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  • Security called in petition spat

    Security called in petition spat

    A PETITION over malfunctioning public toilets has seen Stirling mayor Mark Irwin call security on a former councillor at last week’s council meeting.

    Just before the meeting former councillor Paul Collins had presented Cr Suzanne Migdale with a petition from users of Yokine Reserve asking for automatic loos there to be fixed.

    Mr Collins had heard from reserve users during his election run in October that the toilets constantly backed up, had malfunctioning locks and weren’t kept clean, despite requests to council. His election campaign fell short – 1,970 votes to Cr Migdale’s 2,079, but he told the Voice “even though I didn’t win, I thought I should do something” to resolve the problematic loos. 

    Since some park users had already lodged individual complaints to little avail he advised them a petition was the best way to get action, and he helped collect 600 signatures in a week asking council to fix the autoloos and budget for a permanent toilet block with proper plumbing for the future.

    Mr Collins contacted Cr Migdale the day before the meeting to advise her of his petition and handed it over in person just before proceedings started. Two other petitions with unverified signatures were tabled at the meeting, but Cr Migdale remained silent. 

    Mr Collins says he’s never seen a councillor refuse to table a petition, even if they disagree with its contents. Petitions aren’t voted on but staff verify signatures, act on the request, or draw up an item for councillors.

    Mr Collins asked in question time why Cr Migdale had not presented his petition; Mr Irwin replied “there’s no obligation on the councillor to present it”. 

    The mayor asked Mr Collins to take a seat, but he persisted, calling the situation “disgraceful”.

    He asked for the petition back and requested the mayor accept it instead; Mr Irwin said he’d check with the governance officer if that was possible.

    Mr Collins seemed content problem would be solved”. But Mr Irwin was unhappy with another interjection: “Mr Collins, take a seat. No, I’m not even going to bother now. Take a seat. You had your chance, I was about to check. You were being rude, take your seat.”

    “I just said the problem would be solved, Mr Mayor, I haven’t been rude,” Mr Collins protested.

    When Mr Collins wouldn’t return to his seat the mayor called for security. “We’ve got people here with real concerns Mr Collins, not here for political grandstanding,” he said.

    A guard approached Mr Collins, who remained at the lectern; Mr Irwin adjourned the meeting and councillors left the room. Mr Collins said his petition “wasn’t political… I felt sorry for the people down there because I really did notice that the toilet was in a really bad state”. 

    Cr Migdale said she hadn’t tabled the petition because “the lead petitioner did not give me any time to read the petition so I did not have an opportunity to consider it before presenting it to  council. Due to the urgency of the situation, it is disappointing that the lead petitioner did not present the petition to me earlier or otherwise contact the city so action could be taken sooner.

    “Presentation of a petition is a procedural formality. The city is already looking to resolve this issue, there is no need for it to be formally presented. 

    As the elected member I will be monitoring progress and ensuring this is resolved promptly.”

    by DAVID BELL

  • Artist’s lasting imprint

    Artist’s lasting imprint

    ARTIST Sandra Hill says her Wellington Square stolen generation artwork is “the most important work I have ever done over the last 30 years”.

    Ms Hill, a member of the Stolen Generations, unveiled Mia Mias this week and said in a statement: “I understand what it’s like to survive that experience and the things that you hold forever in your heart. I understand what needs to be said through art.

    “My whole public art career has been moving towards this moment in time. The whole meaning is about bringing them home.”

    The work features five mia mias, traditional dwellings, surrounding a central beacon representing feathers from male and female red-tailed black cockatoos. The final touches were made as Ms Hill and her grandchildren left footprints in cement under the mia mias.

    “The feathers represent the time, and I couldn’t think of a better way to recognise those stolen children than with these feathers. When it lights up, it acts as a beacon to help them find their way home.”

    Perth council funded the artwork as part of the Wellington Square upgrades, consulting with Yokai, the Bringing Them Home Committee WA, and the broader Aboriginal community on what they’d like to see there. 

    Aboriginal people have a long connection to the space that was once a wetlands before being drained and named for Arthur Wellesley, and in recent decades the square has been the site of many May 26 Sorry Day commemorations. 

    Perth lord mayor Basil Zempilas said “Wellington Square represents cultural 

    and spiritual significance for Nyoongar people, linking the past and the present, and we couldn’t more delighted to see this artwork tell a powerful and poignant story for all members of the community”.

    by DAVID BELL

  • New chapter

    New chapter

    Judith Forrest’s Unfolding Lives. Photo by Moondyne under Creative Commons 3.0

    A PLAN to reinstall a significant memorial has been welcomed by people who survived institutional care as children.

    The Unfolding Lives artwork by artist Judith Forrest was unveiled in 2010 and dedicated to Forgotten Australians who’d been in state institutions like the Parkerville Children’s Home or the Bindoon Boys Town. 

    It featured a child ‘chatterbox’ folded paper toy inscribed with words by author Terri-ann White reflecting care-leavers’ experiences. 

    At the time they were overjoyed to see their stories told in such a prominent place in Northbridge Cultural centre, but in 2016 the memorial was removed as part of the museum upgrades with no consultation (‘Drama unfolding’, Voice, July 17, 2021).

    Fremantle-based resource service Tuart Place has been representing care-leavers who want the sculpture reinstated, and earlier this month the group met to discuss the sculpture with commissioner for victims of crime Kati Kraszlan.

    Ms Kraszlan has now announced Unfolding Lives will be reinstalled though a new location is yet to be chosen. 

    Two possible sites have emerged; close to the original location, or near the Elizabeth Quay children’s water park.

    “I invite victim survivors to let us know which of these options they prefer, and anything else they want to say about this sculpture, which has enormous cultural significance,” Ms Kraszlan said.

    “It is important the location is a well-frequented, prominent public place, somewhere which has particular meaning for survivors of abuse or where the environment allows a focus on the artwork and its significance.”

    Tuart Place director Philippa White says there was a strong preference among care leavers at this month’s meeting for the art to go back to the cultural centre.

    “People were so delighted in 2010 that it was put in such a prominent position,” Ms White told the Voice. “That was part of their joy, that it had been given such prominence.”

    Some care-leavers had concerns about how the sculpture was being stored. 

    “It’s sitting in storage and it’s rusting and mouldy,” Ms White says.

    The group also spoke with the artist. The main work is not beyond repair and can be de-rusted and rejuvenated. 

    The inscribed flooring wasn’t able to be preserved, but Ms White says people were understanding that it would’ve been hard to keep in one piece, and there’s an opportunity now for the new surrounds to have more information about the memorial and institutions and include seating and lighting.

    Consultation is open to November 30 via cvoc@justice. wa.gov.au or 9264 9877

    by DAVID BELL

  • Plans lodged for Common Ground

    Plans lodged for Common Ground

    AN application to build the state government’s Common Ground housing in East Perth has been lodged with Perth council.

    The design for the corner of Wellington and Hill Streets shows a 17-storey building with 112 units, up from the 70-bed facility that was originally announced. 

    It’ll be half social housing and half supportive housing for people with complex needs. 

    Most units are one-bedroom apartments with some studio apartments complete with self-contained kitchens and bathroom. 

    Support

    It has office space for support and medical services and commercial space for cafes or function areas. It’ll have a single entry with 24-hour security.

    WA housing minister John Carey says “it’s based on the housing first approach, where you have intensive support for rough sleepers to make the transition to permanent housing”.

    It’s been near two years after the plan was first announced, with construction originally pegged to start before mid-2022. 

    Mr Carey told the Voice a lot of work had gone into “creating a house designed to ensure people who’ve suffered trauma have the best [chance] to live in those surrounds,” known as trauma-informed design principles. “So for example: access to good outdoor areas, wider hallways with light and natural ventilation, these sort of design principles.

    “If you poorly design a room it can look like a prison,” he says, and the trauma-informed design aims to make for a safe, calming, healing home. 

    Mr Carey says he’s been queried on whether the location is appropriate, and he says the city is the right place since that’s where many rough sleepers already are. “I do get some feedback from people saying ‘push these services outside of the city’.

    “You find rough sleepers in the city because there is activity, there are people, they feel safer, there is a hospital… you need to have services in the city.”

    The second common ground is planned for Mandurah, and together they’re costing $73.5 million including $8 million from the federal government through the Perth City Deal. 

    The plans are up for comment until December 3, then the decision is made by the joint Perth council/state government Development Assessment Panel. 

  • Transforming doco

    Transforming doco

    Elle Walsh

    A FLY-ON-THE wall documentary set mostly in Fremantle gives viewers a pioneering view of love, life and transitioning from one gender to another.

    Girl Like That was shot over six years and follows the relationship of The Love Junkies’ drummer Elle Walsh and Lauren Black after the former decides the time has come to become the woman she has always felt like.

    Among the couple’s circle of friends were budding film-makers Samantha Marlowe and Frances Elliott, who after a night on the town were wondering what it was like to born in the wrong body. They hatched up a plan for a short doco about the couple going through Elle’s gender transition but it was such a compelling tale it ended up a full-length film which has been picked up by the ABC.

    “They were just the quintessential early 20s couple living in Freo; share house, instruments everywhere, that kind of existence, and it was super relatable for a lot of our peers. So that’s why we found the story really unique and we wanted to keep following it,” Marlowe told the Herald.

    Elle says Girl Like That helps fill something of a void in Australian content featuring trans people.

    “As far as Australian content when I came out, there pretty much was none,” says Elle.

    “There was just people putting up videos of themselves on YouTube being like ‘this is how I feel’ or posts on Reddit. 

    Genuine reflection

    “There were a few films overseas; there was one in Canada that was from early 2000s.” 

    There were a couple of examples from the UK and America “but really few and far between and nothing on anything resembling a mainstream media”.

    Elliott says film is a powerful medium of social change, so she and Marlowe wanted to create something that trans people would be able to look at and feel was a genuine reflection of their lives, but had a broader appeal.

    “The main thing that we wanted to do was make a love story, and making it have those really universal global themes of love, self sacrifice and finding yourself,” says Elliott.

    “By viewing the film we hope that those people who might not know much about the transgender community or might be bringing their bias to the film, can actually watch it and form a really innately human connection with Elle and Lauren.”

    She says at the launch of the film they had tradies come up to say it had changed their perception about trans people.

    Elle says having the cameras omnipresent in her life was both “therapeutic” by allowing her to delve deeply into what it felt like to be transgender, but also put a great strain on the couple’s relationship and their individual lives.

    “It was quite a big amount of pressure; I definitely felt like there was a responsibility to represent the trans community properly, and almost to not let them down.

    “But yeah, having your life filmed, it’s just weird.”

    She says during the film she hit some of her life’s lowest points and does worry that some might pigeonhole her from that period, but says close friends will have a continued connection and know how far she’s come.

    Having your most vulnerable moments captured for all to see could be daunting when you’re a well-known drummer around town, but Elle says she lives in a supportive community.

    Daunting

    “One of the reasons that I live in Freo is that people are usually pretty ‘live and let live’ and there’s not too much judgement on this sort of stuff.

    “I don’t get stared at that much, or called names or have people say things under their breath in Fremantle.” 

    Elle says while transgender is becoming more widely understood, tolerance won’t necessarily make life easier.

    “I think gender dysphoria on its own is a pretty nasty beast and I think even if we have complete societal acceptance, trans kids are always going to struggle.”

    But she says even recognising that can be helpful as it can help people understand the need to reach out and be supportive.

    Marlowe says they are hopeful that hitting the mainstream can make a difference.

    “We are hoping that maybe this film can be that moment for trans kids everywhere to go ‘huh, this is what I’m feeling inside, maybe this is what I am’, because to be it, you have to see it.”

    Girl Like That is available on ABC iview.

    Girl Like That poses the question: Can a relationship survive a gender change?

  • Museum seeks key to piano’s location

    Museum seeks key to piano’s location

    John Gill and his piano. Photo supplied to the Museum of Perth by Mr Gill’s mum, Joan Gilling.

    Do you know where John Gill’s piano ended up?

    IT’S been 10 years since the death of Perth’s piano man John Gill, and the Museum of Perth is seeking his piano and busker’s bucket for an exhibition celebrating his life. 

    For more than 20 years he was often seen busking in the city malls with his skeletonised upright piano, its panels stripped so the audience could see the inner workings. 

    The Museum of Perth has been working with Mr Gill’s mum Joan Gilling to compile stories, photos, and memorabilia for a crowdfunded exhibition, curated by historian Joanne Hyland.

    But the whereabouts of his piano has remained a mystery, save for rumours that it may be with a friend for safekeeping.

    The exhibition also delves into Mr Gill’s less well-known but extensive international music career. He played across the US and Europe and was the first Australian pianist to become an accredited Bosendorfer Concert Artist, putting him in the ranks of renowned pianists like Stevie Wonder.

    Anyone with info on the piano or the fancy painted busking bucket can contact museum director Reece Harley at reece@museumofperth. com.au

    The exhibition opens December 2 at 8-10 The Esplanade, Monday to Saturday 10am to 4pm. 

    by DAVID BELL

  • Classy affair

    Classy affair

    MY quest for the best ramen in Perth continues.

    This week I decided to check out NAO Japanese Ramen on Hay Street, which in restaurant terms is a wily veteran, operating in the city for the past 18 years.

    NAO claims to have the most authentic ramen in Perth with the core of its dish – broth, noodles and roasted chashu pork – all “home-made”.

    The restaurant is situated opposite the gorgeous-looking town hall and as I passed by, summer was in full bloom with men wearing trendy, light coloured suits and women in chic designer dresses.

    It was a refreshing change from our head office in Fremantle, where most folk dress like camel herders or like they are on an endless gap year in Goa.

    Although there were some fashion casualties in Perth, including a man wearing a beige suit, beige shirt, beige tie and beige shoes – the kind of person who thought the clothes at Rodd & Gunn were experimental.

    In a quirky touch at NAO Ramen, you order and pay at the entrance before even taking your seat. 

    Thankfully I had looked at the menu beforehand and knew what I wanted, because you could get a bit flustered with hungry office workers in the queue behind. 

    In saying that, the three-stage ordering process is very simple.

    You choose from four types of broth (shoyu, miso, shio or spicy) and four types of noodles (plain egg, spinach, red chilli or squid ink) and select extra ingredients you want like fresh seaweed, boiled egg, pork spare-rib and seafood.

    For the ramen connoisseur, there were some cold versions (zaru, sesame) as well as a ‘dipping’ tsukemen ramen with hot soup and cold noodles.

    There was also a small selection of donmeshi, kombu and side dishes like homemade gyoza, takoyaki, chicken karaage and okonomiyaki stick.

    The restaurant was heaving on a Tuesday lunchtime, so I was lucky to get one of the last remaining bench seats. Unfortunately I was staring straight at a concrete wall. 

    It wasn’t a big deal as I was on a tight schedule and eating on my own, but some may have found it claustrophobic and utilitarian.

    The restaurant was one of those dimly-lit, classy numbers with burnished wood mingling with polished concrete, inky blacks and the odd flash of gold.

    A pleasant and dark escape from Perth’s scorching heat.

    It wasn’t long before the waitress arrived with my shio (clear soup) ramen with additional mixed veggies, chicken and crab stick ($23).

    Let’s get one thing out the way – the broth wasn’t super warm.

    I don’t know if this was deliberate because of the quick lunch turnaround, but I was on the verge of sending it back.

    But I went ahead and enjoyed the subtle mix of bean sprouts, spring onion, bamboo shoots and seaweed. The clear broth was perfectly seasoned – some ramens are salty catastrophes – and it wasn’t super oily either (I’ve had plenty of them).

    The star of the dish was the spinach-infused noodles, which were clearly freshly made and had a lovely soft and light texture.

    The crab stick added an enjoyable sweet refrain to the dish, while the tender chicken helped bulk things out.

    I would file this ramen under classy and refined – as opposed to Ramen Keisuke’s which are more in-your-face with flavour pyrotechnics – and I wasn’t guzzling water one hour later because it was too salty and overloaded.

    NAO Japanese Ramen is a good option for an authentic and classy ramen.

    NAO Japanese Ramen
    191/580 Hay Street
    naojapaneserestaurant.com.au

    By STEPHEN POLLOCK

  • Covid comeback as bold as brass

    Covid comeback as bold as brass

    Bulwer Street Brass in a more compact, slimmed down lineup, but there’s space for the full band’s debut in December.

    AFTER their first two launch gigs were Covid-cancelled a new brass ensemble are hoping it’ll be third time lucky for their big debut on December 5.

    Bulwer Street Brass member Rob Coleman says the project started when local classical and jazz musicians got together with the aim of performing the music they love but that rarely gets played in Perth. 

    Mr Coleman says it’s been “chaotic” trying to start a band amid the turmoil of a global pandemic.

    “We set up and were trying to launch this for 2020, and obviously with Covid we were cancelled for our first performance in April.

    “We’ve been distracted just trying to survive. Especially freelancers: We got cut pretty bad last year. All of the funding went to major organisations rather than the people who play for them.

    “Once all your gigs are gone and your teaching’s cancelled, everyone’s been scrambling to survive.”

    After languishing for months, “we landed a Restart the Arts grant and that was fantantic,” and the second attempt at a launch was scheduled for January 31 in the opulent surrounds of the Government House ballroom. 

    “It was the first day of the second lockdown in Perth,” Mr Coleman recalls. 

    Now, after a long search, they’ve locked in a date for the launch, so no one cough in public until December 5.

    “It’s hard to find a venue for 20 brass players, so luckily WAAPA’s helped us out in a big way by offering the Richard Gill Auditorium,” Mr Coleman says.

    The ensemble wants to avoid the risk-averse music model of just playing classical pieces from the the same 150 years of music from one part of the world that makes up the majority of western concerts, and wants to move between genres like jazz, classical, renaissance and contemporary.

    With all the delays since the idea germinated, the band is no longer based in Bulwer Street, but their former HQ lives on in the name. 

    “I lived in a derelict house on Bulwer Street,” Mr Coleman says. “A 1920s two bedroom house, and it was dilapidated to say the least, but incredibly cheap.

    “It used to be a bit of a hangout for freelance brass players. It was where this idea was really hatched. People getting drunk and angry and wanting to do something different. That’s where we came up with the name.” 

    The December 5 launch features pieces from Byrd, Bach, Kats-Chernin, Ellington, Sculthorpe, and Tomasi, tickets via www. eventbrite.com.au/e/187558240747

  • Flight of fancy

    Flight of fancy

    THE 1980s cult classic The NeverEnding Story is the perfect ‘MacGuffin’ for a new play about teenage dreams and friendship.

    Written by Sally Davies, I Met Christine James-Scott in the Shopping Centre Carpark follows a group of teens at the fag-end of their adolescence in 1988.

    They have no real sense of direction and are uncertain about their future.

    Enter Christine James-Scott – beautiful, charismatic and a real-life movie star. 

    Christine claims to have starred in 1984 movie The NeverEnding Story. Surely it can’t be true, can it?

    “The play is an exploration of friendship, truth telling, and teenage passion,” Davies says.

    “I was inspired by a girl I went to school with who would commit to larger than life lies about her achievements, and despite being obviously untrue, no-one would ever question them. This, combined with Trump-era discussions around truthfulness, inspire me to explore these themes.”

    With it’s childhood escapism, fantasy and naff special effects, The NeverEnding Story is the perfect metaphor for a play about teenage angst in Perth, the most isolated, and some might say dull, capital city in the world.

    Davies says she first watched it in high school as part of her English studies, so she associates the movie with adolescence and all the insecurity and bad hair that comes with it. 

    “I had vague memories of the movie and when I recently rewatched it I found most of these memories were way off the mark,” she says.

    “Watching it for the purpose of writing this show, I loved how chaotic the movie was, something it has in common with the play. 

    “The play is set in the 1980s because I really wanted to explore the spread of information pre-social media and remove it from the current discourse around ‘fake news’.”

    After graduating from Curtin in 2017 with a double degree in creative writing and performance studies, Davies formed the theatre company Lindstedt & Davies with fellow graduate Anna Lindstedt. 

    They have since created four works including Ugly Virgins and Little Women, shown at The Blue Room Theatre in Northbridge.

    A Stage One production, I Met Christine James-Scott in the Shopping Centre Carpark features undergraduate acting and technical students from Curtin University.

    A Curtin Theatre initiative, Stage One is now in its tenth year and provides students with invaluable experience working with professional staff on off-campus productions.

    “It’s been great to work with Curtin students to bring this new work to life,” Davies says. 

    I Met Christine James-Scott in the Shopping Centre Carpark is at the Blue Room Theatre in Northbridge from December 8-11. Tix at blueroom.org.au

    By STEPHEN POLLOCK

  • Arty route

    Arty route

    Sara Drake

    DAME Judi Dench is just one of the famous people around the world who have commissioned South Freo’s Sara Drake to create a unique and stunning 3D map.

    Super bright and colourful, her creations are like some technicolour universe halfway between a 1960s kids TV show and a Wes Anderson film, with sculpting, painting, cartography, model making and a dash of storytelling.

    Drake says there’s a whole bunch of odds and sods that go into her beautiful and slightly haphazard creations.

    “I use a huge range of materials – both new and recycled and, a bit like a womble, I can frequently be found head-first in a skip, digging for special treasure on the beach or repurposing other people’s rubbish into miniature people and buildings,” she says.

    “I’m always looking for new and interesting materials and techniques to experiment with.

    “Most of the map details are carved from balsa wood or recycled insulation foam and people, birds and animals are made from beads and wire. Kangaroos bounce around on old telephone wires and penguins swim in a sea full of broken windscreen glass…”

    Born in the UK, Drake’s love of maps can be traced back to a nomadic youth where she grew up in Hong Kong and travelled extensively in Asia, Australia and Europe as a teenager. 

    Her first map was created as part of her degree show at Art College in London, and when she was studying furniture design at Central St Martins she discovered that Victorians made all sorts of things from papier-mâché, including chairs and carriages.

    So for her final show at college she combined her two passions and created a rudimentary globe, depicting all the places she had travelled, which was “way more popular than any of my conventional pieces of furniture.”

    Soon she was receiving commissions for maps and globes, and her career began to literally take off with trips all over the world for clients.

    “I once drove halfway across Europe with all my materials in a clapped-out van, to make a giant world map for an International School in Milan,” Drake says.

    “The kids were obsessed with the Soccer World Cup, which was being hosted by Italy at the time, so it was a great way of hooking them in and teaching them about all the places around the world, where the teams came from.”

    Now heavily in demand from worldwide clients, including everyone from dame Judi Dench to Melville Council, there can be a waiting list of up to a year for her work.

    “Biggest local map so far was for the City of Melville – a huge map of the Swan River 

    and Canning River and all the activities that take place in and on the water – music festival at Point Walter, rowing on the Canning River etc all with a panoramic view of the City in the background,” she says. “It involved about five months of work and hundreds of hours of making miniature people, boats and houses (it’s now part of their permanent art collection and frequently moves between local libraries).

    “I’ve also made some pretty big world maps – most of which (ironically) get sent overseas, to clients in Europe and North America. Most of my work is made to commission for private individuals and the maps are specifically designed to reflect their own travels, interests and favourite places.”

    But despite her global appeal, Drake is a South Freo girl at heart and loves documenting the beauty on her doorstep.

    “I especially love making maps of Freo and will even have a map of South Beach Freo on display at the show,” she says.

    Sara Drake’s solo exhibition A world of your own, featuring her hand-crafted maps, is at the new Doghouse gallery in South Fremantle from November 26 – December 5. Exhibition open daily 10am-4pm. 

    By STEPHEN POLLOCK