Creative industries have significance in considerations of regional development because of their potential for both social-cultural and political-economic benefit. This is especially the case in Indigenous communities, given the potential of traditional and contemporary cultural expression for industry development and employment. This research set out to explore and evaluate an action research approach to creative industries development in regional contexts, stimulated by a research initiative of　Queensland's Department of State Development in cooperation with Queensland University of Technology's Creative Industries Research and Applications Centre. It is based on an analysis of seven pilot projects undertaken between 2002 and 2004, most of which involved Indigenous　participation and which gave rise to consideration of the additional value of Indigenist research perspectives. The research found that an action research methodology, informed by Indigenist research values, can assist creative enterprise development in a regional context through the development of new businesses or by value-adding to existing businesses, and the consequent generation and exploitation of new intellectual property. In this process, it found that there is an emerging role for the creative entrepreneur, such a role arising from the practices of community cultural development and social-cultural animation.

This work takes as its central "conceit" a specific cultural site, namely a small town choir-- The Emu Park and District Amateur Choral Society Inc., which operates in Central Queensland, circa 1965. A discontinuous narrative of interconnected short stories of one chapter each, highlight significant and often highly traumatic aspects of the interconnected lives of selected choir members. The narrative lampoons the English choral tradition against the setting of a society which does not deal with the political and social negativities of Queensland in the sixties. It is a culture in denial. The comedy deals with the often banal, though always good natured, behaviours of the choir members in dealing with often black-edged lives. An Overture introduces all characters, while Acts I, II & III deal with individual's stories. The Finale deals with the outcome of rehearsals in a culminating performance of the Emu Park and District Amateur Choral Society Incorporated. The short stories, one to a chapter, concern individual choir member's life stories and form discreet, fully finished pieces of work in their own right. Background action throughout the stories involves a series of rehearsals which structurally tie all the narratives to the final chapter. Lyrics of popular songs of the 1900's through to early 1960's are mentioned within the text. For copyright reasons the texts are not reproduced in full. However, these lyrics do comment tangentially on some aspect of the character's story.