NORTH Perth resident MARY GRAY is a long-time advocate for bushland and its inhabitants. While many of us are focused on Christmas trees, this celebrated and seasoned scientist is urging us to take a moment to appreciate Perth’s unique local trees and the creatures that rely on them.
PERTH is the only city in the world built in Banksia Woodlands –an iconic and unique feature of Perth.
In this festive season, let us promote and enjoy our world-class heritage.
The Swan Coastal Plain has 2100 native plant species, of which 86% per cent are endemic to WA.
In the western suburbs for example there are nearly 700 species.
• A Carnaby’s Cockatoo feeding on flowers of a Banksia attenuata.
Surely now, we must protect the bushland we have left.
To celebrate and enjoy our Banksia Woodlands, each one of us is encouraged take our kids and/or grandkids on a gentle walk in a local bushland reserve to give them the experience of being in nature.
Children are great at spotting interesting things.
They may see little ants that, as they move along their ant-made pathway, create a depression in the sand through their hundreds of feet-falls.
• A bird’s nest is a sign that many critters make these trees their homes.
Where are they going? It’s hard to say.
The purple leafless Fringed Lilies (Thysanotus) are flowering now.
These plants may grow to 1.5 metres.
The flowers take time to open in the mornings and gradually close up as the light fades in the evenings.
If you look closely into the centre of the flower you will see that three of the stamens are much shorter than the other three.
• A Banksia prionotes in flower.
The pink Calytrix flowers right through from November to August.
Also flowering now are Banksia attenuata trees, and you will see that all the flowers are on the tops of branches –presenting themselves above the leaves to birds and insects.
Sometimes walkers may find a tiny birds nest fallen from a Jarrah tree after the birds have flown.
The parents must have made hundreds of journeys to find and gather grasses, feathers, spider webs and other building materials to build the nest.
Walk slowly and stop frequently to look at the different species of plants, insects, little reptiles and ants and more which may be on the plants or on the ground.
• A fringe lily rewards those who take a closer look with a fuzzy geometric beauty.
It is so good for our human health to engage with nature this way. Taking young children under the age of ten out into nature is especially beneficial.
This ‘passive recreation’ will also help raise community awareness and promote our Banksia Woodlands.
And it will also help connect young people to nature and this is a health benefit. So please do this!
AS most of us get ready to stuff the turkey, the Voice reminisces about some of the best eateries we’ve visited in 2024.
A hidden gem in North Perth is BLAKE HILL restaurant.
Just up from Walcott Street, on a random suburban hill, it’s one of those places you could easily miss if you don’t live locally.
Open for breakfast, lunch and dinner, the food is refined and delicious.
According to their website, the chef has previously worked at a Michelin star restaurant.
It makes sense as the presentation was meticulously and the flavours complex and sophisticated.
If you’re more into craft beers and rustic pub grub, BLASTA is a good bet, especially if you are going to an event at Optus Stadium.
The Blasta micro brewery has an excellent setup with a large beer garden, children’s playground and massive screen showing sports.
Owned by a Scot, highlights included the Highlander Loaded Fries– “a glorious ode to heart disease with layers of molten cheese, deep-fried chips and haggis.”
I’m not a craft beer aficionado, but I always find Blasta’s range of pilsners and pale ales very palatable and not too out there and hopsy.
If you fancy something a bit more sophisticated, they’ve got a huge gastrobrewery next door, so plenty of options for food and drink.
Let’s hop over the North Sea from Scotland to mainland Europe for CHEZ JEAN-CLAUDE PATISSERIE (it’s actually in West Perth but let’s not spoil the metaphor).
The Swiss bakery has a mind-boggling range of ‘La Parisienne’ baguettes with everything from classic ham and cheese to Lebanese vegan, Shanghai duck, cranberry turkey and curried egg.
The skinny baguettes have a rustic texture and the minute you bite into them you get an ear-splitting crunch that is off the charts.
The fillings are top notch and they have some of the best baguettes I’ve tried in Perth.
If you like curries, then CHAKRA in Inglewood is always a good choice.
It was so popular, people were dining alfresco on a bitterly cold night when the Chook visited in July. Chakra’s “winter transcendence banquet” at $69 a head was good value and a culinary adventure.
The highlight was the quinoa broccoli aloo lamb tikka.
A delicious mix of lamb and turmeric yoghurt with the curried chickpeas and pan-fried quinoa adding some texture.
Rounding things off was some little slices of radish and a house-made apple and mint chutney.
It was a lovely assortment of flavours and textures and beautifully presented.
It’s been a tough year for Aussies with sky-high interest rates and the rising cost of living, so the Voice reviewed a lot of budget-friendly eateries.
One of our favourites was MISTER FOCCACIA, situated diagonally opposite the TAFE in Leederville.
Aside from the delicious freshly-baked focaccia they also sell South Italian street food like taralli (a wheat-based cracker popular in the southern half of the Italian peninsula) and a range of coffees.
It has a fun, casual vibe and you order at the shopfront, before taking a seat in the small dining area or the pavement alfresco.
The staff are super friendly and full of chat, and when I visited the Italian owner was having an animated chinwag with a fellow countryman who was buying some treats for lunch.
The chunky focaccias were cut in half and wrapped in chequered, grease-proof paper.
My first reaction was “I’m never going to finish this,” but the bread was super light and airy, and you could tell it was freshly made.
It’s fun street food with pleasant staff in a great location.
Last but not least was CAFE L.A on Oxford Street, which does a very classy brunch.
The interior of the Leederville cafe is scrupulously clean with woodgrain tables, wicker chairs, dried flowers and a shelf with ceramics and pottery.
Their brunch menu is small but has an interesting range of Asian-inspired dishes including soft-shell crab, shokupan brûlée, poke bowl and curry beef Benedict, as well as traditional fare like avocado on toast, bacon, sausage and hash browns.
With 2024 drawing to a close, the Voice takes a look back at some of the most interesting arts stories we covered over the past 12 months.
One of the most memorable collaborations was between award-winning poet JOHN KINSELLA and Perth sound artist SIMON CHARLES, who created an eerie and poignant homage to the York suspension bridge.
The first of its kind in WA, the footbridge was built in 1888 to connect the small rural town of York with the Holy Trinity Church on the other side of the river.
In a bold spoken-word performance, Kinsella reflected on the bridge’s colourful past and the environmental impact of colonisation.
His trademark delivery was accompanied by a strange brew of ambient noises captured by Charles on and around the bridge.
The sound artist attached a microphone to the bridge’s structure to record its vibrations and resonance, and even plonked a special mic (hydrophone) in the murky Avon River to capture aquatic sounds.
• No, it’s not a photoshoot for a new Star Trek movie, it’s muso Gemma Farrell with her futuristic-looking EWI.
In August the Voice ran a feature on the little-known GOTHAM STUDIOS, which is actually one of WA’s longest running artist-run initiatives.
Situated on James Street in the heart of Perth, it’s essentially a working space for artists in the inner-city.
It sounds like something that should be common place, but with more and more CBD buildings converted into trendy flats, cafes and small bars, affordable studio space in the city is dwindling at an alarming rate.
Located on the first and second floors of the old NSW Bank Chambers, the studios were opened in 1987 during a period of gentrification and “urban renewal” of the CBD, which left many art collectives homeless.
Since then it has gone from strength-to-strength and has been an incubator for hundreds of visual artists including Jo Darbyshire, Richard Gunning, Theo Costantino, Nathan Beard and Andrew Nicholls.
The Chook loves a bit of jazz and we featured several performers, but one of the most memorable was GEMMA FARRELL playing the EWI (pronounced EE-wee) an obscure electronic wind instrument invented by American Nyle Steiner in the 1980s.
In lesser hands it could sound like a cheap Bontempi keyboard with flat batteries, but thankfully jazz maestro Farrell made it sing on her album Electronic.
She dabbled with the instrument while studying her master’s at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam in 2010, but it wasn’t until she did her Phd at WAAPA and learned how to use synths, that she really got into the novel instrument and felt comfortable improvising on it.
Original EWIs from the 1980s are pretty hard to find these days, but thanks to the wonders of 3D printing, the instrument could be poised for a comeback.
Keeping with the jazz theme, in May there was a great retrospective photo exhibition about THE ELLINGTON to mark its 15th birthday.
It featured some of the best photographs taken at the Perth jazz club since it opened in 2009, and was curated by photographer Angelyne Wolfe.
She was the partner of jazz pianist Graham Wood when he setup the Ellington, and Wolfe took photos at the club during its tumultuous early years when it was flying by the seat of its pants and making up the rules as it went along.
Sadly Wood died in 2017 after a long battle with cancer, aged 46, and The Ellington became a bit rudderless.
But in April 2023, Zoe Jay and Travis Simmons took over the club and it’s back on track with a new programme and fresh approach.
Another musical highlight was avant-garde Perth ensemble DECIBEL playing a special concert to mark the 30th anniversary of Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me.
At the PICA gig, Decibel reworked some of the movie’s classic themes and played new pieces inspired by the original Twin Peaks TV series.
SHE’S written for more than 2000 TV and radio shows including the BBC’s Have I Got News For You? and now Kate Smurthwaite is bringing her Evolution Revolution show to Perth.
An entertaining science-based game show that uses the audience as “raw materials”, Evolution Revolution is fun, family friendly and educational.
• Kate Smurthwaite (above) and Kevin Kopfstein are two of the great acts performing at this year’s Fringe World.
“I studied evolution as part of my Environmental Sciences degree,” Smurthwaite says.
“I loved it. I got quite obsessed with it. It taught me so much about the world around me but it also taught me so much about me.
“That’s the thing about evolution – the proof of it and the wonders of it are right here in all of us. And yet most mutants (that’s all of us by the way) barely understand it at all.
“This gave me an idea. What if I made a games show? A fun family-friendly games show that taught people all about evolution but used the audience themselves as the raw material? So that’s what I’ve done.”
A London-based comedian and activist with a big reputation in the UK, Smurthwaite went back to her roots and taught maths and science online to younger folk when her comedy work dried up during covid.
Now she’s combined her two passions in a lively, innovative game show where the audience are both the questions and the answers – finding out how closely they are related to the great apes, and testing their knowledge of weird and wonderful animals like, err, humans.
And of course there’s stickers, prizes and glory for the winner.
The show received rave notices in the UK – “Hilarious … a powerhouse of observational wit,” noted Spectator magazine.
Part of Perth Fringe World, Evolution Revolution is at the WA State Theatre on 18/19/22/23/24/25 at 12:45pm. Tix at fringeworld.com.au.
If you prefer your entertainment a bit more dark and macabre, then check out Haunted by Kevin Kopfstein.
He’s been collecting bizarre objects connected to the supernatural for years and they all have a fascinating story to tell. With everything from an 1800s vampire hunting kit and voodoo doll to cemetery padlock and a child’s haunted doll, you will hear spooky stories and experience chills, thrills and maybe even the odd visit from the spirit world.
An international festival veteran, Kopfstein has been entertaining audiences across the globe for more than 30 years, and Haunted was a sell out at this year’s Adelaide Fringe.
Part of Fringe World, Haunted is at the The Brass Monkey (downstairs Williams Room) from Friday January 24 to Sunday February 16 (excluding Tuesdays) at 8.45pm. Tix at fringeworld.com.au.
THE Lyric Theatre development planned for Maylands has been granted a re-approval after commencement of works were delayed several years.
The issue has brought together two oft-divergent community groups with a litany of concerns over some of the details that they say could force existing traders out of business.
The seven-storey mixed use project by developer ADC was approved in its current form by Bayswater council in 2022, and it was given a raft of development bonuses.
In return for keeping some of the old walls of the heritage theatre, a split council voted to charge them none of the usual “cash-in-lieu” payments typically required for a lack of parking.
Such cash-in-lieu is meant to go towards other traffic-easing improvements such as public transport, bike lanes, or public carparks.
• ADC’s concept images of the Lyric Theatre mixed use redevelopment.
They were also allowed to skirt the usual requirement to widen the adjacent Lyric Laneway. They would have had to widen it by 1.5m under the planning scheme, but were instead given concession for a minor 0.5m widening under the justification there was an electrical transformer in the way.
But Bayswater were told this week that in the years since that original approval the transformer has been shifted in the newer plans, removing the justification for not having to widen Lyric Lane.
The project has broad support but these concessions have angered many locals who fear greater congestion stemming from a lack of parking and a narrow laneway.
Two groups with often divergent interests – the Maylands Business Association which represents the traders, and the Maylands Ratepayers and Residents Association which represents other locals – have both called out these concessions as unfair.
Transformer
In a letter to council the MBA chair Rebecca Hall wrote: “Given the significant parking shortfall already affecting the area, additional concessions… should not have been granted as they worsen the strain on nearby businesses and residents.
“The combined effects of increased parking demand, reduced community parking, and insufficient laneway access will have a detrimental impact on nearby businesses. For some, this could prove unsustainable, potentially forcing closures and harming the local economy.”
And on the curious continued concession that permitted ADC to not have to fully widen the laneway, she wrote: “ The insufficient widening restricts vehicle and pedestrian access, complicates vehicle turning (especially from the Indian grocer car park), and increases traffic challenges.”
A letter from MRRA chair Lois Moir echoed many of these concerns, likewise arguing that it’d worsen traffic and “this laneway width exemption should not apply” given the current plans change the transformer location.
Both groups requested council deny the approval until the issues are addressed. ADC have asked for an extension of the previous approval because their time limit to commence works expires in February 2025. If the company doesn’t start by that date, it will need a fresh approval.
While ADC says its started pre-sales of apartments and has been finalising contractors to build the project, construction has yet to actually start and it’s asked for another 12 months.
Only one Bayswater councillor spoke up against the re-approval at the December 10 meeting.
Cr Elli Petersen-Pik said: “I do not recall any issue, specifically a development, that attracted opposition from both the major stakeholders in one suburb,” referring to both the MBA and the MRRA seeing eye-to-eye on the concessions granted to ADC.
Bayswater council’s director of development Bianca Sandri had declared an “impartial” interest as ADC was a former client of the planning firm she founded, Urbanista Town Planning (Ms Sandri stood down from her director role at Urbanista after taking her job at Bayswater).
But unlike a direct financial interest, the impartial interest declaration did not require Ms Sandri to leave the room during debate, and she advised councillors that legal precedent indicated they should consider the extension of approval on three grounds:
“That the planning framework has not substantially changed,” she said, and commented: “Which it has not.
“Whether the development would likely receive approval now,” Ms Sandri continued, and then answered: “Yes, given that the framework has not changed, so therefore the outcome of the decision would not be different.
“And whether the proponent has actively, and relevantly, or conscientiously pursued the development,” Ms Sandri said, then advised: “And as outlined in the report, it is the officer’s view that they have.”
Cr Petersen-Pik disagreed, arguing that changes since the original approval posed a challenge as to whether the plans would get approved today: “I argue that some significant things have changed since the original approval,” notably that transformer that was previously blocking the laneway widening.
Revised
Along with the parking shortfall, he said “this will take us backwards from our attempts to make the main shopping strip more pedestrian friendly.
“Therefore while I acknowledge the benefits of the planned investment in the town centre, it is my view that the plans should be revised and returned to us for reconsideration, and fresh consult should occur before a decision is made.”
But Cr Petersen-Pik was the sole vote against the re-approval, with councillors Assunta Meleca, Steven Ostaszewskyj, Josh Eveson, Sally Palmer, Michelle Sutherland, Lorna Clarke, and Giorgia Johnson voting in favour.
Councillors Dan Bull and Nat Latter removed themselves from the chamber (and the vote) over conflicts of interest. Cr Latter is director of a company located across the road, and Cr Bull said he had an indirect financial interest as the applicant was a former client of his. It’s the prerogative of individuals as to which brand of interest they declare.
SHOPPERS opting for locally-made presents have turned out in droves this season to find a hand-made treasure at Vincent’s annual Young Makers Christmas Market.
• Shoppers turned out in droves to see what the next generation of Perth’s creative makers had on offer last weekend.
There were 75 stalls around Braithwaite Park this year with young makers aged 6-18 selling their wares.
Some had up-cycled goods, some cooked sweets or dog treats, and others went full creator-mode, like 12-year-old Thomas Mhyre who used his great-grandfather’s lathe to craft wooden bowls, coasters, and cheese boards from recycled timber.
• Young makers like Thomas Mhyre turned out to showcase handmade items at the weekend’s sale. Photo by Matt Biocich via City of Vincent
While these markets wrapped up on December 7, if you’re still after a hand-made gift there’ll be about 200 stallholders selling wares at the final (adult) Perth Makers Market at Goolugatup Heathcote Reserve December 15, 9.30am-3.30pm.
STORIES of Lake Gwelup’s cultural and ecological past have been presented in artworks and interpretative displays along a permanent walking trail.
The 2.4-kilometre Lake Gwelup Story Trail has come through a collaboration between the Rotary Club of Karrinyup, the Noongar community, wildlife groups, and Stirling council.
Gwelup is on Mooro country, and one of the chain of seasonal lakes that Whadjak Nyoongar people would rely on when migrating from the coast to inland areas in the colder seasons through until the weather started to warm.
The Aboriginal history of the lake was shared by Preston Culbong and Dulcie Donaldson of the Ngalang Maya Wangkiny, the knowledge holders working group who contributed to the project.
• Nyoongar artists Emily Rose and David Jones collaborated with fabricator Jahne Ree for the artwork, and Preston Culbong and Dulcie Donaldson shared cultural knowledge for the art designs and Aboriginal history elements. Photo by Matt Biocich
Nyoongar traditionally viewed the chain of lakes as all part of the same water.
It was a place of cultural practices including birthing and ceremonial dances, and more than 1,000 artefacts have been found in the area.
Stirling mayor Mark Irwin said “the stories of the lake stretch back tens of thousands of years, from hunting and gathering in ancient times to marketing gardening by Chinese and European migrants. The signs and public art that make up this story trail give fascinating insight into Lake Gwelup as a place where history, nature and culture connect,” Mr Irwin said.
In the 1870s Chinese growers worked the swamplands around the lake, with Noongar people working their food gardens trading labour for produce.
European migrants would move into the area after World War I and establish market gardens, until the 1970s when residential development took off.
The 2.4km trail has been made accessible for families and people with disabilities and takes about 90 minutes to tour at a relaxed pace.
THE Cook government has granted the owners of the historic Beaucott Building in Mt Lawley $50,000 for some TLC.
Part of the state’s annual heritage grants program, the money will go towards repointing the brickwork, replacing the roofing and gutters, and painting, which could alleviate the “ad hoc paint colour scheme” which the WA Heritage Council reckons blights the ground floor.
Designed by prominent Perth architect William Bennett, the Beaucott Building was the first constructed on the prominent Beaufort and Walcott Street intersection, starting in 1905, and the first to get a makeover into the “inter war functionalist style” that came to be a distinct character of the precinct.
According to its state heritage listing from 2001, it is “a good example of a modest early 20th century building extended and reconstructed in the inter war functionalist style of architecture that has retained a high level of integrity and authenticity”.
Bennett, who was also known for his art deco designs, was responsible for the Raffles Hotel and the Plaza Theatre and Arcade in Perth.
Other Perth building up for some heritage funding include the The Savoy Hotel which will get a $38,000 awning restoration, the former North Perth Fire Station which will get a $2800 conservation strategy, St John’s Lutheran Church for a $7000 repair appraisal, the McNess Royal Arcade for a $16,000 conservation plan and a private residence at 52 Mount Street which will get $6500 for a conservation strategy.
FORMER Vincent mayor Emma Cole has been promoted to chair of the WA Planning Commission.
Currently deputy, Ms Cole will begin her four-year term on January 1, taking over from retiring chair David Caddy.
The appointment was announced by WA Labor’s planning minister John Carey, who was also previously a Vincent mayor and who supported Ms Cole in her bid to replace him as mayor when he made the leap from local to state government in 2015.
Mr Carey said in his announcement: “Ms Cole has extensive planning and leadership credentials and experience, including most recently serving as deputy chair of the WAPC.
• Former Vincent mayor Emma Cole. Photo WAPC website.
“She brings a significant wealth of planning experience and pragmatic governance and decision making to this crucial role as chair of the WAPC.”
He said the commission’s focus under Ms Cole will be planning long-term development, economic, and housing opportunities, “including the assessment of applications lodged through the significant development pathway” – a.k.a. handling approvals for particularly large developments worth $20m or more (or $5m and up in the regions).
Unlike every other Vincent mayor to date, Ms Cole has been the only one who hasn’t been also been an elected member at either a state or federal level (Jack Marks, John Hyde, Nick Catania, Alannah MacTiernan, John Carey, and Alison Xamon have all been MPs either before or after their mayoral reign).
When Ms Cole ran for mayor said she wasn’t interested in using local government as a stepping stone to an MO’s role, and she’s stuck by that to date by staying on the departmental side of government.
A MYSTERY winner of the 2025 Australia Day Community Citizen of the Year Award for Bayswater has declined the award for reasons unknown.
Our search this week to identify the would-be winner was unsuccessful, and redacted council documents refer to them only as “Nominee C” in the main ‘Community Citizen of the Year’ category for the 2025 Australia Day awards.
There were five nominees all up for the award, which is given out for contributing to the community and being an inspiring role model.
Councillors unanimously selected Nominee C as the winner at the November 19 meeting, but an urgent report to councillors this week states “they have declined their acceptance of the award and a new nominee is required to be selected for the award”.
At the December 10 meeting, the last opportunity to vote before the ceremony, councillors were tasked with hastily selecting their second favourite during a confidential agenda item voted on behind closed doors.
In recent years there’ve been several nominees who’ve turned down awards for the national Australia Day awards as well as the Queen’s/King’s birthday honours, often as a protest against January 26 as being a difficult date for Aboriginal people, and sometimes in protest against other awardees.
We asked the Community Citizen of the Year awards organisers Auspire if this has become a growing trend at the council-level awards, but have yet to hear back.
Guidance
However the Australia Day Council’s South Australia branch has in recent years started including guidance in their FAQ document for councils faced with this situation.
In response to “What if my Award recipient declines the Award?” the ASCSA advises:
“ADCSA encourages you to enunciate to the Award Recipient/s that this program injects motivation within the local community. The Citizen of the Year Awards is not only about the individual, whilst this program amplifies their work and contribution it also acknowledges their impact within their local community.
“Try to ascertain the individual’s reservations regarding non-participation within the awards program. Some common reasons that individuals are reluctant to participate are:
• They feel uncomfortable being associated with Australia Day or the date;
• The work was achieved in a team environment, and they don’t feel comfortable in being singled out;
• They don’t do the work for recognition and do not wish to have the spotlight on them.”
The declined award is one of four community awards given out by Bayswater along with senior citizen, youth citizen, and active (group) citizen of the year, and Bayswater’s also had a bonus “outstanding women in leadership” category since 2019.
Bayswater council has opted not to hold its Australia Day citizenship and awards ceremonies on January 26 this year, alongside some 80 other councils across Australia who’ve ditched the 26th.
Instead this year the City of Bayswater’s events will be held on the public holiday on Monday January 27.
Perth Voice Interactive 