CityNews 2007009

JULY 9, 2020

HE’S BACK! DOUGAL MACDONALD’s movie reviews, Page 20

Belconnen forgets its first war hero

JON STANHOPE

Opposition to eight storeys in Kingston

PAUL COSTIGAN

The end of soldiering on

KATE MEIKLE

The piano man’s virtual variety show

HELEN MUSA

THE ______ AXEMAN How SHAUN O’CONNOR is taking on the world of woodchopping

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NEWS

Yass gets new paper to tell its community stories

By Danielle

NOHRA IT was a death notice stuck on a building in town that convinced Jasmin Jones that Yass needed a newspaper after the “Yass Tribune’’ recently deserted print for a digital-only presence.

“We needed a place to put our stories and capture moments of births, deaths and marriages,” says Jasmin, the “Yass Valley Times” co-founder and editor. Jasmin, 45, of Yass, teamed up with journalist Nyssa Stadtmiller, 33, of Harden, and together, they’ve already published more than three weekly papers.

“We’ve made it past the first edition fear [and] found our groove,” she says.

“Like any new business, when you enter the field it’s like a formula one race. Everyone has their cars but you’ve got to build your own and you have four screws left but you’re going to race anyway.”

It’s been a long time coming for Jasmin, who watched the “Yass Tribune” continue to decrease in size and local news, and kept thinking: “I could start a local paper” but every time she thought about it, she always had a baby on her shoulder.

“The ‘Yass Tribune’ was there one day and then disappeared the next,” says the busy mum-of-five, who ended up taking the leap during the COVID-19 shutdowns when she was taking care of a two-year-old and homeschooling a child in kindergarten, year three and year eight, as well as a 16-year-old.

“It’s been challenging,” she says.

“But if we didn’t have a paper during this critical time, the record of the community’s thoughts and feelings wouldn’t exist.”

Capturing history is really important to Jasmin, who was recently down at the local Yass library looking at the town’s first newspaper edition, which was covering Eden-Monaro’s role in an election at the time.

“Now we’re part of that physical archive. It’s very humbling to know that I have a role in this as an editor, says the former television journalist.

“For me, as a former journalist, I thought, well who else is going to do it?

“Like any small community, we have to be many things.”

Jasmin is also a Yass Valley councillor but her early career goes back to the ‘90s in the Hunter Valley where she worked in broadcasting before moving into TV. Once she was working in television, Jasmin scored a job with Channel 9 in Perth, where she worked before moving with her husband to Canada.

INDEX Arts & Entertainment 19-21 Canberra Matters 8 Crossword 22 Dining 21 Garden 23 Horoscopes 22 Letters 13 News 3-13 Politics 10 Seven Days 4

Jasmin Jones… “We needed a place to put our stories and capture moments of births, deaths and marriages.”

When they came back to Australia, he was offered a job in Canberra in 2011, but when looking for a place to live Jasmin liked the appeal of Yass, because it was more like her hometown, Maitland.

“We drove through Yass, down the

main street, and thought, this is it, this is home,” she says.

“When you become part of a community like this, particularly when you have kids, it fast-tracks you into the community.

“Once you’re embedded in a com-

munity like Yass Valley, it grows around your heart.”

Now, Jasmin is thrilled to be working alongside other passionate locals to bring a paper, that’s 100 per cent local, to the community.

“We’ve got a team of six including journalists, photographers, designers,” she says.

The publication also has a team of volunteer columnists from the area who are experts in fields such as technology, sports and pets.

“It’s early days but we’ll be making flight adjustments as we continue and respond to our readers’ needs,” she says.

“My aim as an editor is very clear and I have a role to promote and seek loyalty from our residents to shop local because it’s never been as important as now, for their sustainability.

“Once upon a time it would be light news, but it’s important to tell their stories because they’ve just survived one of the most dramatic economic events this century.”

The “Yass Valley Times” has a distribution of 16,000 copies a month and is available, for $2, at about eight locations.

The locations are mostly in Yass, Hume and Murrumbateman, but Jasmin welcomes any Canberrans to cross the border, buy a copy and support one of their local cafes while reading it.

Since 1993: Volume 26, Number 27

Cover: Hall and District Axemen’s Club president Shaun O’Connor. Story Page 12. Photo: Holly Treadaway.

Well written, well read

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Responsibility for election comment is taken by Ian Meikle, 9b/189 Flemington Road, Mitchell.

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williamcolefunerals.com.au | 60 Nettlefold Street, Belconnen, ACT 2617 CityNews July 9-15, 2020 3

SEVEN DAYS

Comfort in being covid-clear round the S-bend IT was a week of facts and figures and more menacing bureaucracy.

Here’s a reassuring fact: there are no traces of COVID-19 in Canberra’s sewage system. I don’t know why, but I felt some deep-seated comfort knowing that the expertise of more than 30 ANU researchers was brought to bear in giving us the all clear round the S-bend.

Delightful environmental epidemiologist Dr Aparna Lal told me on 2CC’s “CityNews Sunday Roast” that she received a daily litre of sewage from Icon Water (and would for the foreseeable future), characterising the contents in terms too graphic for a family newspaper.

She said the testing of daily samples throughout May found no covid traces in territory sewage outpourings.

“We tested 25 samples in May from Icon Water’s sewage treatment plant, covering the whole of the ACT population, and found no traces,” she cooed.

HERE’S a worrying figure: The number of drivers

caught speeding in the ACT is 30 per cent higher than the monthly average over the past three years.

Top traffic cop Insp Marcus Boorman says it’s a “dramatic increase” and over the next month police will focus on speeding. ”Nobody can say they weren’t warned.

The speed limits are clear and we’re telling you we’re taking a zero-tolerance approach,” he growled.

“We are still detecting high-range speeding drivers at speeds that go beyond stupidity. I’m talking about 140, 170, even 200 k/ph.

Zinger alert: “We’re about to go on the front foot after drivers who use too much of their right foot.” Boom boom.

MORE figures, but less surprising: the ABS reports the lowest approval figures for apartments and units over May since 2012 with only nine unit and apartment dwellings approved in the ACT. Master Builders ACT CEO Michael Hopkins boo-hooed with this astonishing revelation: “Unit and apartment approvals have declined 98.9 per cent since April and represent a 23.5 per cent decline since the same quarter last year.

“These statistics will be sobering reading for the close to 20,000 people working in the ACT construction industry, as many

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4 CityNews July 9-15, 2020

are looking for more support from the ACT government to provide a forward pipeline of work to secure their continued employment.”

CONVERSELY, the Canberra Liberals are berating the Barr government for keeping families from realising their dreams for detached housing.

The government told the opposition that 90 per cent of its monopolistic land release in 2017-18 was for compact and multi-unit dwellings and 10 per cent for detached single dwellings. Last year, only 28 per cent of land was for single dwellings.

A previous government-issued survey showed 84 per cent of Canberrans had a preference for detached housing, which has opposition leader Alistair Coe concluding that there’s “no room for growing families in Andrew Barr’s multi-unit utopia”.

“You shouldn’t have to look over the border for a suitable home for your family,” he says.

MEANWHILE, the Chief Minister’s “personal vendetta against local clubs” is being blamed for assisting the “devastating” demise of the Kaleen Sports Club.

The unforgiving shadow gaming minister Mark Parton says the Chief Minister should be making decisions based on the evidence and health advice, “not on his arrogant dislike of community clubs, all of their employees, and all of

their members”. Which I figure must be most of us.

The club malady also flushed out former Liberal opposition leader and Belco Party barker Bill Stefaniak who, concerned that Canberrans are flocking across the border to play the pokies, also took umbrage at Andrew saying: “I do think the trouble Mr Barr has with our clubs may well be personal. After all, they did have the temerity to campaign against him in 2016. Is it the case that he is punishing them now? Is he behaving in the process like a spoilt, petulant, little brat who has spat the dummy?”

THE number of people reporting as victims of oppressive behaviour by Access Canberra is growing. A couple of weeks ago Canberra TV news icon Ken Begg complained about menacing threats in a letter he received wrongly calling him a “high risk to road safety”.

Then a letter turned up with a similar complaint (published on Page 13). Yet another, this one from Tony Butterfield in defence of his wife Beverley who had received a letter demanding a driver’s licence medical certificate on threat of disqualification.

She obtained a certificate at a cost of $90 and submitted it.

Strangely, the same thing happened to me.

Licence renewal demanded an eye test. Test done, form lodged, licence renewed. Three weeks later comes the letter threatening licence suspension and demanding the eye test! But there’s more stupidity…

Tony also says: “The Woden Access Canberra will not accept cash. When my wallet was stolen I went in to get a replacement Working with Vulnerable People card as I am a volunteer ESA firefighter.

“I was told I had to pay $22 and cash would not be accepted. My replacement credit cards would take a week or so.

“I was curtly told to take my cash to any bank branch, open an account, order a card and come back when I had it. They eventually told me to go to Tuggeranong!” Why, he doesn’t explain.

Ian Meikle is the “CityNews” editor. He can be heard on the “CityNews Sunday Roast” news and current affairs program, 10am-noon on 2CC.

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OPINION

Belconnen forgets first war-hero landowner AS a consequence of coronavirus lock-down fatigue (and the fact that the gym was closed) my wife Robyn and I have lately walked rather more than usual.

On one walk we stumbled on a heritage sign erected on Gossan Hill that recorded the land on the hill and adjacent areas was granted in the immediate aftermath of World War I, as a soldier-settler block, to Robert John Butt.

I confess that despite having lived in Belconnen for the last 46 years and having a keen interest in history and our local heritage that I had not heard of Robert Butt.

As Robyn and I strolled down from the hill to our home in Bruce I mused that it was quite possible that Robert had, at some point, stood on the very spot that we live. I decided I would try and get to know him.

A Google search was very productive. Robert was born at “Kirkdale” near Murrumbateman in 1892. He was working as a farmer at Yass when he enlisted in the AIF in March, 1916, and joined the 56th Battalion at Etaples in France. He first saw action in February, 1917.

On September 26, 1917, he was wounded in the Battle of Polygon Wood at Ypres in Belgium. His medical report states he was rendered deaf by an exploding shell and also suffered an injury to his neck. He

I would like to think that those of us who now enjoy the benefits of the land that Robert Butt, an Australian hero, never had the chance to enjoy, could between us restore his grave. returned to Australia in August, 1918.

In February, 1923, Robert applied for a Soldier Settlement Block and was granted 262 hectares in Belconnen. The plan attached to the grant contains a hand-drawn amendment that appears to extend the block to Gossan Hill. He named his farm Emu Bank. A house was ultimately built on the block on land adjacent to the present-day Belconnen library.

Tragically, just under three years after taking up the land Robert was killed. Ironically, having survived two years at the front, he accidentally blew himself up. “The Queanbeyan Age”, of February 2, 1926, provided a graphic report of the accident, Robert’s injuries and his death.

The formal finding of the inquest into his death was: “Died from injuries accidentally received through the premature explosion of gelignite,

Council on the Ageing (COTA) ACT are working with Transport Canberra to make it easier to apply for an ACT Seniors Card.

6 CityNews July 9-15, 2020

Robert Butt… enlisted in the AIF in March, 1916.

After 94 years Robert Butt’s grave is showing its age. Photo: Jon Stanhope

which he was preparing to use for an unlawful purpose, to wit, the destruction of fish in the Molonglo River.”

“The Queanbeyan Age” noted: “The sensation produced by the spread of the news was intense, and an expression of unfeigned sorrow generally. Deceased was a returned soldier, 31 years old and about to be married. Owing to the mutilated state of the body, it was expedient that the internment should take place as soon as possible and the coffin containing the remains was taken to Murrumbateman – the remains being interred in the Methodist portion of the Murrumbateman cemetery.”

I visited Robert’s grave last week.

The cemetery at Murrumbateman is very nice. I would be happy to be buried there. However, Robert’s grave is unsurprisingly showing its age. It has been in place for 94 years.

I regularly visit cemeteries, particularly in rural areas. I find them interesting for the story they tell and the emotions they affect.

It’s not unusual in cemeteries across Australia to come across the grave of a soldier who returned from World War I and died in the first 10 to 15 years of his return. I find these graves have a special poignancy because of what they signify, namely that a young Australian who answered the call, bravely faced the fury and horror of action and survived, at least physically, to return to Australia and who for a myriad of reasons and causes died, still young, within a decade or so of his homecoming.

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Before he died, Robert Butt owned and occupied all of the land on which the Belconnen Town Centre is now located and half of the land under Lake Ginninderra.

He also owned John Knight Park, all of Emu Ridge and much of Bruce.

I would like to think that, with the approval and consent of Robert Butt’s proud descendants (I am assuming that there are descendants still living in the region and am hoping to make contact with them), that those of us who now enjoy the benefits of the land that Robert, an Australian hero, never had the chance to enjoy, could between us restore his grave.

Alternatively, the Australian War Memorial might consider converting the $500 million earmarked for its expansion to the maintenance of the graves of returned diggers across the whole of Australia which, if not attended to, will continue to deteriorate and risk being lost and forgotten.

As always, if you are unable to access a computer, the staff at the COTA ACT office in Hughes are available to step you through the process. Please call our office on 6282 3777 if you require any assistance.

Transport Canberra will also be available to answer any of your questions in regard to balance transfers and travel. Please call 6207 7711.

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CANBERRA MATTERS / Kingston development

Activated opposition to eight storeys in Kingston A REGULAR theme for this column is the spin that dominates the city’s planning and development directorate. Most have seen too much bad stuff going down.

The guilty parties being ACT politicians, the Planning Directorate, the National Capital Authority and let’s not forget the City Renewal Authority.

Here’s one case study that should resonate with those who engage with the mountains of alternative facts broadcast by developers and their specialist consultant firms.

Developer Geocon states on its website that it is “Building Canberra”, that “Canberra needed activation” and that it is “Set to redefine Australia’s most exciting city”. Good to know who runs the town.

But that first statement is curious given that the city exists – and is more than 100 years old. So what is meant when a developer says they are “Building Canberra”? Is this a case of Terra Nullius?

Talking of “activation”, when Kingston

8 CityNews July 9-15, 2020

In a better and more honest world, the logical outcome would be that the Planning Directorate would have a good laugh when this one arrives and send it straight back to the developers. residents saw the announcement of Geocon’s eight-storey apartment tower for the block behind the Kingston Post Office, they definitely became activated.

Residents know that they live in an exciting city. It is already a great place to call your home. Given the overwhelming opposition to what Geocon has proposed, people can plainly see that Geocon’s version of a redefined city is not shared with the residents.

They see the out-of-touch and ill-informed political and bureaucratic barbarians partnering with profitdriven developers to deliver changes to Canberra so that it slowly becomes like so many other cities – boring and unliveable. Is this what Geocon meant?

Residents are despondent about how the Planning Directorate is allowing the city to be degraded.

The proposal for this Giles Street tower is in its early stages of community consultations. The reality is that the consultants followed the inadequate

rules to get a tick in that box. There was a badly run online session that was not about engagement but more of “this is what you will get – so thanks for your time and now we move on”.

Box ticked – requirement met!

The development will house 106 one and two-bedroom units. The plans have the look of a cramped apartment hotel (small units).

The extent of the spin used to justify the proposal points to what is wrong with the ACT Planning Directorate’s oversight of planning and development.

If the directorate was doing the job expected of it by residents, developers would not be putting resources into questionable and unpopular proposals.

But they do – often – because this is what they know they can get away with.

They know, as do the residents (voters), that this ACT Labor/Greens government and its Planning Directorate have completely corrupted the notion of a well-designed, people-friendly city.

The proposed tower was signed off by the National Capital Design Review Panel. I dare anyone to look at the drawings and agree that it is architecture that the city could be proud of.

A graphic of proposed eight-storey Kingston tower, taken from developer’s documentation.

It is an example of what is popping up all over Canberra. Surely, no-one on that panel who believes in architecture could be proud of this kind of robo bland-box architecture.

Enough is enough!

Anyone on that design panel who still believes in architecture, should resign immediately. That building, if built, will indicate the government’s low level of commitment to design and architecture.

Residents are furious about how the consultants boast about the unique opportunity to plonk an eight-storey tower next to the historic post office – when three or four storeys are the norm in this area.

Then there was one of those frequently heard statements. Apparently, the new residents will be “active travellers” and therefore the parking

allocations can be minimal. How any consultant, architect or planning bureaucrat thinks they could be taken seriously by uttering such nonsense is amazing.

For the developers and consultant planners to be promoting this, it illustrates that the Planning Directorate’s rules have been watered down by those holding power over the directorate’s decisions.

In a better and more honest world, the logical outcome would be that the Planning Directorate would have a good laugh when this one arrives and send it straight back to the developers.

Paul Costigan is an independent commentator and consultant on the visual arts, photography, urban design, environmental issues and everyday matters.

MUMMY / the new normal

Coughs, sneezes and the end of soldiering on ANYONE suppressed a cough lately?

Or if you did cough (into your elbow), did you quickly explain you were just “clearing my throat” to others around you? (“Nothing to see here, people!

I’m fine!”).

Our household, like many others, has just been struck with the first cold and cough of the winter season.

But as we are all very aware, it’s not like any winter we’ve known and how we respond to common winter ailments won’t be like it was before.

I’ve certainly learnt that lesson.

Our little, darling, germ-factory children get a lot of bugs – there’s barely a week in winter in which one of the two don’t have a runny nose or a cough. Thankfully, they fight them off fairly well.

There’s generally been a rule of thumb when it comes to kids and winter bugs that I’ve observed when it came to sending our kids to daycare and school or arranging playdates.

It tended to be if they had a fever, or were out of sorts we would, of course, keep

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I still feel weirdly selfish that I cancelled my daughter’s fourth birthday party, twice, over the period I was unwell. It was the right thing to do, but it wasn’t easy to let her and her little friends down because of me. them at home. If they had a stuffy nose, or a mild cough it was fair enough to send them to school. I’m not talking about little noses that are dripping like yellow mucus-filled taps or yucky chesty, wheezy coughs – it’s the run-of-the-mill sort of ailments that we all get this time of year.

Otherwise, how else would we get through life without continual days off?

I think most people would have used a similar rule of thumb when it came to going to work with minor ailments, it’s the old “soldier on” mentality.

But in these cautious covid times, my “mum’s moral compass” about dealing with minor winter bugs has been thrown out the window. Does anyone know what the new rules are?

Parents aren’t sure what to do now that winter is here and kids are bound to be picking up bugs left, right and centre.

Does every sickness mean we should be tested for COVID-19? If someone in the household is sick does every member have to stay at home, too? I don’t mean to be trite, I want to do the right thing but the reality of these sorts of symptoms mean they are evolving and changing.

Recently, I had a tickly cough. Felt fine and thought nothing of socialising with friends and doing usual activities. But as the days went on my symptoms worsened. The tickle became a very nasty cough and chest infection, which led to testing for covid and pneumonia (both negative, thankfully).

The anxious 24-hour wait for the covid result made me review the friends and colleagues I had seen, the hugs I have given, the incidental socialisation that preceded my being very unwell.

A lot of “what ifs” came to my mind. I felt very regretful that I could have exposed family and friends not only to a chest infection, but potentially worse.

They all stayed well to my relief

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and, as I recover, I am reflecting on what the new normal will be like for our family this winter. After being very unwell and almost two weeks at home, I feel very cautious.

The new rule of thumb – any sniffles, cough or flu-like symptoms and we will stay at home. I think we all will have to get more accustomed to cancelling events and putting health and cautious behaviour first.

After having restrictions lifted, the kids’ parties, playdates and activities are all back on the schedule, creating more opportunities to mix with others

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and more events to let people down if we are unwell.

I still feel weirdly selfish that I cancelled my daughter’s fourth birthday party, twice, over the period that I was unwell. It was the right thing to do but it wasn’t easy to let her and her little friends down because of me.

“We are going to have to get used to more time off work, too,” said a friend who admitted she had a head cold recently and perhaps she shouldn’t have gone to work.

It’s going to take a while to adjust to the new normal.

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POLITICS

Rolling statues and dangers of rewriting history WE do not burn books nowadays. We pull down statues. According to Ray Bradbury, in his 1953 novel, books burn at 451 degrees Fahrenheit.

Bradbury and contemporaries such as George Orwell were warning about the dangers of rewriting history. And those dangers persist.

The righteous fury is understandable. The movement to destroy statues of people who have done great wrongs has some appeal. After all, behaviour that abused or enslaved people, that brought about widespread suffering or included murder ought not be celebrated.

The anti-racist movement has given impetus to the ideas of pulling down statues. Racism is the antithesis of a healthy democracy. The current Black Lives Matter demonstrations in the US and Australia are an important opportunity for all of us to think carefully about the past and what actions have been taken that have embedded all forms of racism.

More importantly, what actions we will take now, and in the future, to undermine

• • • •

If the framing of the movement to pull down statues was based on sexism instead of racism, there would be very few statues remaining. Embedded sexism has really only been confronted in the last half century. all forms of racism.

However, there are better methods of going about righting the wrongs of the past than using Orwellian tactics.

Our understanding of history does need to be enhanced. A plaque at the base of such statues could emblazon, for example: “This man was responsible for deliberate murder, massacre and rape”.

In drawing attention to the statue of Captain James Cook in Sydney, which credits him with “discovering Australia”, Stan Grant is right to raise concerns. Stan’s people had been here for more than 40,000 years before Cook’s arrival.

However, it is also an opportunity to provide accurate historical information on his role as a navigator along with his treatment of the indigenous peoples. Visitors to such statues could learn about his navigation skills along with understanding about the impact he had on indige-

nous peoples and culture in Australia and in other countries that he visited such as Tahiti, NZ and small Pacific Islands such as Huahine, Bora Bora and Raiatea.

Nathan Moran is a Goori man and chief executive officer of Sydney’s Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council. In an interview with SBS News recently, he argued for the statue of NSW governor Lachlan Macquarie (1810-1821) to be taken down because Macquarie “determined it was appropriate to declare war on our people”.

Mr Moran cited Macquarie as allowing Aboriginal people to be “hung from the treetops”. The Appin massacre of 1816, where his troops killed at least 14 Aboriginal people, was authorised by Macquarie. At the base of this statue could be a plaque with an eye-catching headline such as “Macquarie attempted local genocide” and then be followed by some of historical details that are recorded in the National Museum of Australia and other sources.

There is an old saying about history being written by the conquerors. Even the original historian, Thucydides

The James Cook statue in Hyde Park, Sydney… Visitors could learn about his navigation skills along with understanding about the impact he had on indigenous peoples and culture. identified his own prejudices in “The Peloponnesian Wars”. Effective history recognises all aspects including those who conquered and those who suffered. Nathan Moran’s accusation is that Macquarie was “at the forefront of the genocide of our people, and the dispossession of our people”. This ought to be included in accurate historical writing and ought to be part of any description at the base of statues.

One of the most murderous men of the last century was Joseph Stalin.

Travelling across Russia, there were very few of his statues to be observed.

This was an opportunity missed for generations of Russians to know and understand the dangers of absolute power. Perhaps the Putin referendum would have a different result if this aspect of Soviet history was at the base of the once many statues of Stalin.

On another level, having been built by slavery for the benefit of one despot, should the pyramids of Egypt be pulled down?

If the framing of the movement to pull down statues was based on sexism instead of racism, there would be very few statues remaining. Embedded sexism has really only been confronted in the last half century. It is not so long ago that a woman who married was required to resign from the public service and other jobs.

There are more effective ways to deal with evil people of the past.

Pulling down their statues provides a temporary feeling of success. Identifying their evil deeds is likely to have greater long-term impact.

Michael Moore is a former member of the ACT Legislative Assembly and an independent minister for health. He has been a political columnist with “CityNews” since 2006.

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7TH BIRTHDAY | OPEN DAY 11TH JULY 10 CityNews July 9-15, 2020

NEWS

GRUMPY

Amanda holds an anxious line

The public disgrace of public toilets

By Kathryn

VUKOVLJAK CONNECTING people to enrich lives has long been the mission statement of Community Services #1, and its CEO Amanda Tobler says now they’re stepping into this purpose more than ever.

“We’ve had to work out how to continue to enrich lives in this absolute upheaval,” she says.

“It’s interesting how the barriers to trying new ideas have been removed.

“We’re open to trying anything we can to get the outcome we want for our clients. These are circumstances we have never experienced before and things are changing fast.”

Community Services #1 is a community-based, profit-for-purpose organisation that has been providing a range of services for more than 30 years, says Amanda.

From its food pantry, to providing individual and family support, aged-care services, social support groups, special-care transport and its five early childhood centres,

Amanda says they are having to adapt in many different ways.

“We’ve redeployed staff to primary school hubs, we’re supporting kids with the transition back to school and we’ve started our ‘Kindness Matters’ project on Facebook,” she says.

“There’s confusion for the whole community, but we’re here and still engaged, and will be for as long as we can be.”

Amanda, 45, says she’s determined to continue supporting the vulnerable, particularly the elderly who often have no other support.

“My concern is for people’s mental health, as in a long-term lockdown there’s a risk of heightened anxiety. It’s a marathon, not a sprint.”

Amanda, who’s married and lives in the inner south, is a born and bred Canberran, and says that supporting the community is what she feels she was meant to do.

“It’s like my extended family, and we support people through their life cycle, for many years. As an agency, we’re the ones people will need to rely on for the months ahead,” she says.

“With social groups we can check in virtually, and we can support the elderly by picking up groceries or medication and dropping

CEDRIC BRYANT, of Watson, is grumpy about the state of public toilets in the suburbs.

CEO of Community Services #1, Amanda Tobler… “As an agency, we’re the ones people will need to rely on for the months ahead.” Photo: Holly Treadaway them off at home. The food pantry can be utilised through calling up to see what we have, and we can deliver to your home.”

She says she’s proud that CS#1 hasn’t had to stand down or retrench any staff, and has been able to provide meaningful work throughout this time.

“I’m optimistic, humans are resilient and I never cease to be amazed by the resilience of our communities.

“How we pull together now is incredibly important.”

Community Services updates at communityservices1.org/covid

JON Stanhope’s column (CN, June 25) questioned where money had gone from the public purse. Certainly not to fix the woeful neglect of suburban public toilets.

In the older suburbs toilets were built when the local shopping centres were developed. For example: Yarralumla, O’Connor, Lyneham and Downer.

They are a public disgrace, beyond renovation and should be replaced to meet today’s basic health standards.

The toilet seats are old and there are almost no proper facilities for washing and drying hands.

The cubicles are so small that anyone with even a minor disability, such as me with a hip and knee replacement, has a problem; let alone wheelchair access!

In Downer the graffiti-covered toilets have been shut up for years, what an eyesore. Downer Square was given an upgrade earlier this year and that would have been the time to build a new toilet block to meet 21st century health standards.

A new toilet block was recently built on the sports oval in Knox Street, Watson, several hundred metres from the shops. This is open only when sports events are taking place.

Where has the money gone? Trams etcetera, certainly not in the suburbs where basic facilities are needed. I am sure Messrs Barr and Rattenbury would never use them.

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COVER STORY / woodchopping

Shaun takes up woodchopping and builds a club

By Danielle

NOHRA AFTER starting the Hall and District Axemen’s Club about three years ago, president Shaun O’Connor believes it’s the fastest growing woodchopping club in the world. But Shaun wants it to grow even more to keep the sport alive.

“From a personal point of view, woodchopping is one of the oldest Australian sports that’s out there. From a heritage point of view, we should keep that alive,” says Shaun, 50, of Hall, who started woodchopping about six years ago.

Shaun O’Connor... “It’s all about accuracy. It’s probably 60 per cent accuracy and 40 per cent speed and strength.”

The first generation woodchopper had been a community rugby player most of his life until he got to the point where he couldn’t keep playing.

“I still felt young enough to do something physical and thought why not try something else?” he says.

Shaun had always loved watching woodchopping events at the Sydney Royal Easter Show and the Canberra Show and always wondered how people got into it.

It turned out to be a pretty challenging sport for Shaun to learn because it’s a “father-son sport”, he says. There’s also not an axemen’s club in the region and the nearest one is the South Coast and Tablelands Axemen’s Association, which is based about two hours away in Moss Vale.

“It’s usually passed down from father to son or from father to daughter,” says Shaun, who ended up contacting a local Canberra man to see if he would show him the woodchopping basics, which he did.

Then, when Shaun started entering competitions, he would get guys coming up to him giving him suggestions on his technique.

“The more competitions you go in, the better you get,” he says.

“It takes you a while to learn the basics. It’s a long apprenticeship.”

But when Shaun headed up the Hall club three years ago, he wanted to change this, and says anyone can join their club and learn the sport.

After starting off with just five members, the club has about 25 men and women, with the youngest member, Molly, chopping at age five, and the oldest about 60.

“We’re getting new people all the time. On average, we’re getting about one person every two

From left, Lucy, 10, Gus, 8, and Molly O’Connor, 5, with Hall and District Axemen’s Club president and dad Shaun O’Connor.

Photos: Holly Treadaway months. We’re also the newest woodchopping club that I know of,” he says.

But Shaun wants to double the club’s membership and would love to see 50 people in the club.

“There’s only 800 competitors in the whole of Australia. It’s a dying sport, but it’s clubs like us that keep it going,” he says.

Competitively, the sport is about chopping through the wood the fastest, according to Shaun, who says people (like himself initially) usually think it’s a sport that’s strength-focused.

“I’ve always been fairly strong in the upper body, so I thought, I’ve got the strength to do it, I’ll give it a go,” he says.

“But I was ill-informed. It’s all about accuracy. It’s probably 60 per cent accuracy and 40 per cent speed and strength.”

Some people are naturally better than others but Shaun says it’ll generally take someone five years to get to the point where they’re not a novice anymore.

“You move out of novice once you win an open chop,” he says.

“It took me about three years to move from novice to opens. Some people do it in a year, some people do it in 10 years. Out of our group we have two other people out of novice.”

During competitions there’s a number of events. Shaun says there’s the standing block,

which is when it’s standing upright and it’s chopped down “like a tree”, the double saw and there’s chainsawing, too.

“With competitions you get to meet a good bunch of people and you get to go to some places you wouldn’t ever think to go for competitions,” he says.

“And the best thing is you get to chop with and against your family. My son’s 15. We get to chop together and against each other.”

He says it’s also a sport where competitors can compete against the best in the world, right next to them.

“You can’t do that in any other sport,” says Shaun, who got to meet the woodchopping world champion, David Foster, from Tasmania.

“It’s a sport that doesn’t matter when you start, you can do it for a very long time. You can do it until you can’t pick up the axe anymore.”

It’s really safe, too, he says.

“In the last 100,000 hours of competition, there hasn’t been one claim from an injury or incident in Australia,” he says.

In the six years Shaun’s been woodchopping, he says he’s only ever seen a guy cut his foot and get five stitches. But Shaun says everyone in the Hall club wears chainmail socks, which are like the gloves that butchers wear.”

Anyone interested in joining the club, call 0427 363747.

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LETTERS

After 24 years of Labor, we risk a dictatorship LIKE Ken Begg (“Seven Days”, June 25), I also received the upsetting letter from the ACT government stating I was a dangerous driver.

I immediately realised this was a normal snafu I expect from this dictatorial-becoming-tyrannical, government.

ACT residents have an opportunity later this year to institute a change in standards of governance which, in the last few years, have dropped substantially.

Canberrans have a reputation for being the most educated of any society in Australia, but any society that elects a government of the same party for 24 years is asking to be subdued and subject to dictatorship. It does not matter the change, any alteration stimulates different thinking and rejuvenates political debate.

Tim Mather, via email

ment’s recent decision to offer grants to renovate is being given to those who can afford to build bigger homes, and at the expense of others who have less.

We have homeless people from the fires who are still not getting their help and now we offer grants to those who can afford it most. How are we “all in this together”?

We have people from the bottom of society who could do with a hand up, and now another 6000 Qantas people have lost their jobs. I hope JobSeeker will continue until late next year or until our economy can pick up again.

To give some credit, the Liberals were elected on good, safe policy against an opposition that stank to high heaven. At a local level, Labor stinks but the Canberra Liberals are very quiet and not throwing punches where needed. Some even ask: “Who is Alistair Coe?” I remember Kate Carnell – always visible.

Russ Morison, Theodore

Looking for leadership Some ‘smart’ thinking I AM starting to wonder just how conservative and asleep-at-the-wheel the federal government is.

We have a country that is owned in large part by others, some of whom are not our real friends and we have no real control over what they do (e.g. Darwin Port).

We need some leadership. The govern-

WENDY Macklin’s feature (CN, June 25) on a new smart TV in her household prompts questions in relation to anything with the word “smart” in front of it.

Is it ecologically sound? How much noise does it make? How much energy does it use? Are you exposed to harmful radiofrequency radiation? Does it make

commanders and folk back home is not detectable.

Colliss Parrett, Barton

dose of dorin

Power to the paper!

I WAS delighted to see that Bishop Pat Power had written another article in “CityNews”. His opinions are so uplifting in these difficult times. I also would like to congratulate you on all the wide range of opinions in “City News” – it is a must to pick up on a Thursday. Please continue to encourage Pat Power to keep writing.

Katherine McCarthy, Deakin

Mary has her reasons your life more complicated? Are you under surveillance with your privacy compromised?

Is it addictive? Is it really necessary at all?

Murray May, Cook

When police lose heart MY letter about US police (“Police may see themselves as aggrieved”, CN, June 18) suggested they may be developing a bunker complex because they feel society is against them.

On June 26, “The Daily Telegraph” reported through a New York source (“Police sit back as shootings rise”) that NY had 125 shootings in the first three weeks of that month, the worst since 1996.

A separate report from Chicago was that a text was sent to police saying: “Just answer your calls and back each other up.

Other than that, zero”.

That city and others have reported shootings have risen by a third this year.

It seems little different to soldiers losing faith in a war when support from their

I PICK up “CityNews” every week mainly because it is not full of real-estate advertising and because it is useful for current information about Canberra.

I am a keen gardener and enjoy Cedric Bryant’s articles, too. Thoroughly enjoying the articles by Pat Power, a very inspiring man in our community. Please keep up the good work.

Mary Boyle, via email

Write to us

Let loose to: editor@citynews.com.au

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EXPERTS OF WODEN

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Whether that be in audio systems, curtains, physiotherapy, property, wills or orthopaedic surgery, “CityNews” speaks with a variety of experts, passionate about sharing their skills and services with the ACT region.

Ashilpa stresses the importance of a will

‘Exciting’ new menu welcomes diners back CANBERRA Southern Cross Club’s Woden Central restaurant has launched an exciting new menu to welcome customers back, says the general manager of food and beverage, Anurag Gautam.

“During the closure we used the time to be more creative with our menu, making sure we still give our customers the same great hospitality but added some elevated, healthier and fresher options to the winter menu,” he says.

“We are being more seasonal driven, with dishes such as lovely winter salads with roasted vegetables.”

More vegetarian options are also on the new menu with falafel burgers made in-house, pumpkin and sage ravioli and saffron risotto, says Anurag.

The restaurant’s regular daily specials are back, too, such as Monday’s steak night and Tuesday’s

schnitzel night.

And, for football fans, one of the upstairs function rooms is being repurposed for customers to enjoy the NRL live on a big screen with casual dining options available.

Anurag says the club is working hard to ensure they create a hygienic and safe environment, at the same time offering a great atmosphere for people to get together with their families for a meal or meet up with friends to watch the footy.

“It’s so good to get together again and see people come to the club and enjoy themselves,” he says.

Woden Central at Canberra Southern Cross Cub, 92-96 Corinna Street, Woden. Bookings are recommended on 6283 7200.

MAKING a will is important at any age and can be put in place as early as 18 years old, says Ashilpa Khanna of Capon & Hubert Lawyers & Mediators.

“A will not only governs how, and to whom, your assets are to be distributed but also can direct your executors as to your funeral wishes or appoint guardian(s) of your minor children,” says Ashilpa, who is a wills and estate planning lawyer.

Ashilpa says it’s important to have a will prepared to ensure that a person’s wishes are given effect when they’re no longer there.

“Not having a will can make lives difficult for your loved ones and end up costing more in trying to administer your estate,” she says.

“There are many important factors to consider, [such as] appointing substitute executors and beneficiaries in the event that your primary is unavailable or predeceased [or establishing] appropriate provisions for blended families.

“It is also important to check your superannuation arrangements.”

Capon & Hubert Lawyers, a well-established firm that has been in business for more than 34 years believe in being accessible to clients, Ashilpa says.

Lawyer Ashilpa Khanna of Capon & Hubert Lawyers & Mediators.

“I enjoy my work and the people I work with, we have a very supportive work culture which in turn drives me to do the best for my clients,” she says.

Capon & Hubert Lawyers & Mediators, first floor, 32-38 Townshend Street, Phillip. Call 6152 9203 or visit chsol.com.au

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Woden Central is proudly part of the Canberra Southern Cross Club 14 CityNews July 9-15, 2020

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EXPERTS OF WODEN Where old charm meets new technology WITH people spending more time at home and listening to music, Duratone Hi-Fi has seen an increase in people digging out their records and updating their audio systems, says owner Fay Cull.

With 52 years of staff knowledge, Duratone Hi-Fi is passionate about sound, with a focus on selling, servicing and maintaining high-end audio systems and equipment.

It’s also a place where old-world charm meets the latest technology, according to Fay, who says customers who want retro items like turntables, amplifiers, speakers and vinyl will find them in store alongside the very latest streaming devices.

“It’s like stepping back in time in some ways but we also have the newest technology, and you see this

sense of ‘old-meets-new’ when you walk in the door,” she says.

Fay says the unique thing about Duratone Hi-Fi is the expertise, knowledge and experience held by staff.

“Our staff focus on the personal requirements of each customer, which means they can deliver a personalised experience like no other,” she says.

“Depending on what music they wish to listen to, we can advise on the best equipment available to suit.

“We can repair systems for those who want to maintain an older set-up, trade-in or put together the right system for them, [too].”

Duratone Hi-Fi, on the corner of Botany Street and Altree Court, Phillip. Call 6282 1333 or visit duratone.com.au

New old stock, run-out models and pre-owned gear: • amps • turntables • receivers • speakers • thousands of LP records to choose from

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PHYSIOTHERAPIST Vera Chalneva has joined practice principal Greg Nash at the Manuka Woden Physiotherapy and Sports Injury Clinic’s Woden location.

Vera, who’s a recent graduate from the University of Canberra, has a background in gymnastics and dance and is also a gymnastics coach at Queanbeyan YMCA in her spare time.

She says she has a passion for remedial massage as well as supporting those with dance-related injuries and back pain.

Specialising in musculoskeletal physiotherapy, Greg says he covers the areas of sports physiotherapy, orthopaedics and occupational health and safety.

He also sees patients who are experiencing pain from past surgeries or injury.

“Having Vera join the team is

extremely complementary to the practice, particularly as I look after the footy players at Gridiron ACT and my daughter is a ballet teacher and has danced since she was a child,” Greg says.

“Vera is able to provide support in women’s health issues and will assist me as she gradually builds up her clientele.”

With a focus on making it as easy as possible for patients to get to their physiotherapy appointment, Greg says the practice has a 24-hour number people can call for urgent requests or if they need to change an appointment.

Manuka Woden Physiotherapy and Sports Injury Clinic, 48 Corinna Street, Woden. Call 6295 6896, email manukawodenphysio@ outlook.com or visit manukawodenphysio.com.au

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advertising feature Caring but challenging Pilates classes

bulky timber pelmet over the top of the curtains.

“It can also be used as curtains with sheers behind for added privacy,” she says.

Backed with more than 50 years’ experience, Alexanders Furnishings also offers other curtain systems to suit personal preferences and a wide range of blinds and accessories.

Roz says they are open, receiving orders, as well as making and installing products according to the COVID-19 guidelines, and are back to their usual hours of 8.30am-5pm, Monday-Friday and 8.30am1pm, Saturdays.

THE Pilates Centre Canberra is a sanctuary where clients can feel cared for – but they’ll work hard too, says owner Felicia DarbyshirePirie.

“Our delivery is professional but it’s also a very comfortable environment, the kind of place our clients want to be,” says Felicia.

“We understand that in recent times people feel exposed and unsure about being close to other people, so we have ensured that all our equipment is correctly spaced out, with hand washing facilities and hand sanitiser available, without it feeling like a clinical environment.

“Our clients will work hard while they’re here, but we want them to leave knowing that we care.”

Having taught Pilates for more than 13 years, Felicia says she discovered a love for it while studying massage and says that it can support other exercises, make people feel good and get the body working, whether they are fit already or deconditioned from lack of exercise.

The Pilates Centre Canberra is a host site for BASI, the world-leading Pilates instructor training school, which Felicia says she’s very proud to be a part of.

“In my opinion it’s the best Pilates training in the world, it’s an incredible platform for anyone looking to enhance their knowledge in Pilates, or become a fully qualified Pilates instructor,” she says.

Alexanders Furnishings, Shop 5, Paul’s Centre, Hindmarsh Drive, Phillip. Call 6281 1611.

The Pilates Centre Canberra, 58 Colbee Court, Phillip. Call 6162 1793.

Alexanders Furnishings owners Lew and Roz Rebbeck.

‘EVO’ is key to energy-efficient insulation THE most energy-efficient way to insulate the home is by fitting curtains that sit close to the windows, say Roz and Lew Rebbeck, owners of Alexanders Furnishings.

Roz and Lew recommend “EVO”, a curtain-heading system that is extremely effective at preventing loss of heat or cooling at any time of year.

“You can choose any fabric you like, as the key is the EVO tracking system,” Roz says.

“It creates a track close to the window which helps keep warm or cool air inside and allows for a smaller stack when open, [letting] in more valuable winter sunlight.”

Roz says EVO has developed new track sections that incorporate a sleek and “invisible” pelmet system, meaning there’s no need to install a traditional

Pilates Centre Canberra owner Felicia Darbyshire-Pirie.

At the Pilates Centre Canberra we offer the full Pilates studio experience • Individualised training in Private, Duet or small group settings • Reformer and Matwork group classes • Online Matwork classes • BASI Pilates International Host site (Pilates teacher training) Book a class today on 6162 1793 or email us info@pilatescentre.com.au

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CityNews July 9-15, 2020 17

THE EXPERTS

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Kim Persson, left, and Sophie McLean.

Kim renovates homes to better value DESPITE the uncertainty of a global pandemic, the codirector of Your Property Profits, Kim Persson, believes now is the best time for home owners to sell.

“The Canberra property market is a quiet achiever,” Kim says.

“With the majority of the territory’s population employed at a state or federal level, Canberra’s property market won’t be as affected by the current events as the rest of Australia.”

Kim says housing values have grown 4.7 per cent in Canberra over the past year and experts are predicting that this high will hold, even if the country is hit by an economic downturn.

“Now is the time to invest in your property by renovating in order to sell for more and sell faster,” says Kim. “Buyers are returning to the market and they are looking for value for money, so the need to have your property looking its absolute best and stand out has never been greater.”

Kim and her business partner Sophie McLean make renovating accessible to everyone through their company, Your Property Profits. They say that they cover all the upfront costs of the renovation for their clients so they can sell their home faster and for a higher price.

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Dr Roberts shares his expertise with students ONE of Orthopaedics ACT’s expert surgeons, Dr Chris Roberts, has been promoted to clinical associate professor at the ANU Medical School.

The specialist in hand, wrist, elbow and shoulder surgery also lectures and runs tutorials in anatomy, teaches surgery to senior medical students and takes students with him for clinical placements throughout the year.

At Orthopaedics ACT, the largest single practice in the region, Dr Roberts works alongside six other orthopaedic surgeons, two specialist paediatric ​orthopaedic surgeons and one sport and exercise physician.

Practice manager Deborah Henry says the practice is in an ideal position to manage orthopaedic problems, from head to toe.

“The sub-specialty trained doctors offer nonsurgical and surgical treatment for all aspects of musculoskeletal injury and disease,” she says. ​Orthopaedics ACT provides expertise in the treatment of injuries and diseases affecting the musculoskeletal system (bones, joints, tendons, muscles and ligaments).

“All our surgeons have sub-specialty fellowship qualifications in their respective areas, having completed training in international centres renowned for their excellence, and for the complexity of the problems and surgeries that they deal with,” says Deborah.

“In addition to treatment of private patients, all our surgeons contribute to the public system in Canberra, with elective orthopaedic surgery or managing the complex trauma at Canberra Hospital.

“Our practice also has a dedicated nurse-led clinic for our patient care.”

Orthopaedics ACT, Woden Specialist Medical Centre, Level 2, 90 Corinna Street, Woden. Call 6221 9320 or visit orthoact.com.au

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ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

INSIDE

Return of our cinema reviews DOUGAL MACDONALD

The piano man’s putting on a virtual variety show

By Helen

MUSA THESE days, Chris Endrey is rarely called “Chris” around the arts traps in Canberra. He is simply known by his professional name, “Endrey”.

He’s the piano man, singer, ANU graduate and all-round talker famous for the “In Canberra Tonight” variety shows he coproduced over 2013-14 where he interviewed everyone from Andrew Denton to Dr Philip Nitschke, creator of “Canbeurovision”.

Now he hosts the virtual variety show, “The World From Here”, streaming live from the stage of the Canberra Theatre.

I caught up with Endrey as he was preparing a session themed ‘’Pleasure”, featuring rugby player and environmental activist David Pocock.

“I’ve embarked on an exploration of the world and ideas I think are under-presented – I hope the things I learned through my journey and the interviews and games and stories are useful for audiences,” Endrey says of his new venture, commissioned as part of “CTC@home” series running until mid-August.

Although he can’t give us a look into the future because guests are hired as the season goes along, he’s already done the

Pocock interview, in which they talked about isolation and the environment.

“I’m interested in experiences that make people more than the sum of their parts.

It was a pleasure to have a chance to hear David’s perspective and he was a good match for us,” he says.

So what games does he play in his show?

“Whatever happens to bring a new focus,” he says.

“For instance, Nick Kyrgios is a huge superstar and we’ve been asking our audiences to send in funny, interesting stories of famous Canberrans they might have met at the bakery or some such.”

“Maybe we will be able to get Nick,” he says, as he’s running a poll where you can vote for a single interviewee for his program… So far Nick Kyrgios is running number one and Patricia Piccinini, of Sky Whale fame, is number two.

“The World From Here” is a learning curve for him as it proceeds without his favourite people – audiences.

“Canberra Theatre tried to get me to do a virtual Canberra ‘Eurovision’ but my own view was that to take such a precious live event and transition it to online would be counter-productive.”

What he’s come up with more resembles “In Canberra Tonight”, a live nightly show with a band that he and co-producer Meg O’Connell wound up six years ago at Old Parliament House.

Piano man, singer, ANU graduate and all-round talker, Chris Endrey, in a promo image for Canberra Theatre.

“Although we had great crowds and great guests, it just wasn’t sustainable as there are so many indie artists practising here,” he says.

That turns out to be an advantage during the COVID-19 crisis as those artists are ready and raring to go.

“It’s been really easy to find incredible talent, there are so few chances for people to appear in public with limited broadcast space… it is so nice to take some of these people and create a new space,” he says.

Besides, his aim of “finding something so completely about the big gap between how things are and how they could be” provided him with “a deep playground”.

He first came from Melbourne to Canberra to do a bachelor of international relations at the ANU, then returned to do his masters in museum curatorship, music composition and physics (2009-2012), gradually building a music career as a solo artist, band member and stand-up comedian, which he says oddly gave him the opportunity to focus more on

content than production.

These days he’s one of the country’s most in-demand performers, playing in sex-pop band “Fun Machine”, occasionally appearing nude, once hosting a Sydney Writers Festival session by day and a rap concert by night.

“As an entertainer I don’t think I’ve been in the one place for 12 months for years,” he says. “My partner moved to Melbourne in 2019, so I moved down there to be with her this year and spent lockdown in Brunswick.”

Not any more, thanks to the Canberra Theatre.

“I’ve managed to escape,” he says. “I’m always happy to have more time in Canberra and I’m here now because each weekly episode is shot in real-time.”

Endrey says he has talked to British writer Robert Wringham, author of “Escape Everything”, about the traps in contemporary work for a session called “Eliteness”.

Other themes are “Abundance”, “Transcendence”, “Conflict and Violence” and “Loneliness”.

“I like to cover the sort of things Canberrans would be interested in, albeit from my own perspective, I provide a window on our own society for contested, unconsidered ideas,” he says.

“Beyond that, I’m just the content monkey.”

“The World From Here”, Fridays until August 15, accessible at facebook.com/ canberratheatrecentre

CityNews July 9-15, 2020 19

CINEMA / reviews return

Story of birth, death and beauty in the paddocks “Bellbird” (M) A PROJECTOR malfunction at the cinema is the reason for my being unable to explain the title of filmmaker Hamish Bennett’s delightful, sensitive and, for city dwellers, informative 96-minute film set on an NZ sheep and dairy cattle farm.

If that intro, the first I’ve written since COVID-19 blighted our lives, is a bit enigmatic, please trust me. I’m glad I saw “Bellbird”, stylistically very up-to-date yet in its contents more than a little evocative of the series of the same name that the ABC ran for more than 1000 episodes (initially of 15 minutes each!) beginning in 1967.

Bennett’s film tells how farmer Ross (Marshall Napier) copes with his private journey through the unplanned-for hell of losing a beloved wife. How Ross handles it forms the fabric underlying the traditional alpha male response – bottle it up inside, reveal it to nobody, learn to live with it.

Ross’s son Bruce (Cohen Holloway) may be on the edge of the autism spectrum.

Bruce works sorting useful items out of other people’s rubbish at the local tip. He doesn’t know much about farming. But he tries. He gets some help from his boss Connie (Rachel House) whose strong sense of humour, particularly of the ridiculous kind, sits well with a no-nonsense outlook.

These are the film’s main characters.

They tell Ross’ story in a beautiful Northland environment where birth and death in the paddocks are routine. Bennett uses those elements to provide drama and humour.

Marshall Napier as farmer Ross in “Bellbird”.

For me, “Bellbird” resonated in a quite personal way. My late father-in-law farmed sheep and beef cattle in NZ’s South Wairarapa region. I watched the film with the benefit of not only having been on the property but also of sharing the second half of my life with his first daughter. I might never have seen it if that projector hadn’t objected to being woken up after its Covid-19 slumber.

At Palace Electric and Dendy

“Dark Waters” (M) REMEMBER “Erin Brockovich”, Steven Soderbergh’s film about the real-life, single mom who took on and ultimately won a

legal battle about contamination of a city’s water supply?

It won Julia Roberts the Best Actress Oscar in 2001.

Now, actor Mark Ruffalo has produced and Todd Haynes has directed “Dark Waters” to tell a similar story, on a rather larger scale. It ends with a slide that suggests that the body of everyone on this planet harbours at least one molecule of the man-made substance PFOA, the acronym for perfluorooctanoic acid, commonly known as Teflon. And PFOA is a known killer.

That’s why when buying non-stick kitchen pans, you should look for the label saying that it doesn’t contain PFOA.

Ruffalo, Haynes and writer Nathaniel Rich display more than a little courage by making “Dark Waters”. Based on a “New York Times” magazine article “The Lawyer Who Became DuPont’s Worst Nightmare”, it casts one of the world’s largest chemical companies as its villain.

Every story with a villain needs a hero. Here it’s lawyer Rob Bilott, whom Ruffalo plays with nicely-judged control. We have to take at face value the verity of the 15 years in which Bilott, a partner in the Cincinnati law firm that farmer Wilbur Tennant (Bill Camp) engaged when his cattle started dying after drinking water from a stream into which DuPont had been discharging chemical wastes, took the giant company on full frontal.

The screenplay’s illumination of the US structure of powers and functions distributed between the central and state governments and their law courts is not hard to understand.

Delivered in feel-good dramatic structures, DuPont’s chicanery and downright lying during the film’s various legal passages make for righteous audience indignation. The good guys win.

But even today, the war isn’t over. As satirist iconoclast Tom Lehrer once sang about his native US: “don’t drink the water and don’t breathe the air”.

“Love Sarah” (PG) DETERMINED to fulfil her late mother’s dream of opening a bakery in Notting Hill, 19-year-old Clarissa (Shannon Tarbet) enlists the help of her mother’s best friend Isabella (Shelley Conn) and her eccentric estranged grandmother Mimi (Celia Imrie).

Eliza Schroeder’s feature film debut after a small collection of TV short films is short on surprises, long on predictability and overall quite pleasant. Into this gaggle of women, Schroeder and co-writer Jake Brunger insert Matthew (Rupert PenryJones). Is he Clarissa’s biological father?

Sarah died without telling.

Every film needs a star. For “Love Sarah”, that’s Mimi, who solves business problems and catches the eye of Felix (Bill Paterson) who’s inventing a new burglar alarm.

Celia Imrie, an actress with an impressive CV (169 cinema and TV roles), who will turn 70 next week, plays Mimi with gusto, showing those younger women what’s what when the chips are down.

At Palace Electric and Dendy

At Palace Electric

WATCH IT! / streaming and stuff

Phooey to screen theatre at home

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20 CityNews July 9-15, 2020

GOING to the movies at home? Sure, I think it’s manageable. Barely. Lights off, volume up, maybe some popcorn and it’s something close to a cinematic experience.

Theatre at home though? I don’t think that’s an experience to compare.

Over the last few months a bidding war between multiple platforms has raged to acquire the rights to the phenomenon “Hamilton”, a stage production about American Founding Father Alexander Hamilton. It’s raked in every possible award you can think of from Tonys, for excellence in Broadway, to Pulitzers, which go to the highest of creative talent.

Disney threw $75 million in the ring and took out the rights to now bring a recorded version of the stage production to its streaming platform Disney Plus, from July 3.

It was originally slated for a cinematic release in 2021, but Disney’s shift to bring it to the convenience of homes represents another example of the way the pandemic has brought the future of entertainment consumption to the present.

I’d rather wait to experience the grandeur of a stage production in person, how it’s meant to be. With tickets sold out for so far in the future though, perhaps Disney and

“Hamilton”... Disney threw $75 million for the rights to now bring a recorded version of the stage production to its streaming platform. maybe soon other platforms will bring stage productions to stream as a “tie over” tactic. This could mean that you can see what all the fuss is about from the loungeroom, while you wait for a theatre seat in the distant future.

Television, films and now stage productions, too? It’s getting even more overwhelming.

If all the content on offer has you a little confused on what to watch and where to find it, here’s a pro tip to make forays into the streaming world a little less daunting: chuck the words “just watch” into Google and the first result will greet you with a website where all the hard work has been done.

You’ll see tabs of all streaming services in Australia neatly lined up for browsing. Click on any of them for a preview of the service’s entire

catalogue so you know what’s available on that platform, before you go and pay for it.

Furthermore, if there’s a show or movie that’s particularly got your attention but you’re unsure of where to find it, the website also has a search function to tell you which service has the content you want to view.

A website like this becomes all the more useful as interestingly, we are beginning to see a movement away from free trial periods lots of the streaming services offer.

In the last few months, Netflix ditched their 30-day free trial, perhaps due to the confidence they have in their massive Australian market.

It’s much easier to jump on a site such as Just Watch, rather than to go through those annoying motions we are all more than sick of: first name, last name, gender, age, email, credit card, mobile phone, your great aunt’s previous dog’s name for a security question in case you forget the password you’ve re-entered four times.

All this just to get to your “free” trial that conveniently automatically renews at the end of the month should you forget to cancel.

If sites such as Just Watch become the new way we “trial” what’s on a platform before we pay, then other services may get rid of their “free” periods as their library is now accessible for our investigation before we have to actually sign up.

It’s great to see the way our entertainment mediums continue to evolve and cross over in these ways, but maybe we don’t get too excited.

There is that 2019 film adaptation of “Cats”, one of the “best worst movies ever made”, to keep in mind.

DINING / Caribou, Kingston

Home-style Canadian comfort YOU can’t miss the theme at Caribou – Canadian through and through.

The famous Canadian saying “Eh!” is painted, graffiti style, here and there. Photos of the west coast, east coast and every bit in between are a major feature, as are vintage tourism posters and elk and caribou artwork.

And then there’s the ice hockey playing on oversized screens, and a section of one wall honouring “The Great One”, hockey player Wayne Gretzsky.

If Canadian-born owner Leeroy Petersen is in the house, you won’t miss him. Just look for the guy with the ear-to-ear grin and mega outgoing personality (often wearing a Canadian sports shirt or cap).

Just before Canada Day (July 1), we headed to Caribou for “home-style Canadian comfort food with some classic twists”, which is how Leeroy describes the menu.

We began with a famous clamato juice cocktail, the glass rimmed with Montreal spice salt and garnishes including smoky bacon jerk, jalapeno, dill pickle, celery, green beans and lemon. It went down super well.

I was born in Canada and got a kick out of the eclectic interior which Leeroy has designed around

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Caribou pizza… loaded with pepperoni, red onion, mushrooms, chilli and topped with peppery rocket.

Cauliflower poppers… deep fried and served with an American ranch dressing.

Photos: Wendy Johnson

what he misses about being back in his North American birthplace. The menu is nostalgic for Leeroy too, with dishes he experienced on a trek across the vast country.

We didn’t have the poutine ($15) which originated in Quebec – hot fries loaded with squeaky, chewy cheese curds (no cheating with mozzarella) and covered in hot gravy which melts the cheese.

Instead of the moment-on-the-lips-lifetimeon-the-hips poutine we shared other starters.

The soft and tender barbecue pork belly bites with Canadian maple syrup glaze were yum, if you like sweet with your meat ($16).

We dived into the deep-fried dill pickles in a panko crumb, dipping them into chipotle aioli ($12).

Eat them when they’re hot so they don’t go soggy.

The cauliflower poppers are also deep fried and served with an American ranch dressing, often made with buttermilk ($12). Then we indulged in hand-made mac’n’cheese balls ($12), stuffed with macaroni and cheese.

We were getting full so shared the Caribou pizza ($12) loaded with pepperoni, red onion, mushrooms, chilli and topped with peppery rocket.

With wines, the “whites like the snow on the Rockies” are $30 to $53 a bottle. The “reds like the maple leaf in the Canadian flag” are $30 to $80.

Caribou is super relaxed. You can shoot some pool, play darts, hang out on the outside wooden picnic tables, or settle into one of the quiet zones away from the bar, if you don’t want to be in the thick of it.

Caribou, Green Square, Jardine Street, Kingston.

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ARTS IN THE CITY

Locals up for short film award

By Helen Musa “SAFETY Net”, the short film featuring young Canberran Will Best, will be screened in competition for Best Short Film at the “Whānau Mārama: New Zealand International Film Festival” in Auckland on Saturday, July 25. Although shot in western Sydney, its director Anthea Williams originally hails from Aotearoa. Alas, because of travel restrictions, Will can’t be there.

ARTSACT tells us that work is now finished on stage 2 of Belconnen Arts Centre, a $15 million upgrade which sees exhibition space increased by more than 160 square metres and the construction of a new, flexible performance space which can hold up to 400 patrons.

There are theatre dressing rooms, bathrooms and a green room, a new rehearsal space, a loading dock and an events kitchen.

ART Gallery of New South Wales director Michael Brand has announced new dates for the postponed Archibald, Wynne and Sulman Prizes 2020 exhibition, to run from September 26 to January 10. Previously scheduled to open last month, the exhibition was postponed due to COVID-19. The eligibility period has been extended, with works created between April 3, 2019 and August 14, 2020 now eligible for the Archibald and Wynne and works created between April 3, 2018 and August 14, 2020 now eligible for the Sulman.

Details at artgallery.nsw.gov.au SUKI & Hugh Gallery has a change of exhibition, with “Dead Leaf Dreaming: Vignettes” showcasing new works in watercolour and graphite by Sharon Field. This is the third show at the gallery by Burra resident Field, a much-awarded nature artist and volunteer firefighter, who says that while some of these plants and insects have a toughness that we can barely begin to imagine, they are still fragile. The title of each work is drawn from poems by Dorothea Mackellar. Showing at 38A Gibraltar

William Best… featured in ‘Safety Net’, which is up for Best Short Film at the “Whānau Mārama: New Zealand International Film Festival”, Auckland, July 25.

Street, Bungendore, 10am to 4pm Saturday and Sunday, until July 19.

ACTING teacher Peter Wilkins, whose “Acting For the Fun of It” course we often preview, tells us that an unprecedented 21 people have signed up for his “Acting Shakespeare” classes, including teachers, students, a stonemason, public servants, unemployed people, an artist and an architect. “Some simply want to do something during the challenging circumstances of the public health crisis,” the amazed Wilkins says.

MELBOURNE Symphony Orchestra has been busy during lockdown on the “AFL Club Anthem Project”.

It’s a musical tribute that saw MSO musicians come together to record club anthems on their centuries-old instruments. Some date back further than the AFL itself, with the oldest Brisbane’s use of “La Marseillaise” from 1792 and Geelong’s use of “The Toreador Song” from “Carmen”, written in 1875. “You would be amazed how many musicians and staff in the MSO are passionate footy fans,” conductor Ben Northey says.

CityNews July 9-15, 2020 21

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Joanne Madeline Moore

General knowledge crossword No. 741

Your week in the stars – July 13-19, 2020 ARIES (Mar 21 – Apr 20)

Avoid being a disruptive Ram and getting drawn into disputes with family, friends or colleagues. This week will work best if you keep your nose out of other people’s business and concentrate on pursuing personal projects. Mars (your patron planet) is powering through your sign, which encourages fiery bursts of inspiration.

However good ideas on their own won’t get you far. You must combine creativity with hard work and practical productivity.

TAURUS (Apr 21 – May 21)

Avoid being a stubborn and intractable Bull. This week’s stars highlight communication so listen closely to what a loved one is trying to tell you. Jupiter and Uranus encourage you to be more broadminded and adventurous. If you stick to old ideas and outdated routines, then stagnation will set in (personally, professionally and romantically). But if you are open to progressive changes and communicate in positive ways, then lucky opportunities will follow.

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GEMINI (May 22 – June 21)

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CANCER (June 22 – July 23)

Mercury is now moving forwards in your sign, so communication should start to improve. But don’t let relationship responsibilities get you down, as the planets amplify current problems. Attached Crabs – do your best to build bridges as you work through sensitive issues in a careful and caring way. Singles – don’t waste your precious time on a part-time partner. Look for a lover who is ready to commit to a long-term union. They will be well worth the wait.

LEO (July 24 – Aug 23)

Jupiter and Pluto oppose the Sun (on Tuesday and Wednesday) which highlights your tempestuous side and boosts your tendency to be jealous, possessive, bossy or overbearing. Do your best to loosen your intense grip on a loved one Leo – otherwise you’ll just drive them away with your dramatic and demanding Diva-like antics. It’s time to meditate, contemplate and re-calibrate! The more you wind down and relax, the better the week will be.

VIRGO (Aug 24 – Sept 23)

Mercury (your power planet) is moving forwards in your hopes and wishes zone.

So you’re keen to recharge your run-down batteries, make plans for the present and ponder your future. But avoid over-crowding your schedule, overcommitting your time and making promises you can’t keep. And don’t worry about making mistakes. As birthday great Arianna Huffington reminds us: “The things that go wrong are often the very things that lead to other things going right.”

1 What is a bicycle built for two? (6) 8 What is a beekeeper known as? (8) 9 Which German village was the site of a Nazi concentration camp in WWII? (6) 10 The cosmos is known as the what? (8) 11 To set upon with force, is to do what? (6) 12 Name a gelatine-like product of certain seaweeds. (4) 13 Which long broad strip of wool etc, is worn about the neck for warmth? (5) 16 What are the yellow substances of eggs called? (5) 19 To touch something, is to do what? (4) 21 Name a vital colourless, odourless, gaseous element.

(6) 22 Which establishment is used for keeping fish, etc? (8) 23 Name a camel-like South American ruminant. (6) 24 Name a non-commissioned officer of rank above that of corporal. (8) 25 To take up space, is to do what? (6)

2 To be free from living germs, is to be what? (7) 3 What is an alternative expression for loss of hope? (7) 4 Name a NZ tea-tree, and an ACT suburb. (6) 5 Name the place where Jesus was crucified. (7) 6 What is another term for daily? (7) 7 Which term designates rivers or brooks? (7) 13 What is a region of contact between processes of nerve cells? (7) 14 What do we call an insurance statistician? (7) 15 Which other term describes a blacksmith? (7) 17 Which games are held every four years? (7) 18 What is the patella more commonly known as?

(7) 20 Name a widely cultivated fruit, used as a vegetable. (6)

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Sudoku medium No. 271

SCORPIO (Oct 24 – Nov 22)

The intensity levels ratchet up this week, as Pluto (your patron planet) opposes the Sun. Issues involving relatives, neighbours, travel, education, religion and/or social media could be particularly fraught. Jealous thoughts and possessive behaviour are also a danger. If you’re not careful, then you could find yourself embroiled in a fiery argument or a frustrating power struggle. Smart Scorpios will step back, calm down and gain some much-needed perspective.

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SAGITTARIUS (Nov 23 – Dec 21)

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With Mercury moving forwards and the Sun opposing Jupiter, hasty hubris and fiery foolishness could land you in hot water this week! So make sure you think things through before you speak, act, drive and decide! Financial matters must be considered carefully too. Steady persistence will get you a lot further than flashin-the-pan promises. Your motto for the moment is from birthday great Nelson Mandela: “A winner is a dreamer who never gives up.”

CAPRICORN (Dec 22 – Jan 20)

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Conscientious Capricorn - your fastidious side is likely to go into overdrive, as the stars amp up your obsession with perfection. Relations with loved ones will be strained and the more you try to organise them, the worse things will be. So avoid getting drawn into pointless power-plays. The best way you can help family and friends is to support them in practical ways, as they pursue their ambitions and follow their dreams. Criticism is out, and encouragement is in!

AQUARIUS (Jan 21 – Feb 19)

Aquarians are free spirits and you could go missing in action this week, as the planets boost your tendency to detach or run away from difficult situations.

Heading for the hills or escaping into a private fantasy land seems appealing but the current problems will still be waiting for you when you return. So you need to get the balance right between dealing with daily challenges when they occur and retreating into your own wild and wacky inner world.

PISCES (Feb 20 – Mar 20)

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If you’re involved with a class, group, club or organisation, then expect power plays or personality clashes. There could also be a problem involving a major hope or wish that you have for the future. Don’t give up on your dreams! Keep going towards your goals with gusto and perseverance. So your mantra is from birthday great Nelson Mandela: “There is no passion to be found playing small… in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living.”

Copyright Joanne Madeline Moore 2020

Solution next edition

Sudoku hard No. 270

OPEN TO PUBLIC – BUY DIRECT & SAVE

22 CityNews July 9-15, 2020

Down

LIBRA (Sept 24 – Oct 23)

The good news? With Mercury now moving forwards in your career zone, work matters (for the employed) and job prospects (for the unemployed) should start to improve. The bad news? It’s not a particularly good week to host a jolly family reunion or bring up sensitive childhood issues, as Jupiter and Pluto fuel arguments and amplify problems. So do your best to be kind, diplomatic and non-confrontational, as you extend the olive branch of peace.

Solution next edition

Across

Crossword No. 740

If you have a USB port, Songland can transfer your CDs onto a supplied USB stick

This week you’ll be walking a financial tightrope as the Sun, Jupiter and Pluto stir up your money zones and you’re primed for a spontaneous spending spree. But can your bank balance support what your heart desires? In order to avoid future problems, you must think before you spend and think before you speak. Thank goodness Mercury (your ruling planet) is now direct. So, communication and common sense should gradually improve as the week progresses.

GARDENING

Chris’ Trees

Hard to rival... a display of heathers.

Don’t dismiss the hardy classics ONE would think plants that have grown in the wild for millennia, and then domesticated for gardens, would never go out of fashion.

Rosemary, thyme and others were grown for their flowers, perfume, medicinal and culinary purposes. And yet plants do go out of fashion, with new fads taking their place. Often these new varieties have only been around for a few short years, and with all the vagaries of changing climates, may not last the distance.

For example, when we owned our Yass nursery 30 years ago heathers (calluna) and heaths (erica) were popular. The sight of hills covered in purple heather across the north of England and Scotland could bring a tear to the eye for some, as a reminder of home.

“Country Life” magazine in the UK has reported that the Heather Society is closing down due to falling membership.

In the 1960s it had 1500 members, now dropped

to 150, also not helped by the small number of heather varieties grown. A Lincolnshire nursery that used to grow more than a million heathers a year is now closed. One Scottish nursery used to grow 900 cultivars, now 30!

These plants grow well in Canberra and, once established, are extremely drought-resistant, will tolerate heat and frosts and are beloved for their floral display in winter. Don’t dismiss them in favour of new, and possibly not tried-and-tested, plants.

There are hundreds of “old-fashioned” reliable plants. Rosemary is a perfect companion for heaths and heathers, and our native plants.

They are in flower now, so it is the perfect time to choose the colours. Keep in mind they will be most effectively planted in groups of the same colour and variety, using the threes, fives or sevens principle. These are also ideal for hanging gardens.

LIKE animals, many plants go into winter hibernation; followed by the soft green leaves that herald the advent of spring. It’s a time of rebirth of nature, with bulbs usually the first to appear; although it will still be a few weeks before the spring garden explodes in a kaleidoscope of colour. To help nature provide the ultimate display, all bulbs can be given a boost with liquid seaweed fertiliser.

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Rosemary... will never go out of fashion.

NORMALLY at this time of the year, snails and slugs would be in hibernation. With regular rainfall and relatively mild weather, these little darlings are still active. You may not readily see them, but while moving some pots in the garden I found a cluster of big slugs with the evidence on geranium leaves. Use Multicrop snail and slug killer, as it’s safer if you have pets, or other inhabitants such as blue-tongue lizards. Check the ingredients of any snail bait for metaldehyde, which was banned in the UK last year as an unacceptable risk to birds and mammals.

FINALLY, it’s the perfect time to divide Campanula persicifolia or Canterbury bells. Enjoy the changing leaf colour of many varieties of salvias to rich autumn purple now flowering has finished.

Then cut to ground level in a month’s time and they can be divided.

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CANBERRA LIVE Weekdays 3pm-6pm @CanberraLive2CC 2cc.net.au

Phone 0451 031 550 info@taqwapainting.com.au ABN: 39617453237

CityNews July 9-15, 2020 23

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