If the Aluminium Society gets its way, then we’re getting a whole society based around aluminium. Sometimes I think we come across as a little bit like a club full of megalomaniacs, trying to insert our ideology into every little thing and gunning for the rights to a huge plot of land so we can establish Aluminium World, a whole theme park based around aluminium.
Personally, I don’t think that last one is a good idea. As much as I’d love it, and probably visit twice a year, and definitely buy the premium, Melbourne-made aluminium toolboxes on offer at the gift shop, we have to realise that we’re a niche demographic. Theme parks often fail because they don’t drum up enough interest, and while it’s nice to go to club meetings and chat to people with the same interests, I think they’ve let their excitement run away with them. Most folks just aren’t into the idea of aluminium, and its many benefits. They see the substance like they see microwaves, or ticket machines. No one knows how they work, or what it’s made of, but they accept it into their lives in a passive way. You can’t actually expect people to spend time and money going to another location where aluminium is exclusively celebrated if it’s not an integral part of their daily experience, like it is for us.
Maybe I’ll just let them plan; it’ll all be falling through anyway. Though I don’t think I’d say no to some kind of aluminium museum of sorts, a smaller affair where we can look at aluminium ute canopies throughout history, and how they have changed into the wonderful creations seen today. And then toolboxes. Wonderful toolboxes made from aluminium! I mean, really…there’s a whole museum based around ladders. Why can’t we have this?
-Joy