New generation will help a Mannum institution continue

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As the new year begins, a much-loved Mannum institution is ready to tell local residents all about it.

The committee behind the community magazine Mannum Mag will keep publishing in 2026, with a new volunteer editor at the helm and a renewed sense of enthusiasm.

That in itself is an achievement, considering the circumstances in which the magazine found itself at this time last year.

Eyebrows had been raised around the district by a front-page announcement in November 2024, in which Mannum Community Magazine chairman Peter Weir had warned that the end was nigh.

“The Mag has reached the end of its life, not for lack of readership but from lack of support … and sheer rude economics,” he wrote.

Rising print costs would make it difficult to go on unless advertising costs were increased to a “burdensome” level, or unless the Mag’s volunteers became willing to accept outside funding – something Mr Weir felt would compromise their independence.

“So we come to the end of an era,” he wrote.

“It would seem unlikely that such an enterprise will be undertaken again.”

‘To strengthen community and foster communication’

The Mannum Community Magazine was originally the brainchild of the late Uniting Church minister Rod Mann back in 2006.

A public meeting was held and a call for volunteers issued.

Keith Baldwin had moved to Caloote about 18 months prior to the meeting, and put his hand up to help put the new publication together.

A former Royal Australian Navy electronics expert and maths teacher, he had edited a number of academic papers and journals over the years.

“Everybody else took a step back and I (said) ‘I’ll do it until we find someone,’” he said.

Little did he know that the volunteer gig would become his main occupation for the next 20 years.

He became intimately acquainted with all the goings-on around his community while, best of all, he could still walk down Randell Street incognito – his byline was ever-present, but he never made himself the focus of attention.

Editing people’s work, balancing complaints and legal risks could leave him tearing his hair out at times, but it was a challenge he loved.

For Mr Baldwin, the decision to announce the Mag’s closure was a heartbreaking one.

“I’m thinking, ‘You’re letting everybody down, you’ve done it for 20 years’,” he said.

“Gradually, through (last) year, I resolved in my head: no, that’s it, you’re over 80, you’ve done it.”

But then came two meetings that made him, and the committee, dare to dream that all might not yet be lost.

The first was with an anonymous local benefactor who offered to help cover the cost of producing the magazine.

The second was with the man now sitting beside him at a home in a new estate just outside Mannum.

Ask and ye shall receive

Alex McAskill is the head of marketing and communications for PKF Australia, a national accounting, auditing and advisory firm.

As of the past year, he and his family are also Mannum residents.

They shifted into the Murraylands for the lifestyle, and wasted no time getting out and about, meeting people – starting with a Welcome to Mannum lunch – and joining community groups.

The way they found out about those opportunities was by reading free local press: Mannum Mag, as well as Murray Bridge News’ own Murraylands Life magazine.

When he learned that the Mag’s days were numbered, he decided that wouldn’t do.

“(The Mag) feels connected to the community for me, it feels grassroots, and that’s what I really liked about it when I first picked it up,” he said.

“We’ve decided to raise a family here, we want the community to be thriving and we want to contribute wherever we can.

“If you don’t prioritise giving back to the community and you wait for someone else to do it, you run the risk of no-one doing it.

“(Editing the Mag) is my way of giving back to the community we’ve joined.”

If Mannum Mag disappeared, he said, that would limit the number of ways people could find out what was going on locally.

People would lose their sense of connection to the community.

“How would you find out what’s going on, how would you find out who’s who?” he asked.

“You need to get out of the house and have that human connection.”

A new chapter begins

The February 2026 edition of Mannum Mag will be Mr McAskill’s first as editor, though you can bet that Mr Baldwin will be there in the background to guide him.

The newcomer has a few ideas, but he won’t be rocking the boat too soon.

One such idea may be collaborating with Murray Bridge News, similarly to the way in which this publication partners with Tailem Topics and correspondent Glenn Power to cover goings-on in that town.

Murray Bridge News’ Mannum correspondent, Zhen Pu, has been a regular contributor to the Mag over the years, and Mr McAskill and the committee are open to the idea of sharing stories back and forth once in a while.

But for now, the overwhelming feeling around the magazine is one of gratitude.

“All the families who’ve been here for 100 years say, ‘Keep it going,’ but here’s a stranger to Mannum who comes in and says, ‘I’ll do it,’” Mr Baldwin said.

“I’m so pleased.

“You’ve no idea what relief I felt.”

Years from now, perhaps nobody will remember that Mannum Mag almost met its end at Christmas time in 2025.

They’ll remember that bad things happen when good people do nothing, but when the volunteers at the Mannum Community Magazine dig their heels in, nothing can stop them.

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