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The Inland Sea – a Norwegian odyssey in the Aussie outback

Norwegian journalist and La Trobe post-graduate Steinar Ellingsen recently embarked on a dusty tour of duty across Australia. And it was all in the name of research for his intriguing thesis project that explores alternative communities.

In late November 2008 I went travelling for three months on a research trip around Australia. Along the travel route I (and my party of three others) visited a number of alternative communities throughout Australia, from suburbia to the outback.

The end products of this trip will feature as a book and a documentary that will be creative components of my thesis. During travel I also kept a live website featuring news articles, features, videos, photo galleries and blogs. (The Inland Sea is also the working title for both the book and the film). As such, my work is a practice-based project that explores new and traditional journalistic forms and narratives. The website, the book and the documentary will be components that make up the final thesis, which will hopefully culminate in a PhD. As a native Norwegian, there is an inherent bilingual and cross-cultural dimension to the project.

I aim to produce Norwegian versions of both the book and the documentary – to reach out to a Scandinavian audience as well as an Australian/English speaking audience.

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More about Steinar Ellingsen

Born in Kongsberg, Norway, Steinar Ellingsen started as a freelance journalist and photographer in 1997, working mainly for his hometown newspaper Laagendalsposten, and working occasionally as editor of the sports pages. In 2007, he was nominated for a Norwegian SKUP award, as part of a reportage team at Laagendalsposten investigating a crisis in the local age care service. Steinar has also been published in newspaper Dagsavisen, NRK Web, online music magazine Groove.no (all Norwegian) and is a regular contributor to Upstart.

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