Perth Voice Interactive

A SERVICE will be held for Aboriginal soldiers this week, with the local Aboriginal-language choir Madjitil Moorna choir composing a song in their honour.

The choir started back in 2006 as a community arts project in Kalamunda, and soon proved pretty popular with people wanting to learn the language.

Coordinator Jo Randell says there was plenty of interest from non-Aboriginal people but they always made sure to have indigenous leadership. About half the songs have Noongar in them, others might be other Aboriginal languages or Kriol.

Senior Aboriginal member Karl Mourach says people seem to learn the language more easily when singing it, not even realising they’re memorising the words. They usually sing at schools and festivals, but for Naidoc Week they’ll perform at the St Georges Cathedral as part of the service for Aboriginal soldiers.

At the outbreak of WWI Aboriginal people weren’t allowed to sign up so people like choir member Kobi Arthur Morrison’s great-great-grandfather concealed their ancestry to volunteer. The subterfuge required makes it hard to get an accurate account of how many Aboriginal people served.

“People wanted to prove themselves worthy of citizenship and worthy of respect,” Ms Randell says.

Later in the war as the need for more cannon-fodder grew, the rules changed. In 1917 the Army started admitting Aboriginal people who could prove they had one white parent, but those who made it home were never offered the parcel of land their white comrades were, and they still lacked the most rudimentary of civil rights.

“When they came back they couldn’t even go to the hotel with their Army buddies,” Ms Mourach says.

It seems that in the trenches at least, soldiers were colour-blind: “I’ve only heard stories of close bonding,” singer Sharyn Egan says.

St Georges Cathedral will lay a new memorial to WA’s Aboriginal soldiers for the event, the granite taken from a sacred site. The Naidoc Week service and Battle of Hamel commemoration is on Sunday July 6 at St Georges Cathedral.

by DAVID BELL

AFTER decades of private ownership the old Trades Hall is back in union hands, with the CFMEU shifting its HQ to the restored 1911 building.

The Beaufort Street hall was an early office for many trade unions and used to house the WA branch of the Labor party.

In 1985 it was sold to Delaney Galleries and it stayed in private hands for nearly 30 years. In 1997 it was carved up as offices, housing several tentants.

When the CFMEU was looking to move out of its Royal Street digs the place happened to come on the market, and the members decided to pick it up and start renovations with design studio JUO.

They pulled up modern floor coverings to find where the old walls were, knocked out partitions, and discovered three old, intact fireplaces hidden behind plasterwork.

As part of the renos they’ve recovered a few lost historic items to put on display, including the trowel that prime minister Andrew Fisher used to lay the foundation stone. It turned up at an auction house in Melbourne a few years back and wound up with former Labor MLC John Cowdell, who returned it to the CFMEU.

They also found the old Trades Hall clock in the nearby Court Wine Bar (once a notorious Labor hangout), though no-one knows how it ended up there.

The union has also installed a new version of the old Robbie Burns poem that was inscribed above the main entry and read: “Be workmen true, to workmen still, among yourself united, for only by the workman’s hands will workmen’s wrongs be righted.”

The CFMEU has been in the largely renovated building a few months now rounding off the rough edges, but it’ll be officially opened this Sunday by national secretary Michael O’Connor.

by DAVID BELL

NORTH PERTH photographer Brad Serls chronicles the death of his suburb’s houses, documenting character homes as they enter their final days and face the bulldozer.

Having long carried a camera, he recently stumbled on a book about New York’s abandoned storefronts and it inspired him to start a record of his own area.

Paradise

“North Perth’s the largest inner-city suburb, with houses that have been around for over 100 years. It’s a photographer’s paradise out there,” he says.

Mr Serls, who works at a bike shop, often rides past these old places, keeping an eye out for buildings being abandoned, machinery rolling in, or demolition applications going to Vincent council.

“As soon as it looks like it’s about to go, I’m there, documenting its destruction.”

He’ll also come back after the bulldozer’s moved on, picking through the remains for signs of life. Old teddy bears are surprisingly common.

“When you’re pulling out the scraps and trying to find a remnant of something meaningful, you realise this isn’t just brick and mortar, this is hopes and dreams.

“It’s so weird: I’m actually becoming really connected to these houses. I’m looking at them in a totally different fashion. You do get a tear in your eye.

“When you ride past one every day and then it’s gone, and you know it’s never going to come back… to know I’ve got a photo is somewhat reassuring and comforting.”

When he first started, Mr Serls would’ve said he opposed the demolitions, but he’s re-examined his feelings and—while he’s connected to the old places—he’s not staging a protest.

“A lot of people have come to me and said: ‘Are you against the changes?’

Celebration

“It took me a while to realise: No. It’s not a protest of these houses being pulled down, it’s a celebration of their lives.”

Mr Serls is working towards an exhibition at the William Street Bird in November, and he’d like to start doing walking tours of some of his favourite houses and alleyways.

For now you can keep an eye on his work at http://www.housesof6006.com

by DAVID BELL

THE majority of Perth’s homeless are in the most dire category of need, requiring permanent supportive housing to get off the streets.

Community services group Ruah this week presented the findings of its homeless registry week to Vincent council.

It found 204 people sleeping on the streets across the CBD, East Perth, Northbridge and Maylands across the three nights, and 168 agreed to an interview.

The survey showed 79 would need permanent support, 74 short-term support over maybe six months to get off the street, and just 15  no support (people who are temporarily on the streets and likely to bounce back).

Ruah executive manager Ros Mulley says the survey busts some myths about homelessness. She says the tiny number of people needing no support shows it’s not easy to just get a job and get a house—especially when you have nowhere to go home and wash after a day’s shift.

And while some people had criticised the survey arguing homeless people wouldn’t want to be woken up and queried, Ruah found a huge majority were happy to be heard and most even allowed a photo to be taken (for identification at service providers).

“It’s an expensive way to get healthcare.”

The idea that homelessness is a choice was also blown out of the water: When asked what they needed most, a “home” was the most common response.

About 42 per cent of adult homeless are Aboriginal—far in excess of the proportion of Aboriginal people in the general community—with Ruah chief executive Francis Lynch noting Perth has the highest percentage in Australia save Townsville.

He says medical care is provided in the most expensive way: instead of having people access GPs for cheaper preventative care, many homeless end up in dire health requiring an ambulance ($872 a trip) to the hospital, costing $6245 per day they stay.

“It’s an expensive way to get healthcare,” he says.

Ms Mulley says what’s needed now is coordination between agencies. Currently there’s a “silo” approach, where each agency does its stuff without knowing what else is going on. “Sometimes there’s no proper record of what’s happening to people either, what the outcomes are for them. We’re hoping that if we can pool everyone together, we can undertake one of these collective impact approaches.”

by DAVID BELL

THE WA housing department and Vincent council are in talks over the future of the infamous Stirling Towers block of units in Highgate.

The fate of most tenants at the complex—dubbed Suicide Towers, Hell Towers and Psycho Towers—may well end up in limbo as a result.

At a briefing to councillors this week Matt Negus, apartments project manager with the department, outlined two options for the 12-storey complex’s future:

• retain as 100 per cent public housing; or,

• flatten it, redevelop the site and sell 90 per cent of new apartments as affordable private homes.

The neighbourhood is currently plagued by drugs, vandalism and squatters using the laundry as a toilet.

Vincent councillor Josh Topelberg described the 44-year-old building as “an eyesore” that “social issues aside, it contributes nothing architecturally”.

Mayor John Carey says any new affordable housing must be well-designed.

“We don’t want dogboxes, which is always a temptation when trying to build cheaper housing,” he told Mr Argus.

He’d prefer fewer “light and airy” units “rather than just trying to cram in as many as you can”.

Cr Emma Cole asked what would happen to current tenants. “I can assure you they will be taken care of, every single one of them,” said the department’s John Pynes. However, there is no assurance they’ll remain in the inner-city.

by DAVID BELL

ABYSMAL living standards in cheap accommodation may explain why many country people visiting Perth for medical treatment prefer to sleep in Wellington Square.

The WA government’s patient-assisted travel scheme gives patients $60 per night towards accommodation.

The WA country health service recommends several “reasonably priced” options near the main Perth hospitals, but all cost more than $60 (unless you share a room with six people).

The service stresses it doesn’t necessarily “endorse” these options, and reviews make Fawlty Towers look five-star.

Jewell House, being shut down by the WA health department because the 40-year-old building has reached the end of its useful life, has been hammered by people who stay there.

“Hardly an infestation as implied by other reviews.”

A review from March 2014: “What put me off this ‘hostel’ the most? Was it being eyed up for my luggage on the way in? Perhaps the naked man using a hair dryer on his legs with his bedroom door open? Perhaps the strange lady sat in her own mess on the communal sofa silently staring at a switched off TV?” Another reviewer said they couldn’t use the lift “as they were transporting a urine soaked mattress god only knows where” and on his second day there was a stabbing.

One of the few positive scores reckons others are overblown, as they only saw one cockroach. “Hardly an infestation as implied by other reviews,” the charitable traveller said.

Another cheap accommodation joint had some positive reviews, but also complaints that “there were cockroaches in the kitchen for a start” and that the place is “smelly, noisy, messy… crappy tags on the busy bathroom walls, broken toilet locks and unfixed glory holes in shower cubicles”.

Perth Liberal MP Eleni Evangel says “patients often choose to stay in the park so they are not separated from family members who do not get accommodation funding”.

Many come for dialysis and Ms Evangel says more progress is needed to make those services available in the country.

by DAVID BELL

A GLUT of vacant shops in the Perth CBD is proving a boon for pop-up shops.

Angelo Tancredi pays a cheap rent for his Basics and Beyond pop-up in Raine Square, but rules dictate he must vacate the space every six months for at least 24 hours before being able to re-sign for another six months. So far he’s re-signed three times.

The entrepreneur, who owns another “permanent” Basics and Beyond store in North Perth, says it’s a great way to retain vibrancy in what would otherwise be dead space.

“It suits the landlord because he still has money coming in, and it suits me because we stay on the cheaper rent,” he says.

“If the landlord gets a full-price offer for the lease he can give me a week’s notice to clear out, but so far he hasn’t.

“Would you rather have empty shopfronts in Perth or a vibrant young business open for trade?”

“Landlords may agree to a lease of five months and 29 days for a ‘pop-up shop’ to temporarily occupy premises.”

He says the pop-up concept—originally touted as a cheap way for young entrepreneurs to get a leg-up—has allowed him to test the viability of expansion.

“I already have a successful store in Northbridge,” he says.

“I actually want the six-month rule banned as it is a major inconvenience to have to empty the store of all my stock every time—hopefully it can be amended.”

Small business commissioner David Eaton says if a tenant has been in continuous occupancy for more than six months he has the right to an option for a minimum five-year lease.

“Landlords may agree to a lease of five months and 29 days for a ‘pop-up shop’ to temporarily occupy premises,” he says.

“Neither party has an obligation to renew a lease upon expiry. When the tenant vacates the premises (even for just one day) on expiry of their lease of five months and 29 days they will not have been in continuous occupancy for more than six months.

“Thus the statutory option for a minimum five-year term will not apply.”

by STEPHEN POLLOCK