Perth Voice Interactive

WOOLWORTHS’ proposed new store at the old Inglewood Bunnings Site is “an insult to the art deco movement,” according to Mount Lawley Society president Paul Collins.

Woolies say their Beaufort Street development is “art deco” and so aesthetically-pleasing they shouldn’t have to pay the fee for a public artwork at the site, as suggested by Stirling council’s draft policy.

Years of struggle

“That’s not art deco, that’s a box wrapped with Christmas tinsel,” Mr Collins says.

The recently adopted Beaufort Street Local Development Plan is meant to ensure that new developments complement existing buildings.

“This is not what we’re wanting as the first major development application after years of struggle, and finally getting a local development plan,” Mr Collins says.

“This building is very, very disappointing and has angered many of our members.

“If you look at every other three-storey building on Beaufort Street…it just doesn’t compare.

“It might as well be a shopping centre in Geraldton or Mandurah.”

The Society wants a masonry/brick design. They are also annoyed that the ground floor has no shopfronts and will be a car park, with entry for cars and delivery trucks on Eighth Avenue, instead of the right of way, which could be widened to handle extra traffic.

Mr Collins says the design won’t really benefit local small businesses because people will drive into the car park, do their shopping upstairs, and drive off; instead of wandering from store to store on the Beaufort Street strip.

He says Woolies should learn some lessons from the recently-opened IGA at the corner of Second Avenue and Beaufort Street.

Community minded

After lobbying from the Society, car parking was kept underground and the supermarket had smaller shops at ground level, rather than a massive shopfront dominating the streetscape. The right of way was also upgraded to handle truck deliveries.

Woolworth’s WA regional development manager  Jarrad Wilson says, “We welcome the opportunity to bring a modern and community minded development to Inglewood that will meet the local community’s expectations now and into the future.

“Throughout the design process we have acknowledged the pre-1960 building convention and given close consideration to the Beaufort Street Local Development Plan.

“We believe the building’s design reflects a high quality, modern interpretation of the precinct’s art deco history and style.

“We plan to engage with the community closely and encourage local residents to join us at the Beaufort Street Night Markets on Monday 4 February to view the plans and talk to our team about the building’s design, the proposed cafe on Beaufort Street and how access and car parking would be managed.

“We believe this is a high quality development and we look forward to meeting as many local residents as possible on Monday night and discussing our plans.”

The drop in session is at the corner of Eighth Avenue and Beaufort Street, 4pm-9pm.

by DAVID BELL

BOGAN, Hipster, Bono and Knucklebuckle are some of the street names that have been rejected for nine unnamed roads in Mount Lawley and Highgate.

In 2014 the Beaufort Street Network requested the roads be given names to help build a sense of place. After exhaustive public consultation, Vincent council received 251 suggestions.

Landgate, The department of Aboriginal affairs and the Whadjuk working group helped the city draw up a shortlist of names, and now Landgate gets the final say.

Beaufort Street Network chair Joshua O’Keefe says “I think it’s a really important step in defining the space for everybody. It’s one of the elements of a good place, to know where you actually are…it gives it a bit more identity. You want names that connect it to the history.”

Vincent council will approve the list of names to send to Landgate at next Tuesday’s (February 5) council meeting.

Some of our favourite suggested street names:
REJECTED

• BOGAN: One person suggested naming lanes after “endemic animal and plant species that we have on the Swan Coastal Plain”. Landgate rejected that name as “discriminatory”.

• HIPSTER: The person who submitted Bogan also suggested Hipster as another “endemic animal”. Landgate said that it’s “a trend. Road names are intended to be enduring”. Landgate also noted “Hipster is not unique to the area.”

• KNUCKLEBUCKLE: Someone suggested this because it “sounds fun and funky which is what this project is all about!”. Landgate reckons it’s an “inappropriate combination of words”. Apparently it’s another name for knuckledusters.

• BONO: Not the singer, but an Aboriginal word for “wood”. Landgate wants Aboriginal names to be local to the area, and this was deemed too vague. For some reason “Boornoo,” which means tree, stick or wood, made the shortlist, as did “Booma,” which means to hit, strike or kill.

• BATH LANE: Someone suggested the laneway between Vincent and Harold Streets be called this because “for some 20 years the top floor of 565 Beaufort Street was a gay sauna and steam bath…it offered a safe, clean environment to the local gay community”. Landgate sidestepped the subject matter by saying it was a “duplication” (although we can’t find a Bath Lane in Perth, just a Bath Street in Wembley.).

• NGILGEE (or Ngilgi): Former Vincent councillor Dudley Maier suggested this for the laneway off Harold Street. He wrote that “Ngilgee was a feisty Aboriginal woman who had a camp in the neighbourhood of Highgate Hill at the turn of the last century…her ‘fringe camp’ was described as being in the Hyde Park area, northeast at a small lake near Mary Street”. Landgate considered that “overused”, but we can’t actually find any Ngilgee lanes, roads, streets or circuits.

RECOMMENDED:

• ARNOLD: The recommended name for a laneway behind Raglan Road. The Mount Lawley Society suggested this one, in recognition of the longstanding family business Arnold’s pharmacy, which ran at 645 Beaufort Street from 1910.

• DANKER: Potential name for the lane between Grosvenor and Chelmsford. It’s in recognition of Eric Leslie Salisbury Danker, a Grosvenor Road local who served in the medic corps in France in World War I. He was killed in action in April 1918, aged 25.

• BOODJA: The name recommended for a road coming off (what could soon be) Danker Lane. It’s an Aboriginal word meaning ground, land, or country, and it’s proposed for that little road because it has a lot of vegetation.

• MERIFIELD: For the laneway coming south off Chelmsford. Also suggested by the Mount Lawley Society, the name honours William Merifield, a soldier wounded in 1918 and who returned to live on Grosvenor Road from 1919. He also won a WA Bravery Award for rescuing a truck driver from a burning wreck in 1943. He left no known descendants.

• TRAMWAY: For the little road between Vincent and Harold Street, to acknowledge Perth’s first tramway which serviced Beaufort Street.

• MERENY: An Aboriginal word meaning bread or food, proposed for the road between St Alban’s Avenue and Harold Street. It’s behind a bakery at 507 Beaufort St, so Landgate reckons it makes sense.

• KAADADJINY: For the road between William and Beaufort Streets, running behind houses on the north side of Chatworth Road. It’s a Noongar word for thinking, learning or understanding.

• KAATA: An Aboriginal word meaning the highest point of something or a hill. This would be the name for the long laneway that comes off Harold Street and leads North behind the Beaufort Street strip of shops.

• LOIS: The little lane between Beaufort and Roy Streets. Lois Lane would be named as such to recognise the road’s connection with Planet Video, a “Beaufort Street Institution.” A lot of people suggested “Planet Lane” but Landgate didn’t want to name it after a business.

By DAVID BELL

Waterlands pools remain in limbo

THE future of Maylands Waterland is still murky, but the Swan mosaic marking the state’s 150th anniversary will be saved.

At Tuesday night’s council meeting, Bayswater councillors voted down 6-5 a motion from Cr Elli Petersen-Pik to retain the pools.

His motion attempted to rescind a previous council decision to not spend $3 million-plus on refurbishing the ageing park on Clarkson Road.

However, Friends of Maylands Waterland chair Josh Eveson tells us they’re feeling optimistic after presenting council with a “hybrid” option, where a section of Waterland is free.

There could be a free kids splash pad like they have at Hyde Park, and the pools, which require fences and lifeguards, could be in a paid section.

But with council grant applications still outstanding and future meetings between the city to come, there’s only one certainty – we’re keeping the Swan.

Cr Catherine Ehrhardt, who wants to keep the park open, got unanimous support on Tuesday night for her motion to preserve the WA Swan mosaic in the large pool.

The mosaic was installed for the state’s 150th celebrations in 1979.

Cr Ehrhardt says whatever happens to the park, the Swan tiles should be preserved and mounted somewhere prominent in Maylands.

More than than 4500 people have signed the Friends’ online petition to postpone closing Waterland.

by DAVID BELL

THREE filmmaking teams are celebrating after landing $5000 from Vincent council to make short documentaries about the city.

This year there was a record number of submissions to the council’s film project, which is run in conjunction with the Revelation film festival.

Winners included Gabby Ho and Jake Blackburn, who pitched Kick Like a Girl. It’s about the growth of womens AFL and Jasmin Stewart chasing her dream to play at the top level.

Daniel Njegich and Daniel Pitcher are making Persia’s Pantry, following the journey of writer Arad Niksefat who fled his homeland as an asylum seeker, only to languish in a detention centre.

Jenny Crabb and Louise Bertoncini’s The Last is about a little DVD store holding out in the Netflix era.

The films will premiere at Revelation Perth International Film Festival in July.

BOORNA Waanginy: The Trees Speak artwork is returning to Kings Park in February.

It was a big hit at the 2017 Perth Festival and this year huge projectors will hurl images of trees, flowers, birds, wetlands and bushfires onto the avenues of trees, celebrating south Western Australia’s threatened landscape.

The 1.5km tunnel of light takes audiences through the six Noongar seasons: Mukuru, the season of fertility and first rain; Djilba, the second rains, the time of conception; Kambagarang, the wildflower season of new life; Birak, the first summer and the season of youth, warmth and play; Bunuru, the second summer of heat, fire and coming of age; and Djeran, the season of adulthood, knowledge and maturity.

The free event is on February 8-11 from 8pm as part of the Perth Festival.

Last entry is at 10.30pm, but you’ll need about 45 minutes to experience it all.