BAYSWATER ratepayers will get to choose their own mayor under new local government reforms making their way through Parliament. But it will come at the cost of some elected representation, as the City’s population of 75,000 will be too small to justify any more than eight ward councillors and a mayor. Bayswater currently has 11…

DUTCH East India Company wrecks which dot the WA coast will get to shine on the international archaeology stage after UWA scored an $800,000 research grant. The Dutch had a habit of over-shooting the turn north to the famed “Spice Islands” during their maritime heyday, and since the 1960s a handful of valuable archaeological sites…

BEATTY Park Leisure Centre has reached its diamond jubilee 60th year, a little creaky and a little leaky, but still working where it counts with nearly a million people a year coming through the gates. The centre was purpose-built for the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games, and after three days of events it spent…

STIRLING councillor Keith Sargent has stepped down after being charged with possessing child exploitation material. Police seized electronic devices during a search of his Mirrabooka house on September 1 and after a preliminary examination of two devices police alleged “material consistent with child exploitation material was located”. Mr Sargent fronted Perth Magistrates Court the day…

INGLEWOOD local Katherine Azzam holds the distinction of being Perth’s only aerial violinist. “There’s a few in the world,” Azzam tells us. “Circus is hard, and violin is really hard as well. But it’s really fun for me. Playing in a classical orchestra, it’s very cut and dry, whereas in circus I can choose the music,…

ANYONE needing the toilet in a hurry at Dianella Library has been out of luck with constant blockages and unacceptably long delays to get them fixed, library-goer Adrian Davies says. Mr Davies tells us “there’s been an ongoing problem with the fact that the public toilets have been unavailable, caused by backflow of sewage not…

PERTH has its first street dance studio aiming to inject some authenticity back into street styles and pay due respect to the cultures that created them. Street styles are often divorced from their cultural context when they’re taught here, so dance teachers Isabella Boladeras and RHung wanted to ensure the teaching was true to the…

AFTER reading our recent histories of the Pickle District, Voice reader Marie Slyth got in touch to offer her piece ‘Memories of Golding Street, Newcastle Street and Strathcona Street’ from her book “A Heritage Walk”, reminiscing on how the district got its new name. [KIT] Woods mentions Sandovers — the furniture and hardware factory which occupied…

LYNDON DADSWELL’S sculpture The Wildflower State is coming home after two WA bidders determined to see it return smashed the auction record for the artist’s works. The successful bid was $81,000, but with the buyer’s premium and GST the final cost will be $94,365, Lloyds Auctioneers head of fine art and luxury Amanda Benson told…

THE Rottnest Island Authority refuses to say whether it jumped the gun and gave a developer approval to clear native vegetation before it checked with the state’s environmental watchdog. The Prendiville Group has applied to build private accommodation for 211 staff from the Samphire Rottnest hotel (“Outrage over Rotto units,” Voice, August 27, 2022) and…