Perth Voice Interactive

STIRLING council’s attempt to get a trackless tram running through is steaming along, with councillors voting 11-1 to put the business case to the state and federal governments. 

Traffic and parking congestion is a big issue in the area: It was one of the main issues brought up by residents in a recent city-wide survey, and by two more residents’ at the October 31 council meeting who stood up at public question time urging for some action on parking shortfalls.

Mayor Mark Irwin envisions an Australia-first trackless tram system as part of the solution, linking Stirling’s centre at Glendalough Station with Scarborough Beach.

$864 million

The business case estimates with 90 per cent confidence that the capital cost of a trackless tram system would come in around $864 million, but that it’d be a good investment overall.

The report’s authors reckon there’s a cost:benefit ratio of 1.96.

While $2m federal funding was granted to Stirling in 2021 to pay for its investigations into the technology, there have still been a couple of ardent critics who say local government shouldn’t get involved in public transport and that it’s a bad use of staff and councillors’ time.

Cr Elizabeth Re, the only councillor who voted against putting the business case to state and federal governments, said “we have buses coming every 10, 15 minutes down Scarborough Beach Road. That hasn’t stopped any of the parking issues”.

Cr Re said: “I don’t see this as a priority for our council. 

“We’re already doing so many things that are going outside or normal remit at the moment, and I look at some of our buildings that we’re not maintaining at the moment – we’ve still got asbestos in them, we’ve still got buildings that are 60 years old, what are we doing, waiting for them to fall down? We should be upgrading what we’ve got.”

Parking

Deputy mayor Susan Migdale said: “This is not something our residents will be paying for… our rate dollars will not be going to this trackless tram” and added “we’ll resolve many parking issues in pockets of the city by being able to move people easily and speedily”.

Mr Irwin said with population density increasing “it’s important that better transport solutions are implemented”. 

Councillors voted 11-1 to endorse the CEO to now advocate to state and federal governments to implement the project.

by DAVID BELL

RECTIFICATION for the ageing Claisebrook Cove is in the works.

Perth council is considering a $31 million plan to fix a range of issues from broken paving to the sometimes-smelly lake.

The government-built cove was developed in the 1990s but now the walled lake is nearing the end of its lifespan, and the design that’s heavy on right angles wouldn’t pass muster under modern disability access laws.

During consultation in April 2023 the lake was the biggest issue on people’s minds out of the 189 respondents: 88 comments related to issues like lake cleanliness (poor water quality, algae, bird poo) or the stream running into it being too shallow, often dry, and sometimes filled with rubbish. 

The obstacle course-like nature of the cove was also raised by many commenters, who said the uneven pathing and rampant tree roots were a hazard.

At last week’s council meeting Cr Liam Gobbert said: “I’ve had many conversations with East Perth locals about the condition of some of the assets around the cove and the lake, and it is very pleasing to see that the concept plan has been finalised and we can start to chip away at the detailed design and the approvals.”

Some locals were concerned that upgraded jetties would bring party boats to the cove (some years ago there was some bad behaviour after a converted crayfish party boat docked there). But Perth council staff say the new jetty designs aren’t intended to support those big commercial vessels and so big party cruises aren’t expected to be a regular sight.

Councillors adopted the final rectification plan, and once detailed design work is done it’ll proceed in stages through til 2032.

by DAVID BELL

THE replacement of the long-empty Stirling Towers looks to finally be going ahead this year, with a development application now granted by the WA Planning Commission to replace the tired ex-Homeswest towers with 109 new apartments. 

The towers on the corner of Smith and Stirling Streets in Perth were emptied out of residents almost 10 years ago.

Successive governments have floated various ideas for a replacement, with one resident claiming he’d accumulated “a stack of brochures” of “imminent” plans it over the years (“Not a Stirling job,” Voice, March 4, 2023).

The current WA government’s plans have gone a little smoother, and a demolition permit was issued in August with the cleanup expected to be done by “early 2025”. 

The WAPC has now granted approval for a consortium led by Community Housing Ltd and Tetris Capital Pty Ltd to put up 109 apartments across four stories, with a mix of one and two-bedroom social, affordable, and disability rental units.

It’s being run under a “build-to-rent” model, a recent trend in the eternal search for a way to affordably provide affordable housing. Instead of building to sell, the properties are retained for rent, and as part of the 50-year lease deal the consortium is required to provide the affordable and specialist disability units.

Housing minister John Carey said in a media release this week that the project was part of the plan for “unlocking lazy government land to deliver more social and affordable housing options”.

He said “once completed, this build-to-rent project will provide social and affordable housing options close to a range of amenities including the Perth CBD, shops, public transport and parks, as well as education, sporting and entertainment facilities.”

by DAVID BELL

THE life and times of Hu Che-Em (aka Hop Chong) are slowly being pieced together with new details about the Chinese market gardener being unearthed this week. 

Hu Che-Em ran a market garden in Bayswater until the 1940s or 1950s. 

Locals from the Bayswater Historical Society want his nickname “Hoppy” to be approved for use as a street name, but Landgate is first requesting “information on where he has given back to and contributed to the community outside of the financial ties” (‘The Search for Hoppy’, Perth Voice, November 2).

That request came in response to the initial information gathered by the BHS mostly being related to Hu Che-Em’s business dealings. 

The group’s struck gold this week after getting in touch with historian Lucy Hair, who’s working on UWA’s project Two Centuries of Chinese Heritage in Western Australia. 

Ms Hair has found several records related to Hu Che-Em, including a post office record from 1912 noting that the address of a “Hop Chong” as being at Norwood Estate (in the area around East Perth/Mt Lawley). That’s very likely Bayswater’s Hu Che-Em, given the name is rare, and another record shows a Hop Chong lease for a vegetable garden in Bayswater in mid-1912. 

Several newspaper articles from found in the National Library of Australia’s archive Trove also recorded a 1931 incident in which Hop Chong defended a woman named Gladys Hume from an angry ex-partner, labourer Robert Ferrier.

Ms Hume, who was white, was walking with another woman named Elsie Chan, along with Hop Chong and a man named Ah Yook. 

Papers of the day recounted Ms Hume’s testimony that Mr Ferrier, backed up by another man named Alexander Brown, confronted the group of four. 

Mr Ferrier, the father of Ms Hume’s child, became furious that Ms Hume was associating with Chinese people and tore her dress, according to her testimony. 

Ah Yook and Hop Chong intervened, and “he was punched while acting as protector to a lady friend,” The New Call newspaper reported on December 31, 1931 edition. Ferrier was fined £5, with £2 pounds and 10/6 imposed in costs. 

BHS members are hoping this instance of defending Ms Hume will help their cause in getting a street named after Hoppy. 

But if you have any other leads on Hu Che-Em’s contributions to Bayswater, they’re still keen for stories via admin@bayswaterhistoricalsociety.org.au

by DAVID BELL

NEWSPAPERS of the day were mixed in their depiction of Hop Chong and other Chinese market gardeners, with some sympathetic while others were deeply xenophobic, referring to them as “vegetable Johns who coax callots and cabbagee from the fecund sand in the vicinity of Perth”. 

The New Call’s December 31, 1931 edition was one of the less discriminatory depictions of “Hop Chong, a bland-faced, bald-headed, small-sized market gardener” who, they said, “suffered these injuries in the fair, and now unfortunately rare, cause of chivalry. He was punched while acting as protector to a lady friend.”

While The New Call court reporter described his missing tooth and opined that “there was no doubt that he had been assaulted”, a different article in the same edition struck a wildly different tone.

Calling Hop Chong a “heathen Chinee”, this unusual report says a court attendant “Sam Pimblett, who looks after the requirements of complainants, defendants, accused, prosecutors, magistrates, etc, in the policy court, bustled up with a box of matches, ready to strike a light so that Hop Chong could blow out the light. 

“This habit is symbolical of the fact that whenever a Chinaman gets up in the witness box to tell a story, he leaves everyone in the dark. But Hop Chong didn’t want any matches. He wasn’t one of those blow-hards.”

The 1931 assault wasn’t the only time Hop Chong was a victim of crime. 

In one of the few details of Hop Chong’s life, we’d previously read that he enjoyed an occasional bottle of stout. 

So did a thief who stole six bottles of stout from Hop Chong’s Beechboro Road property and robbed several other nearby “Chinese huts,” according to an article from 1927 the Voice came across this week. 

The unusual court report from the August 26, 1927 edition of The West Australian states that a woman named Jane Heenan stole six bottles of stout from Hop Chong, six bottles of stout (and two of whiskey) from Sue Long, and six bottles of stout, two jars of Chinese medicine, a bottle of peppermint, pills, and coffee essence belonging to Ah Feng.

Ms Heenan was sentenced to eight months’ imprisonment. It was not her first offence: “She started her ‘BAD CAREER’ in October 1912, and the cause of her downfall was drink,” according to the sensationalist newspaper The Truth. 

Heenan, who had a troubled life judging from three decades of court reports, had a long association with Chinese market gardeners in the area, and had robbed many.

On March 2, 1918, the highly controversial The Truth newspaper reported: “Her name is Jane Heenan, and she is in the habit of knocking about Chinese camps.

“She is always willing – nay, eager – to accept a position as housekeeper to any Pong who yearns to hear the rustle of a woman’s petticoat across his threshold.

“But Jane is light-fingered, as well as light-o’-love, and her peculative propensities soon cools the ardor of any concupiscent Chow who takes her on as a temporary bride.

“Jane has been weighed in the balance and found wanting by almost all the vegetable Johns who coax callots and cabbagee from the fecund sand in the vicinity of Perth.”

A “SAFER” exchange could be on the cards for Stirling to provide a spot for people to trade goods sold online with less risk of being ripped off.

Deputy mayor Suzanne Migdale has proposed investigating “options to establish safer exchange sites within the City of Stirling, in public areas covered by city CCTV cameras to allow community members to safely exchange and trade goods bought online”.

With the popularity of online trading sites like Gumtree and Facebook Marketplace, there’s been some instances of robberies and assaults taking place during the offline portion of the deal. 

In 2022 Victoria Police ran a trial of safer trading zones outside police stations that were open 24/7, had good lighting, and were monitored by CCTV. 

The Victorian trial followed a couple of prominent incidents over east including a woman being dragged by a car after the supposed buyer grabbed the iPhone she was selling and tried to drive off.

Victoria Police claimed “thefts and robberies in the area from online sales decreased” during the six month trial, and last week they announced 35 safer exchange stations had been established outside police stations across the state. 

Cr Migdale’s idea will go to a vote at a future council meeting and if endorsed they’re expecting a report back to council by the end of March 25.

by DAVID BELL

A DELEGATION led by a dancing Perth lord mayor Basil Zempilas has hit the streets of Kagoshima in Japan for the Ohara Matsuri Parade.

He joined 20,000 other dancers in the tradition, as part of a trip marking a 50-year sister city relationship with Kagoshima.

Mr Zempilas was invited by Kagoshima mayor Takao Shimozuru, who visited Perth in July this year. Kagoshima is our oldest sister city, and the relationship was set up in 1972 due to the cities sharing a latitude of 32 degrees (theirs north, ours south).

A plaque to Perth on a Kagoshima street says the friendship has led to exchanges of delegations, citizens, and students, and “Perth’s famous wines… have also been introduced here”.

The Voice cannot be certain of that translation, though: The text came courtesy of ChatGPT, which claims the sign also says “Perth is a vibrant city known as the “Pearl of the Indian Ocean”.”