Perth Voice Interactive

ANYONE who’s booked their wedding at Harold Boas gardens in 2015 may have to think again.

The heritage-listed and picturesque gardens’ lakes are badly leaking and look likely to get a $1.4 million repair job, starting in January. Perth city council staffers concede it’ll have a “major impact on wedding bookings”.

Unless brides want excavators, mud and high-vis and hard helmets as part of the nuptials, alternatives may be required.

The lakes are leaking 6600 cubic metres of water every year—about three Olympic swimming pools—through cracks in bitumen and concrete lining.

Perth city council has been pumping water in to try to keep them full but it’s hitting the limits of its groundwater licence. Other lakes are going thirsty as a result.

Band-aid measures over the years have had mixed success, so a major reconstruction is “imperative,” PCC staffers reckon.

The gardens were built in 1975-1976 and named after a long-serving councillor.

by DAVID BELL

DENHAM “BOB” BOULGER is 81 and full of beans.

He spent three days trudging around Vincent in the rain—hiking up stairs, avoiding rottweilers and assiduously door-knocking—to collect 142 signatures and trigger a special electors’ meeting on council mergers.

The sprightly octogenarian wants Vincent’s boundaries to remain intact, unlike Vincent city council which has officially proposed a merger with Perth, despite most Vincent councillors unofficially preferring the status quo.

“I was a councillor in Albany for 10 years and after they amalgamated things went downhill,” Mr Boulger says.

“So I know from personal experience that council mergers do not save money and are not effective. Colin Barnett claims this is all about economies of scale, but he’s just pushing his own personal agenda.”

The North Perth resident reminds readers that 70 per cent of Vincent voters polled at the  2013 council election favoured the city’s boundaries staying put. He says NSW professor Brian Dollery, an expert on local government, has found that mergers, like those botched in Queensland, are costly and socially divisive.

“I feel like I’m 21—this is my battleground.”

Vincent mayor John Carey says if amalgamations go through it is highly likely next year’s rates increase will be much higher than this year’s mild 3.62 per cent bump.

“I spoke to the CEO of Greater Geraldton at a WALGA breakfast who estimated that their amalgamation would cost around $7 million,” he says.

“So my gut feeling is that rates for Vincent residents will go up to pay for mergers.

“I think the only way that amalgamations can now be stopped is through legal action in the courts.”

Mr Boulger says he is aware council submissions on mergers have already been lodged, but believes the process can still be halted.

“This isn’t done and dusted yet, there will be twists and turns to come,” he says.

“I feel like I’m 21—this is my battleground.”

Mr Boulger says he divides his time between campaigning to halt mergers and his new company, which builds state-of-the-art speakers from WA timber and sheep’s wool.

The special electors’ meeting will be held at Vincent council on June 9 at 6pm.

by STEPHEN POLLOCK

MAYLANDS Labor MP Lisa Baker has enlisted Channel 7 in her battle against a Dan Murphy’s liquor barn planned for Maylands.

The 990sqm bottleshop—part of a redeveloped $3.5 million Peninsula Tavern—has proved unpopular with both Bayswater city council and Maylands Ratepayers’ and Residents’ Association, which say access to cheap grog contributes to anti-social problems throughout the district.

Today Tonight met with residents and community leaders at the Maylands Dome cafe Friday afternoon.

“People are being blackmailed by being told they will not get a new tavern if the liquor store element is rejected,” Ms Baker says.

“There is also fear-mongering that business on Eighth Avenue will suffer if the development falls through.

“It’s all rubbish—a myth is being sold that Dan Murphy’s is a high-end boutique; but this is a 990sqm store that will include discounted alcohol.”

The WA racing and gaming department will accept public submissions on Woolworths’ liquor licence application for the next three weeks, before deciding whether to hold a commission hearing.

MRRA president Roger Tomlins says his group will lodge an objection: “We feel that should this development be approved then it will set a precedent and Coles will put forward a new development proposal for its Guildford Road site to include a modified First Choice discounted liquor store.”

The MRRA will hold a meeting at 7.30pm Monday at the Autumn Centre to discuss its submission.

by STEPHEN POLLOCK

A SLOW point has been installed by mistake on Palmerston Street because Vincent council workers were using old plans. Whoopsy.

The choke point forces cars heading in one direction to halt while those going the other way continue: it cost between $5000 and $10,000 to put in.

Councillors had voted 7-1 in February 2013 to ditch it, with only then-councillor John Carey supporting it.

Acting CEO Mike Rootsey says the slow point was “originally recommended [by staff] due to residential demand to prevent rat-running and speeding cars on the street and help to slow down traffic in a key cycling corridor”.

“The council administration is reviewing processes to ensure this kind of error does not happen.” While residents wanted more safety measures on the street the slow point isn’t popular.

Louise Bonivento hopped on the council’s Facebook page to ask “why do councils insist on modifying roads that worked completely fine the way they are/were. I am totally and utterly baffled!

“The ‘slow point’ is just going to create congestion down there, you watch. And it’s already painful there at peak hours.” As far as we know it’s staying put for now.

by DAVID BELL

 

AUSTRALIAN troops withdrew from Afghanistan last year but for many the memories are indelible.

Maylands’ Dorsa Nazemi-Salman has just returned from a 13-month stint in Herat, western Afghanistan, where she worked for the Red Cross as a protection aid worker.

The 34-year-old was in charge of Herat Provincial Prison, the country’s second largest gaol, where she coordinated access to clean water and improved sanitation and health care.

She says the most heart-wrenching experience was helping maimed children.

“I dreaded receiving phone calls from Herat Provincial Hospital,” she says.

“The phone call meant that there was a civilian who was injured due to either a conflict or improvised explosive device

“I mostly hated seeing children on the hospital beds. There are many old IEDs which are left from the Soviet time (early 1980s). Little kids who don’t know what they are usually pick them up, to either play with them or sell them as scrap metal. They explode and cause serious damage.”

“Helping the most vulnerable in a conflict zone is pretty fulfilling.”

When Iranian-born Ms Nazemi-Salman migrated to Australia at 17 she couldn’t speak a word of English. But she quickly found her feet and joined the Red Cross in 2012, where she has worked in Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Afghanistan: “I chose Red Cross because of their international human rights mandate as well as their reputation,” she says.

“However, once you are on an assignment, your assumptions about the humanitarian world are turned upside down.

“The humanitarian community has a way to show you a side of humanity you had never seen before, a very humbling experience.

“In Herat I also worked protecting the civilian population, documenting any cases where a violation of human rights against a civilian is committed: this could be in the form of a civilian being caught in crossfire or a civilian who has injuries related to the conflict.

“Helping the most vulnerable in a conflict zone is pretty fulfilling.” Ms Nazemi-Salman, a paddleboard enthusiast, says she misses plying the Swan and enjoying coffee in Mt Lawley when far from home: “I really miss the beaches and freedom to run where-ever and whenever I want.”

by STEPHEN POLLOCK

THE restoration of Walters Brook in Mt Lawley will be celebrated with a community planting day.

The Swan River tributary—effectively a Water Corporation drain—had been heavily eroded by fast-running water and contained little of its original vegetation.

In 2013 Vincent city council started a $173,360 facelift by re-contouring banks, installing gabion baskets (wire frames filled with rocks) and planting 3500 native plants and trees.

Caroline Cohen—co-chair of the Banks precinct action group which lobbied for the brook’s restoration—says native flora will attract migratory birds to Banks Reserve.

“In 2007 a truck crashed at the nearby Mt Lawley subway and engine oil spilled into the brook and straight into the Swan River,” she says.

“A few birds died, so hopefully the restoration will shore it up and help to avoid a similar incident.”

Since forming in the mid-‘90s, the group’s lobbying has secured a children’s playground and restoration of the foreshore at the reserve.

The community planting day will also include a welcome to country ceremony and a free BBQ.

Vincent city council spokesperson Sheande Unicomb says anyone is welcome to come along and help shove 800 plants into the ground.

Back in May 2012 the council and Noongar elders officially recognised Banks Reserve—a riverside park that rests on land known to Whadjuk-Noongar people as Warndoolier—as a ‘Place of Reconciliation’.

The planting ceremony will be held from 8.30am-2pm on Saturday, May 31.

by STEPHEN POLLOCK

THE DE RUYTER family is planning to open a multi-million dollar wine bar-cafe and live music venue in Maylands.

Three-storey “Lyric Lane” would have a licensed function room in the basement— earmarked for live music and comedy—and a cafe-bar on the ground floor.

The top two floors would be used for office space and limited accommodation with a rooftop-garden.

The bar area would hold 100 people and the sound-proof basement 150.

The Guildford Road venue is the brainchild of engineer Michiel de Ruyter and his extended family, who have worked in the bar, music and cafe sector.

“We thought Maylands was a perfect spot because there is no other venue like this in the area,” he says. “We will be in the Eighth Avenue district which is only a short walk from the train station and two stops from the city.

“Numerous surveys show that a high percentage of people that go to these venues all use public transport.”

Nephew-in-law Luke Rinaldi, a band manager and booking agent, says Maylands is becoming a hotbed for musicians.

“There is no other music venue of this size in the area—it would be a first.”

“If we opened tomorrow I could easily book out the venue with just local bands,” he says.

“A lot of musos are now living in Highgate and Maylands, because Mt Lawley and the city are too expensive to stay in.

“There is no other music venue of this size in the area—it would be a first.”

Mr de Ruyter says he has funding for the venue in place and is preparing a development application to submit to Bayswater council.

He plans to demolish the old Speedlite bike shop, near Rifo’s on Guildford Road, and build Lyric Lane in its place.

“The water table is low enough there to accommodate a basement,” he says.

“The old shop didn’t have one, so we’ll need to build it.”

A survey to gauge public reaction to the venue is at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/TheLyricLaneConcept

Mr de Ruyter says he would like to open Lyric Lane in 2016.

by STEPHEN POLLOCK

NO, Michael Sutherland isn’t ordering NASA furniture for his speaker’s chamber, nor launching a burger chain in space, he’s chatting with busker Claude Woodward.

The Perth-born “Sonic Manipulator” has been touring the world for years with his bastardised synths and homemade instruments, bamboozling crowds with bleeps and blips.

After a successful stint in England where he played popular festivals and shows, his marriage imploded and Woodward, 59, found himself back in his hometown.

He has relaunched his act in the city centre.

“Synths can be quite robotic to play, but I have made them more organic by responding to my body movements,” he says.

Mt Lawley MP Sutherland is a fan.

“It adds a bit of colour to the city,” he says.

“At times, Perth needs a wacky side.”

EVERY doll has a story, Noongar dollmaker Geri Hayden says.

“I grew up on a reserve in Brookton,” she says. “All my old nanas used to make dolls out of materials.

“What they did was any cloth, clothes or a little baby rug or whatever, they’d get that and wrap it up, tie it up.”

Back then the women would sit around to make their dolls together, and just as important as the craft was the yarns they’d share.

Having learned the craft from her nanas, these days Ms Hayden’s dolls are displayed across Australia, having recently been on show at Sydney’s museum of contemporary art.

She also teaches Noongar dollmaking to anyone who’s interested, keeping the tradition of storytelling alive.

“What we ask them, when you get up and make a doll, make it about somebody. Something that reminds you about someone or something in your life.”

The dolls can also help people to open up, especially when teaching schoolkids how to make them.

“Make it about somebody. Something that reminds you about someone or something in your life.”

“It’s a very strong tool. We’ve been with students of all ages… it helped the quiet kids come out of their shell and talk, it helped the naughtier kids sit down and relax.

“They sat and told us their stories. Some of them were very sad stories.”

Ms Hayden says it’s great to share stories of Noongar culture with kids who haven’t heard the tales. One of her dolls, the “Charrnock Woman,” is based on a Dreamtime story about a giant woman who stuck babies in her hair and stole them.

“The Charrnock Woman was stealing all these babies from the community to give to her partner to eat them,” she says.

The people called on a good spirit for help, and they were turned into magpies so they could fly high enough to fight the giant baby stealer.

“They called it a fight across the Bibbulmun nation far and wide. They drew her off the country, they drove her to Bates Cave.”

Ms Hayden says when she tells the story the kids ask “is it true?“ And we tell them it’s a Dreamtime story, it’s a part of us as Noongar people. This is our history. It’s a really good feeling when kids can sit down and listen and want more.

“We had a program up at Narrogin senior high school with year 11 students, Noongar and Wadjela.

“I was so thrilled when I saw the kids sitting down and working with the Wadjela kids.”

Ms Hayden is teaching Noongar dollmaking at the free Yarns of the Heart workshop at The Bodhi Tree in Mount Hawthorn this weekend May 31 and June 1 at 11am for reconciliation week. It’s free, and you can book with Vincent council on 9273 6016. Materials are provided, but you can take a meaningful item to turn into your doll.

by DAVID BELL