Perth Voice Interactive

CORPORATE advertisements are beaming from an artistic tower at Yagan Square which was supposed to be reserved for artworks and live-streamed community events.

The tower’s design was inspired by the bullrushes which once grew in the area’s now-filled wetlands, and its 14 columns represent the local Noongar language groups. The square itself is billed as “a window into Noongar culture”.

But now the artistic offerings are interspersed with 30 per cent ads.

Elder Robert Eggington says the ads are “totally out of place”, but he wasn’t surprised to see them given how often Aboriginal culture is commercialised, appropriated, and disrespected.

Mr Eggington said he was disappointed how little of the state’s Aboriginal history was being portrayed in Yagan Square.

“I think Yagan Square has failed miserably the objective which Aboriginal people initially thought it would offer,” he said.

“That is the real shame of it, because that is what happens to Aboriginal people all the time. You’re given an expectation, then there’s a treachery.”

The square is controlled by the state government’s Metropolitan Redevelopment Authority. In all the documentation we’ve found dating back to the Barnett government’s announcement of the design in 2014, there’s no mention of it being used as ad space.

“On the giant screen, you could find anything from abstract graphics, to visual artworks, live-streamed events and community pieces,” the MRA’s website states.

Perth councillor Reece Harley first raised the issue after spotting a Westpac ad up there last week.

“Yagan Square was promised to all of as an important civic space that would acknowledge and celebrate Aboriginal stories and culture.

“Premier Barnett chose the name, and in doing so, he elevated community expectations. The digital sign was explained to the public as a community facility that would showcase art, events and promote the city and square, not as a commercial revenue opportunity open to the highest bidder,” Cr Harley said.

by DAVID BELL

THE name Yagan Square was chosen by former premier Colin Barnett, who said in 2014 the Noongar warrior “played an important role in attempting to bring together Aboriginal leaders and European settlers”.

Mr Eggington says given that introduction it was strange not to see more of the story of Yagan portrayed in the square.

In early May 1833, Yagan and his father Midgegooroo had a £20 bounty put on their heads after their group killed two white colonials, an act of retaliation for the unprovoked shooting death of one of his people.

Two months later Yagan was shot by the young William Keats at the head of the Derbarl Yerrigan, or Swan River.

His death was a “betrayal,” Mr Eggington says.

Keats’ employer Henry Bull had forbidden his men from killing Yagan, but the boy wanted the bounty.

He spotted Yagan and asked for help hunting, then when the Noongar was turned away, Keats shot him in the head.

Yagan was decapitated and his head was smoked and put on display for three months.

Mr Eggington says it was a grisly sign: “This is what can be expected for Noongar peoples if you resist our occupation of your land.”

In September 1833, grim profiteer Robert Dale took Yagan’s head to England in the hope of selling it. A river and a mountain are named after Dale.

The head was a morbid curiosity to Englanders and was shown at private parties before ending up in a museum, storage, and finally a mass grave.

It was repatriated in 2010 and buried in the Swan Valley, but Mr Eggington says even now Yagan can’t escape being a curiosity for wadjellas.

“Even his burial site is a tourist attraction,” Mr Eggington says.

History

“The history of this country is so atrocious.”

Mr Eggington believes the only way for Yagan’s story to be told properly in the square named after him is by other Noongars.

“It could be an incredible opportunity to meet with Aboriginal people, to talk around a campfire… it could be the beginning of some better understanding,” Mr Eggington said.

THIS Naidoc Week we profile Whadjuk resistance figure Balbuk (1840 to 1907), whose traditional land covered much of what is now Perth’s CBD.

Known by a newspaper of the era as “The Last of Perth’s First Citizens,” Fanny Balbuk Yooreel was born in the sacred birthing grounds of the Matagarup shallows, near what’s now called Heirisson Island.

She was known to walk a track between her birth site and the wetlands where the Perth railway station now sits, gathering eggs, turtles and crayfish from the rich swamp.

Over the decades, Perth started to grow. In 1881 the train station was built over the wetlands, and houses sprung up along her path.

Out of habit, and protest, she kept walking the same route, “through fences and over them”.

A lot of Balbuk’s history was recorded by Daisy Bates, whose histories have been undermined by inaccuracies. Taken with a grain of Anglocentrism, Bates described Balbuk’s “powerful, sturdy frame and quick, strong, and somewhat domineering temper”.

Bates wrote that Balbuk had a prodigious knowledge of plants and wildlife and Noongar lore, she loved beer, and wrote “to the end of her life she raged and stormed at the usurping of her beloved home ground”.

Her grandfather was Yellagonga, leader of the area north of the river when the colonials arrived. She had four powerful maternal ancestors who Bates describes as “grandmothers”, or demmangur.

Bates wrote: “Balbuk often related a tradition concerning four women who “came from the east – Beverley way”, and who, her mother had told her, were the progenitors of all the Swan River natives”.

One of her grandmothers, Moojorngul, was buried beneath Government House.

Bates records that Balbuk would “stand at the gates of Government House, reviling all who dwelt within, in that the stone gates, guarded by a sentry, enclosed her grandmother’s burial ground”.

While Bates’ histories were flawed and paternal, the information she recorded from Balbuk was used in the 2006 native title claim which recognised Noongar connection to the land.

Balbuk died in 1907, and had no children. She was recorded in the newspaper of the day as “the last female representative of the Swan River natives”.

by DAVID BELL

STIRLING council has stubbed out plans for a cigar lounge in Inglewood, with fears stogie smoke would drift over to the neighbours.

The applicant planned to open a cafe, shop and a cigar lounge at the disused car yard at the corner of Beaufort Street and Nelson Street, saying it would have “a high standard of design that negates issues such as noise, smell and vibration”.

Stirling council staff note the smoking area was located just 1.5m away from the boundary of the house next door and smoke and noise alike would waft over.

They also weren’t thrilled by the design, especially the planned 1.8m timber wall facing Beaufort Street. The council’s Local Development Plan calls for new buildings to fit neatly into the area’s traditional streetscape and this design “addresses Beaufort Street with a blank wall, contrary to the character, amenity and heritage of the area”.

The city received 14 letters of objection, and three of support, and councillors unanimously voted it down.

In September last year a high-end cigar bar attempted to open up on Lord Street in Highgate, but that was rejected by Vincent council over health concerns.

by DAVID BELL

STIRLING ratepayers will receive a mild 0.9 per cent average rates increase this year.

Mayor Mark Irwin said the council had “worked hard to develop a budget that has a minimal financial impact on our residents and ratepayers” while still delivering 200-odd services, and a few major projects this year.

One of the biggies is the $24 million Stephenson Avenue extension, which is the first stage of a major overhaul of the Stirling city centre. Aimed to build a lively hub around Stirling Railway Station, it’s due to kick off next year if all the approvals line up.

Cr Irwin puts a lot of the savings down to an organisational review which has helped drive efficiencies, while spending on legal fees was about half a million less than last year.

The previous financial year the council spent $1.64m heading to various courts, tribunals and commissions.

Stirling’s rate increases have been trending downward over the past decade, though it separates the rubbish collection charge which does zip up higher some years (this year rubbish charges are up 1.45 per cent, making it $350 for a year’s standard garbo service).

A LOATHED advertising trend has come to Perth with garishly painted derelict bicycles being chained to bike racks.

The bikes are in poor shape; their crossbars have been cut out to make room for the signs, and many of the tyres are flat. Calling the number reveals they’re advertisements for Wicked Campers, who are looking for people to relocate hire vehicles between cities.

The bike tactic is seen as a cheap way to get a message out, bypassing council approval and avoiding the costs of more traditional signage such as bus shelters or park benches.

It’s been seen in the eastern states and overseas for a decade.

Right on schedule for most global trends, the bikes have now come to Perth, being spotted in the Perth CBD, at Matilda Bay, and all across Fremantle.

Philip Taylor from Westcycle says he’s noticed them recently and “it’s an annoyance, absolutely … bike parking is few and far between at the best of times, so any illegitimate use of bike parking is a concern”.

Perth and Fremantle councils have deemed them advertising. Fremantle council has hauled off four bikes so far, and Perth council’s impounded two.

The Voice called the number on the ad and were directed to email questions to Wicked Campers (though an earlier email did not get a response, and Fremantle council hasn’t had any luck getting through either).

by DAVID BELL

A STIRLING councillor has had a crack at the city’s transparency after it emerged accessing information about political affiliations isn’t a walk in the park.

In June, councillor Stephanie Proud moved to set up a voluntary online register for councillors to disclose political party memberships (“Party’s over for Proud idea,” Voice, June 13, 2019), but staff recommended against the proposal on the basis the information was already publicly available in the councillors’ annual returns and it was voted down.

But good luck getting a look at those documents if you work a nine-to-five job: The only way to see them is to make an appointment to see paper copies in person at the council’s Cedric Street premises during office hours.

“It is little wonder that over the past 12 years, there have been less than six requests by members of the public to inspect the register,” Cr Proud said.

Her motion had been based on a similar system at Bayswater where one click brings up councillors’ party memberships.