Perth Voice Interactive

MAIN ROADS has dumped an unpopular proposal to turn Charles Street into an even busier high-capacity thoroughfare, cancelling the idea even before the consultation period was over.

The proposal involved sinking Charles Street at three intersections (Vincent Street, Scarborough Beach Road and Walcott Street) so traffic north/south could duck straight through and avoid traffic lights. 

But the changes would’ve intensified the busy road that divides Vincent, prompting fears it would only encourage more traffic along Charles Street if the drive was quicker. It also would’ve eaten into public space at Beatty Park and required private property to be resumed. 

Along with opposition from local residents who would like Hallett said at the November 15 council meeting: “It’s a retrograde approach to urban and transport planning that further entrenches a reliance on cars, with all the climate and health impact that entails, as well as dividing neighbourhoods and destroying homes.

Shocking

“Frankly it’s a shocking proposal that should never have seen the light of day in 2022.”

Cr Alex Castle said the plan “flies in the face of almost every policy we have in the City of Vincent, which is to prioritise the environment, pedestrians, cyclists, and our residents over cars”.

Main Roads was going to keep consultation open until December 31, but this week called the whole thing off.

“In response to community feedback, we will not proceed any further with the current Charles Street planning concept,” Main Roads’ November 22 statement said.

“Over the past six weeks, there have been several drop-in sessions and land owner meetings in addition to more than 550 people responding to an online survey to share their views on the concept.  

“Fewer than half of the respondents supported the proposal (46.1 per cent) with a key area of concern being the number of private properties likely to be impacted by the proposed concept.”

Perth state Labor MP John Carey met with Main Roads last week to review residents’ submissions, and this week he welcomed the decision not to go ahead.

“I genuinely believe this is the right outcome for North Perth,” Mr Carey said of the plan’s cancellation.

“In my meetings and conversations with local residents, my recent mobile booth and while door-knocking Charles Street, 

it was very evident that there was serious concern from the community, particularly that the proposal would sever the North Perth community.”

Future

Main Roads said it would take onboard the feedback for any future planning to alleviate traffic congestion along Charles Street.

However one of the major requests from locals for some public transport along Charles is unlikely to be granted. Main Roads’ FAQ says “there are no plans to include a mid-tier transit system along Charles Street and if it was provided there would be significant additional land impacts along the whole corridor not just at the key intersections”.

by DAVID BELL

LAST weekend’s mysterious mass drone malfunction during a foreshore light show was not the first time bots have dropped from the sky.

Similar incidents overseas have been blamed on software failure, saboteurs and even consumer devices interfering with drones. 

Perth council hired Perth-based company Drone Sky Shows to run sky shows on November 19 and 20 with 500 drones in formation to display Christmas-themed images and advertise event sponsor, Roy Hill mining company.

On the second night drones started dropping out of the sky mid-performance, one-by-one and then a few at a time. Some rallied and struggled to return to their comrades, others just plummeted into the Swan River. 

Fifty drones in total fell into the water and divers went out the next day to retrieve them. 

Drone Sky Shows is investigating why they went down and is looking into whether there was some kind of interference, but hasn’t yet found an answer. It’s normal for one or two drones to fail but Drone Sky Shows has never had so many drop before.

Each drone cost about $2000, making for a $100,000 bill which will be footed by the operators rather than Perth council. 

Perth lord mayor Basil Zempilas addressed the drone drop at the November 22 council meeting, saying Saturday night’s show was “flawless” but “Sunday night it is well documented that some of the drones were not on their best behaviour.

“I’m very pleased that all of the safety procedures and protocols were observed as they should be, exclusion zones and the like,” meaning the drones fell into the drink rather than risking coming down on a person. 

Mr Zempilas said Perth’s next  drone event was a January 26 hybrid of drones and fireworks, with two more in February.

“But of course that is accepting and assuming that we have all of the necessary safety clearance, and with everything we do it will be safety first.”

There’s been similar incidents overseas when large numbers of drones have dropped at once, sometimes by accident and other times by malfeasance, by either pranksters, political protestors, and in one case a rival drone company.

Melbourne-based drone security company DroneSec trains operators to harden their systems against hackers and other interference. It published a report in August 2021 after a drone show in Taiwan saw 48 out of 800 bots crash, with the cause listed in official reports as “signal” or “electromagnetic interference”.

In Hong Kong in 2018, 46 drones fell, possibly targeted by a $50 GPS jammer. 

DroneSec’s report said “there is now a need for mitigation strategies into drone [shows] as a safety and public precaution”, suggesting how to beat wifi hacks or build systems that automatically land drones if they lose GPS signal.

Drone Sky Shows managing director Josh Van Ross told us via email: “We are looking into all possibilities at the moment and we will know more in the near future.

“I am aware of most of these incidents and the risks associated with malicious actors and that really all the mitigation methods available are just detection, but unfortunately no blocking technology.”

by DAVID BELL

FROM the muddy Swan River and Crawley Baths to an international-grade swim centre, this week’s tale from the Vincent Local History Centre goes back to a time when going for a swim in Perth involved a lot more mud and jellyfish.

BEFORE the construction of Beatty Park in 1962, a generation of school children braved the muddy waters and jellyfish in the Swan River and the Indian Ocean to learn how to swim.

Crawley Baths and the sea baths on the Esplanade, Peppermint Grove, Claremont, Nedlands and Fremantle were popular swimming spots.

“Crawley Baths was full of jellyfish. Oh God, it was awful!” a swimmer Lyn recalled.

The Lord Forrest Olympic Pool in Kalgoorlie, which opened in 1900, was Western Australia’s only proper swimming pool before 1962. 

After the Commonwealth Games, Beatty Park Aquatic Centre opened to the public and was used for swimming lessons as well as competitive swimming and diving, water polo and scuba diving. 

The original centre included an Olympic-sized main pool, dive pool and outdoor learner’s pool, which made way for the indoor pool in 1994.

A generation of Perth school children and swimmers were forever grateful for swimming lessons without mud and jellyfish.  

“Particularly after Crawley Baths, everything at Beatty Park was an upside. I was just so excited about being in a brand-new environment where you could see the line at the bottom of the pool and not swallow jellyfish and blowies and you would come out with that grime too – a seaweed-ey sort of silt across you and your mouth,” said former junior swimmer Belinda.

“Attending Wembley Primary School in 1962, we were the first to have swimming classes in the beautiful Beatty Park. After previously using dirty, slimy Crawley Baths, we were thrilled to use the new, clean facilities,” said former Wembley Primary School student Margaret.

In a 2011 interview, former Beatty Park swim instructor Geoff White said Beatty Park was the first proper aquatic swimming venue in Perth.

“It was all very exciting, and especially when it was so close to home,” he said.

“The big change Beatty Park made for me was that I could then go there for swimming lessons in the Christmas holidays. 

“Previous to that, it meant catching two buses each way to go to Crawley Baths.

“I got my instructor’s certificate and I was then able to the following summer begin teaching at Beatty Park in the vacation swimming classes. 

“The practice pool and the main pool were chock-a-block. 

“We had the paddling pool with the real young ones. 

“I remember probably 40 teachers teaching four or five lessons a morning. It got that crowded that they had enough for some teachers to have a fifth lesson. 

“So with five classes going, it was a significant number of children but that’s how important Beatty Park became to the population … it really opened up swimming lessons to virtually thousands of children.” 

Today, the Beatty Park Swim School has thousands of swimmers of all ages and abilities.

The centre is also home to the award-winning Angelfish Disability Program, which is an inclusive and integrated swimming program for people living with a disability.

These classes are for children aged three years through to adults and provide swimmers with lifelong skills that enables them to get involved with a wide range of aquatic activities.

If you have memories of swimming lessons at Beatty Park, come and share your photos and stories with the Local History Centre librarians at the all-ages Retro Family Fun Day at Beatty Park on Saturday, 26 November, 2pm-6pm.  

THE date’s set for the new City of Bayswater Skate Park to officially reopen on Saturday December 10.

The old Wotton Reserve skate park had to be dismantled and a new one built on the other side of the same reserve to make way for the Morley train station carpark as part of Metronet upgrades. 

The opening’s pretty much on schedule (the completion window ran between September and December) and the new park will boast the biggest half-pipe in the state measuring in at 3.9 metres.

The December 10 opening event with tunes, food, and skate and BMX rider demonstrations runs from 10am – 2pm.

THE founder of the Town Team Movement Jimmy Murphy has been named WA’s “Local Hero” in the Australian of the Year 2023 awards.

Mr Murphy, a jazzman and former Vincent councillor, founded the Town Team Movement to help local groups like Leederville Connect, Mount Hawthorn Hub and Baysie Rollers spruce up their town centres, run events and advocate for their patch. 

His recipient listing says “Jimmy uses Town Teams to advocate for more accessible and affordable community spaces that reflect the people who inhabit them … Town Team Movement groups have held street festivals, run working bees, introduced street art, built community gardens, rewilded areas and created food co-ops”. 

He’s now invited to join local hero recipients from other states for the national awards on January 25 2023.

OLIVES plucked by schoolkids from street trees and gardens around North Perth have turned out to be a magical mixture, with “Harvest 6006” oil winning silver at the WA Olive Awards.

North Perth Primary School’s P&C conducted the first olive harvest in 2013 to raise money for upgrades like a nature playground.

NPPS parent Siri Solumsmoen said May’s harvest this year yielded 270 bottles, with a sample entered into the awards where it went through rigorous lab testing and a sensory testing.

“There were 16 judges judging the olive oil entries,” Ms Solumsmoen reports. “Mind, becoming a judge is a two-year long process before you are accredited.” 

Entering the boutique class, judges awarded points for aroma, palate, and harmony, deeming 6006 had a “good aroma of tomato”, “transfers to palate with hints of rocket” and had “gentle pepper and pungency”.

Ms Solumnsoen says former NPPS student Nicholas Tolcon won a gold medal, and “humorously made a comment on how some kids and parents from North Perth shook some trees in the neighbourhood and won silver amongst professional full time growers!”

They’re fundraising by selling the bottles via northperthpandc.bigcartel.com

by DAVID BELL