Perth Voice Interactive

MORE than $10 million is needed to refurbish Bayswater Waves as yet another council grapples over an expensive aquatic centre.

“Urgent roof repairs” are needed, the gantry lighting system’s busted, the pools needs refurbing, and the chlorine gas storage area doesn’t comply with new Australian standards and must be fixed by June 2021. 

At the next council meeting on January 27 Bayswater councillors will vote over whether to tackle all the works at once (closing all indoor pools for about 18 months), rotate closures and repairs over two to three years, or just creep along over seven years. 

The first two options need serious outside funding, as the council only has $1.6m budgeted for Waves works this year.

A staff report recommends the two-to-three year option so at least one big indoor pool can stay open, otherwise swimmers will cancel memberships and casual staff will have to be stood down. 

The report also advised against the slow option, as smaller repair works carried out over the past couple of years has led to frustration. 

The works will “somewhat” future proof the facility and keep it humming for 25 years or so. Most of the facilities date back to 1998 but some pools were opened in the 1970s.

Vincent council’s also been pondering what to do about its own blue elephant, Beatty Park Leisure Centre, which needs at least $7.5m in works‚ and more if the council wants to bring the historic 1962 Commonwealth Games-era grandstand up to code and reopen it to the public.

From January 27 Beatty’s indoor area will be closed for about five months for retiling, a new water filter system, and new accessible changerooms. The outdoor heated pools will stay open but space is expected to be limited given the swim schools will have to move out there.

Stirling owns the Stirling Leisure Centre and the Terry Tyzack Aquatic Centre, which are getting about $10m works between them over the next three years. Tyzack’s upgrades are first, starting with a major refurbishment of outdoor pools this year. 

by DAVID BELL

A STATE government-funded cafe selling $3 coffees has been undercutting private enterprise, city cafe owners have complained.

The Crew & King Cafe is run by the Perth Theatre Trust and opened in May 2020 after state-funded upgrades to His Majesty’s Theatre.

Michael Ivanoff from nearby Crib Lane cafe says the Crew’s $3 coffees, available until 11am, are taking customers away from nearby cafes. 

“I see my customers going there, and I see them walking back with cup in hand,” ¬†Mr Ivanoff says. 

He says there’s no way private business can make a living selling $3 coffees. “We’re losing customers to these guys who are giving out cheap coffees with our taxpayer money.”

He says it hurts on top of the loss of business during and after lockdown. “We got zero from the state government during the Covid period, that’s why it makes me even more mad that the state government is taking my business.”

The PTT say it’s ending the $3 coffee offer at the end of January. A statement from PTT GM Duncan Ord said they were “surprised” to learn neighbouring cafes “were uncomfortable with the price point of $3 for a small (8 oz) coffee – a price point which is only offered until 11am at which time it increases to $4”.

He says the pricing is the same as when the place closed in 2019 for the Maj refurbishment, and “it was always the intention that pricing would be reviewed following a period of normal operations”.

“We have now met with the owner of Crib Lane to discuss his concerns and we will be removing the special offer at the end of January.”

by DAVID BELL

BAYSWATER council will soon begin the long process of unpicking its complex rates system after giving some homeowners a “Covid-19 concession” in last year’s budget.

The strange concession, dubbed “not fair” by a minority of councillors who voted against it, effectively made sure everyone’s rates bill for 2020 was no higher than their 2019 bill.  

But that ended up disadvantaging some who were up for a rates decrease, while those who should’ve got a bigger bill were laughing.

For Bayswater’s January 27 meeting its finance team has recommended winding down the Covid-19 concession. 

The amount the council takes in via rates will stay at just under $49m, but houses in struggle street will no longer subsidise their trendy neighbours.

To avoid the richer suburbs getting a double-whammy of two years’ increase in one, the bean counters have suggested a phasing out of the concession, leaving it to the CEO to come up with the detail based on how the economy fairs over the coming months.

That strategy will go back to councillors for a vote before before budget time.

by DAVID BELL

NAMES are being sought for the soon-to-be revamped Leederville laneway between the Leedy Hotel and the ABN Group HQ currently under construction.

The laneway’s been dingy for years but is being given a big makeover by developer FJM Properties, and rebranded as a “laneway precinct” opening onto shops in the ABN building and dining options from the hotel which is also getting a makeover.

About 60 per cent of the laneway land is owned by the City of Vincent which has rolled out the red carpet to ABN, hoping the influx of employees will liven up the town centre. 

Councillors are so keen on the project that in December they voted to foot nearly half the laneway upgrade bill, pitching in up to $155,000 for laneway infrastructure upgrades including drainage, paving and street lighting. 

The naming competition runs until February 18 via theleederville. com and whoever picks the winning name gets a $500 voucher to dine at any of the new hospitality outlets. Submissions have to be vetted in line with the council’s laneway naming policy, then a shortlist will be advertised for 14 days’ community consultation.

Meanwhile the ABN building itself is going up at a fast clip. While other builds around town have been delayed or gone dormant, this one’s on track for completion by the original estimated date of mid-2021, and two of the seven retail tenancies are already confirmed filled. 

by DAVID BELL

THE National Trust WA received funding last year to run its first writer in residence program.

The funding came from the Department of Culture and the Arts, which in 2019 produced a Writing Sector Review aimed at encouraging excellence in writing and foster professional development.

The trust chose four writers to kick off the program; Melinda Tognini and Ros Thomas who were based at Fremantle’s Samson House cottage and the Curtin family home in Cottesloe, and Sasha Wasley and Maddie Godfrey at Peninsula Farm in Maylands, while Sasha also spent some time at Woodbridge.

The Chook thought it might make a fascinating insight into the mind of a writer to see what piqued their interest in their historic home-away-from-home and how that might make its way into their writing, so we’ll be featuring one of the writers over the next few weeks.

In this week’s two-part instalment we tune into SASHA WASLEY, who is using her time to craft a historical novel set during World War I.

EARLIER in 2020, I was extremely fortunate to be one of four WA writers granted a writer’s residency through the National Trust of WA’s Inspire program. 

The residency’s goal was to provide a space for writers to explore ideas and produce WA works.

My work-in-progress is a historical novel set in the first World War. 

The protagonist is a young woman who grew up in Guildford. After losing her dear brother, she goes to teach at a school in York, where she is roped into a project that sees her visiting the family homes of people from all walks of life.

For the first two weeks of the residency, I was based at Peninsula Farm in Maylands, a 180-year-old farmhouse built on land granted to the colonial Hardey family. The Hardeys, along with a group of other Methodists from the Lincolnshire area, came over on the Tranby to build a new life and convert the locals. 

By all accounts, Joseph was a stern, clean-living bloke, who even ordered his daughters only to marry Wesleyan Ministers (only one of the poor young ladies managed to find one).

On my first day, my laptop never even made it out of the case! I became engrossed in the archival documents and books from the staff bookshelf at Peninsula Farm, studying letters, farm diaries, recounts and photos, making notes and having ideas. 

I was fortunate to meet with knowledgeable education staff and volunteers including Ginie (also a writer), who answered questions and shared stories about the family and house.

When left alone, I explored the homestead, examining some of the historical artefacts, which gave me a unique insight into settlement life. The Hardeys had a beautiful writing case brought over from the old country and a ‘whatnot’ full of porcelain objects known as ‘fairings’ (items won at fairs and collected for display).

I studied how they lit fires and stored food. In a colonial kitchen, you’d keep your fire lit with the bellows and pour water from a copper jug. You’d light the room with tallow candles. Cooking was backbreaking, hot, difficult work, and culinary delights of yesteryear included bandicoot stewed in milk. Sounds like a real treat!

Similarly, laundering in the 19th century was not for the fainthearted. It was muscle-building, skin-scorching work, and the women had the wiry arms and scarred hands to prove it. Peninsula Farm boasts a mangle, a copper, washboards, pintuck rods and ‘sad’ irons – equipment that was ingenious but labour-intensive.

I think one of my favourite discoveries was that you could buy a sewing machine on a payment plan in the 1870s. The Hardeys had a Wheeler & Wilson sewing machine and I could just imagine the thrill of owning one after years of hand-stitching hems and seams.

The few times I was alone there, I discovered it was a very creaky old house. I could have sworn someone was walking around in the attic! 

I never saw or heard anything conclusive, although at one point I was startled by the ring of a bell in the depths of the house. 

IN a suspected arson attack, Tent City in East Perth went up in flames at 10pm last Wednesday, turning the fenced-in campsite into a potential death trap. 

No-one was in the section of the homeless camp under the Lord Street overpass when it caught alight, but witnesses say that if there had been campers, no one could have escaped the blaze. 

The tents and campers’ personal belongings were hemmed in by chicken wire and barbed fencing, with only one gate in or out.

Neville Riley, who’s been staying in Tent City for a few months, said, “it would have been very hard for someone to get up and run to clearance”. 

Wall of fire

The fencing was also covered with tarpaulins to keep the area shaded during the day, turning into a wall of fire when they caught alight. 

While it’s unclear what started the fire, Uncle Neville thinks someone from the camp may have started it in a fit of frustration or “jealousy” with the other campers. 

“I would say someone did it deliberately because things weren’t going that person’s way,” he said. 

Tent City was sleeping up to 50 people on any night, but on Christmas Eve many residents began moving into temporary accommodation, paid for by the Wungening Aboriginal Corporation.

Five families – about half of Tent City – were staying in hotel apartments in the city when the fire started. 

No funds

However, advocates say the accommodation hasn’t been paid for since January 1, with no sign of the McGowan government dipping into the $3.8 million it committed last year to get the homeless residents into housing. 

They’re worried that if any of the five families are kicked out of the hotel, they’ll be forced back into a death trap, with the rest of Tent City still camping precariously.  

Uncle Neville says the delay in the flow of funds has left residents wondering what the government’s commitment was about.

“Maybe the fire was a wakeup call to the government to just hurry up with what you’ve promised,” he said. 

“I haven’t got no accommodation, I’m still on the streets”. 

The Department of Communities says it’s having a meeting on Thursday January 14, to discuss the next steps.

by KELLY WARDEN

BURLY construction workers are apparently being “intimidated” by the protest signs of mostly elderly residents around the Bayswater train station, who fear the Metronet transformation is robbing them of their green space.

Rose Avenue residents, who’ll lose the little park at the end of their road for a bus interchange, recently penned a 10-point letter asking the McGowan government for assurance the $146 million station upgrade won’t upend their lives, and put up a banner with the fairly innocuous request for “A tree park, NOT a bus park”.

That prompted an email to resident Linh Ly from government contractor Evolve Bayswater, a partnership between Decmil and Coleman Rail; the latter a subsidiary of Spanish conglomerate Acciona which is currently suing the NSW government over cost overruns on the Sydney South East Light Rail project.

Evolve Bayswater asked her to pull down the banner and for residents “not to engage in activities that attack our workforce. Our workforce are not the decision makers and have no capacity to deliver the outcomes you are seeking.”

It asks them to “cease activities designed to intimidate our workforce”.

Ms Ly, who’s lived there 21 years, says she’s not seen any evidence of workers being attacked or intimidated.  

The email also references residents across the tracks and a little south who’ve been more pointed in their critique; one Whatley Crescent wall has been spraypainted with the blunt message “Fuck you Metronet”. 

That area has already lost many of its mature trees and some residents the Voice spoke to in December were deeply unhappy about the potential of 10 storey buildings abutting their homes. 

Following a January 6 meeting between residents and the various state bodies handling the upgrades, residents have sent them a 10-point letter asking about plans to mitigate noise and vibration, air quality and vehicle pollution (buses will be idling a few metres from homes) and any compensation scheme on offer.

Ms Ly, a shift worker, says already the preliminary construction noise has been unbearable and she fears the vibration will damage her home. Construction is due to carry on for two years.

The PTA responded to some of the points in the letter, telling the Voice: “As with any project of this scale, significant infrastructure is required during the construction period to upgrade the station. When complete, surrounding residents will have access to a first-class, well-integrated public transport hub which will create greater opportunities for connectivity and development in the area.

“We do not shy away from the fact that construction of such a significant project can be disruptive, which is why PTA and lead contractor Evolve Bayswater make every effort to reduce the impact of this work on residents in the area.

“Some noise impacts are inevitable. As always, we will notify local residents of what works are happening, particularly when they are out of hours or expected to be noisy. As construction activity is now focused on Whatley Crescent, residents along Rose Avenue should not expect major works close to them until late 2022, at which time they will be notified as per the standard processes.”

The PTA says the new buses are low-emmision and will be travelling slowly through the interchange, hopefully keeping the noise to a minimum.

by DAVID BELL