Nowhere Near

Australian photographer Brad Rimmer completes a trilogy with Nowhere Near. Over the past 20 years while traversing the Western Australian Wheatbelt photographing the series Silence (2009) and Nature Boy (2019) he noticed how many small, isolated community halls had disappeared. Towns where populations peaked in the 1970s have either disappeared or become desperately depleted of youth and opportunity. Their halls which once brimmed with life and were central to the district now lie destitute, some repurposed, others decaying or even demolished. Only silent echoes remain of the dances and wakes, the town meetings, amateur theatre, and weekly picture shows. And honour boards that roll call the local lads whose blood was shed on foreign soil hang in lonely silence. Poems by award-winning John Kinsella augment the poignant reminders of the past as Brad Rimmer focuses on what remains.

Rimmer’s photographs capture a world fading into memory: halls that once hosted dances, weddings, wakes, and Christmas parties now lie empty or have vanished entirely. Built to anchor tight-knit communities across vast distances, these spaces served as vital gathering places in an otherwise unforgiving landscape. Today, many of them are either abandoned, repurposed, or have succumbed to demolition, leaving behind only faint traces of the lives once lived there.

Through Rimmer’s lens, these modest structures become powerful symbols—monuments not only to rural heritage but also to the erosion of community, tradition, and place. His images are beautifully composed, quiet yet heavy with atmosphere. The sense of absence and loss is palpable, but so too is a reverence for the spirit of resilience and belonging that once filled these spaces.

Augmenting the photographs are poems by John Kinsella, one of Australia’s foremost contemporary poets. His work adds another layer of emotional resonance, enriching the visual narrative with lyrical reflections on memory, place, and cultural decay.

Produced with high attention to print and design quality, Nowhere Near is a visually compelling and thoughtfully assembled volume. It stands out not just for its documentary value but also for its artistry. This is a book that speaks to themes of history, identity, and change, making it a significant work within the canon of Australian photography and rural studies.

For anyone interested in contemporary landscape photography, Australian regional history, or the intersection of place and memory, Nowhere Near is an essential title. It completes a trilogy that has become an important visual record of a disappearing world and confirms Brad Rimmer’s position as a leading voice in Australian photographic storytelling.