nickname for the eastern end of Collins Street in downtown Melbourne, a place that was once home to the city’s artistic community and is now the site of luxury hotels and high-end fashion boutiques. (The newsletter does not exclusively focus on stories from that part of town.)
The area is “a soulless pastiche of a high-end part of any city,” according to Ms. Olds. “It’s such a strange part of the city, with such ideas about itself. So that’s a really fun space to write into.”
“It’s a ridiculous thing to call it,” Mr. Schwartz added. “If you have to call something the ‘Paris end’ of your city, then you’re not Paris.”
The Paris End does not aim to imitate any particular publication but does share some similarities with earlier versions of The New Yorker’s “Talk of the Town,” drawing inspiration from Ms. Garner and the Ukrainian-born Brazilian novelist and writer Clarice Lispector.
Its readership is kept confidential, but Mr. Schwartz estimates it to be in the thousands. He describes it as the “Darwin,” Australia’s eighth-largest city, ”of newsletters.”
Its impact among Melburnians appears to be significant. Earlier this year, I made a special trip to purchase panettone from a small Italian cake shop that The Paris End had recommended — only to be…
2024-02-15 21:29:34
Post from www.nytimes.com