Perth Voice Interactive

LOCAL homeless support charity Short Back & Sidewalks gave out its 7000th free haircut on Monday this week (August 29).

“What started as a few folk heading into car parks in Northbridge on weekends has now grown national and we’re extremely proud to be positively impacting the life of our 7000th client,” SB&SW founder Craig Hollywood said in a media statement, and their plan now is to be doing 15,000 haircuts per year by 2025.

Mr Hollywood started the charity by teaming up with Westons Barbership in 2015, starting out with just a couple of milk cartons for seats (“Fringe benefits,” Voice, November 26, 2021).

It quickly became clear that people needing a barber often needed a chat, too, and the human connection became a vital strand of many haircuts. 

“When you’re cold, hungry, scared, and don’t know where you’ll be sleeping, your appearance isn’t a high priority,” Mr Hollywood said.

“But positive connection and enhanced appearance are integral to your self-confidence, mental health and well-being.

“It could be the confidence boost someone needs to apply for accommodation or for a job.”

Federal Perth MP Patrick Gorman, whose government pledged $350,000 for SB&SW to extend the service through WA, said “the work doesn’t stop here for Short Back and Sidewalks, with a goal to reach 15,000 haircuts by 2025.

“Along with services such as Passages Youth Engagement Hub, Short Back and Sidewalks really makes a difference for people experiencing homelessness to help them feel good about themselves, but also in terms of their ability to approach job service providers.”

MARITIME historian Daniel A Elias has struck gold after his call-out for memorabilia relating to industrial relations on Western Australia’s docks (“Appeal for port history,” Voice, August 20, 2022).

The UWA honours student is looking into how the tensions between labour organisations such as the Lumpers Union, stevedoring companies and government bodies helped shape today’s maritime sector.

Mr Elias was contacted by James Stewart, whose father (also James) was a member of the Seamen’s Union of Australasia and later the Fremantle Lumpers Union at the time of the Bloody Sunday riots that led to the death of lumper Tom Edwards on Victoria Quay in Freo.

Amongst the treasure trove of documents he’s now provided, Mr Stewart had his father’s old membership cards, discharge papers, union rule books and quite a stash of contemporary information about Bloody Sunday.

Mr Elias said it was a big breakthrough in his research.

“The significance is that it fills a gap of early records of the Fremantle Lumpers Union, having been established in 1899,” he said.

“I haven’t been able to find anything on them until 1911 – so that’s a big gap.

“And we have all the primary sources of the first copies of when Tommy Edwards’ funeral happened, and there’s something I’ve never seen before, which is Tommy’s partner.”

Mr Elias said from his research so far, Jane Edwards had always been portrayed as a background figure, but a week after the lumper’s funeral, the Fremantle Herald ran a letter from her on its front page.

“Comrades, I desire to thank you all so very sincerely for the many acts of sympathy and kindness shown to me by you all since my sad loss that terrible Sunday of my dear husband, Thomas Charles Edwards,” she wrote.

The Herald also lived up to its working class roots by lambasting the state’s more conservative newspapers for their one-sided reporting of Bloody Sunday, noting none had bothered to mention that women were also in the firing line that day; one received what likely amounted to a fractured skull courtesy of a police truncheon, while another received a bayonet through the hand while trying to fend off a police charge.

Mr Elias says he believes it was the last time police were issued with bayonets anywhere in Australia.

“There’s also this fellow James Stewart; Jim Stewart is the son and he donated all his belongings to me.

“James was first a seaman, part of the Seamen’s Union of Australasia which covered New Zealand as well as Australia, and then he became a leading member of the lumper’s union; how much of a leader I have yet to figure out.

“There’s a lot to dig through, and it’s humbling, really, that someone would donate this to me.”

If you’ve got any material related to division on the docks, or even just some old stories passed on from an old wharfie, you can contact Mr Elias as freo. maritimephd@gmail.com

by STEVE GRANT

FEW sports combine athleticism, grace and courage like diving. 

Divers never fail to mesmerise us with their skills and strength during the Olympic or Commonwealth Games. 

However, we rarely see or experience diving up close in local pools anymore. 

HBF Stadium in Claremont is one of the few pools in Perth to still have a dive tower and springboards. 

Back in the day, West Australians could bombie or swan dive in many different places. 

From 1914 until their demolition in 1964, Crawley Baths on the Swan River had diving boards and a rickety 10-metre wooden tower structure where the bronze statue of diver Eliza is now situated. 

Many Perth divers remember the challenge of navigating the tide and avoiding hitting objects on the muddy bottom. 

Kalgoorlie also had a diving tower and boards at its Lord Forrest Olympic Pool built in the 1930s.

In the 1960s, the construction of Beatty Park Aquatic Complex for the VIIth British Empire & Commonwealth Games brought diving to a whole new level in Perth. 

Beatty Park included a diving pool with a 10-metre diving platform and springboards used by diving competitors in the 1962 Commonwealth Games.

After the games, Beatty Park was used by the WA Diving Association to train divers, and by a generation of Perth school kids who remember the fear and thrill of climbing and hurtling off the 10m tower into five metres of water.

A recent photo of the towers on a Facebook page unleashed a torrent of memories from Perth residents about this local rite of passage: 

• “The first time from the top I belly flopped. Hurt like hell – but I did it again and again.” 

• “I jumped off it when I was 10. I had to wait for my mum to fall asleep sitting in the sun because she wouldn’t let me jump.” 

• “Growing up in the late ‘60s in Perth, the top board at Beatty Park was just something you had to do. Did it once – never again!” 

• “Climbed to the top, crawled out and looked over the edge – and made a hasty retreat.” 

• “I was way too scared to even climb up there let alone jump off, but it always had a fascination for me…” 

• “A lot of people used to come into the pool just to dive off that top board. I remember the whole thing used to shake.” 

Jeff Fondacaro, the current coordinator of operations and aquatics at Beatty Park, recalls the difficult decision to remove the dive platform when Beatty Park was redeveloped in 1994. 

“Diving had become an elite sport. Challenge Stadium had the infrastructure to cater for that sport. We were finding that we were ostracising our regular swimmers who wanted access to that pool for a handful of divers. We had to make a decision.” 

Jeff was recently interviewed as part of the Sixty Years of Beatty Park video series available at https://www.beattypark.com.au/about/sixty-years 

His video features fantastic old footage of the divers in action at Beatty Park from the former WA diving coach, the late Bruce Prance. 

Visit the City of Vincent Local History Centre in person or online for interviews with Bruce, Jeff and other diving enthusiasts who recall the days of diving at Beatty Park. For more great photos of Beatty Park, visit the City of Vincent Local History Centre image gallery at https://cityofvincent.imagegallery.me

• What’s your plunge story? We’d love to hear it. Send it to news@perthvoice.com

THE WA Symphony Orchestra will make their Heath Ledger Theatre debut in the contemporary dance classic GLORIA.

Originally created by legendary New Zealand dancer and choreographer Douglas Wright in 1990, GLORIA will feature Perth’s Co3 dance company and the ethereal voices of the St George’s Cathedral Consort, one of the top mixed-voice choirs in WA.

An epic celebration of life and death, dancers spin and fly through the air as they experience everything from fear to unbridled joy.

All this is set against the music of Vivaldi’s sacred work Gloria, performed live on stage by WASO.

The performance will take on added significance and poignancy as several of the company were involved in previous productions of GLORIA, including Co3 artistic director Raewyn Hill, who danced in the 1996 production in New Zealand.

“GLORIA is faithful, with precise details honouring the original masterpiece,” Hill says.

“However it is important to acknowledge that each dancer brings their own personality, their own character and energy, and that informs delivery and execution of movement.

“We completely embrace the individuality of each dancer, and Megan Adams and Ann Dewey (who are staging the work) have the great task of then guiding that energy into the original choreography. It is a very beautiful and respectful process.”

GLORIA was the brainchild of Douglas Wright, one of New Zealand’s most celebrated dancers and choreographers, who created more than 40 shows and toured extensively across the world.

In the 1998 Queen’s Birthday Honours he was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to dance. He sadly passed away in 2018, aged 62.

Originally from New Zealand, Hill says Wright was an inspirational mentor and very driven.

“Douglas expected more of every dancer than they knew they had the capacity to give,” she says.

“He saw something in you, that you hadn’t met yet and as a result you wanted to give more and be more than you were in every moment you were in front of him.

“There are no particular elements that stand out in GLORIA because it felt so complete as a work.

“If anything, the standout was being cast in this work and sharing the space and time with Douglas and the other dancers.”

GLORIA was performed in WA by the Chrissie Parrott Dance Company in 1991 for Perth Festival at the Quarry Amphitheatre, but this is the first time it has been tackled since Wright died.

Hill says she is excited about WASO making their debut at the Heath Ledger Theatre in GLORIA, and hopes it will kickstart a series of collaborations.

“It’s a real honour to have live music and singers,” she says.

“GLORIA is a work that celebrates all aspects of life from birth to death.

“It is joyous, heavenly, exhausting and magnificent.”

GLORIA is at the Heath Ledger Theatre (State Theatre Centre of WA in Northbridge) from September 14-18. Tix at co3.org.au/show/gloria/

By STEPHEN POLLOCK

A NEW apartment in the Perth CBD for under $350,000?

No, the Voice hasn’t smoked some funny cigarettes, this Adelaide Terrace apartment is on the market for $345,000.

Okay, it’s only a one bathroom studio, but it would be perfect for a FIFO worker or a professional working in the city.

And long term it would make a great rental when you move to something bigger in the burbs and get all grown-up and serious.

Part of the new apartment complex AT238, with construction underway and scheduled to be completed in early 2023, this south-facing second-floor studio has plenty of natural light and clean modern finishes.

The light wooden-style floor is particularly nice and really makes the place feel spacious.

The studio even has a unique semi-enclosed balcony overlooking Adelaide Terrace, meaning you can use it pretty much all-year round.

The combined bathroom/laundry is a stylish affair with stone benchtops and a pristine white finish. Storage can be a problem in these sort of places but this has a huge storeroom that is big enough to be a home office/study nook.

I imagine the bedroom will be the clincher for most folk – it’s actually a pull-down bed in the living area.

Well it’s a studio with 47sqm of internal living space and you can’t have everything for under $350,000! My first unit had one of these beds and they go up and down with very little effort; unlike sofa beds which can be a real pain to setup and store away every day.

AT238 residents will have exclusive use of the resort-style facilities including a private dining room, theatrette, dog play area, 20 metre heated pool, cabana, gym, wet steam room, gaming zone and lounge.

Part of a 119-apartment complex at 238 Adelaide Terrace, you are a short walk from all the cafes, restaurants and pubs in the CBD and Elizabeth Quay, and the CAT bus is literally on your doorstep.

This is a great studio pad for an astute investor looking to take advantage of the tight rental market or for a FIFO worker or young professional.

Home open today (Saturday September 3) and tomorrow
11am-12pm
$345,000
203/238 Adelaide Terrace, Perth
Realestate88 9200 6168
Agent Peter Wright

A VOLUNTARY tree protection register approved by Bayswater council has been dubbed a dud.

Some tree-loving councillors reckon even they wouldn’t sign on to the register given the expense and onerous requirements.

Six years in the making, the register would let people nominate a beloved significant tree on private land for protection. 

Development on private property is the biggest source of canopy loss in Bayswater as blocks are cleared for building or subdivision. 

Under the strict version adopted by the council, landowners would have to consent to the registration, as would neighbours “likely” to be affected by overhanging branches – even if they haven’t grown yet. 

Once inspected by an arborist and approved for listing a tree can’t be removed or have significant work done without council approval.

Inspection

Owners of listed trees would have to pay for an arborist inspection every two years, and they’d have to hire an arborist to do any pruning of a branch thicker than 50mm rather than taking care of the tree themselves.

As incentives the tree owners could get some types of tree maintenance costs partly reimbursed, and would get minor development incentives like some extra bulk if they ever build on the block.

Councillor Elli Petersen-Pik has been a supporter of a tree register but voted against this version, saying he doubted anyone would sign up given it has a “long list of, I think, scary responsibilities for property owners” and no guarantee they’d get the incentives. 

“I would not register a significant tree on my property under this policy,” he told the August 23 meeting. 

“Why would any property owner by themselves register a significant tree on their land knowing that they would need to pay every two years to an arborist?”

Cr Dan Bull, a lawyer by day, also wants a tree register but said this version is unworkable. He said having to get approval of neighbours “likely” to be affected by future branch growth could mean the requirements “can never be satisfied”. 

“I’ll be surprised if there are any trees registered.”

“I will be voting for this rubbish policy,” a reluctant Cr Giorgia Johnson said. “I can’t see how it’s actually going to work for the protection and retention of existing trees … because it is so prohibitive, because of the neighbours, because of the rules, because of the expense and inconvenience of having to get an arborist’s report, because of the expense and inconvenience of having to get an arborist to prune the said tree.”

The policy was even opposed by tree advocate Wendy Garstone from community group Bayswater Urban Tree Network who told the council the cost of constant arborist visits for inspection and pruning was “prohibitive”.

Cost

“At my own property I have an old, large, elegant peppermint tree located in the middle of the backyard. I care for this tree already, and do not intend to undertake the effort and cost to have it registered and then inspected.”

Mayor Filomena Piffaretti said they should give it a chance and proposed a review in two years’ time. 

All councillors save Michelle Sutherland (who opposes council control over private land) and Petersen-Pik voted in favour of bringing in the register, but with little enthusiasm detectable in the chamber.

by DAVID BELL

A LONGSTANDING policy against nuclear power stations in Vincent will stay in place and the council will join the anti-nuke “Mayors for Peace” program. 

Vincent council brought in the ban on nuclear materials in July 1995.

It was one of the first acts of the newly formed council under inaugural mayor Jack Marks and for many years the policy was emblazoned on Vincent’s entry statements declaring it a “nuclear free zone”.

It was in response to public concerns over nuclear safety that’d been stoked by the possibility of nuclear weapons testing resuming in the Pacific Ocean.

The policy states: “No nuclear power stations may be built within [Vincent]”, and “no uranium, nuclear waste nor other material connected with the nuclear power industry may be stored in or transported through”.

An exception allowed for “the responsible use of radioisotopes in hospitals”.

Like all policies it gets reviewed as a matter of course every few years and it’s been known for the past couple of reviews that the ban’s unenforceable: The council has no jurisdiction over nuclear materials, which is handled by state and federal government laws.

Given the oddity of an unenforceable policy council CEO David MacLennan recommended they repeal it this week.

Despite only being symbolic councillors decided at the August 23 meeting to keep the policy, with Cr Susan Gontaszewski this week noting “symbolism is important”. 

The policy hasn’t been used in 27 years. Subiaco, Victoria Park and Fremantle councils have similar policies, though that hasn’t stopped ships with nuclear capability docking at Fremantle harbour. 

At Councillor Jonathan Hallett’s suggestion they’ll also join the international anti-nuclear weapon organisation Mayors for Peace. The organisation was started by the then-mayor of Hiroshima Takeshi Araki in 1982 and advocates for elimination of nuclear weapons.

“August is a good month for [the policy review] to come to council,” Cr Hallett said.  The anniversaries of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were August 6 and 9, and so this is an opportunity for reflection, and remembrance, and action, that the threat of nuclear weapons has not been relegated to that of a bygone era but remains a present and real threat of our times.”

The annual membership fee is 2000 yen, which is about $21. 

by DAVID BELL

FUNDING for organisations that only hire church-going Christian chaplains is likely to come to an end at Bayswater council.

Since 2011 Bayswater has paid Christian charity Youthcare $40,000 a year for chaplains at John Forrest Secondary College, Hampton Senior High School, Morley Senior High School and Maylands Peninsula Primary School. 

Youthcare’s members are from 13 Christian denominations, including Anglican, Baptist, Catholic, Lutheran, Pentacostal and Assemblies of Christian Brethren.

“As a Christian organisation, we exist to express God’s love and presence in educational communities throughout WA,” Youthcare says on its website, while its chaplains are required to regularly attend church.

In June the Albanese government confirmed it would change the rules around the $60 million school chaplaincy program to allow schools the option to hire non-religious welfare workers.

But for most schools, chaplaincy funding is a tangle of state, federal, and local money, and Bayswater’s cash is still locked into Youthcare to cover the four local schools. 

$40,000 to go to Youthcare during a mid-year budget review, but this week councillor Dan Bull put up a notice of motion to give the money directly to the four schools so they could choose a chaplain or a “professionally qualified wellbeing worker”.

His motion was two votes short of passing. Instead mayor Filomena Piffaretti said the council should review the whole school chaplaincy funding program and foreshadowed putting up a motion next month.

She questioned whether some of the city’s most needy schools were missing out.

“It is obvious that some of our most disadvantaged and highest-need school communities are not receiving this funding,” Cr Piffaretti said.

Cr Bull supported the review but urged councillors to vote for his motion to secularise the cash as a failsafe: He pointed out the $40,000 could be sent to Youthcare before the council had a chance to conduct the review.

Only councillors Sally Palmer, Elli Petersen-Pik and Giorgia Johnson sided with Cr Bull so there’s no movement for now.

by DAVID BELL