Perth Voice Interactive

Bayswater set to unleash new laws

UNSUPERVISED cats would be banned from public in Bayswater if the council adopts some of WA’s strictest kitty containment laws.

The council has many sensitive natural areas where cats have been hunting native birds, reptiles, frogs, and a small population of quenda at Lightning Swamp. 

Maylands resident David Dyke, named Australia’s top citizen scientist in 2019 for his work documenting local frogs, has been urging the council to get tough on prowling cats.

“In the past two weeks, three people who live around Bardon Park have come to me about seeing different cats with buff banded rails in their mouths,” he said at the last council briefing, referring to a bird species which hides in reeds around local lakes.

Friends of Maylands Lake chair Geoff Trott handed in a petition calling for cat containment laws signed by the heads of all eight local ‘friends’ environmental groups: Bardon Park, Berringa Park, Eric Singleton Wetlands, Gobba Lake, Lightning Swamp, Maylands Lakes, Maylands Samphires, and the Baigup Wetlands Interest Group. 

Cr Giorgia Johnson moved that the council heed the petition and craft a new law based on Northam Shire’s template that says “a cat shall not be in a public place unless the cat is, in the opinion of an authorised person, under effective control”. 

Authorised officers could seize and impound the cat and fine the owner. Cats would only be allowed out if they were controlled via means like a leash.

Bayswater’s new rule would also ban cats outright from 42 sensitive zones, an increase from the nine no-go areas currently covered (the eight ‘Friends’ groups’ areas, plus Claughton Reserve).

Added to the list are many other reserves and streams, Peninsula Farm, and the Maylands jetty foreshore.

Cr Sally Palmer backed the proposal saying “without being over-dramatic about the environmental damage caused by our beloved pets, they are indeed pets, felines, that instinctively prowl the land.

“If you think giving them a nightly exercise and them returning later is proof of their gentle pet behaviour, I feel people are sadly mistaken.

“When we look at statistics given by the various official bodies of governmental and non-governmental organisations, they’re in one agreement; it’s a tiny killing machine, and a pet as well.

“Pet cats kill 30 to 50 times more animals per kilometre around towns than feral cats do in the bush.”

The proposal still has to go out for public consultation, and then pass the hurdle of the state parliament’s legislation committee.

By DAVID BELL

The lack of opportunities for designers in WA has young up-and-comers like Daniella Steyn and Natasha Ngo-Guest fearing they’ll have to make big sacrifices or move over east. 

PERTH’S fashion stakes have sunk to a new low, with no Fashion Week events scheduled this year, and just two local designers carrying WA’s flag for the national celebration of the rag trade in Sydney.

Common Ground Collective Fremantle owner Monika Telkamp, whose High Street shop represents about 20 local designers, said WA having only two representatives out of the 47 designers showing at Australian Fashion Week was nothing short of “shocking”.

Isolated

“I don’t think that because we are isolated, we should be excluded,” Ms Telkamp said.

She believes there’s a lot of under-appreciated creatives in Perth who had the potential to change its image from being one of the world’s most isolated capital cities to a fashion capital.

“I definitely think we have the creative people to match that potential.”

But she sees part of the problem being home-grown; there isn’t a big enough audience to support it – too many people being distracted by things like footy games – which becomes discouraging for up-and-coming designers.

“A lot of my cohort had to move to the other side of Australia to pursue it more because the opportunities were so limited here … you feel like you have to go over east to the other side of Australia to be more involved,” said Ms Telkamp, who graduated from the WA Academy of Performing Arts’ costume design course in 2019.

Curtin University fashion design students Daniella Steyn and Natasha Ngo-Guest both agree that forging a fashion degree in Perth has big challenges.

“The advice I’m given most often by the majority of the successful people I know within the Perth fashion industry is once your degree is over, if you’re serious about this business then get the hell out of Perth,” Ms Steyn said.

“You can’t be here forever if you want to be somebody and really leave a mark.

“It is harder to get internships, participate in events where you can network with international brands and get more exposure because Perth fashion isn’t taken seriously a lot of the time.

“Perth artists and the fashion demographic work tirelessly to not only make their mark in this industry but to simply just develop connections and carve out opportunities where they can succeed,” Ms Steyn said. 

Ms Ngo-Guest said she gained a passion for fashion after playing dress-ups for years and then finding her friends started turning to her as their authoritative fashionista; but to turn that into a career in Perth requires extra commitment and sacrifices.

“There is almost nothing here in Perth for me to pursue my career, unless I stick to styling local people, which is not really where I want to go with my fashion degree,” she said.

Australian Fashion Week is from May 9-13 in Sydney.

by MIA KNOX

PARENTS whose kids are being ousted from the soon-to-close Citiplace Child Care Centre say they’ve been met with a wall of non-answers from its owner: Perth council.

Perth councillors voted behind closed doors in March to close the centre without consulting parents or staff (“Secret vote closes Citiplace childcare,” Voice, April 9, 2022).

The council’s rationale was that the centre was unprofitable and there were enough privately-childcare centres to handle demand. The new plan was to  rent out the building to try to make more money.

Parents say the privately-run alternatives don’t meet their needs, as most centres don’t have spots for infants or occasional short-term care. 

A series of 22 questions parents put to the April 26 council meeting were answered in the minutes released this week.

But the answers are “poor quality and evasive” according to lead petitioner Trilby Russell.

Any questions asking about whether councillors were informed about the unique services offered at Citiplace when they voted were met with a repeated vague answer that “elected Members received full briefings on the operation of the service”.

One pointed question asked “since 17 October 2020 have any elected members or the CEO been contacted or lobbied by private childcare providers canvassing the closure of the city‚Äôs childcare centre?”

But the answer made no mention of whether councillors had been contacted, just stating “the CEO has confirmed she has not been contacted”.

The parents have a Freedom of Information request underway which they hope will shed more light on that question, and on what information was given to councillors when they made the call to close.

THE first Aboriginal woman employed as a teacher in WA was honoured at Mount Hawthorn Primary School this week.

A classroom block was renamed the May O’Brien Building and a mural unveiled to commemorate her 10 years at the school.

Mrs O’Brien (nee Miller) was born into the traditional life of the Wongatha people at Laverton, but at age five was removed to the Mount Margaret Aboriginal Mission.

She later attended Perth Girls School in East Perth and went on to receive her teachers certificate around 1953. She went back to teach at Mount Margaret and later received full certification. She was the first Aboriginal woman to gain a tertiary graduation.

Mrs O’Brien came to Mount Hawthorn Primary School in 1961 to teach children of all races, doing a 10 year stint before moving on to be state superintendent of Aboriginal education. 

She studied international programs in the USA and Canada to bring back methods of enabling Aboriginal people to keep their cultures alive while undertaking mainstream education, and also contributed to WA’s first report on Aboriginal education.

Following her retirement in 1988 Ms O’Brien continued to be active in creating opportunities for Aboriginal people until her death in 2020.

Education minister Sue Ellery said: “May was a true activist and trailblazer and paved the way for the many Aboriginal educators who came after her. She was passionate about children’s education, women’s rights and the rights of Aboriginal people, and her legacy continues to have a significant impact on education in WA.”

Perth MP John Carey said: “She made significant contributions to the Mount Hawthorn community during her decade of teaching at the school, and will continue to do so as this mural and building carrying her name share her inspiring story with new generations.

“The May O’Brien Building will ensure that May’s commitment to the provision of education for all is not forgotten.”

FLAGS were at half-mast at municipal buildings across Perth this week to mark the funeral of Doolann Leisha Eatts, the Aboriginal elder who ensured the survival of many stories of Noongar lore across Perth.

Ms Eatts (October 10, 1939 – March 29, 2022) was a Whudjuk Ballardong woman born in Badjaling and lived most of her live in Perth’s north.

Through her grandmother’s memories of colonial rival, she passed on important stories of early contact at Kings Park, of colonials killing Aboriginal people at Galup (Lake Monger), taught Noongar language classes, and was an early custodian to regularly perform Welcomes to Country.

Ms Eatts’ funeral was on April 29 and Perth, Vincent and Stirling councils set their flags to half mast to honour her contributions.

Since 2000 she’d helped Vincent council on the road to reconciliation, and later led reconciliation efforts at Stirling and became a founding member of Perth council’s Elders Advisory Group.

A COALITION of scientists, traditional owners, and five environmental groups met with state forestry minister Dave Kelly this week calling on him to halt the harvest of pine trees needed by endangered cockatoos.

The pines are currently being cleared from the Gnangara Mound, a huge sandy patch above a groundwater reservoir spreading from the Swan River up to Gingin. 

Gnangara’s water levels have declined in recent years and the clearing to get more water back into the aquifer, but it’s disputed whether that’ll even work.

Perth’s cockatoo population has dropped more than 30 per cent over the past decade according to the Save the Black Cockatoos Coalition, and they fear further drops if the clearing continues.

Campaign coordinator Paddy Cullen said in a press statement this week: “The situation is desperate: If we take away their food and their home, the population of Ngolyenoks [black cockatoos], will plummet and perhaps never recover.”

Noongar traditional owner Daniel Garlett said ngolyenoks hold a special place in the landscape, and are a unifying presence across cultural regions: “They are harbingers of rain and for us they are spiritual messengers.”

There’s multiple ministries involved with the pine clearing and Mr Kelly said the call would have to be made by premier Mark McGowan. The coalition’s now seeking a meeting with the premier, and plans to request he set up a ministerial task force to address the Gnangara clearing.

Funding boost

THE WA government has given Murdoch University $1.5 million for conservation research into black cockatoos, while dithering over a revegetation project scientists say could avert thousands of bird deaths.

Black cockatoo populations have rapidly declined in the last decade, and the five-year research project led by Murdoch researcher Kris Warren will study the effects of habitat loss, climate change and disease on three WA’species; Carnaby’s, Baudin’s, and forest red-tailed cockatoos.

Using satellite tracking technology, Prof Warren’s researchers will monitor the birds’ migratory movement on the Perth-Peel Coastal Plain and in the South-West forest region, identifying areas that can be developed for urban planning, and those which should be conserved.

Rescue heroes

ONE of the aces Save the Black Cockatoos hope they’ve got up their sleeve is Fremantle filmmaker Jane Hammond.

Ms Hammond’s last documentary Cry of the Forests became a key rallying point before the McGowan government’s decision to axe logging in native forests, and now she’s turned her attention to the plight of the black cockatoo.

Extinct

Ms Hammond said her upcoming doco Black Cockatoo Crisis would be about what the community could do to help. 

“They will be extinct in 20 years unless we do something” Ms Hammond said.

“If we lose them we lose so much”.

She said the documentary gave the “heroes” working to save cockies the recognition and help they needed by telling their stories. While there was a grim message behind her documentary, she says there’s a “message of hope in all these stories”.

Ms Hammond said she wanted the audience to “feel moved to take action” and spread the word amongst friends about the crisis facing black cockatoos. 

She hopes people will go out and plant trees, in the hopes of attracting and creating new homes for these birds.

Despite the grim message of her documentary.

But making a documentary doesn’t come cheap and Ms Hammond has a crowdfunding page at https://documentaryaustralia. com.au/project/black-cockatoo-crisis/ where she’s about a third of the way to her $170,000 target.

A PEACE concert in North Perth on May 22 promises to help the audience explore their feelings toward the Russo-Ukranian war through music.

Fremantle Chamber Orchestra’s performance has been titled To Peace, and reflects creator, director and cellist Hans Hug’s response to war once again breaking out in Europe.

Mr Hug grew up in Switzerland during the Cold War and did his share of military service before moving to Australia 30 years ago, but says the thought of bombs falling in the modern era is “unbelievable”.

He said To Peace will take the audience on an emotional journey, reflecting on concepts such as suffering, grief, violence, and hope for the future. 

“We arranged these compositions to take the listener on the journey of peace,” Mr Hug said.

One of the pieces featured is Rachmaninoff’s Vocalise, composed during one of his grimmest moods as Russia struggled through World War I and faced looming revolution.

It opens with a melody harking back to the ancient Roman funeral mass, but the wordless melody sung on a single vowel captures a beauty that triumphs over the sadness of its minor key.

Mr Hug said it would be a great opportunity for orchestral novices to dip a toe into classical music, and said it was staged as a way to “give back to the community”.

To Peace, featuring Rachael Aquilina conducting, is on May 22 at the Redemptorist Monastery in North Perth, but if your busy it’s also being staged the Fremantle Town Hall on May 21; both at 3pm.

Tickets and more details can be found at https://www. fremantlechamberorchestra.com/

by BRYCE GITTOS