Collinsville State High School

17 September 2015

The students of Collinsville only had two days to go until the end of term 3 when they welcomed the My Space/Our Place workshop to their school. With the holidays looming, it was great to see such a strong turnout of students, eager and keen to explore their town and surrounding areas with their cameras. As many small towns that have for years relied on mining for their prosperity, the recent downturn in the price of coal has seen a sharp and sudden decline in population numbers in places like Collinsville. Many properties, both residential and commercial are for sale in this town, with numerous businesses shutting up shop. 

Students were given the opportunity to photograph in the main street of Collinsville before heading out to a more rural setting. School Principal Frank was on driving duty and was very helpful in securing the local town bus to ferry workshop participants into town, and then out to the nearby town of Scottville, where students explored an old, now abandoned, mine site. A couple of students managed to photograph primary school students from Scottville as our bus passed by on the way back to Collinsville.

Collinsville Student Photographers: Heshan Llyanage, Cohen Hobson, Tayla-Jane Portelli, Emily Gall, Sean Batchelor, Dawn Palangat, Christian Macdonald, Dorothy Vallada, Abby Messenger, Emily McIntyre, Brittney Hathaway