You may have noticed a new face around town this week with The Cobar Weekly wel-coming an intern journalist (and part time tourist), Holly McGuinness, to gain some media experience.
Having grown up at Nowra/Jervis Bay on the south coast, Holly is currently studying journal-ism at the Macleay College in Melbourne.
After leaving school, Holly did a call centre traineeship, worked in project management in digital marketing and then had a short career in real estate, before she decided to pick up a pen and move into journalism.
Holly said the life experience she’s gained in her previous roles have all helped with her transition into journalism.
She has a love for storytelling and is by na-ture curious, both of which are desirable char-acteristics for a successful journalist.
Spending most of her childhood in a regional area means Holly can relate to some of the issues people in Cobar face and she also knows the importance of community.
“As much as I love Melbourne, it’s been amazing to be in Cobar where I have found the community to be so tight knit.
“I instantly felt welcomed and everyone I’ve met has been really lovely,” Holly said.
Coming from Jervis Bay, Holly was sur-rounded by water much of her life and didn’t realise that water would also be part of life of a community that lives in the middle of NSW on the edge of the arid zone.
After attending all three of Cobar Shire Council’s community consultation sessions for the pool upgrade last week (and writing up her findings for our front page article this week), Holly was impressed with the passion Cobar residents have shown for their pool.
She’s also come to understand that all sport is important to people living in Cobar and that there’s a wide variety of sports to play.
“My short time in Cobar working with The Weekly has cemented my love for the industry.
“There’s so many important voices to be heard on a variety of different topics, and that having those voices heard, particularly in a regional town, may help people in the city un-derstand their needs.”
While here, Holly’s been taking lots of pho-tos and playing tourist when she’s not working.
“The views from the Fort Bourke Lookout are amazing and the sunsets here in Cobar are just unbelievable.
“I’m also looking forward to having a look around the museum—it looks really interest-ing.”
Holly will be here for another two weeks, out and about collecting stories for The Cobar Weekly and is always happy to have a chat.
