Perth Voice Interactive

A RENOWNED WA artist says she was shocked to discover Perth council agreeing to spend $250,000 on a US sculptor’s work a fortnight after telling her there was no money to repair her much-loved installation The Arch in Northbridge.

Lorenna Grant says the future of The Arch, which spanned the James and Lake Street intersection is uncertain, with the work in  indefinite storage.

The work was commissioned by the City of Perth for $99,000 and installed in 2009.

The striking black and white sculpture stood in the centre of a roundabout with an outstretched arm that landed in the Northbridge Piazza.

When crafting the work, Grant focussed on creating the “presence of a sculpture that would actually embrace and chaperone the public voice.”

Grant said thousands of people gathered around the arch over the years, and it’s been part of countless “protests, rallies, festivals and gatherings”.

In 2023 Grant was contacted by a City of Perth maintenance officer who told her The Arch was going to be removed because of safety concerns. 

The work had suffered some rust damage to its lower, street level sections.

An engineering report said The Arch required remedial work” but she insists “it wasn’t in a state where it couldn’t be reinstated”.

She had her own engineer conduct a review of the report, who agreed.

Grant said she was asked to provide estimated remediation costs, and after consulting with her fabricator, DENMAC, she did so. 

“We worked really hard to try and provide something that was reasonable, that we could, you know, repair the work,” Ms Grant said. 

Grant said the council responded that there were no funds to repair The Arch but requested her to submit other suitable locations that the work could be moved to. 

‘A bit odd’

She found the request “a bit odd”.

“I’m an artist that really responds to context, and that artwork was created for that location, but I accommodated their request because I felt like they were actually trying to keep the artwork in some way.” 

Grant said she only communicated with the City’s maintenance team via email and didn’t have contact with its arts officer. 

She provided two plans, one for full reinstatement at the cost of $193,000 and one for partial re-instatement as a “relic” of the former work for $51,500. 

After a “long time” Grant received a call from “someone from the City of Perth” who told her “they’re not going to go with any of the submissions because they don’t have the money.

“I couldn’t argue that, because if you don’t have the money, you don’t have the money,” she said.

“What made me turn around a little bit was two weeks later, there was a unanimous decision by the City of Perth to fund up to $250,000 to transport another artwork from somewhere else.”

This artwork is the Boonji Spaceman Statue by US artist Brendan Murphy, which is yet to arrive in Perth. 

“I wrote to [the City of Perth] and said that I felt that their responses were not genuine and not truthful, because there was funding,” Grant said. 

Truthful

“The Arch was funded by the public, and there was no public consultation about the removal of the work.”

Last Friday Grant was contacted by deputy lord Mayor Bruce Reynolds who told her that he would be looking into the matter.

“He said even if it’s going to be at midnight, [he will] be looking into this,” she said. 

Though the work remains in storage, Grant believes it is possible for The Arch to return to Northbridge. 

“I want to voice a hopefulness for the reinstatement, to bring the sculpture back to where it belongs,” Grant said. 

“I see The Arch back there, in its home.”

CINEPHILES and theatre buffs are in for a treat this coming Thursday March 27 when one of Perth’s most-loved historians delves into the history of Perth’s theatres and cinemas.

History West (otherwise known as the Royal WA Historical Society) president Richard Offen is the former director of Heritage Perth and a regular on radio and tv, as well as being author of Then and Now, Lost Perth and A Perth Camera. He will be presenting the talk in the church hall at St Andrews on Stirling Highway from 10.30-11.30am.

In the early days of the Swan River colony most theatrical and musical entertainment took place in private residences, the Court House (now the Old Courthouse Law Museum in Stirling Gardens) or even outdoors.

Flourish

As the colonial population increased and more public buildings were constructed, venues such as the Town Hall (1870) and Mechanics Institute (1852) became available. 

However, it was the gold boom and advent of cinema which led custom-built theatres and cinemas to flourish on the streets of Perth.

The Theatre Royal opened in 1897, one of the first grand theatres in the state, showcasing a variety of performances from drama and opera to vaudeville acts, with its two upper floors still looking over Hay Street.

The first recorded public film screening in Perth took place in 1896 at the Cremorne Theatre, marking the beginning of WA’s cinematic journey.

By the 1910s and 1920s, picture palaces began to dominate the entertainment landscape. The Grand Theatre in Perth, built in 1916, was among the city’s first purpose-built cinemas. Silent films, accompanied by live music, were the primary attraction until the introduction of sound in the late 1920s. The advent of “talkies” led to the rapid growth of cinemas across the state, making film one of the most popular forms of entertainment.

The rise of television in the 1950s and 1960s led to a decline in cinema attendance, resulting in the closure of many historic theatres, though often a hidden gem remained behind the facade as the skyscrapers grew around htem.

In recent years, there has been a resurgence of interest in independent cinemas and heritage theatres. Venues such as the Luna Palace Cinemas, the restored Astor Theatre and The Backlot cater to audiences seeking alternative and arthouse films.

Tickets to the talk are $15 and bookings are essential from 9386 3841 or admin@histwest.org.au

VOICELAND remains a strip of red following the March 8 election and Labor’s second-best return, with the Opposition unable to win back key seats such as Mt Lawley.

In Perth Labor’s John Carey secured the seat for third time in a row, having first won it back in 2017.

This time around he secured the seat with 10,847 votes; a result that didn’t come as much of a surprise to most as Labor has only lost the seat twice since 1962, both times to the Liberals.

It was also the Greens’ second-best performing electorate across the state.

Labor secured Mt Lawley via Frank Paolino who was preceded by Simon Millman who announced his decision to head back into law mid-term.

Mr Paolino secured the electorate with 9,839 votes. 

Liberal candidate Michelle Sutherland put an 11.6 per cent dent in Mr Paolino’s margin, but it wasn’t enough to win back what was once a relatively safe seat for the party which held it consecutively from 1962-1986 before the electorate was dissolved for the 1989 election. 

It wouldn’t be formed again until 2008 when the Liberals won it again before losing it in 2017.

In Maylands Dan Bull pulled in another win for Labor with 11,204 votes. 

Like Mr Paolino, this was his first election after picking up the reins from Lisa Baker who was the member for Maylands since 2008. 

Not an all-too surprising result considering it’s a relatively safe Labor seat, being held consecutively since 1968. 

In fact there have only been four elections since 1950, including a by-election, where Labor hasn’t won the seat. 

Maylands was also the Greens’ best performance, with Caroline Perks securing more primary votes than the Liberals’ Paula Tan, although on preferences the Blues slipped slightly ahead.

It wasn’t a great outing for the Australian Christians who didn’t put a candidate up in Perth, but in both Maylands and Mount Lawley were out-gunned by informal votes.

While this was an improvement for the party, it’s a far cry from the 4 per cent of the total first preference votes required to get any form of electoral funding from the WA Electoral Commission to cover its expenses.

Despite numerous headlines One Nation didn’t have much impact either, their one candidate in Mt Lawley also failing to outscore the informals.

by COOPER MENZIES

“IT’S literally like an aquarium; the water is so clear.”

Filmmaker Jane Hammond recently returned from a trip to Scott Reef, about 300 kilometres off WA’s North West Coast, capturing Fremantle icons Tim Winton and John Butler along with a dozen marine scientists hoping to raise awareness about its pristine waters and put a spanner in the works for a fossil fuel company.

Woodside plans to extract gas from the Brecknock, Calliance and Torosa reservoirs located beneath Scott Reef, and having secured approval from the WA government needs only the federal environment minister’s signature to go ahead. 

The project turned into a political football this week when Opposition leader Peter Dutton promised to give approval within 30 days if he wins office. 

Current minister Tanya Plibersek’s delay of a decision will probably push it out until the government heads into caretaker mode, avoiding a tricky election for Labor.

But Hammond says there’s too much at risk if 50 wells surround the reef (which is in protected waters) and she hopes the documentary will give environmental groups’ campaigns a push.

Corals’ Last Stand will make its world debut at Luna Leederville this coming Thursday March 27, with Winton taking part in a Q&A panel after the screening.

He says it’s one of the last wild places left in the country.

“The world’s coral reefs are in desperate trouble, and Scott Reef is like a sentinel,” Winton said.

“If we lost Scott Reef, it’ll signal the end for all coral reefs.

“And when they cook and die, we’ll be left with a poorer, harsher world.

“The idea that your kids, and their kids and their kids’ kids, might never have the chance to see a place like Scott Reef – it disturbs me, it makes me angry.”

Hammond says Mr Dutton’s pledge has left the team heartbroken, but they’re still optimistic that if they can show people the reef’s diversity and importance, it could create the momentum that saw wins in campaigns such as James Price Point, Ningaloo and native forests.

She said the environment-focused campaign in the Fremantle electorate which saw independent candidate Kate Hulett come within a whisker of toppling Labor incumbent Simone McGurk should serve as a warning to the major political parties.

“Fremantle has seen what can happen when you ignore the environment; Josh Wilson can also take note.

React

“People are going to react to this because Aussies love their coral reefs.

The ringed reef has a low-lying sandy cay where Hammond shot some scenes, but she said they avoided its centre because of the obvious presence of turtle nests and now she has fears for their future.

“There were turtles in the water, and we saw lots of tracks from the night before, but we weren’t there at the right time to see them nesting,” she says.

“But the thing is, it could completely disappear through subsidence when they take the gas out, or from emissions and rising water levels.

“We also stopped at this tiny island within the reef area and I did an interview with John Butler and he played Ocean, which didn’t make the cut, but its was at sunset and quite beautiful.”

She says the barren speck of rock and sand was akin to ones used in cartoons – sans a palm tree – and it provided the perfect setting for another promo shot featuring the whole crew standing as though the rising seas were about to swamp them.

Hammond says there are other threats to the reef, including bleaching and fishing.

There have been reports of bleaching in the Kimberley and Ningaloo, but she says no one’s been back to the reef since the filming, and she noted the waters were so warm none of the scientists were diving with full wetsuits.

However she’s confident its remoteness from the mainland and the turbidity run-off can create gives it the resilience to bounce back, as it did after a “catastrophic” bleaching in the ‘90s.

“Traditional Indonesian fisherman have the right to fish there, and while they’re supposed to be using traditional fishing methods, there weren’t a lot of sharks there,” she said.

by STEVE GRANT