THIS week marks the return of our regular local history page, detailing tales dug up by the historians at the Vincent Local History Centre. This week we hear the story behind David Kennedy’s book Charles Washing & Racist Furniture, a saga based on what he discovered unearthing his family’s long history in Northbridge and rediscovering his…

DJILBA’S here and the Friends of Coolbinia Bushland are inviting the public down to enjoy the wildlfowers, learn some expert Noongar knowledge, and hopefully sign on to help restore the pocket of remnant bushland.  Djilba is the Noongar transitional season of clear cold days mixed with warm and windy days, and it doesn’t have a set…

PERTH’S CBD toilet shortage is getting desperate and new public dunnies are in the pipeline.   The lack of public loos is a longstanding issue in the city, with private businesses unhappy at always having to pick up the slack, but there’s been little action taken. Perth council has an impressive multi-million dollar public toilet…

Researchers from the University of Western Australia have been looking at the impact trees have on making home ‘home’ after surveying . Harrison McGrath, Dr Cristina Ramalho, Professor Erik Veneklaas, Dr Tim Kurz, and Emeritus Professor Carmen Lawrence recently released the report after a survey of Perth residents. We should point out the report which…

A GP has condemned Bayswater council’s decision to immediately stop funding local children’s vaccination clinics. The program cost the council about $120,000 a year and immunised about 750 to 1000 children. Vaccination dates were scheduled to run at various clinics across Bayswater six times a month until December, but was ceased immediately following a vote…

PERTH’S giant Christmas ornament festival will be renamed the ‘Rio Tinto Christmas Lights Trail’ after Perth councillors sold the naming rights to the mining giant for $250,000. Arts and events organisations have been grappling over the ethics of accepting mining company sponsorship in recent years over concerns the companies were using sponsorship to rehabilitate their public…

VETERAN Beaufort Street traders fear for the viability of their businesses if Vincent council closes Grosvenor Road to traffic. This week the council approved two trials starting in October; first to completely close off the bit of Grosvenor Road adjoining Beaufort Street to make it a pedestrian event space for 16 days, then a four-week…

A MASSIVE rainbow could be emblazoned on a surface in inner city Perth to make it more welcoming to LGBTQIA+ people. Perth councillor Catherine Lezer put up the motion calling for staff to investigate costs and possible locations for a rainbow graphic, saying the City of Perth had a “rich and lengthy LGBTQIA+ history”. It…

THE ban on smoking in Vincent’s town centres is set to come into effect November 1, with hopes smokers will heed the signs so gentle prods and fines won’t be needed. More than two years in the making since Cr Jonathan Hallett raised the motion, this week councillors endorsed the ban that’ll cover five high…

A NEIGHBOURHOOD where residents once gathered for Christmas parties has been turned into “a street divided” over new rules to protect the area’s “character”. Two years ago 52 per cent of residents on Wilberforce Street in Mount Hawthorn called on Vincent council to make their strip a “character area”.  That’d mean future development would have…