FULL plans for the apartments to be built on the old heritage-listed Lyric Theatre are now out for comment. The plans for the seven-storey building show the developer Australian Development Capital proposes to demolish the roof, interior and parts of the theatre’s external walls, retaining most of the front facade and some of the other…

A BITE-sized Christmas Nativity play will return this year after Perth’s newly elected councillors overturned a decision of the city’s former commissioners. Back in August commissioners resisted Christian lobbying and voted not to go ahead with the $330,000 two-night nativity because of its lack of draw power.  It also squeezes the crowd into Supreme Court…

Brookman Fountain pictured in a postcard, showing a dog wandering off after likely visiting the water bowl.  HYDE PARK’S history and a splendid but long-forgotten fountain will feature in a walk and talk by two local researchers, with 2020 marking a century since the fountain was pulled down. Long-term Highgate resident Rodney O’Brien has spent…

AFTER five years’ dormancy a reincarnation of the Friends of Coolbinia Bushland has sprung up to take care of the Bradford Street remnant bush.  In the years since the last group drifted away the spot’s become heavily overgrown with weeds like veldt grass, and the native vegetation including orchids has struggled. The Friends group’s revival…

Unpacking the Sannyasin aftermath A NEW four-hour documentary which seeks to unpack the colourful and controversial Rajneeshee movement in Fremantle during the 1980s will premiere next month. The Beloved is the latest work by filmmaker Joseph London, who grew up in Fremantle and had many childhood friends whose parents became devotees of Indian guru Bhagwan…

Chinese exports on hold over tensions LOCAL rock lobster sales have taken off in Fremantle Harbour just as a Chinese trade halt has knocked the industry for six.  Legislative changes introduced in September allow 100 lobsters to be sold from the back of crayfishing boats, and the experience has proven so successful local fisherman Fedele…

ANCIENT Noongar Dreamtime stories, once sealed in the archives of the Battye Library, are set to be released in a collaborative effort to preserve Noongar language and culture.  On December 2, the Humphries Reconciliation Project will launch a collection of books based on stories recorded by Ballardong elder Clifford Humphries between 1995 and a year…

AN aspiring Young Matilda has just taken a big step towards her dream of representing Australia by the time she hits 16. South Fremantle resident Sophia Brooks (13), who featured in the Herald six months ago urging young girls to give soccer a try, has just won a spot in an elite Football West program…

BILLIE Jean King Cup captain Alicia Molik attended the inaugural Alicia Molik Schools Challenge at Robertson Park Tennis Club on Wednesday, with the former world number eight presenting the winning teams with their trophies.  Unique to the history of international tennis in WA, the interschool mixed gender competition boasts a ‘team tennis’ format similar to that of…

SETTING up tents under the noses of WA’s leaders, 30 of Perth’s homeless residents and allies brought the issue of poverty to the doorsteps of Parliament on Wednesday. Indigenous outcry and political promises made by the newly appointed Opposition leader Zac Kirkup saturated the steps, as rough sleepers from East Perth’s ‘Tent City’ appealed for…