What is this image?

Well ... have you guessed what it is yet? It's a 'flying fox' and the one in the picture is installed in the Atrium outside the offices of the Writers' Centre. The reason we chose this image is because we feel it's an interesting visual metaphor for what we do, which is to connect writers with other writers, while also linking them to the publishing industry and to readers and vice versa.

There is a generation of Australians who will remember the 'flying fox', a wonderful arial device that took customers' cash from the counter to a central accounts section, often on a mezzanine level. The receipt and any change came barreling back to the counter. Malcolm Walker, our Communications Officer, recalls seeing one in action in the early 80s in a ships' chandlers in Melbourne.

We're told that there's a non-operational one, with perished rubbers that are unlikely to be replaced, still in its original condition in the old H. B. Crosby building on Murray Street in Gawler. Apparently the Malcolm Reid building, in which the SA Writers' Centre is now located, never had one. The one in the photo below is non-functional and was installed by the building's owner.