Google News Initiative

I’m excited to announce I’ll be continuing my role as the Western Australian representative for the Google News Initiative in 2021.

This will be my third year in the role. Last year, I was fortunate to have attended a week-long workshop at Google’s HQ in Sydney, for an extensive masterclass on the latest digital tools and tricks. This includes researching and verifying online data and content and creating visuals to help incorporate complex data into a simple format for digital storytelling. I will be undergoing further training in March 2021.

The aim of the Google News Initiative is to train 4000 journalists and students across Australia in Google’s new tools designed to help the news industry thrive in the digital age.

The workshops run for between one and four hours and are free for newsrooms and universities.

If you’d like to book in a workshop, please get in contact at katefergusonmedia@gmail.com

Please note, I am still working as a freelance journalist and media producer during this appointment.

WA Women's Hall of Fame

Youth Focus feature

Kate Ferguson spent three days with Youth Focus' Robert Binsair and Delroy Bergsma, to produce a feature about their youth work in Meekatharra and surrounding communities. Produced by Kate Ferguson.

State Timber Museum (WA)

During the first half of 2018, I had the pleasure of documenting the stories of the people who lived and worked in our South West during the timber milling era.

I chatted with men and women who grew up and worked in remote timber towns and challenges they faced, foresters who were at the forefront of incredible changes in technology with documenting and recording the large database of information about our forests, the near-death experiences of former loggers and the change in logging tools, timber managers who witnessed first hand the timber industry’s rise and fall in one lifetime and those who fearlessly fought to preserve our forests.

The stories and photographs are part of the new State Timber Museum, which was launched in August 2018. There’s an audio booth, where you can sit and listen to edited versions of the audio interviews I captured along the way.

The exhibition also features forest soundtracks I recorded while camped out at the Warren and Donnelly forests. The soundtrack in the forest memorial is a favourite (it was recorded in the Warren National Park at sunset).

The project was quite close to my heart, as my father’s family moved from Scotland to Manjimup in the late 1940’s to work in the timber industry and my father was born in Manjimup.

It has certainly given me an appreciation for the hard yakka and determination of the generations before me.

If you haven’t paid a visit to this part of the world, I highly recommend it.

UPDATE! The State Timber Museum won a 2019 MAGNA Award (Museums and Galleries National Awards) for best Permanent Exhibition. It was an incredible team effort. Congratulations to all involved!

Media Watch!

The moment every journo fears! When one appears on the ABC’s Media Watch.

Thankfully it was a constructive piece about a recent exodus of journalists from The West Australian in early 2019, amid fears the paper is becoming tabloid and partisan.

Thankfully the paper started making some large steps to rectify this, following this coverage. You can watch it here: https://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/episodes/west/11054580?jwsource=cl

I have always been a fan of Media Watch and the work they do in keeping the media honest, so it was an honour to be asked to appear on the show.

WA Heritage Awards finalist

I am delighted to announce the exhibition “Gwalia’s Gold - its people and places” was a finalist in the Interpretation category of the Western Australia Heritage Awards, alongside the MRA’s Yagan Square development. It’s one of my favourite additions to Perth. Congratulations MRA! 

Also congratulations to the Shire of Leonora for winning the Contribution by a Public or Private Organisation category for their work at Gwalia. It was an honour to speak on their behalf at the awards.

More info on the awards by clicking here:

"Gwalia's Gold" weekend

The "Gwalia's Gold" weekend is happening on the 17/18th of November.

It's a weekend filled with free activities to launch Gwalia's $3million in conservation work and my COMPLETE multimedia exhibition "Gwalia's Gold - its people and places".

You may remember the first half of the exhibition was launched in 2016 at the Palace Hotel in Perth as part of Perth Heritage Days and was a finalist in the WA Heritage Awards. 

More info about the exhibition here: http://www.katefergusonmedia.com/blog/2016/gwaliasgold

There will be $280 return flights from Perth for the weekend. Last but not least, the weekend will mark the first time the State Hotel has opened its doors to the public in 54 years.

Here's the flyer. More info about the Gwalia’s Gold event here: https://www.leonora.wa.gov.au/news/gwalia-launch/32

ANZAC Bell

Here’s a taste of an epic project I’ve been documenting for the past 18 months. 

I’ve watched its mold being built out of wood, the intense amount of work that went into designing the bell and its artwork, my heart jumped as I watched the bell pour, its transport from workshop to another, its tuning... 

After stalking the ANZAC Bell’s every significant move with my camera, it sure did bring a tear to my eye when I heard it rung for the first time last week 😭

Kudos to the legendary Heather McDonald and the Today Tonight team for doing such a great job on this incredible story 👏

CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE TODAY TONIGHT STORY

If you’d like to see the ANZAC Bell yourself, a ceremony will be held at The Bell Tower on Sunday to mark the bell’s installation.

Kimberley Medical Placement

In August, I had the pleasure of documenting medical students on placement in remote areas of the Kimberley. Called the “Kimberley Placement Program” the students were placed at a wide range of locations including stations, Aboriginal communities, art galleries, camp sites and even radio stations, to get a taste of what it is like to live and work in the bush.

A number of publications ran my pics and video.

Here’s a GWN News piece featuring the video and interviews that I and the students shot.

CLICK HERE TO WATCH GWN VIDEO:

The Medical Hub ran a wide selection of my photos:

CLICK HERE TO READ THE MEDICAL HUB ARTICLE