“THIS land is ours” is emblazoned across a rusty ute at FORM gallery. “Always was, always will be,” a fender says. It sums up artist Reko Rennie’s feelings on an issue close to his art. “I painted [that] because the land was stolen, pastoralists are squatters on Aboriginal land.” With WA’s 99-year pastoral leases expiring…

Parents crowdfund for playground AFTER getting knocked back for two state government grants the parents from North Perth primary school are taking fundraising into their own hands. They want to buy a high-end German climbing frame designed for unstructured “free play”. An embodiment of teutonic engineering, the “Explorer Dome” is built to challenge kids’ mental…

VINCENT city council has banked $740,000 more in rates than it was counting on, because it has 389 more properties in its boundaries than it had budgeted for. Usually the council adds just 10 to 20 properties between the time the Budget is first drafted and when rates are issued. Former councillor Dudley Maier says…

MAYLANDS’ Eva Fernandez has won the Bayswater art award and $5000 for her wry take on colonisation. Ms Fernandez says the battered suitcase in her photographic work alludes to middle-class Englanders who immigrated to Australia to annex land from the indigenous population. “I was looking at these objects in terms of the impact they had…

PERTH MP Eleni Evangel has hosted a second workshop on addressing antisocial behaviour in Wellington Square. The workshop was attended by around 40 people, including Aboriginal leaders, WA police, residents and Perth city council staff. Locals have been concerned about drinking and biffo in the East Perth park for more than a century: as far…

FIFTY-TWO owners of empty blocks in Vincent were issued with double-rates last year. Mayor John Carey won support for the double-rates policy back when he was a councillor, arguing it was a way to stem the growth of derelict blocks bringing down streetscapes. German artists Reinigungsgesellschaft renamed Brisbane Street “Broken Tooth Street” saying its empty…

A SPECIAL council meeting will be held regarding the redevelopment of the Mertome retirement village in Bayswater. The Winifred Road home was established in 1972 and accommodates 213 people in 200 units. It was the first of its kind to be constructed by a council and pioneered WA councils’ involvement in aged care. Many are…

IN October 1915 Horace “Horry” Thompson planted a Moreton Bay fig near his Leederville home and told his family he’d see how big it had grown upon his return from the front. Three months later he climbed aboard the HMAS Borda bound for France and never returned, killed by a shell at the Battle of…

TWELVE Noongar leaders will be honoured at a photography exhibition opening this weekend at the Perth Town Hall. The portraits for Gnarla Moort (our people) were taken by photographer Eva Fernández, who says historically some photography has been used against Aboriginal people. “Throughout the history of photography it’s been used quite detrimentally, and more recently…

MT HAWTHORN will be home to a new hawkers’ food market. Vincent city council has approved a one-month trial in Axford Reserve—at the junction of Oxford Street and Scarborough Beach Road—starting November 7. The 15-stall market will be held 5–9pm every Friday, and be run by Local Arts and Community Events, the not-for-profit group behind…