Swan Magazine December 2019

The Publisher, Editor, Writers, and Staff of Swan Magazine wish all our readers

Merry Christmas and a

Happy New Year

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IN THIS ISSUE FEATURES

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Books and Writing

2020 Ethel Webb Awards 5 Just Out 3 Life Writing Workshops 4 The Idler 43 The Noble Recreation 36 Your Voice Matters 6 Business

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Christmas Message Photographer: 123rf

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67 Networking 48 WA Regional Achievement Awards 53

Community Annie’s Collective Wonderland 20 Australian Monarchist League 45 Federal Notes 14 Flinders University News 53 Food for Thought 52 Guildford’s Twilight Market is Back! 9 Notes From Parliament 17 SAFE 54 SVRN 46 The Compassionate Friends 55 The Great Valley Rally 49 Tidings of Joy 16 What’s On 18

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Entertainment

Film 22 Reviews: British Film Festival 23 Fisherman’s Friends 25 The Aeronauts 24 The Professor & The Madman 23 General Last Christmas 23 The Irishman 22 Footnote People in History 50 Swan Stage 30 Reviews Clue the Musical 31 Puss in Boots 29/33 Through the Looking Glass 30 Theatre Companies Halcyon Playhouse 33 TV with Chris 26 Food

High Tea Jack Fruit Leisure

House and Garden

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DISCLAIMER The information in this publication is of a general nature. The articles contained herein are not intended to provide a complete discussion on each subject and or issues canvassed. Swan Magazine does not accept any liability for any statements or any opinion, or for any errors or omissions contained herein.

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BOOKS AND WRITING JUST OUT Title: Author: Publisher: ISBN:

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Now she’s three years into a fifteen-year sentence, away from the daughter she loves and the life she had built. And she is still denying that she is to blame.

Guilty? Tess Gilroy has devoted her life to righting wrongs. Through her job for Innocence UK, a charity which takes on alleged miscarriages of justice, she works tirelessly to uncover the truth.

But when she is asked to take Carrie’s case, Tess realises that if she is to help this woman, she must risk uncovering the secrets she has struggled a lifetime to hide . . .

We’ve all done things we’re not proud of.

The Dog Next Door Tabetha Rogers Beggs Gumnut Press 9781 4735 4348 5

eeking respite from her life in the city, Olivia Summers heads to the seaside town of Whitecap Cove where she once spent a memorable family holiday as a teenager.

Her hopes of a peaceful two-week stay are soon disrupted by the constant barking from the dog next door. Summonsing the courage to complain to the neighbours, Olivia unwittingly finds herself embroiled in a more serious situation.

Crucial to a police enquiry and instructed not to leave town, Olivia learns more about Whitecap Cove than what is written in the tourist brochure.

Along the way she befriends some of the locals and finds herself distracted from her ex’s misdemeanours by the handsome but introspective local detective.

This might not be the restful stay-cation Olivia had planned, but Whitecap Cove has drawn her back and due to the ‘yelp’ of a little dog, her life is about to change.

Copies may be purchased from: www.gumnutpress.com/product-page/the-dog-next-door

or www.Amazon.com.au.

About the Author

Paula Daly is the acclaimed author of six novels. She has been shortlisted for the CWA Gold Dagger for Crime Novel of the Year award, and her books have been developed for the new ITV television series, Deep Water, starring Anna Friel. She was born in Lancashire and lives in the Lake District with her husband, three children, and whippet, Skippy. ~oOo~ Title: Author: Publisher: ISBN:

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About the Author

Tabetha Rogers Beggs is the author of several published short stories, including the award-winning When the Children Came and the internationally published The Woman in the Travel Goods Shop by Strange Days Press (Greece). She is the former chairwoman of both WritingWA and the Katharine Susannah Prichard Writers Centre and continues to advocate for women in the writing sector and the workplace.

Tabetha is currently working on her full length novel, Meet Your Match as well as compiling a collection of her previously unpublished short stories.

Tabetha lives in the Perth Hills with her two children, works a day job in the city and dreams of one day being a full-time writer. ~oOo~ Title: Author: Publisher: ISBN:

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The Sunrise Girl Lisa Wolstenholme MMH Press 9781 4735 4348 5

ver since Joe Morris died, Lucy wakes up at sunrise, cocooned in guilt and barely existing. Two years on, and frustrated by Lucy’s hum-drum existence, best friend Em drags her out on a birthday celebration, catapulting Lucy back into a lifestyle she’d long since left behind.

A series of one-night-stands brings Lucy much-needed escape, but it all comes crashing down when the past comes back to haunt her.

Lucy’s head is a mess, and she knows she needs help, but just as she’s starting to make some headway, Em convinces her a holiday to the party island of Ibiza is all the respite she needs.

Falling back into her former party-girl ways, Lucy soon realises that Em is right. But is Ibiza just a smokescreen?

Fueled by a passionate encounter, and seduced by the island’s hedonistic pull, Lucy makes the bold decision to return.

But when her carefully constructed boundaries become blurred, old habits resurface and she plots her escape.

But Lucy’s past is about to bite again, only this time, there’s nowhere to hide.

Can she face her demons and figure out what she wants, or will Lucy forever be the sunrise girl?

Forgiveness, honesty, raw sensuality and courage. Lucy’s path to self-discovery in The Sunrise Girl will captivate readers with its emotional punch, irony and well-timed humour. It’s a refreshing, passionate tale of what a woman ‘can do’ as opposed

Clear My Name Paula Daly Transworld Digital 9781 4735 4348 5

hen Carrie was accused of brutally murdering her husband’s lover, she denied it. She denied it when they arrested her, when they put her in front of a jury, and when they sent her to prison.

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to what she ‘should’.”

D.D. Line, author & editor.

The Sunrise Girl is a page turner whose central character is raw, flawed, complex and utterly relatable. From the very first page, it had me hooked. You’ll want to read it in one sitting.”

Carolyn Wren, multi-award winning author of the Love Under Fire romantic suspense series.

Copies may be purchased from: www.mmhpress.com.

About the Author

Lisa is a mum, wife, former IT project leader and ex-crisis counselor currently working for the Katharine Susannah Prichard (KSP) Writers’ Centre in Greenmount, Western Australia as the Executive Officer of their publishing service, Wild Weeds Press.

She is also the KSP Board Secretary, has run a writing group at the centre and delivered creative writing and self-publishing workshops. Lisa is drawn to penning stories about life and loss, with a dash of love sometimes thrown in for good measure.

She has two traditional publications: a novelette, When Love Breaks Down, published in August 2019 by Serenity Press, and a short story, The Wash, published in December 2018 by Serenity Press as part of their Passages anthology.

When not writing or loitering around KSP, Lisa enjoys reading, traveling, music and more wine than is good for her. Visit www.lisawolstenholme.com for more details.

LIFE WRITING WORKSHOPS POPULAR AS EVER

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o celebrate Seniors Week, Helen Iles, Chairperson of the Society of Women Writers WA ran two writing workshops at the State Library on 16th November 2019: A Life Writing workshop in the morning and Publishing Your Life Story & Photo Restoration in the afternoon.

The workshops are very popular with seniors and were reduced to $25, to encourage them to attend.

Helen says "This is the eighth year the Society has offered these popular workshops during Seniors Week, to older people who wish to write a memoir for publication or simply want to chronicle their life stories for their family.

“There are many seniors in the community who want to do this, but who are unsure where to begin, or how to organise their material. We were delighted to assist so many in commencing, completing and working towards publishing their family stories and memoirs."

Helen covered a variety of ways of producing memoirs and life stories in addition to traditional publishing, including Flip Books, DVDs, self-publishing, or simply printing a limited number of books for family members.

The twenty-three people who attended were enthusiastic

about Helen's workshops and the confidence they gained to work on their life writing projects.

The next Life Writing workshops are planned for 18 April 2020.

The Society of Women Writers WA meets on the third Tuesday of the month at Citiplace except in December, when the committee has a well-earned break.

Visitors are always welcome. For enquiries about future events, workshops or membership, please telephone 0415 840 031, email swwofwa@gmail.com or visit www.swwofwa.com.au.

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BOOKS AND WRITING 2020 ETHEL WEBB BUNDELL LITERARY AWARDS MARION LOGIE

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he Society of Women Writers WA Inc has launched the 2020 Ethel Webb Bundell Literary Awards for poetry and short stories. There is no set theme and both categories are open to all writers.

Poems may be in any style, up to 100 lines. Short stories are not to exceed 4,000 words. The closing date for entries is 31 March 2020 and winners will be announced on 16 June 2020.

In each category, first prize is $400, second prize is $200 and third prize is $100. Highly commended and commended certificates will also be awarded.

Professor Terri-ann White, author and Director of UWA Publishing will judge the short story entries. Accomplished Western Australian poet, Kevin Gillam, will judge the poetry.

Helen Iles, President of the Society of Women Writers WA, says "In previous years we have received a large number of entries from all over Australia and the judges have commented on the high quality of the entries."

Ethel Webb Bundell was a widely published and prizewinning writer of short fiction, poetry, articles and novels. She was the founding member of Atelier, the WA Magazine Branch of the Society of Women Writers Australia for four years from 1977.

When the WA branch was set up in 1981, Ethel was the inaugural President of the Society and later a life member.

She worked tirelessly to establish and support other writing organisations in WA, as an executive member of the Fellowship of Australian Writers WA, Pen International, Perth and the Australian Society of Authors.

She was also a foundation member of the WA Writers' Council and the Katharine Susannah Pritchard Foundation. She contributed greatly to writing in Western Australia.

Ethel passed away in October 2014 at the age of 89 years.

Guidelines and entry forms are available from the Society’s website www.swwofwa.com.au. For further information, call 0415 840 031, or email swwofwa@gmail.com.

Please enclose a copy of the transaction with your entry. Cash will not be accepted.

6. Please use only paper clips to fasten pages or to attach entry form and payment to postal entries. Entries will not be returned.

They will be responsibly destroyed.

7. PDF preferred for email entries, but Word Docs will be accepted.

8. The Judge’s decision is final. No correspondence or discussion will be entered into.

9. The Society of Women Writers WA Inc reserves the right to publish winning poems on its website and newsletter. Selected entries may be published in an anthology.

10. Copyright remains with the author.

11. Signing of the entry form signifies acceptance of the above conditions.

Enquiries: swwofwa@gmail.com or 0415 840 031 SHORT STORY COMPETITION: Open theme.

Prizes: First $400; Second $200; Third $100. Highly commended and commended certificates will also be awarded.

Closing Date: Entries must be received by 1700 hours on 31 March 2020.

Late entries will not be accepted.

Entry Fees: 1 Entry $8; 2 Entries $15; 3 Entries $21.

Maximum three entries per competitor.

Conditions of Entry: 1. Stories must not exceed 4,000 words.

2. Entries must be the original work of the author, must not have won a prize or been previously published, and must not be under consideration elsewhere.

3. The author’s name must not appear on the manuscript, only on the entry form.

4. Entries must be printed on one side of A4 paper, pages numbered and clearly typed in 12 font (Times New Roman or Courier preferred).

5. Entries may be posted or emailed to the Receiving Officer.

Cheques/money orders to be made payable to The Society of Women Writers WA Inc. Payment may be made by direct deposit to: Westpac Account BSB 036-004 Account No. 147696, quoting EWB and your surname.

Please enclose a copy of the transaction with your entry. Cash will not be accepted.

6. Please use only paper clips to fasten pages or to attach entry form and payment to postal entries. Entries will not be returned.

They will be responsibly destroyed.

7. PDF preferred for email entries, but Word Docs will be accepted.

8.

The Judge’s decision is final. No correspondence or discussion will be entered into.

9.

The Society of Women Writers WA Inc reserves the right to publish winning stories on its website and newsletter. Selected entries may be published in an anthology.

10.

Copyright remains with the author.

11.

Signing of the entry form signifies acceptance of the above conditions.

Winners will be announced on 16 June 2020 and results subsequently posted on the Society’s website: www.swwofwa. com.au.

POETRY COMPETITION: Open theme.

Prizes: First $400; Second $200; Third $100. Highly commended and commended certificates will also be awarded Closing Date: Entries must be received by 1700 hours on 31 March 2020.

Late entries will not be accepted.

Entry Fees: 1 Entry $8; 2 Entries $15; 3 Entries $21 Maximum of three poems per competitor Conditions of Entry: 1. Poems must not exceed 100 lines.

2. Entries must be the original work of the author, must not have won a prize or been previously published, and must not be under consideration elsewhere.

3. The author’s name must not appear on the manuscript, only on the entry form.

4. Entries must be printed on one side of A4 paper, pages numbered and clearly typed in 12 font (Times New Roman or Courier preferred).

5. Entries may be posted or emailed to the Receiving Officer.

Cheques/money orders to be made payable to The Society of Women Writers WA Inc. Payment may be made by direct deposit to: Westpac Account BSB 036-004 Account No. 147696, quoting EWB and your surname.

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BOOKS AND WRITING YOUR VOICE MATTERS SHERENE STRAHAN

Hello again,

I had forgotten that 2019 was a big anniversary year for me until I found this.

It’s old and tatty but it’s one of my most beloved keepsakes.

‘Thanks Sherene - that really helped’ as he dashed to the editing booth to have the story ready for the bulletin, often with minutes to spare.

He was Peter Overton and he’s one of Nine’s biggest stars these days - former Sixty Minutes reporter and now the presenter of Nine's flagship 6pm news bulletin for over ten years.

Of course, Peter’s success is partly down to his talent and

Aww, look at the smile on my face.

I was bursting with happiness at finally joining Channel 9 Sydney, then the most exciting and glamorous television station in Australia.

The Nine network was home to the biggest celebrities, the fattest budgets and the most popular shows - and from June 1989 to a young journo with stars in her eyes.

I’d started out as a TV reporter, spending two years in country NSW and one in Alice Springs with ABC News and 7.30 Report.

The Sydney job was behind the scenes, as an associate producer on the 6pm news. At first, I hoped it would only be a matter of time before I got back into reporting. But it turned out producing was a role I much preferred. I’d won a couple of awards for reporting, but I never felt that I had what it took to stand out among the competition.

I can see now that it was because as a reporter I was always trying to look and sound the way I thought ‘real’ reporters did. I didn’t feel confident enough to bring myself to the role.

It’s what would have made the difference then - it’s what makes a difference now. If you’re in the right role, doing the work that’s right for you, you really do stand out by being yourself.

I’ve only got to think back to some of the people who were just starting out at Nine when I was there to know how true that is.

Like Peter.

He was an enthusiastic young sports reporter and by then, I was the weekend news producer at Nine.

He’d dash into the newsroom late on a Saturday afternoon, and together we would go through the script he’d written for the main game of the day.

My job was to edit for meaning, grammar and Nine-style.

I knew very little about most sports, but he would explain what was meant by some of the terms and I would steer him through the changes he needed to make.

As we worked, he’d talk about his hopes and dreams for his career at Nine - the greatest of which was to take over from the great Brian ‘Hendo’ Henderson as 6pm newsreader.

He would always end our editing session with a cheery,

the hard work he’s put in. But more than that, people see in Peter the person I saw all those years ago - a genuinely kind and considerate person who really cares about others. I still treasure the thank you note he wrote me when I left the newsroom. Peter’s warm and generous personality has been the hallmark of his career and it’s why audiences embrace him.

He’s not the only one. I worked with many ‘stars’ at Nine and those who really made an impression on people were those who added their own stamp to their roles - Liz Hayes, Peter Harvey, Ray Martin.

Liz Hayes was co-hosting the Today Show when I landed a job there and after she heard that I was worried she didn’t like me (my lack of confidence at work once again), she took me to dinner to tell me how glad she was to have a woman in a senior producing role on the show. She was warm and supportive and just lovely.

I learned many things from my time at Nine that I put into my work and my writing today, but this is the most important:

Being who you are isn’t a barrier to getting where you want to go.

It’s a huge advantage. Until next time,

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HOUSE AND GARDEN NATIVE FLOWERING GARDENS - 3 MARION LOGIE

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ontinuing our series of flowering native plants suitable for Perth’s sand based gardens.

So what are some plants that work well in Perth?

flowers. Enjoying the hot overhead sun and mildly alkaline soil, it withstands high winds well and makes a beautiful cut flower.

Prune young plants for density and prune back after flowering into one-year-old wood only.

6. TUFTED BLUEBELL – WAHLENBERGIA COMMUNIS

This is a small evergreen soft-wooded perennial that enjoys hot overhead sun to dappled light. With a creeping, fleshy root system, it offers vigorous growth and has a lifespan of over five years. With pale blue star-like flowers held loose in clusters at the end of stems, this plant blooms in September-December.

Commonly used in crevice planting or window boxes, they’re also great for attracting butterflies.

7. FIREWOOD BANKSIA – BANKSIA MENZIESII

This spectacular plant grows either as a gnarled tree up to ten metres tall or as a low-spreading shrub of up to 3 metres height. It often has a twisted trunk and thick bark, and once established, are drought and frost tolerant. Attracting a large number of birds, the Firewood Banksia makes an excellent cut flower, and if left on the shrub, the stamens fall off the cone and reveal a beautiful checkered pattern.

8. WANNEROO WAX – CHAMELAUCIUM

This plant grows to a height and width of around two metres and offers spectacular white, light pink, and dark pink 7

More next month ...

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COMMUNITY GUILFORD’S TWILIGHT MARKET IS BACK! BROMWYN FACER

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unday, November 17th sees the return of the Guildford Twilight Market to the picturesque grounds of Stirling Square for yet another fabulous season.

Aptly named, the Twilight Markets run from 5:00pm as the sun sets through the golden hours until 9:00pm, when the day draws to a close.

Getting the season off to a rockin’ start with live music is The Perfect Storm Duo along with The Straymen With Kathy Carver who’ll get your feet tapping so don’t forget your dancing shoes.

The Holden Car Club of WA will be holding their annual Show & Shine with a range of vehicles on display for everyone to appreciate.

Relax, enjoy a bite to eat from the Food Hub where you’ll find some of Perth’s finest Street Food Vendors serving up traditional tastes from all corners of the globe including, Brazilian, Indian, Vietnamese, Italian, Hungarian and Mexican With Vegetarian, Vegan and Gluten Free options in plenty, there is something for everyone.

You’ll find Market Stalls to browse packed with locally handcrafted artisan products, home décor, locally produced gourmet food, fashion and accessories along with recycled, upcycled and re-purposed wares and a touch of vintage.

With loads of free Children’s Activities including, Face Painting, Totem Tennis, Giant Games, and Bouncy Castle fun. There truly is something for the whole family to enjoy when you visit the Guildford Twilight Market.

Dogs on leashes at all times are welcome.

More details can be found by visiting the markets’ Facebook page: www. facebook.com/guilfgotftwilightmarket

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DINING OUT

The Thoughts of an Ageing, Balding Foodie

HIGH TEA

DOUGLAS SUTHERLAND-BRUCE

with tea. They knew that Jo and John ate differently at eight o’clock, favouring perhaps potted shrimps followed by soup, a grilled steak, and mushrooms on toast, the meal preceded by a couple of gins and followed by coffee.’

This full evening meal here in Australia was known universally as ‘Tea’, leading to at least one migrant couple having to eat two full meals one after the other having entirely mistaken the invitation ‘Come for tea.’

Tea the drink is incredibly old and it’s difficult to separate fact from myth - but the most romantic version is that the Chinese Emperor Shennong, founder of agriculture and Chinese medicine was sitting quietly drink a nice bowl of hot boiled water when a few leaves from a nearby bush were blown into his cup, changing both colour and taste. This was in 2737BCE,

‘H

igh tea’. There is just something about the words 'High Tea' that immediately evokes visions of rolling green velvet lawns, Butlers called Hudson, footmen called Edward and pert maids called Emily together with wafer-thin cucumber sandwiches, iced petits fours and porcelain so thin you can see through it.

The tradition of some light refreshments midafternoon goes back to the mid-1800’s and curiously enough is linked directly to artificial lighting. Gas and oil lighting was introduced into the wealthier homes, which meant that meals could be prepared and eaten later, a way of distinguishing the upper classes, who could afford to dine at eight in the evening from the lower, working classes who had to eat in daylight and were asleep by eight.

At the time meals consisted basically of two per day. A mid-morning, breakfast-like meal and the other was an increasingly late dinner-like meal. The last morning meal might consist of fried bread (called bread steaks), cold meats, cheese, porridge, fish, bacon, grilled chops and ham. Washed down with lashings of tea, which had replaced chocolate in the nation’s affection as drink of choice – mostly because of the price.

This, of course, was the Middle Class and upwards. The poor made do with fish with potatoes and "stirabout" (a crude porridge of oats and milk) and cocoa or small beer. Tea was too expensive, and the meal was taken a good deal earlier.

‘Dinner’ for the working class was taken as the main meal of the day and eaten at noon. We call this meal ‘lunch’ or ‘luncheon’. I will not enter the debate as to which term is the older, but certainly ‘luncheon’ is the fancier of the two.

For the rich, the main meal was in the evening at an increasingly later time, which led the Duchess of Bedford, who found herself with a "sinking feeling" mid afternoon and decided to have some friends over for assorted snacks and tea.

The idea of an afternoon tea gathering spread across high society and became a favourite pastime of ladies of leisure.

Later, as fashion does, it spread beyond the elite circles and became more accessible for other socio-economic groups.

This, very properly, was called 'afternoon tea' and not to be confused with 'high tea', the fairly substantial meal eaten by working men at about five o'clock after the main meal. This is an extract from Trustee From the Toolroom by Nevil Shute set in the 1930’s:

‘Katie and Keith had their main meal in the middle of the day. Their evening meal was high tea at six o’clock when Katie got back from work, a meal of perhaps a kipper, bread and jam, and a piece of plum cake, washed down

An English Tea Party by Van Aken

twenty-eight centuries before the birth of the Christ. About the same time as the Egyptians were building their first pyramid.

Whether or not this legend has any basis in fact, tea has played a significant role in Asian culture for centuries as a staple beverage, a curative, and a status symbol. This is, of course, Chinese green tea. The leaves of the Camellia sinensis were steamed, then pounded into bricks.

It wasn’t until roughly the thirteenth century that tea leaves were roasted, then crumbled, rather then steamed.

Tea as a drink spread around the world - to Japan in the sixth century, to Europe via Italian Giovanni Ramusio in 1555, when it was called ‘Chai Catai’ and to Britain, first as a myth called ‘chaw’ and then as ‘Chaa’ and finally Thomas Garway sold tea from his shop in London at a cost of between sixteen and fifty shillings a pound in 1657. Fifty shillings then is very roughly $800 in today’s money.

Tea was a monopoly of China and to the importer The East India Company, consequently the cost remained exorbitant until, in an attempt to produce cheaper tea it was planed in India where it grew well in Ceylon and Madras, becoming known as ‘black tea’ rather than the Chinese ‘green tea.’

By 1700 tea was being sold in grocers and tea shops, and within twenty years the English began adding milk and sugar, unknown anywhere else, and by 1750 tea was the British national drink.

Dr Sam Johnson of the English Dictionary fame was a big supporter describing himself as “a hardened and shameless 10

tea-drinker, who has, for twenty years, diluted his meals with only the infusion of this fascinating plant; whose kettle has scarcely time to cool; who with tea amuses the evening, with tea solaces the midnight, and, with tea, welcomes the morning.”

He wasn’t under-estimating it. He was described by friends as drinking up to twenty-five cups at a sitting.

The whole question of milk in tea is a vexed one - firstly the question of why? Mostly that’s cost. Milk was cheap, tea was expensive, so a nice cup of hot milk, flavoured with a little tea was classy but affordable, called ‘a dish of tea’ since in the Chinese style it was drunk out of small, handle-less bowls.

Handles were invented in Germany in 1700, but didn’t come into common use until a hundred years later..

It has also been said that milk was put in first to protect the delicate porcelain from breaking because of the sudden heat.

The debate rages on between the MIFers and the TIFers. TIFers, ‘Tea in First’ cite Eric Blair, better known as George Orwell, a noted tea drinker, whose argument was that you can’t control the degree of milkiness if you put it in first.

Hard to disagree.

But MIFers can cite science - Dr Stapley of Loughborough University conclusively proved that if you put the milk in last, it can heat unevenly, denature or ‘clump’ and affect the taste.

But, this isn’t true if you are using a teabag, since putting the milk in slows and cools the hot water again altering the taste for the worse - another argument, if one was needed for loose leaf tea rather than in little bags.

And here we’re talking exclusively of Indian or ‘Black tea.’ ~oOo~

All tea is made with some, or all, of five steps - plucking, withering (allowing the leaves to wilt), rolling (squeezing out the juices), oxidising, which is what happens when the enzymes in the tea leaf react with oxygen and firing, which is to say drying.

White tea, which is mostly unprocessed - is the very tips of the newest growth of the tea bush plucked and allowed to wither - that’s it. Green tea is plucked, withered and rolled, but not oxidised because it’s heated in the process. Black tea uses all five steps, but quickly and in a set order. Black tea is usually made within a single day.

The remaining two are far less known and expensive due to the time-consuming processes. Oolong tea uses all five processes but repeats the oxidising and rolling many times giving a rich, smooth flavour.

Finally there is Pu’erh (Poo-ERR) tea, which is fermented and about which I know nothing - ask an expert, there are two over there.

The mainstay of High Teas, is, quite naturally, the tea. Traditionally loose leaf Indian or China tea is used, requiring the use of a tea strainer (always silver) and usually one of the better brands such as Twinings Earl Grey or Jackson’s of Piccadilly Queen Mary mix.

It has been said that the choice of tea is vital, but Lady Nancy Astor took it all a step further. Guests would be asked routinely ‘Indian or Chinese? Milk or Cream? If they

said ‘Milk’, they’d be asked - ‘Jersey or Shorthorn?’

The English afternoon tea ceremony is nearly as complex and rooted in tradition as is the Japanese - take the pot to the kettle, not the other way round; warm the pot; one spoon of tea for each person and one for the pot; allow it to steep and then pour.

What is eaten is just as important - since what you serve is as important as your accent to establish your social status. For the more privileged, afternoon tea is accompanied by thinly-sliced bread and butter, delicate sandwiches, customarily cucumber sandwiches or egg and cress sandwiches and usually cakes and pastries such as Battenberg cake, shortbread petticoat tails, or Victoria sponge.

Scones (with clotted cream and jam) may also be served. The sandwiches are usually crustless, cut into small segments, either as triangles or fingers, and pressed thin.

Biscuits are not usually served.

Incidentally, do you know the legal definition between cake and biscuit? It proved very important to the manufacturers of Jaffa Cakes in the UK, since cakes do not attract VAT, Value Added Tax, but biscuits do. It turns out that the deciding factor is that biscuits go soft when they’re stale and cakes go hard when stale. Hundreds of thousands of dollars turned on that answer.

Cucumber sandwiches, I hear you cry, ‘Why cucumber sandwiches?’ or I would if you weren’t so well-bread and polite.

Well, it’s all about status again, isn’t it. Cucumbers were very difficult to grow before the advent of heated greenhouses and glasshouses and so were much desired. Not by everyone, of course.

Dr Johnson again: “It has been a common saying of physicians in England, that a cucumber should be well sliced, and dressed with pepper and vinegar, and then thrown out, as good for nothing.”

Oscar Wilde knew all about Good Society and when he wrote The Importance of Being Earnest, he made the cucumber sandwiches a major plot point in Act 1. ‘Lane, why are there no cucumber sandwiches, when I asked for them especially for Aunt Augusta?’ There were no cucumbers to be had in the market, sir. Not even for ready money’. Lane was just covering up for his master, by the way. Algy had eaten the lot.

The truth is they taste great.

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FOOD JACKFRUIT

DOUGLAS SUTHERLAND-BRUCE

H

ave you heard of jackfruit? One tree can produce up to three tons of food from this huge and utterly unique fruit per year, providing an almost miraculous source of nourishment for people living in tropical countries!

Jackfruit is becoming popular particularly in the U.S., but increasingly in other parts of the world, as a plant-based meat alternative because the young, unripe fruits soak up flavor well and have a stringy, “meat-like” texture when cooked.

But what do you need to know about this food? And should it be something you look for and use in your own cooking?

THE BENEFITS OF JACKFRUIT

Here are some ways jackfruit may benefit your health:

• Good for your immune system. Jackfruit contains moderate levels of vitamin C, an antioxidant which helps your body fight free radicals and protects you from colds and other illnesses.

Improve your digestion. Jackfruit is packed with fiber, which helps improve digestion and prevent constipation.

• May help prevent cancer. Jackfruit contains phytonutrients, such as lignans, isoflavones, and saponins, which have anticancer properties. It also contains many carotenoids, which have been found to help protect against cancer.

WHAT IS JACKFRUIT?

Jackfruit is a species of tree in the fig, mulberry, and breadfruit family.

The plant originated in southwest India, where it grows abundantly. And then, it spread to other parts of India, southeast Asia, the East Indies, the Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia.

It also grows in Africa and is relatively popular in Brazil and Suriname as well. Jackfruit trees typically grow in tropical and near-tropical conditions, but they can also be produced in Florida, Hawaii, and Australia.

The largest tree-borne fruit in the world, jackfruit can weigh up to 45 kilos and grow up to a metre long. (Though, the average size of the fruit is 5 to 10 kilos.)

Its huge trees produce massive, green, oblong fruits with a bumpy, fleshy exterior. On the inside, it contains many paleyellow, plump bulbs, which are edible and joined at the core.

The seeds can also be cooked, eaten on their own, or ground into flour.

A ripe, unopened fruit has a strong, unpleasant odor. But the pulp of the opened fruit smells sweet.

• Boost your energy levels. Jackfruit has B vitamins, particularly vitamin B6. And it’s high in complex carbs which can give you a boost of energy, without throwing your blood sugar levels out of whack. In fact, clinical trials conducted at Sydney University’s Glycemic Index Research Service have found that raw jackfruit has a lower glycemic load (increase in sugar/blood glucose level) than wheat or rice.

• Help maintain blood pressure and heart health. It also has moderate levels of potassium, which helps regulate blood pressure and reduce the risk of stroke and heart attack.

WHAT DOES JACKFRUIT TASTE LIKE?

Eaten ripe and raw, the taste of jackfruit is sweet and similar to pineapple, mango, and banana.

When it’s unripe, it has more of a neutral flavor, like a potato, and works well in savory dishes.

When it’s unripe, it has more of a neutral flavor, like a potato, and works well in savory dishes. A great thing about green jackfruits is they don’t have a strong flavor on their own, so they’re able to soak up herbs, spices, and other flavorings.

This allows the fruit to be made into plant-based versions of shredded chicken, pulled pork, or other meat-based meals.

Jackfruit can be made into a wide variety of dishes, both sweet and savory. And the seeds are often boiled or roasted and eaten as snacks. They are similar to chestnuts or macadamia in taste and flavor.

JACKFRUIT NUTRITION

Eating jackfruit isn’t only a fun and meatless way to add something new to your usual meals. It’s also packed with nutrients, including fiber and antioxidants.

And the benefits of this tropical fruit are impressive. One researcher even called it a “miracle” food because it provides so many nutrients and calories.

Two cups contain 310 calories and boast an impressive lineup of vitamins and minerals.

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• Support healthy vision. Jackfruit has vitamin A, as well as beta-carotene, lutein, and zeaxanthin, which helps improve vision and protects eye health.

• Improves skin health and reduces aging. The water content in the fruit helps keep your skin moisturized and youthful. And the antioxidants help slow the aging process.

Usually, you want to start by draining the fruit, and then cooking it until it’s easy to shred, creating a meat-like consistency.

If you want to use jackfruit as a meat alternative, an important thing to consider is that it’s much lower in protein than other meat alternatives — with only about three grams of protein per cup (though this is more protein than most other fruits). So you may want to pair it with protein-rich foods, such as lentils or beans.

• Good for bone health. It’s also high in calcium, which strengthens and helps promote healthy bones. The right amount of magnesium helps with the absorption of calcium. And the high amount of potassium helps decrease the loss of calcium.

THE FINAL WORD ON JACKFRUIT

Jackfruit can be a nutritious and sustainable food that can provide important nourishment in tropical communities. And it offers an interesting way to expand culinary horizons around the world.

You can eat the whole fruit as is or choose products made with young jackfruits, like canned products. But like most foods, eating jackfruit closest to its whole form will give you the most health benefits.

As more people move away from animal products around the world, jackfruit, with its “meaty” texture, is another, more sustainable (and often less processed) option for plant-based meat

A SUSTAINABLE CHOICE

With its huge size, nutrient density, and crowd-pleasing taste, jackfruit could be one of the most promising solutions for sustainably feeding the world.

Jackfruit could be one of the most promising solutions for sustainably feeding the world. Amazingly, one jackfruit tree can grow about 100 to 200 fruits in a year.

Compared to the intensive land and water resources necessary to produce meat, jackfruit is far more efficient as a global food source.

It is easy to grow. It survives pests and diseases and high temperatures. It is drought-resistant. It achieves what farmers need in food production when facing a lot of challenges under climate change.

WHERE TO FIND IT

You may be able to find jackfruit as a whole fruit, sliced into sections, packed into cans, dried, frozen, or made into other products. While your average chain grocer (outside of the tropics) may not sell jackfruit fresh, demand is rising fast and many stores are starting to sell it.

Specialty markets, such as Farmers’ Markets , will be more likely to have the fruit, or they may be able to order it for you. You can also look online.

Other names for jackfruit include jaca or chakka (in India), kathal (in Bangladesh), kanun (Thailand), nagka (in Malaysia) or “tree mutton” in Bengali.

alternatives.

Overall, jackfruit can be a healthy and affordable local food option if you live in the tropics. So unless you live in a region where it grows, jackfruit is not likely to become a staple food for you. But it can be an excellent occasional ingredient for creative meals — and it might even help feed the world.

On-line and physically here in Ayustralia Upton’s Naturals’ lineup of young (not ripe) Jackfruit is sold in natural and health food shops throughout the country.

Available in Bar-B-Que, Thai Curry, Chili Lime, Sweet & Smoky, Sriracha, and an unseasoned Original variety, the 100% vegan products are completely free of cholesterol, gluten, oil, GMO’s, and artificial flavours.

Their website is here: www.uptonsnaturals.com.

HOW TO CUT IT

The idea of cutting into a massive, thick-skinned orb can be intimidating. But it’s doable if you’re willing to put in the work.

When selecting a fruit, remember this: Jackfruit is green when unripe, and then, it turns light brown and has a strong fragrance when ripe.

HOW TO COOK IT

Much like tofu, unripe jackfruit absorbs the flavors it cooks but doesn’t have much flavor on its own. You can add it to a variety of dishes, such as curries, stir-fries, and chili, as well as soups, salads, and bowls.

If you’re looking to cook plain, canned jackfruit, the process varies depending on the different recipes.

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FEDERAL NOTES HASLUCK HAPPENINGS

HON KEN WYATT AM, MP Member for Hasluck , Minister for Aged Care and Minister for Indigenous Health

C

urrently, Western Australia has fewer doctors in proportion to our population, when compared to the rest of Australia.

Per capita, WA has a major doctor shortage. We have the largest landmass of any state In Australia, but geographically sparse.

On Friday, 22 November 2019 I officially opened the new Campus of the Curtin Medical School on Centennial Place in Midland.

This campus will assist (L to R): Professor Deborah Terry AO, Vice-Chancellor of Curtin University, in closing a service gap, and Former Premier of Western Australia Colin Barnett, The Hon Donna Faragher MLC, Member help the number of doctors for East Metropolitan Region and The Hon Ken Wyatt AM MP, Member for Hasluck, Minister for Indigenous Australians. in Western Australia to grow, to meet expanding non-metropolitan areas. health care needs across the state when its first graduates enter

Thank you to my federal colleagues, Christian Porter and the workforce from 2022 and beyond.

Steve Irons who advocated alongside me in support of Curtin’s

The opening of a campus in the eastern suburbs new medical school, and the new Midland Campus we witness, demonstrates the continuation of Curtin’s efforts to provide completed here today. quality medical and health education in Western Australia.

This is a tremendous opportunity for young doctors and It is great to see Curtin investing in our local community and nurses to be trained and discover career pathways into the providing opportunities for Western Australians particularly medical profession. here in Hasluck.

Congratulations to Curtin University, and all those who

Commencing in 2017, the medical school delivers the only worked tirelessly to achieve this great outcome and I look undergraduate, direct-entry medical program in WA, providing forward to seeing the positive impact the new campus will have sixty commencing medical Commonwealth supported places in 2017, increasing to 110 commencing places per year in 2022, and on our region. reaching full capacity of 550 places per year in 2026.

HASLUCK WASTE FACILITY

There will also be an intake of ten international full-fee

I recently toured the Hazelmere Resource Recovery paying students per year from 2022.

Centre, run by the East Metropolitan Regional Council (EMRC)

This campus will provide an important clinical base for with Assistant Minister for Waste Reduction and Environmental medical students, as well as students studying other health Management, the Hon Trevor Evans MP. programs such as Nursing and Allied Health.

The Hazelmere facility focuses on recycling mattress and

Being close to the St John of God Hospital in Midland, the timber waste, with the aim of processing the materials to be campus allows for students to study and observe the medical profession more closely, while also gaining hands on experience, reused, instead of contributing to landfill levels. without the need for extensive travel.

Operating over the Bentley and Midland campuses, the Curtin Medical School will train students in general practice and rural health skills to meet the needs of under-serviced, disadvantaged communities – disciplines that are most needed in the regional and rural areas.

With this new Midland Campus there will be greater capacity for our rural and regional students to study medicine in a semi-rural region.

I commend Curtin’s Medical School for tackling this issue head-on by focusing on selecting students from 14

The EMRC, through their Hazelmere facility are giving a second life to materials, which would have otherwise filled our local landfills. It is very important that we continue to develop initiatives, where waste materials can be recycled to fill the demand of another industry.

Not only should we continue to recycle, but we must educate our future generations on the importance of building a sustainable society, conscious of our environmental footprint.

Assistant Minister for Waste Reduction and Environmental Management, Trevor Evans MP, said that he “commends the local council and the local communities for taking a truly regional approach to addressing the Assistant Minister for Waste Reduction and Environmental Management, the challenges around recycling.”

Hon Trevor Evans and the Hon Ken Wyatt, Member for Hasluck and Minister for

“I would encourage other local Indigenous Australians, touring the EMRC Facility in Hazelmere with Marcus Geisler, CEO of the EMRC. governments around Australia to consider taking a regional approach to sustainable waste management for Hasluck and the surrounding achieve the scale necessary to create the circular economy,” Mr regions.

Evans said.

ROADS TO RECOVERY

“I look forward to the upcoming Meeting of Environment

I welcome the latest round of funding for residents Ministers in Adelaide this week, which provides an opportunity for governments to set procurement targets and grow the market in Hasluck who will be home sooner and safer with bettermaintained roads throughout the region. for recycled products in Australia, which will help support the

Upgrades to some of the region’s most important roads have future of fantastic facilities like this one.” been given the green light with funding announced as part of the

The Hazelmere facility is one of the facilities under Australian Government’s Roads to Recovery Program. the EMRC’s Resource Recovery project which contributes to

Concluded on page 56 ...

15

COMMUNITY TIDINGS OF JOY FRAN IRWIN

CAROLS BACK IN MIDLAND

F

estive cheer is heading to Midland Oval thanks to a free community carols event.

The evening will include a visit from Santa, carols and popular Christmas songs, the Nativity story for children and a free sausage sizzle.

The event will take place on Midland Oval on Sunday December 22 from 6-8pm.

It follows on from last year’s successful event when local church and community members, under the auspices of the Rotary Club of Swan Districts, combined to bring carols back to the heart of Midland for the first time in over twenty-five years.

The event was so successful the group vowed to return.

Rev Ken Duffy, of the Valley Church of Christ, said a combined churches carol service took place on the oval back in the 80s and 90s.

“It is good to see the tradition revived,” he said.

MC Alison Gilchrist encouraged everyone to pack a rug or chair and join the Christmas singalong.

“We hope everyone will come along and celebrate this special time of year,” she said.

The event has been made possible thanks to the generosity of sponsors including St John of God Midland Public & Private Hospitals, the City of Swan and Perth Airport.

The Publisher, Editor, Writers, and Staff of Swan Magazine wish all our readers Merry Christmas and a

Happy New Year Please note our office is now closed until Monday, January 20th 2020

16

NOTES FROM PARLIAMENT MERRY CHRISTMAS! Hon Donna Faragher JP MLC Member for East Metropolitan Region

T

he new Curtin University Midland Campus has officially opened finally bringing tertiary education opportunities to the Eastern region.

This state-of-the-art university campus forms part of the health and education precinct developing around the former Midland Railway Workshops and St John of God Midland Public Hospital.

It will be a major clinical base for fourth and fifth year Curtin medical students and will be utilised by allied health students including those studying nursing, midwifery and physiotherapy.

It also provides a base from which greater access to tertiary education can be delivered to students living within the Eastern and Wheatbelt regions.

As a long-term advocate for tertiary education

opportunities in the East Metropolitan Region, I am proud to have been part of the former Barnett Government that had the vision and commitment to provide both funding and land to enable this incredibly important project to proceed for the benefit of our community.

Congratulations to Curtin University and everyone involved in making this Campus a reality.

With Christmas getting close, I would also like to congratulate budding artists, Daisy and Kelsang from Darlington Primary School and Jackson and Hendrix from Woodbridge Primary School who are the ADVERTISEMENT winners of my 2019 Christmas Card Art Competition!

Now in its fifteenth year, this annual competition gives students the opportunity Member for East Metropolitan Region to enter creative designs from which the winning Christmas cards are chosen. I always look forward to seeing what has captured a child’s imagination and this year is no exception.

From Santa delivering presents on Christmas Eve to catching a wave at the beach – the first ever surfing Santa entry!

Congratulations again to the winners and a big thank you to all participating students.

All entries are displayed at my office Ground Floor, 108 Swan Street Guildford. If you are walking past, please take the time Contact Donna 9379 0840 | faragher.eastmetro@mp.wa.gov.au to look at the students’ fabulous artwork. donnafaragher.com.au DonnaFaragherMLC

Wishing all Swan Magazine readers a Ground Floor 108 Swan Street, Guildford WA 6055 Merry Christmas and a Happy 2020!

Donna Faragher JP MLC

WESTERN AUSTRALIA

Here to help!

Authorised by S.Calabrese, Liberal Party, 2/12 Parliament Place, West Perth WA 6005.

17

WHAT’S ON IF YOU WOULD LIKE AN EVENT LISTED IN THIS COLUMN RING our office on 0418 934 850 Entries for non-profit entities are free.

SWAN VALLEY COMMUNITY CENTRE

ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS - Glen Forrest Group Every Monday evening We meet at 7.00pm at the Glen Forrest Uniting Church, Mc Glew Rd, Glen Forrest. Call Dermot 0488 905 211 or John 0448 074 536 or the Perth Office (all hours) 9325 3566.

Monday Mornings The Art Group meets at Baskerville Hall from 9am – 12pm for just $5.00 per session.

Group leader Gilly can help and advise with most media. Feel free to come and have a look and meet our local artists – they are a very friendly lot, new members welcome!

For more information call 9296 1976 or enquiries@swanvalleycommunitycentre.com www.swanvalleycommunitycentre.com

AUSTRALIAN BREASTFEEDING ASSOC. Discussion groups, guest speakers, morning tea. Free breastfeeding counselling. Expectant mothers, mothers, babies and children welcome. National Breastfeeding Helpline 1800 686 2686 is a 24 hour 7 days a week service.

EASTERN DISTRICTS MACHINE KNITTERS

Friday - second and fourth We meet from 9:00am to noon at 10 Brockman Road, Midland.

Feel welcome to join us for morning tea and see how easy it is to make your own garments.

For more information contact Pat 9309 3260; Liz 9572 7074 or Pat 9295 2793.

Swan/Mundaring Group meets every Monday, 9:30-11:30am at the Gumnuts Family Centre, 8 Mudalla Way, Koongamia. A qualified ABA counsellor is present at each meeting to give confidential information and support on breastfeeding issues.

Contact Natalie 9572 4971.

Kalamunda Group meets fortnighly on a Thursday, 9:3011:30am at the Maida Vale Baptist Church, Edney Road, High Wycombe. Contact Jenny 9252 1996.

SWAN HARMONY SINGERS

Wednesdays Come and sing with us! Swan Harmony Singers is a community choir that meets, 7-9pm, to sing music ranging from jazz to pop, plus the occasional classic. No auditions.

Join us at the Salvation Army Church Hall, 371 Morrison Rd, (opposite Swan View Primary School), Swan View. Enquiries: call Anna on 9299 7249, or Chris on 9298 9529 or 0435 062 728.

Northam Group meets each second Tuesday of the month at the Bridgeley Community Centre, Wellington Street, Northam 10am to Noon.

Fourth Tuesday each month at Toodyay Playgroup, Stirling Terrace, Toodyay. Noon to 2pm. Please phone Louisa 9574 0229.

TALKING HORSES

ELLENBROOK COMMUNITY WEIGHT LOSS CLUB

Wednesday evenings 6:00pm The WA Horse Council equestrian radio program is now in its seventh year. The programme is broadcast on the Community Radio Station 91.3 SportFM. To ensure that your club, event, breed or business gets coverage, call Diane Bennit 0409 083 617.

Every Tuesday evening We meet from 6.45pm to 8.00pm at the Woodlake Community Hall, Meeting room 1 Highpoint Blvd, Ellenbrook. Friendly support group at low cost. Male and females of all ages welcome.

Contact Shirley 9276 7938 shirleysardelich@aapt.net.au.

THE ZONTA CLUB OF SWAN HILLS

HILLS CHRONIC PAIN SUPPORT GROUP

Dinner meeting 3rd Wednesday February – November Meets Swan Mundaring area. ( venue to be advised ) Zonta International envisions a world in which women’s rights are recognized as human rights and every woman is able to achieve her full potential.

In such a world, women have access to all resources and are represented in decision making positions on an equal basis with men.

In such a world, no woman lives in fear of violence.

Guests are welcome to join us please contact Ruth 08 92729442 or ruth@amsaustralia.com.

1st Wednesday of each month Hilltop Grove Estate, 1645 Jacoby Street, Mahogany Creek.

Morning tea provided, between 10.30 - 12.00 noon.

Enquiries Terina 9572 1655.

MORRIS DANCING

All welcome. It’s like bush dancing, with sticks and bells. It’s aerobic exercise and great fun!

Tuesdays 7-9pm practice, Guildford Town Hall, cnr James St and Meadow St, Guildford. And drinks later at the Woodbridge Hotel with live Irish music For more information please contact: Christine Hogan: 9279 8778 Email: madtattersmorris@iinet.Net.Au Website: madtattersmorris.myclub.org.au

JUST A PIECE - TEXTILE KINSHIP Fortnightly Fridays This textile art group meets every fortnight Fridays 9.30 to 12.00 at Just Add Passion on Richardson Rd Stoneville. $5 per session, everyone welcome Check us out on Facebook or text Janette on 0407 633 771.

SWAN WOODTURNERS GROUP

The group meets in the rear hall of The Senior Citizens’ Centre, The Avenue, Midland, at 1-00pm. on 1st, 3rd, 4th, and 5th. Tuesday, and at 7-00pm. on 2nd Tuesday of each month. A demonstration and cuppa are the norm. Men and Women are welcome. Enquiries to Ted 9295 4438.

ELLENBROOK AND DISTRICT MENS SHED INC.

Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday We are open at 4 Transit Way Ellenbrook from 10.00am to 3.00pm. Potential members can turn up on those days and there will be someone to explain what we do and give membership 18

WHAT’S ON looking for Sopranos, Altos, Tenors and Basses over the age of sixteen to join us. We sing a range of sacred and secular music in four parts.

Please phone Margie on 9295 6103, email the thehillschoir@ gmail.com or visit their website www.hillschoir.org.au.

details. Annual fees are low and members can do their own thing, participate in projects for the community or simply just come in for a chat and a cuppa.

We are considering extending our days to include Saturdays or evenings if there is enough interest.

MUSTARD SEED - DISCOVERING COMPUTERS

Mustard Seed is a nineteen year old non-profit organisation and teaches all aspects of everyday computing. Ability levels from beginners onwards.

Want help with Windows 10? In need of instruction with your Mac computer? Have an iPad or Android tablet and don’t know what it will do? We can help. Cost is $2 per session.

Classes are held at 56 McGlew Road, Glen Forrest. To gain a place enrol now by phoning 0491 044 805 or emailing: mustardcomputers@gmail.com W: noodlebytes.com

SING AUSTRALIA SWAN VALLEY Monday nights We are a community singing group in the Swan Valley and welcome anyone who loves to sing.

There are no auditions or expectations on ability. We welcome absolute beginners and experienced singers.

Singing has enormous health and wellbeing benefits which helps promote joy and positivity in people’s lives.

Come along, give it a go and bring a friend for a great night of singing. The group meets 7.30 to 9.30pm in Baskerville Hall, 129 Memorial Ave, Baskerville.

Call us on 0407 888 759 or email: singaustraliaswanvalley@outlook.com for inquiries.

THE HILLS CHOIR

Monday Evenings Do you enjoy singing and joining with others to make beautiful music? Come and join the Hills Choir. We meet from 7.30 to 9.30pm at the Uniting Church on Stoneville Road, Mundaring.

Contact Margie on 9295 6103 for further information.

SWAN VALLEY COMMUNITY CENTRE SWAN VALLEY HOMESCHOOL FAMILY PLAYGROUP

Thursday mornings 9:15am to 11:15am Older siblings welcome to join playgroup in a rural setting in the Swan Valley. Normal playgroup guidelines apply for children zero to five years old.

Baskerville Hall, 129 Memorial Drive, Baskerville. For more information ring 0419 922 792 or email enquiries@ swanvalleycommunitycentre.com

MIDLAND MEN’S SHED

Every Tuesday morning We meet socially every Tuesday morning from 9.30am to 11.30am in the Bellevue Baptist Church Hall and our usual attendance is around fifty-five. At least once a month we have a guest speaker on a range of topics.

We also go on excursions to various places of interest (e.g. HMAS Stirling, Aviation Museum, Fremantle Ports, ALCOA, etc.).

Our workshop with wood working and metal working is in Midvale and for the opening hours and further details please contact Brian Beer on 0411 833 055. Also in operation is our music group – the Rockin’ Shedders which is going from strength to strength and their repertoire of songs increases each week.

For more information on the Shed please contact Kevin Buckland on 0417 961 971 or email: kebinsv@tpg.com.au.

THE HILLS CHOIR Mondays We practice on Mondays from 7:30 pm to 9:30 pm at the Uniting Church in Stoneville Road, Mundaring. We are 19

COMMUNITY ANNIE’S COLLECTIVE WONDERLAND DOUGLAS SUTHERLAND-BRUCE

s you drive around the UK, if you’re at all interested Aeverywhere in old, antique and vintage you will see just about ‘Antique Centre - 60 Dealers. Places like Leominster (pronounced ‘Lem-stir’) seem to have huge buildings convered into collective antique stores with the dealers taking turns to man the counters or even hiring a manager.

This means that you can see specialist collections and dealers, rents are shared, and dealers have time to source new (old) material while business continues.

We don’t seem to have the same concept here in Australia yet. Or we didn’t until Annie had a very bright idea when Swan Settlers Markets was floated as a concept.

If you love vintage, retro, antique, flea markets, shabby chic and just plain quirky, I expect you already know about Annie’s shop at Taylor’s Art House Annie’s Vintage Wonderland. If you don’t, immediately put it on your ‘To Visit’ list.

But the shop at Taylor’s, even with knocking into the next building is too small for Annie’s wonderland of wonders, so she has joined up with Swan Settlers Markets and rented a huge area in it, acting as a collective with a number of other dealers and suppliers.

She even has her eye on an expansion within the markets, which would double the area and dealers’ spaces available.

Annie has moved some of the more portable items from Taylor’s, raiding her large stock from the warehouse and buying in new old stock. ‘New’ seems like an odd word to use, but ‘old’ seems less accurate - perhaps ‘odds and ends’ might be better. A sampling of her goods might include, vintage jewellery and clothing, collectable stamps, matchbooks and boxes, suitcases, tins, Australiana, toys, books, walking sticks, 50’s furniture and she is one of only five Annie Sloan’s Chalk Paint stockists in Western Australia.

Annie is a real person, unlike Betty Crocker, and is on hand to talk, deal and her happy cheerfulness is a huge asset to her shop.

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COMMUNITY

The collective is open from Thursday to Sunday, plus Public Holidays from 10:00am to 3:30pm, but if you ‘like’ her on Facebook - facebook.com/AnniesVintageWonderland/ you can shop on her ‘Annie’s Vintage Wonderland Online Wonders’ pretty much all the time as treasures are photographed and posted in batches.

Prices are open to negotiation, so now’s the time to call in and have a browse, make an offer and collect something you’ve been seeking for ages - be it a 1963 Beano comic, a matchbook from the Playboy Club, a plastic soldier originally found in a Cornflakes packet, a street name or a dresser in peppermint green with orange trim.

Whatever it might be - Annie may well have it, will get it, or knows where there is one.

And while you’re there, you can browse the vast range of other stallholders at Swan Settlers Market - the newest addition to tourism in the Swan Valley.

If you’re a dealer looking to open a low-rent shopfront, talk to Annie - she can probably help.

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FILM REVIEWS Film: Director: Reviewer:

Pesci and Pacino all together and in electric form is a sight to behold. Scorsese takes his time with developing characters and plot lines and scenes that would usually take one or two minutes expand out to really give context to these complex characters and scenarios.

De Niro is particularly strong as Sheeran and is given the added challenge of playing the mob hitman at several different ages which he does with ease and with the aid of CGI effects and some clever make up. Also in prime form is Joe Pesci who plays the easy-going Russ but still somehow manages to add an element of danger to his role.

The supporting cast is just as good with talents such as Ray Romano, Anna Paquin, Harvey Keitel, Bobby Carnevale and Jesse Plemons rounding out a scintillating line up.

Paquin’s role as Sheeran’s daughter Peggy had Scorsese under fire for a lack of dialogue and for ‘belittling the role of women’ in the story but her short, effective outburst is delivered perfectly and goes for quality over quantity at a pivotal moment in the story.

For Scorsese fans such as myself, The Irishman is a must see and one of the best of the year.

For standard movie goers or streaming surfers, it may be a bit of a struggle but there is no doubt that

The Irishman Martin Scorsese Chris McRae

His life and kills. irst things first. Viewers be warned. The Irishman is long!

Not just blockbuster film length but, with the epic crime saga clocking in at just on three and a half hours it may be a long sit for many. For Scorsese fans and admirers of the generational superstar cast however, it will go in the blink of an eye.

F

Released especially through Netflix, this feels like it should have been made for the cinema with the scale and the status of the names involved. However, The Irishman is the first of its kind for streaming giant Netflix.

Acclaimed Oscar winning director Martin Scorsese is in the driver’s seat in a tale which sees Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci and Al Pacino headline an all star cast in a story to rival Goodfellas and the Godfather. Based on a true story, the film follows former hitman and labor union high official Frank ‘The Irishman’ Sheeran (De Niro) who looks back at his life and the kills that defined his time in the mob and his connections to the Bufalino Crime Family.

The story centres on his relationship with Jimmy Hoffa (Al Pacino), the former president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and his mysterious disappearance in 1975. Also in the mix is Russell Bufalino (Joe Pesci), part of a renowned crime family in Pennsylvania, with whom Sheeran shares a close personal and professional connection.

What ensues is an intriguing story of loyalties, familial drama, personal vendettas and relationships as Sheeran walks the line between a life of crime and his friendships and relationships.

As a streaming release, this is a real treat and to see De Niro, 22

Scorsese and his A Team have the magic touch and know how to tell one heck of a story.

Film: Director: Reviewer:

Last Christmas Paul Feig Chris McRae

~oOo~

From Kaleesi to Elf. f there is one film this festive season that will get you feeling every emotion possible, Last Christmas is it. It’s written by Bryony Kimmings and Emma Thompson, who co-wrote the story with her husband, Greg Wise.

Emilia Clarke stars as the endearing Kate who works at a dead end job as an elf at a Christmas shop that sells ornaments all year round. She is currently homeless after being thrown out by her flatmate.

While at work she notices a man outside staring upwards.

Having approached him, she discovers that his name is Tom (Henry Golding); she is attracted to him but finds him disconcerting.

After an unsuccessful singing audition, Kate sees Tom again and they go for a walk, where he charms her with his whimsical observations of London.

Returning to work the following morning, she discovers that her failure to lock the shop has led to a break-in. Her boss, who she refers to as “Santa” (Michelle Yeoh), expresses disappointment in Kate, implying that she has changed from the thoughtful and kind person she used to be.

This is really a beautiful story with some unexpected twists which will hit you right in the feels.

The perfect date night film for December!

I

BRITISH FILM FESTIVAL

T

his year’s British Film Festival at Palace/ Luna cinemas was a refreshing reminder that what the Poms do best is eccentricity. Last month we looked at one of the festival films, the drama Official Secrets (Keira Knightley).

This true story commented on the power of the whistle blower in keeping the politicians honest. This month I am covering four other festival films which are getting a general release.

Film: Director: Reviewer:

The Professor & the Madman P B Shemran James Forte

Doing the Impossible

In 1879, after a long period of misery and poor progress, Oxford University appointed James Murray (a linguist lacking any university degree) to compile a work that was intended to be the ultimate authority on the vocabulary of the English language.

Murray adopted some revolutionary approaches, including engaging the public in the collection of words, references and examples of usage. Eventually filling twelve large volumes (the first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary was as long as a typical encyclopedia), Murray succeeded; sadly he died in 1915 before the final volume was edited and printed.

The major contributor (over 10,000 entries) was an American army surgeon, William Minor. After moving to England he was found not guilty of killing a man, by reason of insanity, and was committed to the asylum at Broadmoor.

This all sounds rather dry. For thrills it can hardly be compared with Superman or Star Wars. Or can it?

Sir James Murray 23

accurate to fix the position of ships at sea – has also been filmed.

If you have not seen it nor read it, please rearrange your priorities right now. Stop reading my film reviews and go and get yourself a copy. Now! Your local bookshop or library will have one. It has a nigh-on perfect ending with a small girl in the observatory at Greenwich.]

This film might be described as ‘ragged around the edges’.

The screenplay and direction (both by Farhad Safinia – under the pseudonym P B Shemran) appear competent. All the acting is first rate.

It stars Mel Gibson as Murray and Sean Penn as Minor.

Supporting them is a host of famous faces from British TV: Jennifer Ehle, Ioan Gruffudd, Steve Coogan, Laurence Fox, and Anthony Andrews.

However there were legal battles between the major parties involved and, to me, the casualties were the final touches that make a good film great.

This film is recommended because it is an intriguing story about an important topic which deserves to be better known. A Mel Gibson as James Murray fine costume drama of Victorian England.

Three and a half stars.

The OED is one of the great works of scholarship. Its construction ~oOo~ was epic, if not impossible.

In 1995, Dava Sobel wrote Longitude and this spawned Film: The Aeronauts a host of books on science and learning as told through the Director: Tom Harper biographies of those involved. In 1998 Simon Winchester wrote The Surgeon of Crowthorne about the OED - in a similar style. The Reviewer: James Forte book provides the basis for this film.

Doing the Impossible Again

If you like to explore the Victorian era but prefer more [Note: Longitude – about the development of clocks sufficiently thrills and spills then The Aeronauts is for you. At about the same time as the Oxford English Dictionary was being published, there were the first attempts to scientifically predict the weather.

Thomas Glaisher was a Fellow of the Royal Society who made a number of balloon ascents between 1862 and 1866 in order to measure atmospheric pressure, temperature, humidity and windspeed.

His companion was Henry Coxwell and one of their flights broke the existing altitude record of 26,000 feet. (To this day, an aircraft’s altitude is usually measured in the old units – when will the Americans accept metrics and get in step with the remainder of the world?)

They made an ascent to 39,000 feet. Brace yourself for a film which is going to be extremely cold and very low on oxygen.

The script replaces Henry Coxwell with a fictitious Amelia Rennes - modeled on professional balloonist Sophie Blanchard and a number of female scientists of the time.

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This is a variation from historical accuracy which I am prepared to applaud. We need more girls doing STEM.

Eddie Redmayne plays Glaisher and Felicity Jones is Rennes. The two are best known for the film The Theory of Everything where they played Stephen Hawking and his wife Jane – both being nominated for Academy Awards.

The partnership of writer, Jack Thorne, and director, Tom Harper, (formed over five previous films) works well. The story of the balloon’s flight is punctuated by flashbacks depicting their efforts in gaining scientific and financial support for the work plus a little flirting and sexual tension. These did little other than slow the pace of the film.

The film’s success lies in the depiction of the many perils for such balloon flights. The CGI for the flying scenes is superb.

Forget what you know about hot-air ballooning at Northam with a champagne breakfast afterwards.

Here we have a huge envelope of lighter-than-air coal gas. If the lack of oxygen does not get you, the vertigo will.

This film is strongly recommended for the adventurous flying scenes.

Three and a half stars. ~oOo~ Film: Director: Reviewer:

Fisherman’s Friends Chris Foggin James Forte

Eccentricity galore

The town of Port Isaac in Cornwall is the setting for the Doc Martin TV series. It is also the actual base of a volunteer lifeboat crew and the home of a group of seashanty singers known as the Fisherman’s Friends. Highly photogenic, it stars again in this film about the group’s rise to fame.

Fisherman’s Friends is a prime example of the smalltown rags-to-riches genre. We can all identify with locals who through a little talent, a load of hard work and a deep-seated sense of morality will overcome all obstacles and make good.

There are no villains - merely idiots who get in the way. When ultra-sophisticated yuppies from London arrive in town, we know that even school children will soon be labeling them as tossers.

Daniel Mays plays Danny, a cynical and manipulative lowlife in the music industry. Making money out of a group of yokels should be simplicity itself. At the conclusion of this heart-warming tale, it will not be the locals who change; we know he will emerge as a better man. And on the way we will have some good a cappella singing and plenty of laughs.

Director Chris Foggin has ensured that, as with Doc Martin, the accents have been toned down so that we can all understand what is going on. It is perfect easy-viewing.

Three and a half stars. ~oOo~

the fourth film is an accurate portrayal of a short period in the life of the artist L. S. Lowry.

Lowry is probably the best known of twentieth-century British artists. His work is immediately recognizable for the match-stick men and industrial landscapes. There are more tall chimneys than trees and the weather is uniformly grey. However they capture the life and essence of the English industrial town.

Born in 1887 and an only child, he received a basic education in the arts before his father died leaving the family in debt. He and his mother lived in an industrial area of Manchester where he worked as a rent collector.

Concluded on page 56 ...

Film: Mrs Lowrey and Son Director: Adrian Noble Reviewer: James Forte Timothy Spall paints again

Whereas the first film was based on true events and the second and third films were inspired by true events, 25

TV WITH CHRIS DECEMBER 2019 XMAS TV WRAPPED UP is the season to beat the heat and find Tcomforts an air conditioned cinema or the cool of your own couch. This year’s line up of fresh festive flicks and series’ is sure to get you in the spirit of the season!

Title: LET IT SNOW Network: Netflix

In what is essentially, light hearted young adult fare, a group of strangers are brought together through fate and a little bit of luck when a snowstorm rolls into town.

The various settings and intertwining narratives give this light film some entertainment value but it never really gains momentum. Teenage and young adult audiences however will lap up the romance and the inclusive storylines are a great touch! ~oOo~

boot.

Title: SANTA GIRL Network: Netflix

Many young viewers would know Jennifer Stone from her time as Harper, the loveable best friend of Selena Gomez’s Alex in Disney Channel’s Wizards of Waverly Place. In Santa Girl, Stone plays the daughter of Santa Claus who swaps the North Pole for College life in order to experience the real world.

Whilst there, she meets two attractive suitors, Sam (Devon Werkheiser) and JR (Joshua Cody) but trouble is not far behind as the sinister Jack Frost (Hank Stone) hatches a plan to unite the Claus and Frost families.

Breezy, fun and great for younger audiences. Santa Girl brings the festive flavour with a contemporary twist and is fresh and entertaining. ~oOo~

Kristin Davis headlines this wilderness adventure. After a marriage breakdown, Kate (Davis) decides to embark on an African safari on her own.

Whilst there, she discovers a love for the conservation of elephants and meets Derek (Rob Lowe) a down to earth conservationist with a similar agenda. It is wonderful to see a holiday film which breaks the stereotypical mould of snow and central park and this sun-drenched feel good tale is a fine addition to the holiday cannon with two likeable leads and a great environmental message to ~oOo~

Title: KLAUS Network: Netflix

Hands down the best Christmas movie this season, this stunning animation centred around the origins of Santa Claus is a contemporary gem. Jesper (Jason Schwartzman), the son of a Royal Mail Empire is given a wake up when he is sent far north to establish a post office in the isolated island village of Smeerensberg, a dilapidated arctic village with a reputation for violence and resentment.

With the threat of being financially cut off if he does not meet his target of 6000 letters in a year, Jesper soon discovers a mysterious carpenter, Klaus (JK Simmons) living isolated in a cabin filled with handmade toys.

Soon, Jesper helps Klaus rediscover the magic of toymaking and has children around the village writing letters seeking toys in return for good deeds. With the simple message that a true selfless act always sparks another, this beautiful story ~oOo~

Title: HOLIDAY IN THE WILD Network: Netflix

In a Christmas film with a difference, Sex and the City star 26

Title: THE ROAD HOME FOR CHRISTMAS Network: Stan

In this charming tale, two talented musicians, Lindsey (Marla Sokoloff) and Wes (Rob Mayes) find themselves grounded in New Orleans and unable to make it home for Christmas.

Their solution? A reluctant road trip to their neighbouring home towns. What ensues is a journey of self discovery as Lindsey and Wes discover the importance of music and each

other in their lives.

Very sugary sweet and with plenty of clichÊd moments but this easy watch has two likeable leads, some great musical moments and enough Christmas charm to warm the cockles this festive season. ~oOo~ Title: CHRISTMAS BREAK-IN Network: Netflix In the style of Home Alone, Christmas Break In trades home for school as young Izzy (Cameron Seely) is left forgotten by her parents (Denise Richards and Sean O’Bryan) at school on the final day before the holidays.

With the friendly janitor Ray (Danny Glover) having locked up, a group of criminals on the run break into the school, trying to lie low after a heist. What ensues is a battle of wits between the clueless criminals and the street smart Izzy.

Entertaining enough and the comedic situations and booby traps provide some festive chuckles. Home Alone for a new audience. ~oOo~ Title: THE KNIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS Network: Netflix The cheese keeps coming with this sugar rush in which medieval knight Sir Cole (Josh Whitehouse) is transported to the present day where he encounters Science teacher Brooke (Vanessa Hudgens).

This one has all the trimmings of a crowd pleasing Christmas favourite with love, laughs and plenty of Christmas fun as Sir Cole is baffled by the modern world and Christmas traditions. Great fun and very family friendly. ~oOo~ Title: MERRY HAPPY WHATEVER (Season One) Network: Netflix In a deviation from the standard Christmas feature films, Netflix has produced Merry Happy Whatever, a Christmas themed sitcom which unites some familiar faces.

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Emmy Quinn (Bridgit Mendler) returns home to Philadelphia from Los Angeles to spend Christmas with the family. Headed up by the stern and tough family patriarch Don (Dennis Quaid), Emmy’s new boyfriend Matt (Brett Morin) must win the Quinn family over and deal with all the drama and disaster involved in a large scale family Christmas.

With a bit of a Fuller House feel to it, this sitcom is entertaining (if you can get over the slightly irritating laugh track). The characters are endearing and it is great to see Dennis Quaid pulling off some comedy.

Light hearted family holiday fare and at eight episodes it’s a good length for a family Christmas story. ~oOo~ before Christmas.

With the big day fast approaching, Williams and his children must move back in with Williams’ Aunt Jo (Darlene Love) and attempt to take back what is important about the holiday season.

Add in a love interest and plenty of cringe-worthy Christmas themed radio puns, it adds up to a recipe for a Christmas film with not a lot going for it. There are some likeable moments, especially the musical ending, but on the whole, this won’t be making the classic Christmas film lists anytime soon.

Title: HOLIDAY RUSH Network: Netflix

Hardly a Christmas classic and more like a Christmas clanger. This largely lifeless holiday comedy sees radio DJ Rashon ‘Rush’ Williams (Romany Malco) put out of a job just

Also Streaming - Noelle (Disney +) - A Christmas Prince: The Royal Baby (Netflix) Coming Soon - Jack Whitehall: Christmas With My Father (12th December- Netflix) ~oOo~

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REVIEWS Production: Puss in Boots Producer: Garrick Theatre Club Inc Reviewer: Gordon the Optom

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uss in Boots was adapted from the original 1550 Italian story by Exeter resident Ben Crocker; Ben is a second-generation panto writer. This classic is now being presented by Garrick Theatre Club at the Garrick Theatre, 16 Meadow Street, Guildford.

This delightful fun and energypacked, two-and-a-half-hour English-styled pantomime can be seen when the curtain rises at 8.00 on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights until 14th December.

The show has numerous ‘spot the reference’ items as the script alludes to various singers, books and musicals. The director started the game off with two hints in the show’s programme, but I revelled in finding a Danny Kaye Court Jester scene, a well-known French musical, the huge David Rose orchestra hit that is still as popular today brought a gigantic laugh and a massive Max Bygraves children’s musical hit from sixty-five years ago.

The Scene: The village of Much Rabbiting on the Swan. The Royal Palace.

The Set: Which was mainly the castle battlements was designed and constructed

by Graeme Dick, Gary Green, Gary Wetherlilt. The wall hid two foldaway beds. The castle set was painted by Adrian Ashman, Gary Green and Jacinta Radbourne.

Large flats on each side of the stage swung open to reveal a forest scene; the woodland artwork was by Ruth Gordon-Smith. Props queen

Marion West did a great job.

The lighting and soundscape design and their operation were by Geoff Holt and Arund Pearce. The technicians were faced with creating day scenes, creepy night scenes and a few thunder and lightning scenes – most impressive. This big show on a small stage was smoothly managed by Terry Brown.

When wandering through the forest, the stepson of the newly deceased miller, poor Jack (Roshni Kaila) meets a beautiful young woman. Unknown to him, she is

Princess Esmerelda (Sophie Byrnes) daughter of Queen Wendy (Gavin Crane) and her husband King Wally (David Johnson) who struggles to get a word in. The Princess and Jack part company, both totally infatuated and madly in love.

The Royal Page, Bobby (Jenna McGougan-Shaw) announces that next day the Royals, who are near bankruptcy, will be visiting. Village lasses Babs (Katelyn Barr) and her friend Betty (Kamara Churchill) are excited by the visit but the girls are being pursued by the deceased miller’s sons, the calculating and greedy Jasper (Owain Bundock) and his dim but passionate brother Jethro (Matthew Roberts).

That evening a homeless bag lady Winifred (Jacinta Radbourne) sings for her supper.

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Director Douglas Sutherland-Bruce was most ably assisted by Kerry Goode in giving us this most uplifting pantomime. It was packed with traditional fun and belly laughs. Gavin Crane was a wonderful panto Dame, capturing every facet of the character. Being known as a very competent serious actor, Fiona surprised many with her hilarious aggro-packed performance as the bad fairy.

MOST enjoyable, but this long run has almost sold out – be quick.

Editor: This show is now completely sold out. ~oOo~

The good Fairy Priscilla (Colleen Bradford) tries to help Jack by magicking the miller’s tatty old moggy (Isabel Lally-Barnard, GypsyLee Wray) with a fairy touch the cat became a smartly dressed, suave feline (Neve Havercroft, understudied by Olivia Fellows). Meantime, the evil sister Fairy Pernicia (Fiona Forster) seems to be working for a familiar looking extortionist and conman, Grimgrab the Ogre (Caileb Hombergen-Crute).

Production: Through The Looking Glass

(and what Alice found there) Producer: Murdoch Theatre Company Reviewer: Gordon the Optom

The day’s entertainment starts with a pop quartet (Jenny Trestrail, David Seman, Alan Shaw, Kaleb Sands) dressed in black suits and crowned with mop haircuts, they too looked most familiar.

T

‘hrough the Looking Glass (and What Alice Found There)!’ has been carefully and respectfully adapted from Lewis Carroll’s 1871 original novel by Adelaide University lecturer, Rosemary Nursey-Bray. Lewis Carroll is the pseudonym of mathematician Charles Lutwidge Dodgson.

This is the final production for the year by the student-run Murdoch Theatre Company which although based at Murdoch University auditions students and outsiders. The MTC’s aim is to help talent get a start. Indeed, the lead for this show, Natalia Myslinska and Darby Sinclaire (both outstanding) are still finishing their schooling.

The four ninety-minute phantasmagorial performances were practically sold out a week in advance; they could be seen at Studio 411 adjacent to Carpark 4 in the grounds of Murdoch University, 90 South Street, Murdoch.

The scene: Alice’s parents’ sitting room. Victorian times in Cheshire, England.

The set: Was designed by Matthew Moynihan. The stage floor was in the pattern of a chess board. The were three large flats on rollers that represented the forest. The artwork was excellent, often the quality of outdoor scenes would not pass school third grade, these could be sold! There was an old oak, high winged armchair.

The numerous props by James Gillespie and Kate Manson included several forty centimetre wooden cubes that acted a

Will Jack get anything from his stepfather’s Will? Who will marry whom?

Chorus : Sarah-Jane Hombergen-Crute, Barbara Brown, Amy Lally, Jody Wray and Toby Crestani.

The musical director and keyboard player was Lyn Brown, who along with the musicians Terry Murphy – drums, Robert Usaraga – bass guitar, Miriam Elliott – woodwind captured the fun of the script and the varying keys. With a large cast a musical director’s job is difficult, but when so many of the performers are still in their mid-teens Lyn’s task was extra difficult.

The soloists were all superb, giving everything to their performances. The result was wonderful, the cast were inspired, in unison and the singing delivered with gusto. Combined with Siobhán Vincent’s choreography (assisted by Colleen Bradford) the musical numbers were vibrant.

The dozens of colourful costumes came as a result of hours of hard work by Kelly Barnard, Colleen Bradford and Sarah-Jane Hombergen-Crute. Then the fun makeup by Ebony Lally helped in the magic.

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the March Hare (Kate Manson) and a Mad Hatter (Zenna Newman). As Alice sits down to a meal served by Frog footman (Kate Manson), she gets the company of leg of mutton (Bella Doyle) and plum pudding (Tessa Stephenson). A battle breaks out, as the king of the jungle, Lion (Frankie Walker) decides to pick a fight with Unicorn (Darby Sinclaire).

Was this all a dream or did it really happen?

seats for the cast. An ‘antique’ chessboard, swords, telescope, exotic headdresses and signposts. There was a delightful shadow puppet show, with stylish puppets and good operators who knew how close to the screen the cut-outs should be held; they had a light operator that positioned the beam correctly.

These shows either work well or more often, fail badly – this was superb.

Lighting design was by Sabrina Wyatt who showed skill in creating atmosphere. Sabrina was also aided in the sound design by Jordan D’Arcy; their selection of music was particularly appropriate.

Bright and interesting programme for the show from Perfectly Picturesque Photography and Stephanie Beckham.

The stage manager Leigh Richmond had major props coming in from the auditorium entrance aisle and simultaneously groups of actors entered by the wings’ door – tricky to control, but the show flowed very smoothly.

Whilst playing chess with her cat, Alice (Natalia Myslinska) looks in the mirror. The looking glass melted before her eyes and she saw other people beyond. Stepping through the mirror frame she met the nasty Red Queen (Amy Swerlowycz) who treats everyone terribly, especially the beautiful White Queen (Kendra McGrady).

This massive production was directed

by Jordan D’Arcy, with assistance from Sabrina Wyatt. This is probably the most impressive show presented at Studio 411.

Although the venue is quite small, the whole show had a big feel to it. The varied and interesting costumes (Tarryn McGrath, Tashlin Church, Priya Guilfoyle, Francesca Walker and Rebecca Dilley) were magnificent, a huge amount of work had obviously gone into them. Likewise, the makeup (Tessa Stephenson, Francesca Walker and Tarryn McGrath) was restrained and therefore more effective. I particularly liked the Red Queen, the Unicorn and the March Hare’s smile.

A great cast with amusing characterisations. Very well directed. True to the feel of the original book, this story was more suitable for children and will provide entertainment for children of all ages.

Congratulations. ~oOo~ Production: Clue - The Musical (Cluedo in Australia) Producer: Phoenix Theatre Company Reviewer: Gordon the Optom

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lue – the Musical , the Australian name should be Cluedo – the Musical. The book was based on Parker’s world-famous board game and written by Peter DePietro, with the musical score

Alice wanders around the garden and meets Tigerlily (Darby Sinclaire) and her botanical friends, the Roses (Francesca Walker, Stephanie Beckham), the Daisies (Rosalie Schneider, Tessa Stephenson) and Violet (Bella Doyle).

Just before she boards a train, Alice is told not to forget her name. Sitting in the train compartment is a gentleman wearing a suit made of newspapers (Steven Correia) and a goat (Thay Black). The train guard (Tomas Kenny-Simpson) blows his whistle and the train moves off.

At the end of the journey Alice meets a wild pair, Tweedledee (Rosalie Schneider) and Tweedledum (Stephanie Beckham) and their comical friend Humpty Dumpty (Mike Moshos) who is convinced he is fall-proof.

Alice then meets a friendly confused couple, 31

being added by Galen Blum, Wayne Barker and Vinnie Martucci; the lyrics, which are packed with jokes and clues, were added by Tom Chiodo.

Yes, this fun packed innovative idea for a play has all your old favourite murderers, plus the lead pipe and the ballroom!

With six suspects, six weapons and six venues simple maths gives you over 200 possible combinations.

This novel two-hour play with musical numbers can be seen at the Phoenix Theatre, Memorial Hall, 435 Carrington Street in Hamilton Hill.

Dalgleish) and the alcoholic housekeeper, Mrs White (AJ Winters).

The scene: Is Mr Body’s family mansion The set: The curtains open to show a line of six, two metre high, cream ‘sentry boxes’ with the trademark word ‘Clue’ in red at the top. These boxes roll towards the front of the stage.

Each rotates slowly to show a room from the house and a plan displayed. One side of the stage apron was a library and the other side a conservatory.

A lectern at the rear of the stage held the envelope holding the secrets of the murder.

This set was designed and built by Ben Albert and Krispin Maesalu.

The fun lighting was well designed by Dylan Dorotic and operated by Max Conroy. The AV was designed by Ben Albert.

Stage manager Max Conroy kept the show moving at the cracking pace.

There follows Mr Boddy’s final hours with plenty of clues, hilarious dialogue and general mayhem before the fast thinking Detective (Karin Macri) is called in.

Mr Boddy discloses to the audience that he suspects he is about to meet a horrible end at the hands of one of these visitors. Mr Boddy (Krispin Maesalu) then approaches the audience and asks for three volunteers. The first chose a card from the selection of possible murderers, the second from the murder weapons and the third the location.

The selected cards are put in an envelope – unseen – and placed on a lectern.

Over the years, the play’s director Dylan Dorotich has proved her theatrical skills, as a musical director, costume supervisor, set designer, lighting technician and of course her main talent – acting. With numerous possible solutions, every show is different.

The actors had to learn the main script but then several minor scripts to suit the cards selected on the night. The cast must be capable of smooth interaction with other actors as the likely murder surfaces.

This show relies upon a good pace to keep the excitement moving along. As the detective moved in and gathered the clues, the suspects went through a chase scene in a style reminiscent of The Keystone Cops a hundred years ago, as the cast filled the aisles, stage and even visiting the foyer.

The actors really inhabited their characters as they sang, acted and danced their way through the production.

Choreographer Ashleigh Winter has created slick, punchy dance routines that brought a smile. She even managed to get the non-dancers to surprise themselves at their most professional newly learned skill. Musical Director Ben Albert had the cast singing powerfully and with clues being hidden in the lyrics, most clearly.

The orchestra comprised an electric cello – Amanda Reynolds, drums / percussion – Jake Isard and keyboard – Aidan Bridges. There were no

Standing next the boxes are the characters who have gathered in the Boddy family mansion. They are Mr Boddy’s new wife Mrs Peacock (Breanna Redhead), Professor Plum (Charlie Darlington), Miss Scarlett (Emily Botje), Colonel Mustard (Edzelle Abrio), Mr Green (James

King Wally (David Johnson) 32

memorable songs, but the incidental music also acted as a wonderful soundscape to most of the show.

Krispin Maesalu’s costumes had to make the characters instantly obvious, for example Colonel Mustard being a challenge, appeared with an official uniform and a chest of medals.

Can you guess the chosen killer? A most enjoyable night, skilfully handled. ~oOo~ Production: Puss in Boots Producer: Garrick Theatre Club Inc Reviewer: Sharron Attwood

I

decided not to read any reviews before attending Puss In Boots last night. It was my first Panto and I wanted the element of surprise on my side. And surprised I was!

Interacting with the cast – booing the bad fairy – gasping at Killer Rabbits and a few rounds of “Oh no he didn’t” and ‘Behind you!” and I was starting to wonder where Panto had been hiding all my life.

With a cast approaching forty strong – and with the mind boggling at the amount of work done by wardrobe, choreography, set design, lighting, production and direction – you feel kind of special that it’s all for our benefit.

To have a laugh, a smile a sing along – thank you!

Gavin Crane as Queen Wendy certainly set the Panto tone – loud, funny and scene stealing – as was David Johnson as King Wally who achieved so much without always having much to say – well until he had a lot to say.

Reading through the program to see the range of experience – from theatre regulars to newcomers making their debut – I was in awe of Director Douglas Sutherland-Bruce who obviously brought out the best in them all and produced a show that was of an amazingly high quality.

The play, by Ben Crocker, was funny and the

Jack (Roshn iK

aili) and Jeth

ro (Matthew

Roberts)

story easy to follow for the kids who loved the singing, dad jokes and big characters.

But as soon as the Ogre, played by Calib Hombergen-Crute, stormed out in Trump-esque make up and suit I knew there would be a whole other level of funny here. I was fortunate to attend with my boys and my Dad – so when I say – something for everyone it’s true – from a rousing rendition of Congratulations to The Cup Song.

I can also tell you that I’m glad I booked in October for what is now a sold out run.

The cast and crew of Puss in Boots 33

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HALCYON PLAYHOUSE POSSESSION: FEAR NEVER SLEEPS RYAN S MCNALLY

Fear what you cannot see… ossession: Fear Never Sleeps is an immersive horror experience developed by the team at Halcyon Playhouse.

Using story, sound, light, smell and touch, the team at Halcyon create a unique experience for the audience and actors each performance.

Each performance of Possession: Fear Never Sleeps is subject to change, with both the actor and audience being exposed to different elements each performance. Immersive theatre involves placing the audience within the story-world.

Rather than having a separated stage and auditorium, everything is the ‘stage’, and the audience are placed there alongside the actors.

The actors move freely through the space, having no interaction with the audience and only engaging with the other actors in the space. Halcyon Playhouse will be performing this unique format at Roxy Lane Theatre in Maylands, in a far more intimate setting than audiences will be used to, making for a unique sensory experience.

A group of strangers find themselves subjected to a sleep paralysis study, only to discover that their symptoms share far too many similarities. As each character delves a little deeper, they soon discover that there might be something far more sinister studying them.

The show features local talents Devetta Ridgwell, Zack Inglis, Nikita Harwood, Paul Reed, Bernadette Ward and Ryan S McNally along with some surprises from the backstage crew.

Ryan McNally has been faced with the challenge of devising the show, collaborating with fellow Halcyon member Chantal Wilson to direct, and performing as one of the characters.

“The show's concept came from talking about an incident of sleep paralysis that I suffered several years ago” McNally said. “Still to this day I cannot really explain why or how… you might even get to hear about it in the show!”

“Something that we wanted to do was really immerse the audience from the moment they walk in to the end of the show and have them feeling what the characters feel” McNally added.

“It's an interesting concept knowing that what some of the actors bring is actually based on real experiences.”

“The subject matter of the show is scary on it's own, however my biggest fear is not knowing 100% what is going to happen each performance.

We have things in place that are really going to test us” McNally explained. “It has been fun collaborating on this with various actors, everyone had brought something to the table and now we get to show it.”

McNally and Wilson have worked closely with all the actors to put the pieces of the show together. “I love scary stories and experiences” said Zack Inglis. “It’s been a thrill to be able to express yourself in such a dark play. The immersive work of Ryan McNally always exciting to be involved with”.

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“I have to be pretty physical on stage” said Bernadette Ward. “There’s a lot of falling, pushing and crawling. Teamed with the pressure of being 100% believable in my performance is definitely going to keep me on my toes!”

“This show is filled with twists and turns, laughs, suspense, and just enough mystery that it will leave you scratching your head at the end of the show” added Ward.

“It isn't necessarily something you'd see every day - I think the whole show is just one big surprise”.

Possession: Fear Never Sleeps runs from 6th December until the 14th at Roxy Lane Theatre, 55 Ninth Ave, Maylands. Curtin up at 7.30pm with a special double performance on Friday the 13th at 9.30pm.

Tickets are $20 adults, $18 concessions and children, plus transaction fees – book at www.halcyonplayhouse.com or on 0422 394 749.

Please note: Show contains adult themes, horror themes and mild language; sensory, hazing & lighting effects will be used through the performance, the show contains no intermission with a sixty minute runtime. Late comers will not be admitted once the performance has commenced.

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NON - FICTION THE NOBLE RECREATION

DOUGLAS SUTHERLAND-BRUCE “The detective-story is the normal recreation of noble minds.” Philip Guedalla

SHERLOCK HOLMES

THE PLOTS

THE MAN AND THE MYTH

The plots are original, realistic, interesting and engaging.

They are not all concerned with murder and several of them do not in fact relate to any crime at all.

In common with the Victorian life view reputation and property were more highly valued than life, as can be seen in the penalties handed down for the various crimes. Crimes against property (theft, kidnapping an heiress, blackmail) all received much higher penalties than assault. In 1800 there were two hundred and twenty crimes punishable by death.

Grand larceny was one of the crimes that drew the death penalty; it was defined as the theft of goods worth more than 12 pence, about one-twentieth of the weekly wage for a skilled worker at the time.

In 1823 the Judgement of Death Act 1823 made the death penalty discretionary for all crimes except treason and murder.

Gradually during the middle of the nineteenth century, the number of capital offences was reduced, and by 1861 was down to five, which included Arson in a Naval Dockyard, (abolished 1971)

All the stories are set in what was then the present day,

I

t can not be said that either of Conan Doyle’s first two books are very original or well-plotted.

It has been suggested that hew took the basic plot of the first novel, A Study in Scarlet, from some rather lurid story about the Mormons (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) and their to Salt Lake City to found a new state where their religion could flourish in peace. He was prejudiced against the Mormons and in my opinion that portion of the book which deals with the American story is just about the most prejudiced, and least interesting, of all his writings.

The real interest of A Study in Scarlet lies in the words ‘You have been in Afghanistan I perceive, ‘ which Sherlock Holmes says to Dr John Watson when introduced by Stamford, Watson’s dresser at Bart’s and a friend to both.

The meeting begins a friendship, arguably the most significant in all of literature, which lasted through four novels and fifty-six short stories.

The Sign of Four (originally The Sign of the Four) is obviously very much in debt to Collins’ The Moonstone, with it’s theme of a cursed Indian treasure and mysterious lurking revenge-filled ruffians.

Both, to paraphrase Dorothy L Sayers, are adventure thrillers with detective overtones. The sensational plots and action is more important than the characters. But Conan Doyle was a consummate story-teller and realised he had created something significant and possibly durable.

It is with the start of the short stories that Holmes and Watson become more eminent and rise in stature to become the icons of detective literature we now know them to be.

There is no more instantly recognisable character in all of English writing: the deerstalker cap; the Norfolk traveling cape; the bent Calabash pipe. These are the hall-marks of Sherlock Holmes ‘the world’s first consulting detective’. No matter that most of these symbols are specious. The deerstalker is never mentioned as such in any of the stories. Both were inventions of Sidney Paget, Conan Doyle’s best -known and most prolific illustrator.

The Calabash pipe was a device employed

by William Gillett, who created the role on stage, when he found it easier to say his lines with the pipe resting on his chin rather than gripped between his teeth.

It is impossible to over-estimate the influence which Conan Doyle and Sherlock Holmes had on the whole genre of detective a police fiction. The question arises of why it had such a massive impact and influence.

To my mind the answer is divided into three sections - the plots, the characters of Holmes and Watson and , thirdly, the cult which has grown up Sherlock Holmes meets Dr Watson - illustration from the first about them. single volume edition (1892) by George Hutchinson.

We’ll take a look at each of these in turn.

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although towards the end of his literary life Conan Doyle still set the stories in late Victorian or early Edwardian times and so was writing about a time then gone, a time separated by the First World War when everything changed.

Consequently, the later stories lack the vividness and atmospheric detail which characterise those written before 1914. In the early stories, if Conan Doyle wanted to write about the sound a Hansom cab made on cobbles as it rumbled down the street, all he had to do was open a window and listen.

In many cases the plots are quite simple, and the puzzle and its solution transparent. However, in as many other cases this is not so and the puzzles are presented, quite fairly, with all their subtleties to the reader who will make, at first reading, the wrong selection of solution.

As an example of this fair play I point to Silver Blaze. This is the story which contains the famous lines; ‘Is there any other point to which you wish to draw my attention?’

‘To the curious incident of the dog in the night time.’

‘The dog did nothing in the night time.’

‘That was the curious incident.’

The explanation is quite simple and quite perfect.

The dog did not bark, even though someone entered the stables where he was on guard and removed a horse.

The significance of the incident is that the intruder must have been someone well-known to the dog. This becomes, like many of the deductions of Sherlock Holmes, perfectly obvious once explained.

Incidentally, this same passage also shows an aspect of Conan Doyle’s writing that is not immediately obvious - he has a peculiar and instinctive feel for language. Re-read the same passage and change the words ‘in the night time’ with what would seem the more natural ‘during the night’ and you’ll find the sentences do not run anywhere near so majestically or happily.

Doyle was a fine story teller and this is one of the qualities which keeps the Holmes stories alive when so much work by his immediate successors has died and been forgotten.

We are hardly ever presented with a mere puzzle, but a story about people briefly, but vividly, seen which encompasses a puzzle. For example, one of the most convincing villains in all of fiction, and certainly in detective fiction, is Dr Grimesby Roylott - domestic tyrant and brute. And yet it comes as something of a shock to realise that his part in The Speckled Band only takes up a page and a half.

Similarly, Professor Moriarty actually only appears briefly in one story - The Adventure of the Final Problem, although mentioned in another six and yet his creation as the ‘Master Criminal’ is a device that has been used, many, many times thereafter and Moriarty is nearly as famous as his honourable opponent.

Equally as surprising is the realisation when you come to re-read it that the words ‘the footsteps, Mr Holmes, were those of a gigantic hound’ are not written it italics - but that is how we remember them because of the skill of Doyle’s writing. It is the mood and mode of writing which gives such point and emphasis to these stories.

Typically a story opens with Holmes and Watson seated in their lodgings in Baker Street, a puzzle is presented, Holmes and Watson investigate, arrive at a solution and the story closes with them once again in their lodgings.

This is by no means invariable and the settings of the stories are many, from wind-ravaged Dartmoor to London opium dens; the quiet menacing serenity of the English countryside to the ‘terrible cauldron’ of the Reichenbach Falls in Switzerland.

Some themes and plots are recycled - The Red-Headed League and The Stockbroker’s Clerk employ the same device to get Jabez Wilson and Hall Pycroft out of the way so that evil may be wrought.

It is an intriguing that one of the characters which appears in The Blanched Soldier is Godfrey Emsworth, son of Colonel Emsworth. Since we know that P G Wodehouse and Conan Doyle were friends one might speculate that Colonel Emsworth might , or might not, be a relation to Clarence Threepwood, ninth Earl of Emsworth.

While we’re on the subject, the names Doyle uses for his characters are rich and satisfying and offer a quiet pleasure of their own. Not since Dickens have names so reflected inner qualities - Hosmer Angel, Morse Hudson, Cyril Overton, Fred Porlock, Jack Prendergast, Bartholemew and Thaddeus Sholto and the splendidly named Wilhelm Gottsreich Sigismund von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Feldstein and hereditary King of Bohemia.

Leander Starr Jameson, caricature by Spy 37

3 Knowledge of astronomy - nil 4 Knowledge of politics - feeble 5 Knowledge of botany - variable Well up on belladonna, opium and poisons generally.

Knows nothing of practical gardening.

6 Knowledge of geology. Practical but limited. Tells at a glance different soils from each other. After walks has shown me splashes upon his trousers, and told me by their colour and consistency in which part of London he received them.

7 Knowledge of chemistry - propound 8 Knowledge of anatomy - accurate but unsystematic.

9 Knowledge of sensational literature - immense.

He appears to know every detail of every horror perpetuated in this century.

10 Plays the violin well.

11 Is an expert single stick player, boxer and swordsman.

12 Has a good practical knowledge of British Law.

Now in many of these observations of course, Dr Watson was quite mistaken. Holmes’ knowledge of literature is given as ‘nil’ but throughout the stories (occasionally given provenance, but more often not) are quotations from Carlisle, Goethe, Shakespeare, Nietzsche and other literary figures.

In the second book, The Sign of Four, we find that Holmes is a drug user, if not an addict. ‘“Which is it today, I asked, morphine or cocaine?” He

Another name which appears not once, but twice in differing forms is that of Dr Leander Starr Jameson, leader of the ill-fated Jameson Raid into the Transvaal in South Africa and which led indirectly the Boer War. He was later Prime Minister of the Cape Colony and created a baronet in 1911, becoming Sir Leander Jameson Bart.

The names used are Colonel Lysander Stark (in The Engineer’s Thumb) and Dr Lysander Starr (The Three Garridebs). Yet another use of a variation is

by Patrick Dennis in his delightful book Genius - as Leander Starr.

Another real-life person used as a character is the slightly epicene Thaddeus Sholto, who is undoubtedly based on Oscar Wilde. Conan Doyle had met Wilde at a dinner and the two exchanged letters each expressing admiration for the other’s writing.

The obviously effeminate aesthete Sholto’s first sentence is remarkably Wildean: ‘Pray step into my sanctum. A small place, but furnished to my liking, an oasis of art in the howling desert of London.’

Later Sholto says ‘You will excuse these precautions, but I am a man of retiring, and I might say refined tastes, and there is nothing more unaesthetic than a policeman.’

There is even a physical resemblance. Doyle’s description of Sholto: “Nature had given him a pendulous lip, and a too visible line of yellow irregular teeth, which he feebly strove to conceal by constantly passing his hand over the lower part of his face.’

Hesketh Pearson’s biography of Wilde has this description of him ‘[Wilde] had thick purple tinged sensual lips, uneven discoloured teeth and it was noticed that when talking he frequently put a bent finger over his mouth which showed that he was conscious of his unattractive teeth.’

The characters of Holmes and Watson do much to enliven the stories. Unlike the vast majority of fictional detectives, Holmes grew, aged and matured over the years. Watson, in the first book (A Study in Scarlet) lists what he conceives to be Sherlock Holmes’ limitations: 1 Knowledge of literature - nil 2 Knowledge of philosophy - nil 38

In 1886, the popularity of the drug got a further boost when John Pemberton included coca leaves as an ingredient in his new soft drink, Coca-Cola. The euphoric and energizing effects on the consumer helped to skyrocket the popularity of Coca-Cola by the turn of the century.

From the 1850s to the early 1900s, cocaine and opium-laced elixirs (magical or medicinal potions), tonics and wines were broadly used by people of all social classes.

Notable figures who promoted the “miraculous” effects of cocaine tonics and elixirs included inventor Thomas Edison and actress Sarah Bernhardt.

An even more notable user was Queen Victoria who was very fond of an alcoholic beverage combining wine with cocaine, Vin Mariani, developed in 1863 by French-Corsican chemist and entrepreneur Angelo Mariani.

She wasn’t alone, by any manner of means, other supporters included President Ulysses S Grant and Pope Leo XIII, who went so far as to write a testimonial for the drink and award it a medal from the Vatican.

HOLMES’ AND WATSON’S CHARACTERS

The King of Bohemia illustration by Paget

Holmes’ character and personality is hard to define. The outward appearances are obvious. His dislike of women, or rather his disregard of them is patent. ‘He never spoke of the softer emotions, save with a jibe and a sneer.’ He is spoken of as having respect for Irene Adler, (A Scandal in Bohemia) but for no other woman.

Yet he can be charming to women and they instinctively trust him. He can, if required, be sufficiently charming to become unofficially engaged to a housemaid during the course of one of his investigations.

He has an incredible capacity for disguise, so much so that it is felt he could have been a professional actor.

The disguises of which we are given detailed descriptions include an aged book collector, an Italian priest and a common lounger.

He is proclaimed as superior to all other detectives, and what makes him unusual, is that this superiority is demonstrated.

Lord Peter Whimsey for instance, is claimed by author

raised his eyes languidly from the old black letter volume which he had opened.

“It is cocaine” he said, “a seven percent solution. Would you care to try it?”

“May I ask whether you have any professional enquiry on foot at present?”

“None, Hence the cocaine. I cannot live without brainwork. What else is there to live for? Stand at the window here. Was there ever such a dreary, dismal, unprofitable world? See how the yellow fog swirls down the street and rifts across the dung coloured houses.

What could be more hopelessly prosaic and material?

What is the use of having powers, doctor, when one has no field upon which to exert them?”

Holmes is gradually weaned off from this addiction, if addiction it was, by Dr Watson. Who, we might add here, was well in advance of his time in thinking that cocaine and drug dependency was injurious to health.

At the time cocaine was freely available across chemist counters. Austrian psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud, who used the drug himself, was the first to broadly promote cocaine as a tonic to cure depression and sexual impotence.

In 1884, he published an article entitled Über Coca (About Coke) which promoted the “benefits” of cocaine, calling it a “magical” substance.

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Dorothy L Sayers to be a connoisseur of fine wines. However, she makes him say some remarkably silly things about wines.

Holmes is proclaimed by Doyle to be a genius, and throughout the stories this genius is demonstrated.

Gradually we learn of the astonishing extent of Holmes’ knowledge, his monographs on a hundred and forty different varieties of pipe, cigar and cigarette tobaccos; on the ear; on the polyphonic motets of Lassus; his analysis of a hundred and sixty cyphers and his ability to recognise the typeface of any newspaper at a glance. But above all is his almost uncanny power of observation and induction

Holmes is said to proclaim: ‘By a man’s fingernails, by his coat sleeve, by his boot, by his trouser knees, by his expression, by his shirt cuffs - by each of these things a man’s calling is plainly revealed.’

This claim is justified over and over again .

A single instance may be allowed to serve for the dozes in the stories. Given a battered old felt hat, of which Watson can make nothing, (The Blue Carbuncle) Holmes is able to deduce that the owner is highly intellectual, was once fairly well-to-do but is now poor, and has been going downhill, probably under the influence of drink; which ‘may account for the obvious fact that his wife has ceased to love him’.

Homes not only makes these deductions, but explains them in plausible detail. It is, of course, sometimes possible to reach different conclusions, but the pleasure one gets from the sort of opening and from seeing the neat workings of a fine mind which makes any kind of caviling impossible.

While not invariable polite to his clients he treats them all equally. His distaste of snobbery is shown quite clearly in his handling of the ‘noble bachelor’. His dislike of the hereditary King of Bohemia is more than apparent. Although his pleasure at the gift of a snuff box is touching in its simplicity.

Dr John H Watson by contrast, is stolid, unimaginative and incorporates all the virtues of the absolutely ordinary man. He is shown in a very poor light in most of the films and plays about the characters.

Watson is often shown in a poor light in most of the films and plays about the characters, but he is not anywhere near as obvious or unsubtle in the books. He suffers, but only by comparison with Holmes. Just about the only reasonably trueto-the-book Watson portrayals have been by David Burke, firstly, and then later Edward Hardwick in the 1984 Granada Television series and Martin Freeman in Sherlock (2010).

Watson in the stories is on several occasions, as equally witty as Holmes. His courage is unquestioned and his self-

Holmes as a ‘drunken-looking groom’ and a ‘simple-minded clergyman’ Illustrations by Paget 40

effacing humility should be an example to the two are together in Baker Street once many another narrator. more from where they continue their

Holmes is stated as regarding Watson companionable adventures. as something of an expert of ‘the fair sex’.

A combination of Doyle’s annoyance Watson himself claims an experience of with the characters and more pressing women ‘extending over many nations and needs on his time led to a certain three separate continents.’ (Remember that degeneration in the quality of the stories statement, we will return to it.) towards the end of the series.

However Watson’s self-proclaimed

Which led to one commentator to Cassanova status seems over-stated a trifle, say ‘Holmes may not have died over the since in his first meeting with Mary Morstan, Reichenbach Falls, but he was never quite whom he later marries, Watson seems as the same man afterwards.’ tongue-tied as any schoolboy.

And any objective observer will agree

He regales her with tales of his that, for example, The Adventure of the adventures in Afganistan, including one Lion’s Mane is not as well plotted or as well moving anecdote as to how a musket looked written as The Adventure of the Speckled into his tent at the dead of night and how he Band. Both also have serious plot flaws fired a double-barreled tiger cub at it. This (snakes are deaf and will come to a whistle, is not exactly the mark of a roué or hardened for example) but Speckled Band is one of Sidney Paget philanderer. (What he would have called a the most famous despite that. ‘poodle-faker’).

Next time we shall be looking at the

Watson’s marriage unfortunately does not last long and Sherlock Holmes myth and the huge fandom of the Canon.

S

SIDNEY AND WALTER PAGET

idney Paget may not be a name that many people recognise, even if they recognise the literary character who he helped to create visually: Sherlock Holmes.

While there is much debate over which illustrator contributed most to the famous detective’s appearance, there can be no doubt that one of the most influential of them all was the rendition that Sidney Paget created for the pages of the Strand Magazine.

Created by George Newnes in 1891, the Strand Magazine is well known for having been a highly entertaining and lavishly illustrated monthly publication. Assigning Paget as the illustrator of the ‘Sherlock Holmes’ stories seems to have happened by a lucky mistake.

According to Paget’s daughter Winifred Paget, the Strand Magazine’s Art Editor, W. H. J. Boot, had actually intended to hire Sidney Paget’s brother, Walter Paget, for the job. Boot, however, had forgotten Walter Paget’s first name and addressed his letter to “Mr. Paget”, and the letter was subsequently opened by Sidney.

Sidney Paget illustrated the Sherlock Holmes stories from their first publication in the Strand Magazine in 1891 until the publication of Final Problem in 1893, and resumed as the illustrator of the stories in 1901 for The Hound of the Baskervilles and 1903 for The Return of Sherlock Holmes.

What do we know about Sidney Paget? According to an article published in the Strand Magazine in July 1895, Sidney Paget was ‘born on October 4th 1860, in London, fifth son of the late Robert Paget, vestry clerk of Clerkenwell’, and studied painting in Heatherley’s School of Art. He first exhibited at the Royal Academy at eighteen years of age, ‘and constantly since that time’.

In his studio, Paget painted portraits and small pictures, while also illustrating books and illustrated papers, consisting of ‘chiefly war subjects of Egypt and the Soudan.’ According to the Royal Academy records, Paget became a student of the Academy on December 6 1881, at the age of twenty, as a painter. At the time, training lasted for six years

Paget, being a portrait painter, often included “portraits” of characters from the stories as illustrations. His skill as an illustrator lay in his ability to make the different characters

Line drawing of Sherlock Holmes by Sidney Paget and a photograph of his brother Walter, the model for Holmes easily recognizable for the reader, something too often lacking in Victorian era illustration.

Paget’s original black-and-white drawings are painterly in their style and use of shading, which does not always translate to the finished illustrations on the Strand Magazine’s pages. This is simply due to the printing process of the illustrations: after Paget had finished the original drawing, both engraver and printer would work on the image as well, leaving their mark on the work.

The printing process also affected the amount of detail that could be included in the finished illustration, which Paget would have needed to take into account when producing the drawings.

However, in ther end Walter did play a significant part in the artistic creation of Sherlock Holmes - he was used by Sidney as the life model for Holmes.

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SWAN VALLEY

SWEET TEMPTATIONS

TRAIL

handcrafted artisan produce

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ley.COM.A

U/sweet

THE IDLER The Idle Thoughts of an Idle Mind

2019 THE YEAR OF FINDING OUR VOICE

GLENNYS MARSDON

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s summer starts to bite and 2019 draws to a close, I find myself reflecting on the year that was.

Mandela’s quote that “sport has the power to change the world.”

Closer to home, Roger Federer and Serena Williams went up against each other for the first time. The historic match held during the Hopman Cup, saw Sweden play the USA in mixed doubles. The match was fascinating.

Aside from phenomenal tennis the action showed another side to the Williams powerhouse as she dissolved into a giggling schoolgirl. For the record Sweden won.

We can’t mention 2019 sport without acknowledging the efforts of Ash Barty who took number one position in the female tennis world. Not strictly a first for Australia, but it would be unAustralian not to mention it. Similarly, congratulations go out to the Australian cricket team for retaining the Ashes.

ENTERTAINMENT

Maybe it was the lure of the quokka I’m not sure, but this year a number of high-profile international guests drop in, including Eminem, U2 and Elton John. The new stadium is getting a workout and for the most part coming up trumps.

BUSINESS

The business world saw significant reports into the Banking and Aged Care sectors. Just when we thought we’d heard it all in terms of corporate greed it seems there was time for one more.

The year ended with the revelation of an alleged forty-milliondollar fraud within the Department of Communities.

What made this even more shocking was the fact the alleged offenders had possession of the homeless purse. Little wonder then that reports suggest there are more homeless on our streets. It amazes me that in the current climate of corporate crimes being exposed, some amongst us continue to think they can get away with depriving the greater good for their own means.

ELECTION

Scott Morrison was officially voted in as Prime Minister, lucky number thirty if you’re counting. Does that count as another new PM? Either way the election taught us there’s no such thing as a sure bet, and to seek feedback from people beyond your immediate reference group. While Bill Shorten missed out on the top job, the biggest loser was the opinion poll operators.

Something that sent the Polling industry into a spin for a while.

ENVIRONMENTALLY

On the environmental stakes, this year saw the full gamut.

An earthquake in Darwin, floods in Tasmania, continued draught conditions in farming areas and major fires spread right across the land. Amongst this backdrop, 2019 saw the closed sign go up on Uluru.

SAD PASSING

This year we lost several legends of politics, sport, and entertainment including: Bob Hawke, Tim Fischer, Mike Willese, Polly Farmer, Margaret Fulton, Geoff Harvey, Max Kay, Anne Phelan, Jimmy Hannon, Annalise Braakensiek, Nlngalli LawfordWolf, Clive James and Danny Frawley to name a few.

Overall though I remember 2019 as the year we found our voice. Around the globe and here in Western Australia consumers took to the streets in increasing numbers to vent.

One of the most memorable demonstrations saw thousands of high school students follow in the footsteps of Greta Thunberg.

I happened to be in the Perth CBD on the morning of the demonstration and taking an innocent right hand turn up from Elizabeth Quay into William Street I found myself at the start of the march.

Realising that the mass of humanity stretched all the way back to Forest Chase, I had to frantically back-peddle on my bike (literally), so as not to be mowed down. The vision will stay with me forever, largely because of how well behaved the students were, even when their plans hit a snag and the march route had to be diverted.

They simply sat on the ground waiting for instructions. I was told they also knew to stand up periodically or risk being taken away. Regardless of your opinion about their motivations, it was an incredibly impressive example of organisation and getting your voice heard in a peaceful manner.

Continued on page 56 ...

SPORTS

On a sporting note, 2019 created a few firsts. For starters South Africa’s Springboks took out the Rugby World Cup. Granted they were amongst the favourites, but it was still a shock for some, especially the kiwi All Blacks.

Even more poignant though, the trophy was accepted by South Africa’s first non-white captain, Siya Kolisi, who was born in the slums to teenage parents who couldn’t afford to keep him. In accepting the Web Ellis Cup he was the embodiment of 43

WE HAVE MOVED

Now Open

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NOVEMBER AND LIBERTY PHILIP BENWELL

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he 6th November marked the 20th anniversary of the failed Australian republic referendum of 1999. It was the accumulation of around eight years of hard campaigning essentially on a daily basis and was a learning curve for all, even for those lawyers involved.

Nearly all of the campaigners were amateurs. Even the politicians had no expertise in a referendum proposing changes as drastic as this.

The last time there were referenda was in 1988 when the Hawke government submitted four proposals to the people.

These four were on parliamentary terms, fair elections, local government and rights and freedoms, all of which were rejected by the people and all of which were totally unlike the republic referendum which, in itself, required nearly seventy changes to the Constitution.

Campaigning was essentially based along Liberal for the No case and Labor for the Yes case. Whilst the Yes case also had a number of senior Liberals actively involved, the No case comprised only token Labor identities. This was totally at odds with the eventual vote when, as is estimated, one third of Labor voters voted No to a republic.

The Australian Monarchist League, which did not form a part of the official No case and did not share in any of the government funding, campaigned, using its own resources, predominantly in the outer suburban typically Labor electorates, in the country areas and in the smaller states like Tasmania, which seemed to have been written off, but all of which resulted in an overwhelming No vote as opposed to the city Liberal electorates which voted Yes.

However, it was the vote of traditional Labor that swung the pendulum against a republic. Traditional Labor have always been deeply conservative in the traditional sense. Unlike so many trendy Liberals, they honour the Queen and respect our constitutional system of governance. In the 1990s, we knew this because a significant proportion of our supporters were – and still are - Labor voters.

The nationwide vote in the 1999 referendum was 54.87% No (against the republic) which may not seem much but if a political party received that vote in a general election, it could well result in winning 72% of all electorates. It is rare that a political party receives over 50% of the total primary votes cast in any general election.

Furthermore, all six states voted No as did the Northern Territory. Only the Australian Capital Territory voted Yes, but as a territory it did not qualify as a state.

Since 1999, republicans have continued to mount campaigns and the Australian Monarchist League has continued to oppose them whilst, at the same time, promoting the benefits and security of our system of constitutional monarchy.

To celebrate the anniversary of the defeat of the republic referendum, the Australian Monarchist League is not holding a conference with lengthy speeches bragging about the victory because the defeat of the referendum was not really due to monarchists but more to the wisdom of the people who, resiling against such massive change, opted to place their trust in the Queen.

PEACE IN OUR TIME

On the 18th May 2019, Scott Morrison won what was considered to be the unwinnable election and was returned as Prime Minister; a position he will possibly hold until 2025 or even longer dependent on how he, himself, travels and also how long it takes for Labor to be accepted as a credible alternative government.

Some of our older members may remember when, on the 30th September 1938, the then British prime minister, Neville Chamberlain, made his famous – now infamous – statement “Peace for our time” holding up the Munich Agreement signed

by Adolf Hitler and himself, echoing those of Benjamin Disraeli, who, upon returning from the Congress of Berlin in 1878, stated, “I have returned from Germany with peace for our time”.

Of course, that very fragile peace lasted only eleven months and war was declared on the 1st September, 1939.

Most monarchists consider that Australia ‘dodged a bullet’, which is true, and that we have “Peace for all time”. Certainly, a republic referendum is not likely as long as Morrison is prime minister, but we know that republicans are beavering away and increasing their support ready for when an opportunity arises to push their insidious agenda.

We should also not forget, as mentioned above, that almost the entirety of the media is republican and whilst it is not an issue at the moment, they will resurrect it at a moment’s notice as soon as an opportunity arises.

This is why organisations like the Australian Monarchist League have to remain active and vigilant always ready to stand up and defend our system of constitutional monarchy. This is why, we continue to need your support and those of all our members and supporters.

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SWAN VALLEY AND REGIONAL NETWORK TRIPLE TROPHY WIN FOR RIVERBANK ESTATE WINERY

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he 2019 Singapore Airlines Swan Valley Wine Show awards night, saw family owned and operated RiverBank Estate Winery win a staggering three trophies:

• Trophy for Best Sparkling Wine for Eric Anthony Chardonnay Pinot Noir 2017 • Trophy for Best Non-Greater Perth Zone Wine for Eric Anthony Chardonnay 2018 • The Media Award Trophy: Most Successful Producer (highest accumulated points overall) with three gold, five silver, eleven bronze, and a total of forty-one points

Also achieved the Award for Best Rosé of Show for Rebellious Rosé 2019

Other accolades achieved on the night include second-best Rosé for On The Run Sweet Rosé 2019, and gold medal for Rebellious RiverBank Estate Winery’s Senior Winemaker Digby Leddin, Director Tempranillo 2018.

Eric Lembo, and Restaurant Manager Ellie Lucy celebrate another

RiverBank Estate Winery’s distinguished award for their Chardonnay Pinot Noir 2017.

Senior Winemaker, Digby Leddin, said the extraordinary

With 2019 coming to an end, the team at RiverBank Estate accomplishment is testament to the small business’ hard work Winery have big plans and expectations for the new decade and dedication. to come, with 2020 already seeing the official release of their

“Winning the Most Successful Producer at the Singapore premium Best Barrels Blend Bossman 2017.

Airlines Swan Valley Wine Show was an exceptional result given

“Bossman is a blend of the best parcels of red from the we are just three Vintages into our RiverBank adventure. vintage.

“I am very proud of the wine we produce and am humbled

The soon to be released Bossman 2017 is blended from that the judges, wine media and our customers are enjoying them Donnybrook Malbec and Shiraz,” said Mr. Leddin. too!

“Wine shows can be a great leveller, where a guy in a shed can take on some of the best resourced wineries in the state and win!” est Swan MLA Rita Saffioti joined local residents to witness

The property was purchased by the Lembo family on 14 the start of construction at the site of the new Brabham January 2017, and within less than three-years, has amassed Primary School. over 100 awards for its On The Run, Rebellious and Eric Anthony

Families in the area whose voices helped make the school a labels. reality visited the site where the primary school will be built.

The venue was also named “Small Producer of the Year”

The State Government has committed $18.5 million to build by leading wine writer Ray Jordan in The West Australian’s 2019 Wine Guide, and “Best Small Cellar Door in the Swan Valley 2019” the new school which will support the rapid growth of Brabham and its neighbouring suburbs.

by Peter Forrestal in Gourmet Traveller.

The new Brabham Primary School will have room for 540

The restaurant has also experienced an abundance of students from Kindergarten to Year 6 and will open in 2021. success this year. With four Gold Plate awards already in its

Meanwhile, the nearby Caversham Valley Primary School portfolio – won in 2013, 2016, 2017 and 2018 – in 2019, the will open next year. property will be inducted into the Prix D’Amour Hall of Fame.

It will offer a range of facilities including an Administration

Eric Lembo, RiverBank Estate Winery’s Director, said it was an immensely rewarding experience to work alongside the team and Dental Therapy Block, Library, covered assembly block, Early Childhood Centre and Kindergarten, and an Arts and Science in turning the business around in such a short period of time.

Block. Students will enjoy hard courts and covered sand pits and

“2017 was a tough year for us when we purchased the play areas. property, but with determination and persistence, we were able

This new Primary School will ease enrolment pressure on to produce not only some of the best wines in Western Australia, nearby schools and accommodate growing families in the West but some of the best cuisines as well. I am very proud of our Swan community. team,” said Mr. Lembo.

NEW BRABHAM PRIMARY SCHOOL

W

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SWAN VALLEY AND REGIONAL NETWORK CHRISTMAS CARD COMPETITION WINNERS

T

wonderful designs.

The winners of this year’s competition are. Christine (10) from Mary MacKilop Catholic Primary School, Mia (12) from Mary MacKilop Catholic Primary School, Cathy (9) from Ballajura Primary School, Corey (10) from South Ballajura Primary School, Eleni (10) from Riverlands Montessori School, Clem (7) from Riverlands Montessori School, Aaliyah (7) from Caversham Primary School and Abby (8) from Caversham Primary School.

Member for West Swan, Rita Saffioti MLA: “One of the best parts of my job as local member is visiting the many schools in the West Swan area and seeing the talents of our local students.

“The Christmas card competition is a fun way to engage with local students and showcase the winning artwork to the wider community.”

he Hon Rita Saffioti MLA, Member for West Swan announced the winners of her 11th annual Christmas card competition.

Ms Saffioti visited the schools of each of the eight winners today to present them with a prize and a framed copy of their winning picture.

All schools in the West Swan electorate were given the opportunity to participate in the competition. A Christmas card will be sent to every household in the West Swan electorate this week.

This year a record number of entries were received and eight winners were selected to feature on two different Christmas cards.

Thank you to all those who entered the competition, I thoroughly enjoyed viewing each entry and looking at the

STRATEGIC COMMUNITY PLAN MAJOR REVIEW

T

he City is undertaking a major review of the City of Swan’s highest level planning document, the Strategic Community Plan (SCP).

This is a significant opportunity to have your say on the future of your community.

We're asking for your input on the vision and priorities for the City in the future, which will guide the direction the City will take.

WHAT'S THE STRATEGIC COMMUNITY PLAN?

It is the blueprint for the City and outlines the vision, outcomes and priorities for our community over a ten year period.

Under the Local Government Act 1995, the City is required to undertake a major review of the SCP every four years.

The current SCP is for the period 2017 - 2027 and once revised will be for the period 2021 - 2031.

the discussion paper for the Strategic Community Plan, then to have your say by completing the short online survey or jumping onto the social pinpoint page via the links below, to share your views.

Hard copies of the survey are also available at the City's Administration Building and Community Hubs, with reply paid envelopes.

Feedback received during community consultation will be used to inform the updates made to the Strategic Community Plan. www.surveymonkey.com/r/SwanSCP

www.swan.wa.gov.au/Your-Community/Have-your-say/ Community-consultations/Strategic-Community-Plan-MajorReview

What stage are we at in the review process?

Community consultation is now underway and the overall review process will take just over a year before the revised SCP is adopted by Council.

This stage of community engagement calls for high level feedback. The results will help form the revised SCP, which will be made available to community for feedback later in 2020.

How can I comment?

We invite you to take a look through 47

BUSINESS - NETWORKING OFFLINE SKILLS FOR ONLINE CONNECTIONS SHARRON ATTWOOD

If you only have a hammer every situation looks like a nail.

– but still see face to face as a worthy part of the cycle when possible.

So if everyone you meet isn’t a nail – what are they?

Too often we miss the opportunity to properly educate and excite potential advocates for what we do. They can be your walking talking billboards! Just because the person in front of you may not be a potential client for your business – they may well know people who could be.

It’s readily accepted that we all have around 120 people within our immediate circle. Rather than one person in front of you – imagine the 120 people standing behind them. I find this really changes our attitudes towards ‘chatting’. It also changes the way we can and should talk about what we do – moving away from selling and towards educating and exciting.

Arm people with the information they need and want in order to be referrers of you and your ‘insert cool thing here’.

Similarly – strive to be that person in your circle that connects others.

Should go without saying – but it never does so I’m going to say it – you also need to listen. Listen to what others have to say – both face to face and online. Be a fan – be generous – be supportive. How amazing does it feel to be heard? Do that and it will come back to you. Set the tone of generosity by paying it forward. How can you help someone else?

We have all experienced the ‘hunter gatherer’ at events – on a mission to only speak with the ‘right’ people and gather up all the cards they can. They then skulk off, having drained the energy of the room. By the light of day we find them adding everyone to their data base and spamming them. They only have a hammer – so we all look like a nail.

Whilst a systemised approach to networking, building rapport and staying in touch makes sense – open your mind to the possibilities. Have a way to support those who may be keen to support you, but not be a client themselves. Be grateful too.

The ones who do this best are often those charismatic folk who confidently enter the room and genuinely enjoy the company of people. They know their tool bag is full – with a hammer for every nail as well as a spanner for every nut. (yeah I see what I did there) I’ve written before around my theories on acquired charisma – that you don’t need to be born with it. Confidence in business, and charisma in networking, can come about through preparation and a desire to do right by people.

Understand your market, your followers and your clients. Give them what they need.

It’s not up to you to decide on that, though you can influence it.

At the end of the day they are the best indication you have of how the market sees you and want to interact with you.

Expand your tool kit to expand your business.

Courtesy of Brandettiquette

T

he same can be said for when you attend a networking event and only expect to see potential clients or non potential clients – wrap your head around that!

We can have a tendency to switch off as soon as we subconsciously or consciously decide the person in from of us is not a potential client – or someone we need to know because of what they do.

It’s been around way before the whole swipe left swipe right mentality – a seek and destroy approach to building our networks. But why?

Way back before the internet – listen up kids – we had to go out and meet people to expand our business. We met them to find clients and to stay up to date. Imagine working on your own without Facebook.

The lack of distraction is certainly appealing – but the social isolation that came with solopreneurship has been eased by the rise in social media interaction. It’s also enabled us to build and consolidate our networks more efficiently – if we have self-control!

I have activated controls which shame me into acknowledging just how long I spend on social media. It’s all about balance – and knowing that cat videos are not work.

We used to have more pressure on our time when we went out to meet people. We didn’t have the opportunity to continue building rapport and getting to know someone online. We’d rely on face to face, phone calls and newsletters.

Lumpy bumpy mail is making a come back in a bid to break through the noise on line. It’s also the reason face to face networking will never go away.

I get the irony – I recently ran a webinar endorsing your ability to build exclusively online networks. I stand by the content

48

COMMUNITY THE GREAT VALLEY RALLY

P

opular Swan Valley adventure gets high-tech update Calling all super sleuths - who’s up for a rollicking adventure with a new high-tech twist?

From today, the Swan Valley Visitor Centre is launching a digital version of its popular Great Valley Rally activity utilising the interactive features of Facebook Messenger.

Type or copy the URL below into your web browser to find out how to start your adventure with the assistance of a Messenger chatbot.

The Great Valley Rally has been offered by the Swan Valley Visitor Centre for the past decade and has been completed by thousands of happy families.

It’s a thrilling treasure hunt where explorers can follow Stirling the Black Swan’s cryptic clues along a specific route in the Swan Valley. Designed for families with children from five to twelve years of age, the trail starts at the Swan Valley Visitor Centre and takes around three hours to complete.

Along the way, participants can learn about local history, historic sites and indigenous culture. They also get to see some of the Swan Valley’s popular food and tourist attractions as they complete the clues.

Enjoy a walk at Bells Rapids (subject to weather conditions), pat a snake*, sample tasty treats and solve the mystery message as you enjoy your adventure (*paid attractions optional).

Traditionally, the Great Valley Rally has been completed with good old-fashioned paper and pen, with the assistance of a road map or GPS.

For those experiencing the Great Valley Rally in the new interactive, digital form, be sure to start at the Visitor Centre. You can snap a selfie with a member of the team or simply collect your complimentary colouring sheet and pencils.

When your adventure is over and you have solved the mystery message, show this to the Visitor Centre to claim your certificate and sticker sheet. Or, if you prefer, you will be given the option of having a certificate emailed to you.

The Great Valley Rally can be done every day of the year except Christmas Day. It starts and finishes at the Swan Valley Visitor Centre, which is open seven days, 9am - 4pm.

The recommended start time is before 12pm because it takes approximately three hours to complete.

But it’s not a race, so take as much time as you need. If you don't finish it in one day, come back to finish it on another.

State Government through Tourism Western Australia.

The three consecutive gold medals received by the Visitor Centre (in 2017, 2018 and now 2019) meant a second induction into the WA Tourism Awards Hall of Fame at the awards night, matching the feat achieved in 2012 after three previous successive wins.

City of Swan Mayor Kevin Bailey was proud to accept the award on behalf of the City of Swan and Visitor Centre at the event.

“This recognition is excellent acknowledgment of the outstanding service and support provided by the City’s Visitor Centre staff,” he said.

“It is through their hard work that we can maintain such a high standard of service and be open seven days a week, all year around except for Christmas day.

“The City continues to provide strong support to tourism in the region and is committed to strengthening our working relationships across the tourism industry.

“We are extremely proud of our contribution to tourism in Western Australia and we look forward to providing the very best in visitor servicing into the future.

“I’d like to thank our local tourism industry - not only for their support and commitment of the Visitor Centre and our tourism programs, but for the memorable tourism experiences they provide each and every day to all those who visit us from around the world.

“I’d also like to congratulate all the State Visitor Centre finalists and medallists; Albany, Kalgoorlie Boulder, Margaret River Busselton Tourism Association, Perth Hills and Rottnest Island for the outstanding contribution they make to tourism in Western Australia.

“Finally, congratulations to Sandalford Wines who took home two gold medals in the Tourism Wineries and Excellence in Chinese Tourism categories and a silver medal in the Tourism Restaurants category.”

The Swan Valley Visitor Centre manages over 350,000 enquiries annually, providing superior services to visitors and boosting the local tourism economy.

The gold medallists in categories 1 to 25 will go on to represent Western Australia at the 2019 Qantas Australian Tourism Awards held in Canberra on March 6, 2020.

WA TOURISM AWARDS

For the third consecutive year the Swan Valley Visitor Centre (SVVC) has been recognised for its innovation and commitment to tourism excellence at the 2019 Perth Airport WA Tourism Awards that were held at Crown Perth on November 9.

The Swan Valley Visitor Centre, operated by the City of Swan, was awarded the best Visitor Centre in Western Australia, out of more than 100 in the state, at the industry’s night of nights.

The Perth Airport WA Tourism Awards are organised by the Tourism Council of Western Australia and supported by 49

FOOTNOTE PEOPLE IN HISTORY MARIA ELISABETH DICKIN (1870 - 1951)

M

aria (Mia) Elisabeth Dickin CBE was a social reformer and an animal welfare pioneer who founded the People's Dispensary for Sick Animals (PDSA) in 1917.

Born in 1870 in London, she was the oldest of eight children; her parents were William George Dickin, a Wesleyan minister, and Ellen Maria (née Exell). She married her first cousin, Arnold Francis Dickin, an accountant, in 1899; they had no children.

She enjoyed music, literary work and philanthropy.

During World War I, Maria Dickin worked to improve the dreadful state of animal health in the Whitechapel area of London. She wanted to open a clinic where East Enders living in poverty could receive free treatment for their sick and injured animals.

Despite widespread scepticism, she opened her free “dispensary” in a Whitechapel basement on Saturday 17 November 1917. It was an immediate success and she was soon forced to find larger premises.

Within six years, Maria Dickin had designed and equipped her first horse-drawn clinic, and soon a fleet of mobile dispensaries was established. PDSA vehicles soon became a common sight throughout the country. Eventually, PDSA’s role was defined by two Acts of Parliament, in 1949 and 1956, that continue to govern its activities today.

Today, treatment is only available to the pets of those in receipt of Housing Benefit or Council Tax Benefit and who live in one of the charity’s ‘catchment areas’. For those eligible, treatment for sick and injured animals is free of charge.

Recently, the PDSA started providing eligible pet owners with preventive services such as neutering, vaccinations and microchipping. These services are the only treatments that are not free; however, they are offered at cost price.

PDSA operates throughout Great Britain through animal hospitals and practices; a vast network of charity shops support the organisation. It has one animal hospital in Northern Ireland.

Maria Elisabeth Dickin 1870 - 1951

The awarding of the medal was revived in 2000. In December 2007, twelve former recipients buried at the PDSA Animal Cemetery in Ilford, Essex, were afforded full military honours at the conclusion of a project to restore the cemetery.

As of October 2018, the Dickin Medal has been awarded seventy-one times, plus one honorary award made in 2014 to all the animals that served in the First World War.

The most recent recipient was Kuga, a male Belgian Malinois military dog serving with the Australian Army. In 2011, Kuga was shot five times while grasping an insurgent fighter with his mouth, while on patrol in Khas Urozgan District, Afghanistan.

Kuga died in 2012 of complications from the wounds despite veterinary treatment. In 2018, Kuga was awarded the Dickin Medal. Kuga was born on 23 April 2007, and began training with the Australian Special Air Service Regiment (SASR) in January 2008, aged eight months.

Kuga was assigned to his handler (who can not be named for security reasons) in April 2009, and in June 2010 they deployed to Afghanistan for their first tour.

On 26 August 2011, during the pair’s second tour, a SASR patrol was airlifted by helicopter into Khas Urozgan District in central

PDSA DICKIN MEDAL

In 1943 Maria instituted the Dickin Medal to acknowledge outstanding acts of bravery by animals serving with the Armed Forces or Civil Defence units.

It is a bronze medallion, bearing the words “For Gallantry” and “We Also Serve” within a laurel wreath, carried on a ribbon of striped green, dark brown, and pale blue. It is awarded to animals that have displayed “conspicuous gallantry or devotion to duty while serving or associated with any branch of the Armed Forces or Civil Defence Units”.

The award is commonly referred to as “the animals’ Victoria Cross” (although the Victoria Cross Trust has opposed this association).

The first recipients of the award, in December 1943, were three pigeons serving with the Royal Air Force who contributed to the recovery of aircrews from ditched aircraft.

The medal was awarded fifty-four times between 1943 and 1949 – to thirty-two pigeons, eighteen dogs, three horses, and a ship’s cat – to acknowledge actions of gallantry or devotion during the Second World War and subsequent conflicts.

50

Afghanistan, with a mission to locate a high value Taliban.

Unknown to the patrol was that an ambush had been established by the Taliban fighters.

Kuga’s handler, ranked Sergeant, let Kuga off-lead to patrol ahead and scout. Kuga went to the left and ahead, then down a creek bank.

While Kuga was swimming across the creek, the Taliban engaged him with automatic gun fire. The handler observed rounds hitting the water around the dog, which continued to the other side of the creek. Kuga left the water and charged at the shooter, grasping onto him.

The shooter then targeted Kuga directly with his AK-47 rifle, hitting him with at least one round. Kuga released his grip on the Taliban fighter who then escaped but not before targeting the dog again, ultimately hitting him five times. Kuga also received shrapnel wounds to his lower spine.

The Australian patrol had been well alerted to the ambush and began to engage the insurgents. The handler observed Kuga lying on the ground injured, near the bank of the stream.

The handler called Kuga, who responded by slowly crawling to and entering the water and swimming over to rejoin the handler. The handler provided immediate first aid, and an emergency medical evacuation was called for.

Kuga was evacuated and then treated by veterinary staff in Afghanistan, Germany and Australia, with the aim of rehabilitating him. However, the stress and injuries were too much, and he died on 24 July 2012. Kuga’s death is officially recorded as ‘Died of Wounds’.

On 26 October 2018, Kuga was posthumously awarded the 71st Dickin Medal for bravery by the People’s Dispensary for Sick Animals. The medal was received on Kuga’s behalf by a Victoria

Kuga, the Belgian Malinois

Cross recipient, Mark Donaldson VC, who was also a Special forces dog handler, along with another military dog, Odin.

Concluded on page 56 ...

Maria Dickin by 1st horse-drawn caravan 1923 51

FOOD FOR THOUGHT I’M NOT ARTY INDIRA CARMICHAEL

I

n human history before there was anything much of anything, without my house, but now it’s time to jettison anything else that there was art. There is evidence of artistic intention from over was brought to you by a creative mind. Get rid of your screens and 500,000 years ago, predating even modern humans*. devices, without art there’d be little to watch anyway.

Our creativity is embedded in who we are. Everything we

Throw away your books and magazines, ditch your favorite have done, made or achieved as a species has been informed by music, in fact lose anything that you use for entertainment, it’s our inherent creativity. mostly supplied by artists.

I have been an artist and have worked in the arts industry

The car must go too; the design, the layout, the interior for over three decades. Over the years I have lost track of the colors and fabrics all brought to you by creatives. number of times I have heard someone say that the arts are not

Our twenty-four hours is starting to feel a little grim, no? important, or worse, irrelevant to them, because they are ‘not You could probably go out for a walk to while away some time arty’. if you didn’t have to get rid of all your clothes. The textile and

I always challenge this and lately I have taken to saying “ fashion industries are positively bristling with artists. You can How can you not be arty? The arts are more important than sex!” throw away your shoes too, for good measure. I might suggest you

To the snorts of laughter make a pair out of grass or bark and disbelief I get to this or something similar, if I didn’t statement I reply “When was the think you would start getting last time you went twenty-four creative in the process. hours without sex? Often? When Never mind. Why don’t you was the last time you went have something to eat? But first twenty-four hours without art? chuck away anything that has Never.” a label with a photograph on

Because here’s the thing, it, or fancy packaging or you just like those early humans bought because of advertising. carving shells 500,000 years Those pesky artists pop up ago, we are all avid, no, all everywhere, don’t they? compulsive creators and I’m guessing there isn’t much consumers of art. left to eat, and unless you

Putting aside for a moment caught it or grew it, you are just the $111 billion contribution going to be hungry for the next the arts makes to the Australian twenty-four hours. economy, I think it is important You are now cold, hungry to underline the contribution vulnerable and isolated. We that art makes to our daily lives. are social beings so you may Indira Carmichael in front of her Prize-winning Can we in fact go twenty-four now feel the urge to band portrait ‘Midas’ Daughter’ hours without art? together with the other naked,

It would be an interesting vulnerable people in your experiment. community, for comfort and safety.

As I sit here writing this in my quirky little house on a hill

But where would you go? Our public spaces are designed in the South Coast of NSW, I begin to wonder about the creative and built by creatives. But for arguments sake, let’s say you find a mind that designed and built it in the early 70’s. non-arty place to congregate.

I notice that my house doesn’t look like any other house in

How long will it be before you start telling stories, singing, my street, or suburb or shire for that matter. I notice too that most building, designing, creating? In this world without art you may of the other houses don’t look like each other either, and the ones not contribute creatively to the culture of your community. And that do have a similar layout or design have been given personal we really do not have to look very far in this country, to see the artistic touches by their inhabitants, to differentiate them from devastating effects of stripping a community of its ability to their neighbours. express itself creatively. Nor to see the extraordinary power of

Looking around the interior of my house, the evidence creativity to restore health and well-being. of creativity, both my own and others is hard to miss. The

I have probably laboured my point a little but in a time when arrangement of mementos, keepsakes and objects. The paintings our government can once more deal such a body blow to the arts and photographs. The colours of the walls. The furnishings, in this country, I feel it is good to be reminded of who we are and curtains, handrails, doorknobs even the kitchen tap bought in a why we are. recent renovation, chosen for it’s look and beautiful design.

Arty. All of us. No exceptions.

I realise too that of all the houses I have ever been in over

In human history before there was anything much of my lifetime, I have never seen two interiors exactly the same. The anything, there was art. We have been making and consuming art places in which we choose to shelter ourselves, raise our families for over 500,000 years and will continue to do so until we are no and live our lives are fundamental expressions of our innate more. Long after this vile government has gone. creativity.

May that time pass quickly.

In this twenty-four hours without art, I am sorry my ‘non arty’ friends, but your house must go. * www.nbcnews.com/science/science-news/old-master-540-000 I concede that I could probably survive twenty-four hours year-old-shell-has-oldest-ever-n261171 52

FLINDERS UNIVERSITY NEWS LOST GRAVES DAVID SLY

F

linders University archaeologists are using cutting edge subsurface imaging technology to help assist community groups map unmarked graves and manage their cultural heritage.

“This is a huge issue, particularly for rural communities,” says Dr Ian Moffat, Senior Research Fellow in Archaeological Sciences at Flinders University.

“Using geophysics provides a non-invasive and culturally appropriate way to map unmarked grave sites.”

Dr Moffat leads a group which recently published the results of using Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) and GPS surveys to non-invasively map the location of unmarked graves within the Lake Condah Mission Cemetery in western Victoria.

Established in 1869, this cemetery remains an important site for the Gunditjmara community, because while it has only twenty-six marked graves, it is anecdotally thought to contain more than 100 graves.

The GPR survey identified an additional fourteen probable unmarked graves as well as forty-nine other areas that may contain one or more unmarked burials.

“The great leap forward with this particular study was the close partnership between the Gunditj Mirring Traditional Owners Corporation and the researchers to achieve such a positive outcome,” says Dr Moffat.

“Many Australian Indigenous communities are anxious not to disturb graves, so this survey provides useful information to assist the Gunditj Mirring Traditional Owners Corporation in planning future burials within this cemetery by identifying large areas which are free of graves.”

Damein Bell, CEO of Gunditj Mirring says, “Our Elders informed the researchers of their knowledge of where the known graves were and our community now have marked the unknown gravesites of our ancestors”.

GPR is a geophysical technique that uses high frequency electromagnetic waves to image the subsurface, making it ideal for mapping changes in lithology or soil structure.

Extensive subsurface disturbance present at the Lake Condah Mission Cemetery and the presence of many tree roots made the effective interpretation of GPR data difficult, but it was still possible to delineate areas where no unmarked graves are present.

“This is an important outcome for managing the cultural heritage of the cemetery because it identifies areas where new graves can be emplaced in a culturally appropriate fashion,” says Dr Moffat.

“This demonstrates the utility of GPR as a means of effectively managing heritage sites containing unmarked graves, even when substantial subsurface disturbance is present.”

Dr Moffat believes the technique of using GPR and GPS readings will now have a much wider application across pioneer and heritage sites throughout Australia and will be undertaking surveys of other cemeteries at Lake Wangary, Berri and Kingscote over coming weeks.

The research paper – Ground Penetrating Radar Investigations At The Lake Condah Mission Cemetery: Locating Unmarked Graves In Areas With Extensive Subsurface Disturbance, by Ian Moffat, Julia Garnaut, Celeste Jordan, Anthea Vella, Marian Bailey and Gunditj Mirring Traditional Owners Corporation - has been published by the Journal of the Archaeological and Anthropological Society of Victoria.

53

SANTA PHOTO SHOOT

Abbey M

urray

COME AND SEE US AT PETBARN MIDLAND 14th December

2019

SESSION TIMES: 9AM - 12PM, 1PM - 4PM

Contact metro.branch@safe.org.au

Follow us at SAFE METRO for further information and to book a session.

SAFE Metro: 0475 346 545

www.safe.org.au 54

COMMUNITY he Compassionate Friends of Western Australia Tregardless strives to support families who have lost a child, of that child’s age throughout WA.

We are a non-profit, non-government funded charity that provide peer call support, group meetings, a drop in centre, sending out quarterly newsletters, Anniversary Cards, we hold Walk of remembrance and a candlelight service (non-religious) at Christmas.

We are run by volunteers and bereaved parents that are further along in their grief and wish to help others who have suffered this tragedy.

Although everybody’s grief is different it helps to talk to someone who has actually had this tragedy happen to them.

They WON”T say “I know how you feel” as no one can, but they will say “I don’t know exactly what you are feeling but this is how I felt when my child died”.

WALK OF REMEMBRANCE HELD IN MARCH EACH YEAR Events like these above give the bereaved some hope of a life after the death of their child. They connect with others that have been through the same tragic experience.

In doing so its helps them to feel that they are not alone in their grief, that there is a worldwide connection to other suffering the same.

DONATIONS Donations allow us to purchase stamps so we can send our booklets and other information to the newly bereaved, community groups, doctors surgeries and hospital throughout Western Australia.

They help us cover advertising cost in newspapers throughout Western Australia, pay for our office and utilities allowing us to have Peer Support Workers come in and contact to bereaved that wish to have contact.

The Compassionate Friends of WA Inc. receives no Government funding in any way.

We raise funds by holding events, charity drives and donation from our members and outside bodies.

Although this is fantastic, we still struggle with the cost of keeping our doors open so any suggestion on fundraising or donations are gratefully accepted.

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED We are always looking for volunteers to help man Sausage Sizzles, Charity Shopping Centre Drives and other events along with peer support volunteers (bereaved parents) for telephone support and group meeting facilitation.

54 Simpson Street, Ardross 6107 6257

A twenty-foot yacht 55

Concluded from page 15 ...

The Roads to Recovery funding in Hasluck will allow councils across the area to progress a number of high-priority projects, using local knowledge to deliver the best local roads.

These projects will include over:

• $5,300,000 for projects in the City of Gosnells

• $3,600,000 for projects in the City of Kalamunda;

• $9,900,000 for projects in the City of Swan; and

• $5,700,000 for projects in the Shire of Mundaring.

Concluded from page 51 ...

A spokesperson for the PDSA said, “The reason he got the Dickin Medal was he just was so courageous.

“He saved the lives, without doubt I think, of that patrol.”

Donaldson said, “I personally am of the opinion that he saved lives that day. … The ambush would not have been sprung early enough so they would have stumbled into that killing zone. … If you take Kuga out of the equation … with reasonable doubt they wouldn’t have known the enemy was there.”

Kuga’s handler said, “I’m pretty proud of what Kuga did that day. He’s the one who chose to go forward, he’s the one who chose to take bullets for both me and my mates. Ultimately that enabled me to come home to my family.”

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development Michael McCormack said the Australian Government has committed an additional $100 million per year to the Roads to Recovery Program from 2019–20.

“From 2013–24, the Government will deliver $6.1 billion under the Roads to Recovery Program, with an ongoing commitment of $500 million each year following,” Mr McCormack said.

“Whether it’s roundabouts, turning lanes or traffic lights, this is real money to fix local roads, which local councils can spend on local priorities.”

Assistant Minister to the Deputy Prime Minister Andrew Gee said the Australian Government was committed to getting Australians home sooner and safer, no matter where they lived.

“Our Roads to Recovery investments will deliver safer roads in local government areas throughout the country,” Mr Gee said.

“Good, safe roads are vital for our communities. They ensure our freight moves more efficiently, our traffic moves more smoothly and our drivers get to their destinations without accident or injury.”

The Australian Government supports local governments to provide vital infrastructure and services through Financial Assistance Grants, and the Bridges Renewal, Black Spot, Heavy Vehicle Safety and Productivity and Roads to Recovery programs.

More information on these programs is available at www. infrastructure.gov.au.

Concluded from page 25 ....

His art was not recognized until 1939, after his mother’s death. He never married, became a member of the Royal Academy in 1962 and died in 1976. Apparently he holds the record for the number of honours (including a knighthood) turned down.

Timothy Spall plays Lowry – his second role as a famous British painter after portraying Turner in the 2014 film Mr Turner.

Spall quips that he had the advantage of not needing to learn to paint again.

In fact the film contains few scenes of him painting. As the title suggests, Mrs Lowry and Son is about the relationship he had with his mother - in a short period of the mid 1930s.

Vanessa Redgrave gives a fine performance as the bedridden mother, Elizabeth Lowry. She is a mother who despises and derides her son’s art. Each day he goes to work, returns to cook a dinner for her and then retires to the attic and the solitude of his painting.

Redgrave and Spall are a perfect match for this film. Their verbal sparring is a neat counterfoil for Lowry’s playful nature.

The latter is illustrated by several wonderful scenes of his walk home in the evening, followed by a gang of grubby children.

This film is a fine portrayal of a great artist who refused to be diverted from his own style – neither by financial circumstance nor by Mother.

Four and a half stars. ~oOo~

Concluded from page 43 ...

I’m guessing there are several parents out there who’d love to know the secret to wrangling in their offspring.

Sadly, while the world found it’s voice, one citizen chose not to speak, and he was the one person we needed to hear from.

On October 27, 2019 convicted serial killer Ivant Milat died of oesophageal cancer.

Despite several attempts to make him confess to the murders he was convicted of, he kept his mouth shut, thereby taking his secrets to the grave and denying peace for the families left behind. My thoughts go out to them at Christmas as they have one less person around the dinner table. Christmas is a hard time for anyone who has suffered loss, but I cannot imagine what it must me like for people who have lost someone through criminal acts or tragic circumstances.

Wishing you all a safe and happy holiday period amongst your loved ones. Hold them tight.

Glennys

All of these movies are recommended – although not always for the same audience. I did not see the opening night film, Military Wives; about ladies coping (through choral singing) while their men are serving overseas in the British Army.

Nor the closing night’s The Good Liar, with Dame Helen Mirren and Sir Ian McKellen, which looks as if it will be a major attraction.

Next month I will discuss, what may be my number one film for 2019, The Ideal Palace. It is in French with English subtitles and is also set in the late nineteenth century.

It tells the actual story of a rural postman who decides to build a palace for his daughter. Clearly I have a weakness for movies about attempting the impossible.

As far as I know, all these films are getting a general release and they will also be available for your home screen.

DISCLAIMER The information in this publication is of a general nature.

The articles contained herein are not intended to provide a complete discussion on each subject and or issues canvassed.

Swan Magazine does not accept any liability for any statements or any opinion, or for any errors or omissions contained herein.

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