TWO mail boxes have been removed with great haste from the front of the Malaysian consulate on Adelaide Terrace over “safety and security concerns”. We spotted an Australia Post notice in last week’s Voice quietly noting the removal. The posties played coy when we asked for specifics, with spokesperson Michelle Skehan saying they periodically check…

MT HAWTHORN community church is desperately trying to find a location for its Easter camp after two preferred venues fell through. For 20 years the camp has travelled to Holiday Haven in Jarrahdale to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus, but last month the campsite abruptly shut down. Church leaders hastily booked accommodation at Lake Leschenaultia,…

THIRTY Amnesty International supporters held a candlelight vigil January 29 for Perth residents on death row in Indonesia. They gathered outside Wesley Church to demonstrate support for Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan, expected to face a firing squad within the month over drug smuggling offences in 2005. The pairs’ supporters say they’ve been rehabilitated in…

St Mary’s Cathedral has just celebrated its 150th anniversary. Benedictine Oblate Brother Joseph Ascione designed the cathedral in the Norman gothic style. The cathedral’s walls were built from clay bricks from a property in Adelaide Terrace. Between 1897 and 1910, alterations were made to the cathedral to emphasise its gothic character, including the addition of…

THE ANZAC Cottage in Mt Hawthorn has celebrated its 99th birthday. Originally built as a memorial to those who died at the landing at Gallipoli on April 25, 1915 it now serves as a salient reminder of soldiers who also died in subsequent conflicts. In February 1916, 4000 turned out to witness 200 workers construct…

IT’S been three years since Canadian Frank O’Brien first deemed Hyde Park’s toilets “abominable” “third world” and amongst some of the worst he’d come across in his world travels. The usually easy-going organic farmer had been shocked to find poo on the floor, no soap and no means to dry hands in many Perth toilets.…

Some of the aftermath from this week’s explosion at the Morley Galleria. Two men died in the tragedy, with one, Matt Hutchins, aged just 22. At the time of going to print, two other men (50 and 48) remain in a critical condition in Royal Perth Hospital. Police say it’s believed all four men—employees or…

FOOD VAN permits in Bayswater are nearly double those of neighbouring Vincent. Cool Breeze Cafe co-owner Georgia Johnson says the high cost is contributing to a low take-up of the business model. Bayswater’s food van permits, introduced in September, cost a cool $1500 per year. In Vincent they’re $619 for selling “pre-wrapped” food like pies…

LABOR’S come down on the side of Vincent in the merger debate, with Mark McGowan saying his troops won’t support any City of Perth Act that forcibly merges the two councils or which allows vote-weighting to favour businesses over residents. Premier Colin Barnett is planning to use the Act to mush the two councils together.…

THEY’VE scrimped and saved and now Vincent’s massive budget problems seem to finally be under control. At the start of the financial year the council had to save $6.4million after a budget error threatened to put it in the red. In the latest budget update it’s predicting to be just $165,000 off the mark come…