Reflections From The Deputy Editor-in-Chief Josie Ganko

reflections from the deputy editor-in-chief

Woroni was first published as the student newspaper of the Canberra University College in 1950, so in 2020, we celebrate our 70th Anniversary. We think 70 years is a pretty big deal, so we’ve decided to cause a bit of a fuss; starting with various reflections in the pages of our first edition for 2020. When you consider that the ANU was founded in 1946, 74 years ago, it is clear that Woroni has been here since the very beginning. There were very few years when the university existed without us, and Woroni has grown to be vital institution within the ANU. While I’m sure there have been times when the university administration, or ANUSA or PARSA wished we didn’t exist, Woroni has steadfastly persevered through 70 years of telling student stories. There is no doubt we have experienced challenges, and with those challenges there have been tough times for the paper. We have had years where nothing or very little was published, legal challenges, editorial scandals, undue influence, the whole shebang. But this little student-run paper has never run out of steam, and continues to grow and change with the times. In my humble, but certainly biased opinion, Woroni is having somewhat of a renaissance this past decade. As the first and only completely independent student media organisation in Australia, we can not only offer a magazine filled with outstanding written and artistic contributions every few weeks, but timely online news content, radio shows of every kind, and most recently, professional grade short videos and films. As seen from the excerpt below from the May 1952 edition of Woroni, the meaning of our masthead is ‘mouthpiece’. This description is telling of the time in which it was written, with no further specificity given than that it is an ‘Aboriginal word’. To this day, it is not clear from which Indigenous language Woroni is derived. But either way, we are proud to have a reference to native language in our name, and being a mouthpiece for the students is what we are always striving for. With this in mind, we feel that our editing forebearers chose rather well (even if my mum still can’t remember the name after three years of me working for the paper). While compiling the 70th anniversary reflections, I’ve looked back over hundreds of previous editions of Woroni, and while lots has obviously changed, there were many headlines that sound a lot like the issues that are still on the students minds. Every couple of years there was discussion of disaffiliation with the student union (now the NUS, previously the NUAUS), housing shortages has long been an issue at ANU, and a 1982 article titled ‘John XXIII upsets neighbours’ is hardly a foreign concept. While I am now entering my second and final semester on the Woroni board, I am more determined than ever in my belief in what Woroni does. While I know students don’t have a say in the SSAF money the university provides that funds us and other similar student organisations at the ANU (take that up with the government), the opportunities that Woroni produces return on that investment ten-fold. Whether it’s your first published piece of writing, or an opportunity to start a radio show with your friends, create art that ends up on the front of a magazine, learn valuable skills such as copy-editing and management of a team, or master the use of professional recording and filming equipment, these are opportunities that just wouldn’t be available through any other medium. The ANU doesn’t offer a journalism degree, and yet thanks to Woroni has produced some of the finest journalists in the country (as can be seen in our Alumni reflections). And for those of us at the centre of Woroni, not only have we gained immeasurable skills and experiences, but we have gained friendships and connections that will last well beyond university. I can’t help but feel lucky that Woroni continues to exist after all these years, so that I could have the experiences I have had in the last three years. AUTHOR // JOSIE GANKO