Perth Voice Interactive

A single photograph from 1906 of a policeman on a horse is about to change Maylands author Norman Jorgensen’s life.

Mr Jorgensen was recently awarded a $30,000 grant from the WA arts department to write a book about the life of Jack Kelly, a WA policeman, international circus star and younger brother to the infamous Ned.

“I had been researching another book I had been working on about the Goldfields, and I came across this picture of a policeman on a horse,” Mr Jorgensen tells the Voice.

“It said ‘Jack Kelly, policeman, brother of Ned.’ And the more research I did, the more interesting he became.”

Jack was five when his brother took the long drop, growing up to tour the world as a stunt rider but returning when his children took sick. Despite Ned’s less than cordial relations with Victoria’s “traps” Jack happily donned the Royal blue.

Mr Jorgensen says Jack often played up his familial connections and portrayed Ned in re-enactments.

“To the working class Ned was a hero,” he says. “I think Jack played on it a fair bit.  He was obviously quite proud of him.”

When his wife died Jack’s wanderlust took hold again and he became a stuntman for Barnum and Bailey in the US. His horseman prowess reportedly led to him becoming a famous stuntman in nascient Hollywoodland, where he also taught stars of the day how to ride. He eventually ended up in Buenos Aires to teach horse-riding, where he died in 1956.

He eventually went to Buenos Aires to teach horse riding, and died there in 1956.

Mr Jorgensen’s grant will allow him to follow Jack’s globe-trotting footsteps, including to areas that back then would have been rough to say the least.

“He travelled the world in a time when many people didn’t,” Mr Jorgensen says. “I see him as a fascinating character, full of depth and contradictions.

“He makes the rest of us these days seem dull.”

by BROOKE KOVANDA

Sammut clears shelves of a quarter-century in books

With the bulldozer looming in the background, Vincent Sammut’s having to pack up his North Perth bookshop—and around 50,000 books.

Formerly a graphic designer he got out of that game when told he was overqualified: “That’s code for ‘you’ve passed a certain age’,” he says.

For 15 years he’s operated Books Etcetera on Fitzgerald Street, and for five years before that he was over on Beaufort.

The 75-year-old is known among locals for long chats amidst his piles of books. Short sorties into the store can turn into long discussions about anything from the Middle-East to heritage protection.

Mr Sammut tried to sell the business for two years but wasn’t able to find a buyer. Now the landlord—who he’s on good terms with—has plans to redevelop the site and he’s moving on.

“That put the kybosh on selling the business,” he says.

“I tried to sell the stock but I was unsuccessful mainly because I couldn’t find a serious buyer.

“Now time’s virtually run out… I have to be out of here by the end of January but I will have to close the doors before that to allow me to do some concentrated packing.”

He’s hoping a sale will help clear stock, but with so many books to pack up it’s a big job ahead of him, and he’ll have to move house to fit them all in.

“I’ll probably have to move to the hills, sell up my home in Leederville and buy up a very large premises. I’ll have to build a very large shed, as large as the council will let me, to keep the books and to give me a studio.

“Like a lot of guys I want a nice workshop,” the painter says. “I’d love to have a workshop for all those nails and screws and bolts and paints.”

‘I love when parents bring their children in, they’re the most delightful people.’

Mr Sammut is originally from New York City but he met a Perth girl and she convinced him to move here.

“She put the screws on me,” he chuckles. “She said I’m going back to Perth, if you don’t come with me, too bad.”

In Australia for 47 years now, he says “it’s home”. He’s only been back to New York “three times, maybe four”.

But he kept the spirit of New York bookstores alive in his cluttered North Perth shop. The shops in New York are like catacombs, he says, and Mr Sammut’s own place is famous for being stuffed to the brim: When a shelf fills up, Mr Sammut stacks books on top. When he can’t fit any more in that way, he’ll use a sturdy book as a cantilever sticking out of the shelf and start stacking on top of that.

“I’ve had paperbacks stacked three deep and two metres high.

“No-one’s ever been injured in the shop, but certainly stacks of books have fallen over. I’ve had so many books fall over that it would take a minimum of two hours to put back, maybe three.”

Occasionally parents fret about their children running around the store, worried they’ll knock something over, but Mr Sammut’s never been fussed.

“I’m not worried about that: You can always put them back. I love when parents bring their children in, they’re the most delightful people.”

Mr Sammut sighs sales have been dwindling over the years as people read less and turn to media that doesn’t make them think so hard.

Foot traffic is also quiet in that patch of Fitzgerald Street.

He says he looks forward to spending more time painting, but admits he will miss life as a book shop owner.

“In a way I’m sorry to give up the shop, because I’ve learned so much from dealing with people, and I’ve had a lot of social life and a tremendous number of conversations with my customers, some of whom were very interesting themselves and have been very instructive.

“There’s something about a book shop that lends itself to intimacy.

“I’ll miss that. I’ll miss the human contact.”

by DAVID BELL

 

Council polls close 6pm Saturday October 19 but voters in Voiceland are hardly rushing to have their say in a year that’s also seen both a state and federal election.

As the Voice went to press, Perth city council’s turnout was 28 per cent, Bayswater’s was a dismal 21-odd, Stirling’s around 24 and Vincent just north of 30 per cent.

The average across all electorates is 24 per cent, one of the lowest turnouts in recent years according to the WA electoral commission.

Vincent candidate Vinnie Molina hails from Guatemala and recalls the days when a military dictatorship controlled elections: “It surprises me here that people do have that right [to vote] but they don’t choose to exercise it,” the Australian Communist Party leader says. “Australians are so laid back, they say ‘do it tomorrow, put it on the fridge’. There’s a saying that Aussies used to be apathetic, now they don’t give a shit. We are a laid-back people but these council elections deserve more electors to vote considering half of WA’s councils are on the chopping block to be carved up.”

Mr Molina says people are fixated on federal politics but local government has the most direct impact on their lives.

“Tony Abbott will never collect your rubbish. Julie Bishop won’t fix border disputes with your fence line and the minister for national parks won’t get your footy field or cricket patch ready.”

by DAVID BELL

So it’s God versus Woolworths—and Woolies is winning.

A Maylands reverend has joined forces with Labor MP Lisa Baker and other concerned locals to try to stop the grog and grocery giant getting a liquor licence for its Dan Murphy’s booze barn on Railway Parade.

Bayswater city council and a planning assessment panel both knocked back plans for the revamped $3.5 million Maylands Peninsula Tavern—including a 942sqm bottleshop—after locals expressed concern about the effect of cheap liquor on local troublemakers.

However, the unelected but powerful bureaucrats that comprise the state administrative tribunal ordered the assessment panel to reconsider its decision and, lo and behold, the development was then passed—with a few minor concessions.

Rev Chris Albany from the nearby St Luke’s Church, which hosts local AA meetings, says it’s in the wrong place.

“The last thing that the Maylands area needs is a large discount liquor store,” he says. “The area houses services for people who have had alcohol problems in the past, and it’s a mainly residential area.

“That’s not to say that people shouldn’t have access to cheaper liquor, but a more appropriate place would be a large commercial precinct, such as the Morley Galleria.”

Rev Albany says a smaller tavern at the hotel could actually be of great benefit to the community, particularly if a family-friendly atmosphere was created: “It can be a great gathering place and where people can mingle and socialise—which people complain there aren’t enough places at the moment.”

Ms Baker says the commission offers the last hope to stop the plan. She hopes to appear before it and plead the community’s case. Last year she spearheaded a campaign that stopped Coles building a similar outlet on Guildford Road.

Maylands is home to a number of agencies, including Shopfront, Autumn Centre and 55 Central, that tackle the impact of alcoholism.

by STEPHEN POLLOCK and STEVE GRANT

A new community group has formed to oppose Barnett government plans to destroy the community’s right to oppose mergers.

The Dadour Group supports retaining the Dadour Amendment, which allows residents to veto forced mergers via a referendum.

Stirling council candidate Leisha Jack says the government’s push to delete the amendment is “another move to force through amalgamations.

“This government is trying to—under the radar—remove this right, and that is a huge moral issue. They’re removing the right of the people who voted them in.”

Perth Liberal MP Eleni Evangel says she hasn’t come to a decision on the Dadour Amendment because she is yet to see solid details of what’s planned. She’ll continue to campaign on her desire to merge all of Vincent with Perth, instead of splitting it down the middle.

“I think we need to remain focused on the ‘one-in, all-in’ campaign,” she told the Voice.

by DAVID BELL

Leederville Hotel’s permit for an outdoor eating area was granted without complaint—but only because vocal critic Debbie Saunders was locked out of Vincent council HQ.

The Oxford Street cafe owner has long campaigned against the hotel, complaining its drunk customers leave the street in a mess. But when she showed up to the council meeting to speak against the permit being granted she was confronted with locked doors. “Locked out at the front door, that’s the the way to enable community input,” she quipped to councillor and mayoral candidate John Carey.

Council CEO John Giorgi told the Voice a staffer forgot to set the doors to open automatically, but a colleague held them open until after public question time.

Cr Carey warned colleagues “nannyism” shouldn’t be allowed to kill off nightlife alfresco, which is popular in cities worldwide.

The hotel will be able have 30 patrons in its outdoor area until 8pm.

by DAVID BELL