Friends of the Cockatoo on the steps of parliament on August 9. Photo by Patrick Gardner
CARNABY’S black cockatoo advocates have held a candlelight vigil on the steps of Parliament and handed over a petition calling for an emergency plan to protect the birds’ habitat.
The petition seeks a halt to clearing of pine trees above the Gnangara Mound aquifer, and protection for southern woodlands subject to bauxite mining.
The state government’s plan to finish clearing the pines is intended to stop the trees sucking the aquifer dry, but the Save the Black Cockatoos Coalition fear loss of the pines will lead to many birds starving, as they rely on the plantations for food after losing so much of their original feeding lands.
Birdlife Australia’s Merryn Prior issued a statement ahead of the vigil saying “thousands of Carnaby’s are reliant on the Gnangara pine plantation for food and roost sites, but the last few thousand hectares of pines are due to be harvested over the next couple of years without being replaced with native revegetation. Removing this food supply could result in a massive starvation event.”
The group wants a moratorium on clearing until large-scale ecological restoration projects can start to restore and expand bushlands. STBCC campaign coordinator Paddy Cullen said “with better planning laws and more habitat protection and restoration, there is real hope we can save the Black Cockatoos from extinction”.
The petition was being read in Parliament this week as the Voice went to print.
FRENCH guitarist Ingrid Riollot moved to Australia in 2018 to marry guitar maker Damon Smallman and the couple now reside in rural Esperance.
It’s a pretty unlikely location for a world-class guitarist who’s criss-crossed continents while wowing audiences and scooping up a multitude of awards; likewise for the workshops of luthiers Smallman & Sons, whose instruments are played by the likes of John Williams, Craig Ogden, to Perth’s own Jonathan Paget.
Riollet will be the international artist-adjudicator for the 2022 WA Classical Guitar Ensemble Festival in Carine on August 20-21, but meanwhile will be holding a masterclass at the WA Academy of Performing Arts on Thursday August 18 at 4.30pm which will feature performances by several up-and-comers, as well as a demonstration of hubby’s unique guitars.
She’s also performing a concert for the Classical Guitar Society of WA at WAAPA’s Richard Gill Auditorium on August 19 at 7.30pm.
A NEW plan to light up shadowy city laneways has kicked off with the installation of Adam Cruikshank’s “Falling Stars” artwork off Hay Street mall. It’s the first in a new series of public artworks to light
up the laneways, the latest in the long-running attempts at laneway activation that’s been newly revived amid Perth council adopting the‘City of Light’ branding this year.
AN important piece of WA’s sculptural history is coming up for auction in Sydney later this month, and one of the state’s most respected art academics says he’d love to see it come home.
The Wildflower State was created by renowned Australian sculptor Lyndon Dadswell and hung on the facade of the Commonwealth Bank on the corner of Hay and William streets from its opening in 1960 until the building was demolished to make way for the Central Park development about three decades later.
The large abstract sculpture, measuring about three metres tall by two metres wide, is the only public artwork of Dadswell to survive, having itself been rescued from a scrap heap by Perth recycler Paul Nield after the demolition.
It has been leased to Macquarie University for about 25 years and hangs in its sculpture park, but goes under the gavel for internet and absentee bidders only at Lloyds Auctioneers and Valuers on August 31.
Dadswell became the first sculptor to be appointed an official Australian war artist on September 2, 1941 – just three months after being seriously wounded fighting the Vichy French in Syria.
He resigned his commission in 1942 and returned to the East Sydney Technical College, where he’d just started teaching before war broke out.
The Wildflower State as it hung from the side of the Commonwealth Bank building.
As head of its fine arts department, he grew the school into a nationally-respected breeding ground for sculptors and was showered with awards throughout his career.
When commissioned by the Commonwealth Bank to produce The Wildflower State in 1958, Dadwell was entering the abstract phase that was to define his remaining years.
It was certainly an eye-opener for Perth folk, as the Daily News reported while it was still being installed.
Under the big headline; “What is it?” the Daily reported:
“To its creator, Sydney sculptor Lyndon Dadswell, it represents the West Australian bushland.
“It may have represented bushland to Mr Dadswell but to most interested and perplexed pavement supervisors it was a puzzle.
“The only person who had any idea what it was was a woman. To her it looked like wildflowers.”
Dadswell had already produced sculptures for Commonwealth branches in Hobart and Sydney and said he’d kept to using three forms to make them, essentially, a series.
“It is meant to remind the observer of nature, while never letting him forget the splendid quality of metal, both hammered and welded,” Dadswell wrote shortly after the building opened.
“It does not pretend to imitate nature, but does seek to provoke thought – to hold attention. And, as an unfamiliar object it must create comment and, while it certainly does.
AFTER years of research a Hyde Park history enthusiast has come to an unexpected conclusion: The park has never had an official opening.
Retired journalist Rodney O’Brien threw himself into researching Hyde Park to find out more about a long-forgotten fountain that was vandalised in 1918 and removed two years later, along the way discovering there was no trace of an opening.
“From 2011 to 2019, I was constantly going through anything I could find at the state archives and city archives,” Mr O’Brien says.
Grand openings were a big deal in those days: “They were ‘top hats and long frocks’ affairs,” Mr O’Brien says, with media coverage and big public turnouts at openings of other parks including Queens Gardens in 1898, Russell Square and Weld Square in 1899.
But Hyde Park, often referred to as the “jewel in the crown” of the area, seemed to get no such treatment, and in this piece Mr O’Brien lays out his theory as to why it was likely forgotten “in the wake of much turbulence at City Hall”.
A significant Noongar wetland, then later a camp ground known as ‘Third Swamp’, the park was gazetted in 1897 and slowly turned from bushy wetland into today’s familiar ornamental style surrounds.
While it never got an opening in those early years, Mr O’Brien thinks it’s time to right that.
“I think they should seize it by the top hat and say ‘let’s do it’. Why not? The place is so wonderful, and no one could be anything but proud of this landscape. It’s so undulating and unfolding and lyrical.”
by DAVID BELL
Retired journo Rodney O’Brien discovered Hyde Park never got it’s official opening. Is it too late? Photo by David Bell.
NOT a trace of detail is on record in state or city archives to show that Hyde Park in Highgate was ever officially opened.
This exceptionally well-kept secret surfaces as the City of Vincent celebrates the 125th anniversary of the gazetting of the Park in 1897.
Many attempts to locate any evidence that an event of this significance ever took place have failed.
State Records Office senior archivist Damien Hassan has confirmed that he found nothing, as did a former Cityof Perth historical librarian and more recently a cultural heritage support officer.
Well-documented is the grand opening of Queens Gardens in 1898 as well as the formal launching of Russell Square and Weld Square in 1899.
Very likely Hyde Park missed out in the wake of much turbulence at City Hall following the shock resignation of Perth lord mayor William Brookman on June 26, 1901 – only seven months after taking office in December 1900.
An early and ardent park supporter, he kept his campaign promise to fund an elegant three-tiered fountain that stood inside the Lake Street entrance until 1920 – after a vandal attack in 1918.
Having fallen bankrupt due to his failing ore smelter in South Fremantle, Brookman could no longer serve as mayor.
However his timing could not have been more disastrous as the city without a mayor was facing an imminent royal visit by the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and York in mid-July.
Urgently the council rallied to install mayor Stephen Parker to steer the city through the royal tour with the highlight of ‘Perth’s Park’ being renamed as Kings Park by the Duke.
Then Parker resigned to becomea supreme court judge in September, triggering another rush by the city to elevate councillor William Loton as Perth’s lord mayor within four months.
Any priority for Hyde Park to be officially opened had entirely evaporated without notice for more than a century.
Courtney Henri co-created and performs in the show Telephone. Photo by Tashi Hall.
1990s trance music, weird refracted light and old landline phones create a hypnotic and slightly strange backdrop to the stage show Telephone.
Focusing on the fragmented nature of communication, audiences are bombarded by “a symphony of phone calls” as conversations criss-cross, repeat and fade-out in disorientating waves.
The endless chatter creates an emotional and sometimes intimate narrative that covers everything from a caller’s love life to a 000 emergency.
Underpinning all the chaos is “a rag tag Scooby Doo-type team of kids” trying to hack into the spirit world.
Telephone is not explicitly set in the 1990s, but it’s implied by the chunky landline phones and music.
Show co-creator and performer Courtney Henri says it’s nota nostalgia piece yearning for simpler times before mobile phones, but more a celebration of the burgeoning tech bubble in the 1990s.
“What interested us about the 90s was actually more to do with the technological potential of that decade,” Henri says.
“The Internet was a new concept and with that came the fear of the unknown, the chaos of learning something new, the beauty of being in a world where you were now able to connect to people from across the globe.
“The 90s had this expansive feeling where people’s inner worlds had exploded and could reach other countries and everything could be done so much faster than it had before.”
Like a lot of great music and art, the catalyst for Telephone was experimentation – members of The Last Great Hunt theatre company were playing around with mics in phones to see how it distorted their voices. Later they stumbled upon a weird material that bent and warped light.
“Over a few years (I joined the company in 2020) we played with the material and the phones trying to do everything we possibly could; we continued to find out that the material would surprise us by doing something we didn’t expect,” Henri says.
Video calls became a lifeline for companies during lockdown, allowing employees working from home to communicate and hold virtual meetings.
Many continued working remotely after the lockdowns ended, but Henri is concerned about the long term impact of less face-to-face communication.
“I think Zoom has altered how workplaces and educational industries function, as now many companies allow staff and students to work from home. This to me, has been the biggest impact on people,” she says.
“I believe the world becamea little bit lonelier and people suffered a lot more.
“It was a weird paradox where technically you were interacting with people, but the moment the call would end the reality of being alone in your room or study or lounge would creep back in. People began to crave physical and face-to-face communication.”
Featuring everything from bad connections to phone bugging, Telephone is a barrageof conversations, some poignant others prosaic, but all harking back to the core emotions of love and loneliness.
“I would say the overarching theme is connection and disconnection,” Henri says.
“I won’t give too much away because that’s the fun surprise audiences will get, but the show is made up of hundreds of calls, some recurring and others not.
“The rest is up to the audience to make their own interpretations and conclusions.”
Created by the award-winning The Last Great Hunt theatre company, Telephone is at PICA in Northbridge from August 30 until September 10. Tix at https://pica. org.au/whats-on/telephone/
The produce at La Mortazza is authentic and the staff are super friendly.
ITALIAN techno from the 1990s was playing when I visited La Mortazza.
I wasn’t at a rave for middle-aged Italian expats, but a funky cafe/deli in North Perth.
According to the friendly lady behind the till they were listening to live radio from their homeland, where people were still out partying in the wee hours.
It certainly beats That’s Amore or the cheesy drivel you get in some Italian cafes, so hats offto the owners for having some originality.
La Mortazza is one of those under the radar places – just up from the Pot Black snooker hall on Fitzgerald Street, it doesn’t have “shouty” signage and is easy to miss being slightly off the main drag.
It’s situated at the end of Venn Street, a lovely suburban enclave with leafy trees and gorgeous period houses (every second one has its own name), so I imagine it’s a favourite with discerning locals.
On a bitterly cold and wet Tuesday, I got a lovely welcome from the Italian lady behindthe display counter, which was crammed with mouth-watering cured Italian meats, pastries and freshly-made meals.
She had a good old chinwag in her native tongue with the previous customer, who had a young child with her, so it all felt quite homely and welcoming.
I opted to get a continental roll ($13) for lunch and some goodies to take home for the clan for dinner.
On a miserable day, it was nice to have the roll toasted and slightly warm.
The bread was just how I like it: light and fluffy on the inside with a nice crunchy crust.
The roll wasn’t overloaded and had a tasty mix of salami, ham, mozzarella cheese, tomato and rocket.
I really enjoyed the salami and it may have been a mix of hot and mild, as occasionally you would get a spicy kick.
I would file this continental roll under classy/understated– quality over quantity with the produce doing the talking, although it was still very filling.
Later that night at home, my wife ‘Special K’ got stuck into her lasagne ($12).
“I’m counting eight layers of pasta here, but it still tastes super light and isn’t a slog half-way through,” she said.
“The pork has that lovely slow-cooked taste and the tomato sauce is rich and flavoursome. A top notch and authnetic lasagne.”
I tricked my kids into eating broccoli by getting them the Orecchiette Pugliesi ($11)
A pasta from the Apulia region in Southern Italy, orecchiette is named after its ear-like shape.
I pretended they looked like clam shells as I kept getting images of Hannibal Lecter chomping off people’s ears and chucking some broccoli on top.
Anyway, the broccoli rabe woven around the pasta worked a treat and the kids wolfed it down.
I had a sneaky taste and it was a gorgeous dish; incredibly light with a strong punch of garlic.
Apparently orecchiette alla pugliese is the signature pasta dish of Puglia, in the heel of Italy’s boot. Well worth trying if you fancy something lighter and a bit healthier.
In tribute to the recent death of actor Paul Sorvino (Goodfellas), I went old-school with my penne meatballs ($12)
Well that’s what it said on the container, but it was actually spaghetti with meatballs, which I prefer, so it was a fortuitous mistake.
The quality of the pork and veal in the meatballs really shone through – delicate with loads of flavour – but I would have liked a bit more sauce to coat the generous serve of spaghetti, which again was incredibly fresh and light.
La Mortazza has authentic Italian produce, and top staff with plenty of chat and personality.
They also do home delivery.
I’ll be back to try their coffee and sit-in service, and might even exhume my glow stick and whistle, so I can fully enjoy their Italian techno.
La Mortazza 500 Fitzgerald Street, North Perth lamortazza.com.au
THERE’S an air of French provincial to this lovely Inglewood apartment.
Light floorboards, elegant chairs, wine barrel and ‘distressed’ furniture all conjure up visions of a townhouse in Provence.
Or if you want a more Aussie take on this two bedroom one bathroom apartment – Acton Mt Lawley call it a “Little Ripper”!
They’re not wrong; it’s beautifully presented with the main living areas all light, bright and airy.
It’s amazing how a good artwork and furniture can really set-off a room – the still life painting and the blue couch in the lounge add a splash of colour to the neutral tones elsewhere, creating a beautiful focal point.
The north-facing lounge has plenty of natural light streaming through the floor-to-ceiling windows, which overlook lush established gardens, making it the perfect spot to relax with a book or coffee.
The kitchen has been recently renovated and features bold subway tiles, stainless steel oven and an induction cooktop. There’s loads of storage and plenty of cupboards and drawers.
For an apartment, the two bedrooms are an impressive size with the semi-ensuite main including double built-in robes and a separate toilet.
There’s also a huge laundry and tons of storage space under the stairs.
Come the weekend, head out to the large brick-paved courtyard at the rear, which has a nice cream fence around it and a wine barrel and market umbrella – perfect for that relaxing glass of vino.
There’s plenty of room for a BBQ out here and you could even have a dining setting for entertaining.
Situated in a quiet, well-maintained complex on Ninth Avenue, this apartment is around the corner from a host of shops, cafes and eateries including Fish Boss, General Co, Sugar and Nice, and Gather and Co.
The home has a car bay directly outside the front door, but with so much public transport on your doorstep, I doubt you’ll be using it much.
If you fancy a little taste of France in Inglewood, this apartment could be your crème de la crème.
Offers From $349,000 7/170 Ninth Avenue,Inglewood Home open today (SaturdayAugust 13) 2:15pm-2:45pm And tomorrow 2:30pm-3pm ACTON Mt Lawley 9272 2488 Agent Aaron Storey 0417 931 604
Friends of Lightning Swamp chair John Williams, Bayswater mayor Filomena Piffaretti and students from John Septimus Roe at the remnant bushland.
LIGHTNING SWAMP will become a learning hub to help kids reconnect with nature.
Friends of Lightning Swamp chair John Williams made a deputation to Bayswater council asking for a spot at adjacent Lightning Park to set up a transportable building as a learning space across the road from the swamp, as Perth’s shrinking remnant bushland over the decades has meant fewer youngsters have easy access to the environment.
“Lightning Swamp is the only remnant seasonal wetlands merging with natural banksia woodlands in the City of Bayswater, and likely one of the last surviving few in the Perth metropolitan area,” Mr Williams said.
Connect
It was becoming ever more important for kids to connect with nature: “As we confront the impactof urbanisation, climate, habitat loss, pollution etcetera contributing to biodiversity loss which threatens the health of highly valued ecological communities, it is also a time when many young children do not have the opportunities or abilities of learning to live with nature, nor can they develop the important skills and lifelong experiences to connect with natural environments as we fortunately drew upon when growing up.”
In the long term the Friends group wants to find enough funding for a permanent facility at Lightning Park but for now they’ve secured a $50,000 state grant for a temporary transportable building to serve as a visitor learning space.
Bayswater council unanimously approved a five-year, $1 per annum lease for the Friends to use the spot last week. Mayor Filomena Piffaretti said:“The space will help provide educational opportunities to school children and the community so they can discover how important the area is for biodiversity and our ecosystem.
“Schools will be able to develop and coordinate multi-sensory outdoor activities based at the new centre to learn more about the bushland.”
Cr Piffaretti said the council’s still keen to help the group make the more permanent facility happen in the long run.
BAYSWATER council has been wrongly framed as WA’s most secretive council when it comes to tendering and awarding contracts.
The Civil Contractors Federation WA released a report on Monday which gave Bayswater a poor review over its transparency, earning the council a full page story in The West Australian headlined: “Bayswater earns ‘most secretive’ gong as contract process slammed”.
But when the Voice queried the CCFWA over its finding, given what we’d seen in council minutes, the federation admitted it had got it wrong and decided to award Bayswater a “pass”.
Opaque tender processes have caused problems at various councils over the years as it opens up the risk that someone’s mate will get awarded a lucrative contract. The Corruption and Crime Commission found that occurred at Bayswater in 2003 and 2004, and it was a problem at Perth council leading up to the 2020 inquiry report.
The CCFWA report examined the secrecy around the big bucks councils award to contractors to carry out roadworks, maintenance, development, landscaping, and maintaining parks and golf courses.
It analysed minute papers from council meetings to come up with transparency scores, and says out of a possible 10 points “the City of Bayswater scored zero as it provided no information in support of tender award decisions”.
But the most recent tender Bayswater awarded at its July 26 meeting did publish the companies that tendered, their scores, and an explanation of why the winner was the best fit for the job.
All it excluded from the CCFWA’s transparency wishlist were the prices the tenderers bid – which most councils leave out –and the price the winner paid.
After the Voice asked CCFWA CEO Andy Graham how they’d arrived at the score, he responded: “I’m grateful you brought this to our attention as it does appear Bayswater are generally transparent in their tender evaluations.”
Mr Graham said the researcher based Bayswater’s score on two reports from council minutes that had no extra information. One was a job relating to a slip lane in Morley in January 2022 which wasn’t priced high enough to go out to open tender, and the other was for a tender for the management services at Morley Sport and Recreation Centre from July 2021.
“But as you rightly point out, both of these are not typical,” Mr Graham said. “From the evidence of those other tenders it’s clear that Bayswater actually deserved a ‘pass’ mark.
“For now we have urgently amended the report to omit reference to Bayswater and will revise the report ASAP. I will also be in touch with the council directly to clarify, apologisefor the error and endorse their transparent practices.”
Bayswater mayor Filomena Piffaretti said: “I am deeply disappointed that a report, which its own authors have admitted is incorrect, has resulted in the City of Bayswater receiving such negative media coverage.”
Perth Voice Interactive 