Perth Voice Interactive

WE’RE sitting almost exactly where former prime minister Bob Hawke lounged after one of the longest and tensest nights in Australian sporting history, famously warning bosses if they sacked workers for not turning up that day they were a “bum”.

Nearby a display cabinet in Royal Perth Yacht Club’s Wardroom recounts that historic moment on September 26, 1983 when a nation stayed up all night to watch Australia II take the America’s Cup from the New York Yacht Club; the little country making its first steps towards globalisation had achieved what no one else had managed in 132 years.

There’s photographs of skipper John Bertrand and his crew celebrating moments after the win, a miniature replica of Australia II’s legendary winged keel signed by the syndicate’s millionaire bankroller Alan Bond, and pride of place is the “Westpac Spanner” donated by the bank to the Australia II’s team so they could unbolt the Cup from the NYYC’s high security cabinet.

Talking point

“It’s a real talking point,” Royal Perth’s long-term archivist John Readhead says of the spanner.

The cabinet is also packed with historic silver racing cups dating back more than 100 years, but Mr Readhead will be overseeing their temporary relocation as the space is given over to the Cup for a big 40th anniversary celebration on September 26.

“The Australia II crew will be here, plus other dignitaries such as the Lord Mayor and the Governor,” Mr Readhead said, adding that the sailors are making themselves available to discuss their historic win with the 400 members expected to pack the event.

The archivist is in his 56th year as a member of RPYC and recalls the lead-up to the races fondly.

“It was a big thing because the club promoted it; there were newsletters keeping everyone up-to-date with what they were doing all the way along.”

He says most had cottoned on to the fact the Australia II had a winged keel, but its design was a closely-guarded secret.

So much so that the official poster of the 1983 challenge, which hangs on the archivist’s wall, makes note that its depiction of Australia II’s keel is only as good as they could work out from limited information. Typical of the Aussie cheek after the win, the yacht’s designer Ben Lexcen has fixed it up for them with a black pen, before adding his signature alongside the rest of the team.

Overwhelming

“Then it got to the races when we won one, lost one, and it was not looking good,” Mr Readhead said.

“But at the end when it looked like something might happen, the interest was overwhelming.”

Mr Readhead says there’s between 200 and 300 items related to the Cup in RPYC’s archive, including paintings, photographs, press clippings and other bits and pieces, but it’s just a tiny fraction of the 17,000 entries in his database. It’s not surprising given the club was founded back in 1865 as The Perth Yacht Club.

He’s been in the job for 28 years, and his passion for conserving and preserving the club’s history is so infectious that a raft of yacht clubs around Western Australia and over east can thank him for starting up their own archives, including Fremantle, Freshwater Bay, Royal Sydney and Royal Prince Albert.

“By then I had 12 or 14 years of experience, and I used to say to them ‘every day you don’t start is a day you have lost – and that will cost you’,” he said.

Mr Readhead new intimately what they were up for, having been given the role as the club’s first archivist by former Commodore Kel Quinlan.

“When he first showed me the little room which was allegedly known as the archive room, and we first opened the door, there were three big bags of sails, two broken chairs, a couple of cartons of empty beer bottles, five or more cardboard boxes of books and a chipboard shelf – and you know how chipboard crumbles,” he says.

“It took me nearly three years to sort out what was in there.

“I would shuffle things from box to box and put them in order, until it got to the stage there were too many boxes.”

Temperature

These days the archive is a far cry from those early days; it’s temperature controlled and a shroud of concrete ensures the collection’s safety, although the electronic database has stood the test of time and can let him pull out anything in seconds.

“I realised we had to get a database, so I tackled one of the young sailing members who was at university doing a double degree in IT,” Mr Readhead says of his early attempts to pull everything together.

“He said ‘you write down what you think you need’, which I did, and in a week he had a program, and we changed a few things and he went away and again and came back again in another week and had a database which we’re still using today.”

Mr Readhead said items in the archive stretch from old racing programs to DVDs and USB sticks with the latest news clippings, social events and races.

One of the keys to his success was scoring scholarships to the National Library of Australia and the National Maritime Museum where he studied conservation and preservation, which has helped RPYC’s archive earn an “A” category from the latter and set him up to help other clubs start their own.

“A large part of my job is to communicate with people and help them with their research,” he said, adding that requests can come from over east and overseas, and includes researchers and family members trying to trace a relative’s racing history.

History

He says the archive is also important for giving new members a feel of the club’s long history, and as part of the job he also puts together short-term exhibitions on various topics; coming up is a look at the life of former Commodore Justice Robert Burnside.

He also scours auction pamphlets to keep an eye on important yachting memorabilia related to the club, but says they face a bit of competition from silversmiths, who tend to jump on a plane to take the silver trophies away to be melted down.

“All that his just gone,” he laments.

The club has also been running an oral history program for the last 10 years, collecting the memories of mainly older members, but also has lots of school groups who come to gather material about the river, racing or that famous Auld Mug, a life-size replica of which greets members as they tack their way up for lunch.

by STEVE GRANT

A NEW orchestra has formed to fill a gap for emerging musicians in Perth, and it’s entirely student-led.

The a2. orchestra was founded by Josh Spirek and Aiden Labuschagne in 2022 when they were in their first year of studying a Bachelor of Music at UWA.

Fellow music student and a2 orchestra member Charlotte Greenaway tells us via an email Q&A: “Something they noticed was that there was a lack of performance opportunities with orchestral accompaniment for younger tertiary students. Along with this, they were also interested in learning more about orchestral playing in general.” 

It started with just one concert in November 2022, giving their fellow students a chance to perform a solo piece with a small orchestral accompaniment. 

It was a big success and there were calls for more concerts from both musicians and audience members, and the project rolled on.

The aim is to give students who are at a high level of playing a bridging space between university and employment so they can showcase their talents.

“There is an abundance of young and emerging talent across Perth and a2. orchestra would like to present this to audiences through concerts consisting of exciting repertoire,” Ms Greenaway says. 

“When choosing pieces for concerts, we take into account both our peers’ and audience’s requests,” Ms Greenaway says, in hopes it helps build a sense of connection with history, culture and emotion in the music.

Their next show ‘Sanctity’ puts the spotlight on the French horn with a night of atmospheric and poignant music, running September 16 at Ross Memorial Church on Hay Street.

The students then take the stage at Government House Ballroom on November 23 they present ‘Triumph & Tragedy’, contrasting drama and euphoria with works from Wagner, Tchaikovsky and Beethoven.

Times and tickets are at a2orchestra.com

by DAVID BELL

A PETROL station franchise whose plans for a big new servo and convenience store in North Perth got knocked back by the state JDAP, have lodged a scaled-back application to upgrade the existing mechanical workshop and bowsers – even while the original plans go through an appeal.

On The Run, which is in the process of being bought out by Shell oils, Coles Express and Geelong refinery owner Viva Energy, originally proposed a 24-hour station at the corner of Angove and Woodville Streets.

It was widely hated by the community, sparking the creation of the Stop the Station lobby group, and the 228 opposing submissions and a 326-signature petition contributed to both Vincent council and the JDAP rejecting the application.

OTR’s appeal over that refusal is still before the State Administrative Tribunal, but Stop the Station spokesperson Nicole Woolf said they were concerned the company’s latest application, though reduced in scale, showed it hadn’t read the room.

“Looking at the little bit of information that you can see online, it’s just 41-43 Angove Street, and it’s for $500,000 renovations to that site, including the pumps,” Ms Woolf said.

“From that we’ve assumed that it’s renovations to make the site operational again, for selling petrol and presumably a convenience store, just not as big.

“Everyone disagrees with this for different reasons, but fundamentally, it’s the land use – it’s the fact it’s a petrol station.

“Even though it might not be inclusive of the office they wanted to build at 45 Angove Street, or even if the final product has fewer bowsers than the original plans, it still comes back to the fact that next to residential homes, next to a primary school where there are 500 children in the middle of a vibrant town centre, is not the place for a petrol station.”

Campaign

Ms Woolf said the community which fought the original plans is “at the ready” for a new campaign: “As soon as those plans are published by the City of Vincent, we’ll be examining them very closely.

“We’ll be discussing them with the professional planner we fundraised to engage.

“We’ll be discussing with the lawyers that are part of our community group, and we’ll be mobilising a second round of a community campaign.

“I know the company’s got a lot more resources than the community does, but we’re not fatigued by it; we’re ready to go for round two.”

Stop the Station does have some hope through an amendment to Vincent’s town planning scheme which proposes banning petrol stations from town centres and residential areas, which has been adopted by the council and is with the WA Planning Commission awaiting a decision on whether it can be gazetted.

OTR’s original application slipped in before the council had voted on the amendment (which was put forward by Stop the Station), so the new rules wouldn’t have been applicable, but Ms Woolf hopes that the latest application might hit some hurdles – there are precedents where councils have taken guidance from policy and scheme amendments which have been lodged but awaiting approval.

Ms Woolf says her group is “very pro-development, but believes development in our unique area needs to be designed thoughtfully, serve the community and not compromise the safety, or the vibrancy of our town centres.

“We would love to see the space turned into a boutique retail store, a bar or restaurant, or public space that everyone in the community can enjoy.”

by STEVE GRANT

IN a significant stride towards streamlining its planning processes, the City of Stirling’s Fast-Track (Development Applications) service has proven a winner in its first 12 months.

Since its inception in October 2022, the innovative planning system has not only reduced bureaucratic bottlenecks but has also saved both time and money for homeowners and developers.

The Fast-Track service was conceived to address the challenges associated with residential development applications in Stirling, where small-scale residential developments often faced delays due to incomplete applications, requests for further information, and time-consuming assessments. These challenges left applicants frustrated and uncertain about timeframes, hindering the growth of the housing sector.

Collaborating with key stakeholders such as the Master Builders Association, the Housing Industry Association, and major applicants like ABN Group and BGC, Stirling pioneered a digital development assessment tool that not only automated several requirements but also integrated data from the city’s Geographic Information System to expedite the assessment process. 

This tool, the first of its kind in WA, caters to various residential development types.

The Fast-Track service has sped up approvals to an average of just 20 days, but has also saved applicants and landowners approximately $3,000 in development and home loan holding costs for each single house and grouped dwelling application approved, according to a report to this week’s monthly council meeting.

This represents a substantial 67 per cent reduction in time compared to standard development application timeframes.

Fast-Track service has been embraced by the community, with 115 registered users and 718 development applications lodged within its first year. 

The success of Stirling’s Fast-Track service has not gone unnoticed, with planning minister John Carey lauded the council as a shining example of a local government committed to cutting red tape and streamlining approval processes for the benefit of the community.

The City is planning to expand the Fast-Track service to cater to three and four-grouped dwelling applications.

by STEVE GRANT

SLIGHTLY smaller designs have been released for the apartment block planned to run along Fitzgerald Street from Alma to Raglan Roads, following widespread opposition to the previous 13-storey design. 

Celsius Property Group’s proposal for 97 apartments across 13-storeys was rejected by the Joint Development Assessment Panel in December 2022.

It was voted down due to being far taller than Vincent council’s usual guidelines of six-storeys in that area, and the bulk and scale was deemed to impose “a significant negative impact” on amenity.

The new design is nine storeys and includes 104 apartments. It also packs in 179 residential car bays, above the council policy of 88 bays

Celsius’ new application says the new version has “a more sympathetic and contextual built form”. 

Residents so far haven’t been won over.

Adjacent resident Neil Stacey has chatted to many locals since the new plans were released, and says the sentiment is still firmly opposed.

“It’s still an over-development,” he says. 

“The impact on the neighbourhood is massive”, with major concerns including overshadowing and several hundred car movements per day car clogging the narrow laneways behind the building.

He says residents would be happy with a design that stuck to the rules, but they’re ready for another fight to keep this one away.

Public comment is open via imagine.vincent.wa.gov.au until September 28, then the designs will go to Vincent council’s planners who’ll prepare a recommendation for the JDAP to make the final call.

by DAVID BELL