Tertangala
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Tertangala is the magazine of the University of Wollongong Student Association.
The name Tertangala is said to mean "smoke signals". The name originates from the time when the University of Wollongong was originally a campus of the University of New South Wales. The paper's name was said to reflect the notion of Wollongong students communicating from their industrial (and notoriously polluted) city to the parent campus in Sydney.
The Tertangala is comprised of student submissions, as well as contributions from WUSA representatives. Until recently there was also a staff employed to write for the paper, but these have been made redundant due to financial restrictions on the paper - a result of Federal Government Voluntary Student Unionism (VSU) legislation.
The magazine features student investigative and feature articles, news, artwork, opinion, film and music reviews, as well as interviews and editorials. Most of the Tertangalas content is of a left-wing bias and often complaint like or aggressive in its tone. Colloquially referred to as "The Tert" by students, the paper is edited by the elected Media Officer of WUSA - the Wollongong University Students' Association. The Media Officer/Editor is elected by a popular vote open to all enrolled undergraduate students at the University of Wollongong and has supreme editorial control of the paper. A constitutional provision in the WUSA constitution designed to check the Media Officer's power is the right of veto granted over the content of the paper by the official publisher - the President of WUSA.
The right of editorial control versus the censorial privilege of the Students' Association President has ofttimes been a source of controversy and tension on the University of Wollongong campus.
The Tertangala is funded directly by WUSA and through revenue raised by advertising. The editor of the Tertangala reserves a right to determine who can and cannot advertise in the paper. Some editors oppose corporate advertising, some do not.
The Tertangala has a radical editorial tradition and many of its former editors have transitioned into active political and artistic life. Among them are:
- 1994 Editor Kathryn Goldie: academic at the University of Queensland and cultural commentator
- 1995 Editor Damien Cahill: academic at the University of Sydney and political commentator
- 1997 Editor Van Badham: Playwright
- 1998 Editor Stu Hatter: trade union activist
- 1999 Editor Ben Langford: legal activist
- 2000 Editor James Beach: Actor and Director
- 2001 Editor Ariane Lewis: youth actvist
- 2004 Editor Anneliese Constable: queer activist
All copies of the Tertangala are archived by the University of Wollongong library, and many are available online.
