Outback Town Covers Empty Windows With Photos
The Public Viewing David's "Coronation" at the Louvre — Louis Léopold Boilly, 1810
What Happened
In 2016, drought-hit Blackall, Queensland, had empty shopfronts piling up, so graziers Sarah Pearson and Lisa Alexander started #BetterInBlackall, a photo campaign that filled the windows with community snapshots instead. A decade later, it's reshaped the town's welcome signs, its annual festival, and helped inspire a $315,000 shopfront renewal push.
Why It Matters
Small-town decline usually gets treated as an economic problem needing an economic fix. Blackall's version started with two people and some window photos. A community consultant on the tour estimates 70 per cent of small towns are dying — Blackall didn't wait for a grant to disagree with that number.
What's Next
Separately, Blackall's $21 million Cultural Precinct project — which grew out of councillor Boyd Johnstone's restoration of the town's old Masonic Lodge and a conversation with a local philanthropist — is still under construction, backed by federal and council funding.