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  • Mount Lawley moves up

    • Glen Hall and club members delighted with their move into the first division. Photo by Jeremy Dixon
    • Glen Hall and club members delighted with their move into the first division. Photo by Jeremy Dixon

    IT’S been a long time between (cheap) drinks but for the first time since 1958 the Mt Lawley bowling club has won the second division pennant, rocketing it up to the big league first division bowls.

    Captain Glenn Hall says it was a nail-biter in the first round of the final as Mt Lawley went up against the feared Thornlie, a club about four times its size.

    The game was on Thornlie’s home turf and it was neck and neck when the match was over: “We were tied on the aggregate score, so we went into overtime,” Mr Hall says.

    After the first decider they were still tied, but in double sudden-death overtime Mt Lawley finally prevailed. They then went on to a comfortable victory over North Beach to take the second division pennant. “It is a huge achievement.”

    The local actor puts the victory down to the small club’s sense of community.

    “For me it’s the morale and sense of camaraderie. He says it’ll be a step up in quality playing for the first division but they’ll make sure they keep having fun. “I’ve been trying to instill that as a captain, that win, lose or draw we enjoy ourselves, because if we don’t enjoy ourselves then even if we win it doesn’t mean anything.”

    The club’s seen a lot of younger people in their 30s coming into the sport since the advent of more casual nights like barefoot bowls.

    “I think bowls has had to reinvent itself about 10 years ago because they could see it was lots of older people, and they weren’t bringing new blood into the game. I started playing barefoot bowls and I got hooked and wanted to progress and keep playing and getting better.”

    The club is looking for members so if you’re keen to try it out in a casual environment you can head down on a Thursday evening from 6pm.

    by DAVID BELL

  • Farmers’ market for North Perth

    KYILLA Park will be the home of a new North Perth farmers market.

    It will be open from 8.30am to 11.30am on Saturdays and limited to 40 stalls at the western side of the park.

    Vincent city council approved the market for an initial six-month period.

    Market stalls will sell a variety of fresh goods, including fruit, vegetables, meat, honey and cheese.

    It is the brainchild of the Kyilla primary school P&C, which has previously organised community events, including the Kyilla fete and book auction in 2011 and Kyilla in Bloom last year.

    The market will include a fundraising stall for the school and a stall provided free-of-charge for a local not-for-profit organisation.

    Public consultation revealed 94.33 per cent of respondents supported the market.

    The council received a 106-signature supportive petition in January and a letter of endorsement from then-Perth MP John Hyde.

    P&C member Carlie Keane says locals were door-knocked and an information session was held to keep local residents informed.

    Stickler-for-detail mayor Alannah MacTiernan praised the P&C for its well-researched application.

    by STEPHEN POLLOCK

  • Art bid for Baysy

    • Cr Chris Cornish beside an unnamed artwork at Riverside Gardens—one of the few public art pieces in Bayswater. Photo by Jeremy Dixon
    • Cr Chris Cornish beside an unnamed artwork at Riverside Gardens—one of the few public art pieces in Bayswater. Photo by Jeremy Dixon

    BAYSWATER city council wants more public art in the city.

    There is only a handful of public art pieces across the municipality and the council has no public art policy.

    The council is proposing the developers of any commercial, non-residential or mixed use project costing more than $1 million contribute at least one per cent of the cost to the creation of a public art piece.

    The proposal is modelled on Vincent’s “per cent for art scheme”.

    The art can be freestanding, integrated into the building exterior or a functional object.

    “Public art could be used as an effective tool in developing and promoting community identity; improving the quality and amenity of the built environment; enhancing the social, cultural and economic value of the city and generating public awareness and discussion of the value of art and design,” mayor Terry Kenyon says.

    Celebration—a series of silver spheres in the civic centre’s reflection pond—is one of the few public art pieces in Bayswater.

    It was nicknamed “D’Orazio’s Balls” after former mayor John D’Orazio.

    Cr Chris Cornish says a public art policy will add vitality to the growing city.

    “I have always been a believer in the benefits of public art and how it helps beautify areas which is why I was happy to support this motion,” he says.

    “I am hopeful this is something all the residents and ratepayers will benefit from and appreciate.”

    by STEPHEN POLLOCK

  • Off the shelf

    11. 773ARTSLIBRARIANS are a force to be reckoned with. Just ask publishing giant HarperCollins.

    In the aftermath of 9/11 the multinational subsidiary of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation had told Michael Moore to rewrite his just-written book Stupid White Men.

    HarperCollins had decided the liberal activist’s sizzling critique of George W Bush, written before 9/11, was inappropriate for a US audience gearing up for war.

    Moore refused to change a word so the publisher prepared to pulp the deal.

    But HarperCollins hadn’t factored in the wrath of librarians, who flooded the publisher with (well-written) letters demanding the book’s release.

    The publisher backed down and the book became a bestseller. Two years later it went into its twenty-second reprint.

    Innovative WA artist Tom Freeman’s exhibition Formative acknowledges the importance of librarians at a personal level.

    His exhibition of works consists of studies of the Kettering library in the UK, where his grandfather was librarian in 1953.

    Freeman’s family emigrated when his mum was an infant. A UK residency in 2009/10 was his chance to reconnect with family history.

    He used the time to snap a series of photographs documenting the library’s interior architecture, laying the foundations for the exhibition.

    “Family history came out of other works I had been doing already. I was always drawn to memories and feelings,” Freeman told the Voice.

    The exhibition is a collection of paintings, photos and sculptures with a whimsical take on aspects of the library.

    And while there’s a representation of shelves there are no books.

    “I’m not interested in the little details but the emotional attachment I had,” the artist says cryptically.

    His delicate pieces are formed from a mix of plaster, pine and balsa wood as well as beeswax—overlaid with acrylic and oil paint.

    “[Beeswax] is really, really nice to work with,” Freeman says.

    Although this is Freeman’s first major solo exhibition he’s had pieces in exhibitions at the Fremantle Arts Centre and PICA and was one of only four WA artists selection for Here and Now at UWA last year.

    His work hangs at Joondalup council and Curtin University and in various private collections.

    Formative is on at Venn Gallery, Queen Street, Perth until May 10. The gallery is open Tuesday to Saturday 10am to 5pm.

    by JENNY D’ANGER

  • 12. 773LETTERSFool me once…
    MY being made an April Fool is usually guaranteed. I have two daughters.
    This time I thought I’d escaped—only to be doubly fooled.
    Did the Perth Voice and Perth city council connive in this? They are my prime suspects.
    After reading “Fishy motive to abolition” (Voice, March 23, 2013) and “Parking too important to Perth” (Voice, March 30, 2013), I arrived at Tuesday’s council meeting in a lather of anticipation at the prospect of Shakespearean high drama – or farce: to be or not, the finance and budget committee absorbing the parking committee?
    Of course, by now you’ve guessed: the issue wasn’t even on the agenda.
    After the lord mayor’s almost six years of consistently gallant effort to rev things up, the council machinery can still fall prey to bucolic lapses.
    With parking revenue reportedly contributing more than half the council’s revenue, an unhappy parking committee is surely a top priority. Why then is debate of the issue still in limbo, presumably delayed a month?
    By the way, my daughters are not yet councillors.
    Ron Willis
    First Ave, Mt Lawley

    Mothballed
    SHAME on you Michael Sutherland, for your smug, arrogant remarks during your TV victory speech, stating Bob Kucera was “recycled, with skeletons in his closet!”
    Patricia Meydam
    Stirling St, Perth

  • Monggo a-go-go

    • Monggo chef David Wijaya.
    • Monggo chef David Wijaya.

    MONGO, Mt Lawley

    by JENNY D’ANGER:

    Rijstaffel is Dutch for a uniquely Indonesian feast.

    It means “rice table” and my mouth still salivates at the gluttony of Indonesian delights consumed in Holland many years ago.

    When the West Indies was controlled by the Dutch, colonial overlords would serve up to 40 small dishes to visitors in order to impress them with the exotic abundance of the spice islands.

    When the colonial yoke was thrown off last century the rijstaffell was thrown out and is rarely seen on Indonesian menus.

    So I was briefly excited to see it on the menu at Monggo Restaurant in Mt Lawley, only to read on that it was reserved for the evening menu.

    By comparison the lunch menu is limited, with just eight dishes to choose from.

    On the plus side there was plenty of vegetarian choice, including a chick pea and kidney bean curry ($10.50).

    But I’m a sucker for noodles and the beehoon goreng ($7.90) attracted my eye.

    The wok-fried vermicelli noodles were satisfyingly spicy, with a nice chilli kick that left the mouth glowing.

    The menu doesn’t differentiate between entrees and mains and the vegetarian spring rolls ($5.90) came at the same time as the noodles.

    Hot and crisp, the filling was a tad bland and even the chilli sauce accompanying didn’t help. Perhaps toned down too much for delicate western palates?

    My dining companion lives around the corner and Monggo is one of her favourite haunts.

    She went for the kari ayam Medan ($9.50), a spicy chicken curry, with potato and sugar peas, that hails from northern Sumatra.

    It came with a generous serving of rice (so many other places stint on this cheap staple) and a crisp, moist and utterly delicious roti. 

    A wide range of terms are used in Indonesian cooking to describe texture, including slippery, soft, hard, velvety, runny and gelatinous.

    Gelatinous is the perfect description for the kueh lapis ($8.50) that I had for dessert.

    This traditional steamed layer cake with banana slices was as unexpected as it was attractive, with its layers of bright green and cream.

    The flavours were subtle and the accompanying (non-dairy) coconut ice cream disappeared on the tongue like frozen fairy floss, but without the cloying sweetness.

    My lunch partner had southern Java favourite serabi Bandung ($8.50), consisting of three fluffy coconut pancakes, also a striking green, and also utterly delicious. 

    Monggo is Javanese for “greetings” and the small eatery exudes a big welcome with food from across the vast Indonesian archipelago—and the only rijstaffel in Perth.

    We all need to make more of an effort to learn more about our northern neighbour: Monggo is as good a place to start as any.

    Monggo Restaurant
    683 Beaufort Street, Mount Lawley
    Phone 9471 8988
    Lunch Monday – Friday. Dinner Tuesday – Saturday

  • Easy Charm

    14. 773HOME 1 14. 773HOME 2‘There’s a staggering array of shops, cafes and restaurants nearby.’

    PEAK hour should have been over but here it was 9.30am and the freeway was a parking lot.

    Canning Highway was moving at a crawl, but at least it was moving, so a quick lane change had me on my way, albeit at a snail’s pace.

    Fortunately I’d left in plenty of time and was only a few minutes late, which had me pitying those commuting daily from Freo to Perth.

    Living at this Elizabeth Street home I reckon getting to work on time in the nearby city would be much less of a hassle.

    And if that’s not a good enough reason to buy this three-bedroom/two-bathroom home, on 647sqm, read on.

    As the street name suggests, Elizabeth Street has the old fashioned, easy charm of Perth’s older suburbs and this 1940s art deco abode adds its own allure.

    All bedrooms are in the original front section, with lovely leadlight doors at either end of the spacious hall.

    An elegant formal lounge is also in the older section, a dignified space with double leadlight doors, plenty of windows and an art deco fireplace.

    Jarrah floors glow underfoot and there are gorgeous decorative ceilings, and picture rails in all the front rooms, including original timber ones in the lounge.

    Stepping down into the massive architecturally designed extension the first thing you notice is light and space, enhanced by soaring ceilings.

    In keeping with today’s lifestyle it’s a vast open area with plenty of windows and doors onto the manicured garden.

    The kitchen is a delight with wide travertine bench tops forming an outdoor servery, a plethora of smooth-sliding drawers and an island bench/breakfast bar that can be moved at will.

    A bank of bifold doors off the living area open onto a covered patio and timbered deck.

    A solid timber ceiling soars overhead in this indoor/outdoor room, which is cooled by a fan and sets of louvres high in the brick walls.

    This is a great entertainment area, with a sparkling pool enticing from the other side of the glass barrier.

    Kids are well catered for with a high-rise cubby house, complete with sand pit underneath and plenty of grass surrounding it for games.

    Close to Guildford Road there’s a staggering array of shops, cafes and restaurants nearby, including Eighth Avenue and ultra-chic Beaufort Street strip.

    Not to mention the close proximity of schools and public transport.

    And of course the lovely Maylands river foreshore is a pleasant stroll away.

    by JENNY D’ANGER

    12 Elizabeth Street, Bayswater
    EOI over $999,000
    Carlos Lehn 0416 206 736
    Paul Owen 0411 601 420
    Acton Mt Lawley 9272 2488