Perth Voice Interactive

AN expert on the Australian light horsemen will be at Anzac Cottage on October 25 for a presentation on the Battle of Beersheba.

Phil Sullivan is a military historian and re-enactor, and troop commander of the Avon Valley 10th Light Horse Memorial Troop. He was part of a 2012 trip by a large group of light horse re-enactors who visited Egypt, rode around the pyramids and went on to Gallipoli and visited the memorial sites around Israel. 

He’ll tell the story of the October 31, 1917 Battle of Beersheba, where the WA-raised and Claremont showgrounds-trained 10th Light Horse took part in heavy fighting alongside other light horse regiments. 

The 38 Kalgoorlie Street cottage is open via donation from 1.30pm on October 25, there’ll be photographic displays, activities for youngsters, and the Beersheba presentation is at 2.30pm.

by DAVID BELL

MORE than 60 “occupiers” have been kicked off Perth council’s voting list.

An audit of the council’s owners and occupiers list, presented to the city’s commissioners this week, found hundreds of other former voters didn’t bother reapplying. The list was under scrutiny this year following revelations of bogus voters during the Power inquiry.

The occupiers section of the roll contains business owners or their nominated voters (two per company). All 456 potential voters were asked to provide proof of a lease, but 61 were unable to supply any supporting documentation or simply didn’t respond to letters or phone calls.

A small number (sampling suggests less than 1 per cent) provided a copy of their lease when asked, but the day of first occupation was after they’d applied to vote.

In a report to commissioners, the City of Perth auditors opined “on this basis the occupier nominee claim should have been rejected rather than accepted,” but the rejections “were later overturned on appeal by the claimants to the WA Electoral Commission” and they will get to vote.

The 61 rejected voters are coming from a roll that should’ve already been cleaner than in previous years: it now has 700 fewer people on it compared to the last election. 

Non-residents and occupiers have to reapply every two elections and there’s a few potential reasons behind hundreds of people staying away: In August the City of Perth announced it’d now be asking for proof of eligibility for enrolments. The same month two people alleged to have created a “sham lease” were charged by police and the case is ongoing. The issue of “sham” votes was aired in August 2019 during inquiry hearings.

The non-resident owners roll was deemed low risk since it’s harder to fake owning a property, and auditing a sample of 110 out of the 2161 non-resident owners showed no irregularities. The residents’ roll wasn’t audited as it’s just the state electoral role. 

The increased scrutiny will continue past this election: Staff processing voter applications have now had training by a solicitor and a checklist’s been drawn up to determine if a lease is valid, and they’ve have been instructed to seek legal advice on complex claims.

Signs of trouble

DESPITE contesting the most scrutinised election in recent years, some Perth council candidates are still breaking rules.

On Monday an email went out to all candidates from the WA Electoral Commission at the request of Perth council’s governance team warning that electoral signage had been found on “council land” like roundabouts and verges.

That’s forbidden under the council’s signs policy and the candidates were given until close of business on Wednesday October 14 to remove them. 

“Our rangers will remove any signs left out after this date,” the warning read.

The warning comes pretty late in the piece: Voting opened September 21 and if the trend is anything like previous years most will have already voted. 

Neighbouring Vincent is considering toughening its election signage policy after the 2019 race saw a rash of complaints.

The proposed rules soon to be considered by councillors would ban election signs in parks and reserves for amenity and safety. 

A permit would be needed to be place a sign on a footpath, tree or power pole, or to be within three metres of a road, and there’s a host of other stipulations about keeping them away from street signs or intersections. 

They’d also be forbidden from being on or adjacent to municipal buildings to “reduce the risk that a sign… is interpreted as having the endorsement of the city”. 

One former candidate suggested Vincent’s strict sign clampdown would give incumbent councillors an advantage since they already had name recognition.

Stories by David Bell

Dark Swan take on lockdown

What could be more surreal than living in these Covid times than a giant seashell floating down Fremantle’s High Street! 

Surrealism art is making a splash in the Fremantle PSA Artspace from 17 October to 14 November with interpretations of what life has been like throughout the crazy existential pandemic. 

The collaboration of five WA professional female artists will be showcasing multidisciplinary artforms in an exhibit called Imaginary Territories.

This extraordinary display invites the viewer to take a journey through the eccentric and dreamlike art, also giving a nod to the 100th year anniversary of the surrealist art movement which began in Europe. 

Grand scale

The Dark Swan production will feature an array of grand scale installations, photography, sculpture and film projection that explore the concepts within surrealist artists inner worlds of thought, emotion, and perception of the outside physical reality. 

Curator and artist Kelsey Ashe says the event will show off images such as her work featuring the giant seashell, which was a response to the atmosphere during the pandemic lockdown. With humans forced to stay inside and the onset of urban peacefulness, nature was able to take centre stage.

The human connection to nature plays a big theme in the exhibition, and what effect lockdown has on many industries and eco systems. 

“In an era of environmental/world crisis and political divisiveness, to conceive new realities has become critically important,” Dr Ashe says.

 “The exhibition explores the concept of a territory as a domain of the inner world, a representation that expresses an internal truth.”

Despite the scarcity for funding for the arts after Covid-19, the Department for Culture and Arts has commissioning four of the surrealist artists to display the new contemporary artworks. 

The artists include Lucille Martin, Jo Darbyshire, Toni Wilkinson, Dr Ashe, and Rebecca Peterson who all have a history of specialising in surrealist modes. 

Until a decade ago women had not received much recognition in the surrealist artform, but Dr Ashe says that there had been many strong female surrealists globally and Australian contemporary artists influenced by surrealism. Having all-female artists is a statement to honour the ones that have not been recognised enough in this artform, she says. 

Lucille Martin specialises in photocollage and will be displaying 18-months worth of work where she has walked through Australia and New Zealand capturing stunning photos of nature’s caves – portals as she calls them.

“I have been working with surrealism for over 30 years and it gives me the freedom to experiment with images of natural landmarks from different places and combine them in one collage.” 

Jo Darbyshire has pursued a community collective approach to her surrealist art when she was creating her Board of Feathers during the lockdown. She asked people to find feathers on their walks and post them to her. 

“I did this piece during Covid lockdown, when travel is out of reach, we have to use our imagination and enjoy nature.” Ms Darbyshire said. 

Surrealism may take you on a trip into the obscure, but the arrangement will spark a curiosity that just makes sense. 

A STUNNING exhibition of amateur photography opens at The Kidogo Arthouse on Thursday (October 15).

Featuring everything from drone shots to thought-provoking portraits, the Perth Amateur Photo Exhibition has 150 diverse snaps on display.

Exhibitor Anna Burke, who moved to Fremantle five years ago and lives in South Beach Estate, captured an intimate photo of a toddler in a tiny village on the outskirts of Jaipur in northern India. The area is rarely visited by tourists.

“The baby has the kohl or charcoal around her eyes,” Burke says. “I was told this is applied to strengthen the child’s eyes and also to prevent the child from being cursed by the evil eye.

“I walked into the village with my camera and the baby’s father came running towards me asking me to take a photo and then was delighted to look at it in the viewfinder. The baby is very loved.” Other photographers took shots closer to home, including Joel Walker, who captured a broody black and white photo of the Roundhouse.

Walker grew up in White Gum Valley and attended South Fremantle High school before moving away, but clearly still has an emotional tie to the port city.

If you prefer something a bit more action-packed, then Caris Morcombe captures the frenetic energy of a live rock performance, including a wild drummer pounding the skins.

There’s some cracking photos of exotic international locations and wildlife in the exhibition, including a beautiful pic of an iridescent parrot fish by Kathleen Wilton, and David Mierowsky’s striking shot of three Ethiopian women in headdresses. 

The Perth Amateur Photo Exhibition is on from October 15 to  October 21 at the Kidogo Arthouse, Bathers Beach in Fremantle.

“CONCERNING” numbers of electors are not receiving ballots for the City of Perth election. 

The council says it’s aware of the problem, which was “apparently due to postal issues”.

In a social media post, lord mayoral candidate Di Bain described it as “a concerning number of eligible voters” who’d not received their ballot papers. 

They were meant to start arriving on September 22 through to September 25. 

If slow mail is behind the delays, federal Labor MP Josh Wilson’s pointing the finger at the Morrison government, which recently voted to approve cuts to Australia Post deliveries to two or three days a week across the nation.

Replacement ballot papers are available for pick up at Perth council house, where they can also be dropped off up until 6pm on Saturday October 17 – if you’re nervous about snail mail making it in time.

by DAVID BELL

THEATRE is back on at Blue Room Theatre, which is urging folk to help the local arts scene recover from the dire pandemic months and its strict Covid requirements.

Like many venues and arts organisations, the Blue Room had to cancel everything in the early months of the pandemic; artists scheduled to perform later in the year also cancelled shows because it was too risky investing in productions that had no guarantee of seeing the light of day. 

October’s show The Jellyman is about accepting “chaos and uncertainty” says writer and performer Rhiannon Petersen.

“While in the work this is focused upon identity, it feels very relevant in a year which has unfolded in the way it has,” she told the Voice.

It’s followed by the December run of The Golem; or, Next Year in Jerusalem by Humphrey Bower and Tim Green.

The Golem’s been adapted to the challenges of Covid restrictions: In response to the tiny audience numbers allowed, on special Saturday shows the two performers flit between two Blue Room performance spaces, playing to two audiences in a myth-and-memoir take on the mythical clay creature created to defend the Jews of Prague.

Blue Room producer Harriet Roberts says there’s still a feeling of uncertainty in the local performing arts scene.

“The fact that our venues are still reduced by two thirds [capacity] and we’re still having to program really last-minute, with quick turnarounds rather than long lead planning, that level of uncertainty has really changed things.”

Performance venues still operate under the one-person per 2sqm rule, which works out to the Blue Room being able to fit about 17 audience members in a room that normally takes 60. 

“Even stadiums have better capacity rules than what we’re dealing with… I don’t know why there’s an inconsistency,” Ms Roberts says. Special rules have let sports stadiums operate at 50 per cent capacity since June. 

“Because of that uncertainty it doesn’t feel like we’re in the clear… it’s a bit of a weird holding pattern.”

The Jellyman runs October 27 to November 7, and The Golem is December 1 to December 12, tickets via blueroom.org.au

by DAVID BELL