POST Newspapers 31 January 2026

Is this the key to finding Sarah?

By BRET CHRISTIAN

Have police tried hard enough to locate the body of Sarah Spiers?

A potential witness who we will call John thinks not, and there are reasons to believe he is right.

His intriguing information has been dismissed by police, but is this justified?

This week marked 30 years since the vivacious 18-year-old, who worked in Subiaco, vanished from Claremont’s Stirling Road after leaving Club Bay View around 2am.

When the taxi she had called arrived three minutes after her phonebox call, she was gone, never to be seen again.

She was murdered, but her body has not been found.

Justice Stephen Hall convicted dark-haired Telstra technician Bradley Robert Edwards of two “Claremont serial killing” murders and a horrendous graveyard rape.

But in acquitting him of the first of the three murders, Justice Hall said pointedly that Edwards was “likely to have been responsible” for Sarah’s death.

30

Sarah’s family have been in pain ever since 1996, their agony made worse by not knowing where her remains are.

police have slammed the door on a promising avenue of investigation.

police have slammed the door on a

His family originally persuaded him not to tell his story to police.

His family originally persuaded

They feared police would suspect him and give him a hard time.

years of agony ‘ ’

Telstra was a strong thread running through the giant files of the murder investigation.

These clues were eventually followed by police, but it took 20 years for detectives to locate the Telstra employee who used Telstra-issued vehicles for his abductions.

Edwards, now serving a life sentence in Casuarina prison for his crimes, denies all murders and is not talking.

Media fanfare greeted the 30-year anniversary of Sarah’s disappearance this week, along with the police’s often-repeated mantra that “the WA Police never give up, and investigators remain committed to finding answers for Sarah’s loved ones.”

So John remains puzzled why

Not without reason. The publicspirited, traumatised young man who discovered Ciara Glennon’s body north of Perth told the Supreme Court that while being questioned, he “left some blood on the police station table.”

Court that while being some blood on the police

But John’s conscience and commitment to civic duty eventually won out.

He says that at daybreak on January 27, 1996, the morning Sarah disappeared, he saw a vehicle backed up to a remote Telstra hut in the hils.

He described a light-coloured station wagon with a “Dial before you dig” sticker.

Edwards was issued with a Mazda station wagon at the time.

a trotting horse around a makeshift

John was doing trackwork, training a trotting horse around a makeshift bush circuit.

a small, isolated red-brick single-door

On one edge of his route in 1996 was a small, isolated red-brick single-door Telstra phone-exchange building, one of hundreds dotted around the state.

Technicians carry keys to them and have 24-hour access.

Some have speculated that Edwards’ access to these depots may hold the answer to the mystery

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More borers to save trees

By JACK MADDERN

Breeding a tree-killing insect in a Murdoch University lab to tamper with its genetics could be the plot of a mad scientist flick.

But PhD student Shahidul Khan said rather than causing a super variant of polyphagous shot-hole borer, his research is making strides in how WA could contain the pest.

“PSHB was identified in 2021 and has been seen in research throughout the world, but no one has ever thought to establish a colony of borers before now,” he said.

He has grown the world’s first PSHB population in lab conditions to understand their attraction to trees.

Mr Khan has hundreds of tubes full of sawdust, beetle-growing ingredi-

ents, and around 200 mature borers.

“The colony at Murdoch University will support the development of lurebased surveillance systems, attract and-kill strategies, and integrated pest management approaches, including the adoption of biological control options,” he said.

He is attempting to identify and modify the chemicals and genes that cause the borers’ attraction to certain trees.

Motivated by his initial success, he is hoping to grow an even larger population for genetic and chemical testing.

“We need a lot of beetles to study this, so we will be doubling the colony,” he said.

• Please turn to page 57

• State response too slow, see report page 9

The missing person poster created for Sarah Spiers in 1996, pleading for answers.

Murdoch is growing colonies of borers in tubes.

This Telstra hut in the Perth Hills in 2015 it was demolished in 2018, before it could be forensically examined.

Wheels to the rescue

I would like to thank the group of cyclists who chanced upon my daughter when she collapsed while on her early morning dog walk in Rochdale Road recently.

The group conveniently included two GPs who quickly diagnosed her condition, called an ambulance and her husband.

Her husband subsequently called me and when I arrived on the scene one cyclist handed me his car keys, another a lead attached to a black dog, and off they rode while my daughter and son-in-law disappeared in the opposite direction in the

• More letters pages 12, 18

back of an ambulance.

Given the nature of the situation, none of us had a chance to get any of their names. Their appearance, just as my daughter collapsed, was certainly timely.

A blood clot had dislodged from her thigh and ended up in her lungs. She spent a night and day in ICU and a further two days in hospital under observation.

So many many thanks to this intrepid group of cyclists, from my daughter, her husband and all our family.

Malcolm Jones Kennedia Lane, Mt Claremont

Talking about bastardry, here’s a list

Re the article Nedlands ‘bastardry’ on hospice (POST, January 17), the “bastardry” in my view is:

• The Bastardry on Allen Park where an A-Class reserve has been allowed to be built on when there were very viable alternatives;

• The Bastardry on Matilda Bay, an A-Class reserve that is now a proposed ferry terminal when there is a viable alternative;

• The Bastardry of Burswood Park, a C-Class reserve that is now a proposed racetrack;

• The Bastardry of the western suburbs by a minister who has no plan for the traffic that he is creating. No plan for Stirling Highway, Curtin Avenue, the railway line or the six railway crossovers. Apparently, everyone will catch the train or bus and will not need a car;

• The Bastardry of the WA Planning Commission which is now a rubber stamp commission, approving everything that is put before it with little scrutiny;

• The Bastardry of local government, which should create a balance between the community and the state government but has now been sidelined.

The list goes on …

Health Infrastructure and Planning Minister John Carey accusing Nedlands former councillors and administrators of “bastardry” leading to delays and cost overruns for the children’s hospice in Allen Park, Swanbourne.

Make voting compulsory

It seems that Cambridge council is unable to manage the ratepayer funds entrusted to it, based on its decision to limit spending until a “Leisure Assets Master Plan” (LAMP) is completed at the end of 2028 Cam parks spend frozen (POST, January 24).

This LAMP, which Mayor Gary Mack comically says would “shine a light on future community needs” does little in the interim for community projects and the public.

The final cost would be of interest to ratepayers.

One has to wonder also about elected members pushing ratepayers with their agenda of changing place names and cancelling long-held traditions such as Australia Day. These are not core activities of councils and they would do well to focus on the regular duties normally associated with them.

It is time for council election voting to be mandatory so that a true democratic outcome can be achieved.

Until this happens people will continue to be represented by individuals with a very small proportion of votes and not representative of the wider community and their needs and wishes.

George Bowden The Grove, Wembley

Council steamrolled Australia Day

Carol Campagnoli Narla Road, Swanbourne

Another Australia Day has passed without any form of recognition by Cambridge council. No naturalisation ceremony, no acknowledgment of any kind, because of a decision by council supposedly made on behalf of us, the residents.

By a majority decision, councillors voted to reject a grant of $15,000 from the Australia Day Council because it had to be spent on January 26.

Instead, councillors voted to spend $20,000 of ratepayers’ money on a day called Celebrate Summer,

which this year was observed at the Aquatic Centre.

In the light of recent polls which show a resurgence of support for Australia Day, please bear this in mind at the next council election. Ask candidates to declare their position on this issue and if you disagree, don’t vote for them. Council should not be allowed to arbitrarily impose upon us a decision about our proclaimed national day when many of us hold a contrary view.

Terry McIntyre Champion Crescent, Floreat

Nedlands hotter, drier after tree loss

By BEN DICKINSON

Nedlands and its surrounding suburbs are hotter and drier than they were six years ago thanks to the declining tree canopy, new data shows.

Aerial imagery shows three hectares of canopy was cleared in City of Nedlands territory between 2020 and 2024, equating to a loss of about 600 trees.

“If this trend continues, residential canopy cover could fall from 16.4% to just 11.7%,” environmental consultants ArborCarbon warned the council in a report published this week.

The worst-case scenario “represents a loss of around 29 hectares of canopy — equivalent to approximately 5800 mature trees”, the report said.

trees by developers, prompting environmental staff to call for a “more ambitious” strategy.

The study calls for 9689 new trees to be planted in parks and road reserves over the next decade at an estimated cost of $5.2million.

ArborCarbon estimates 4651 trees on private properties will be cut down in that time – nearly one in four.

Nedlands commissioners endorsed the tree-planting plan at a meeting on Wednesday, but its true fate will be in the hands of the new council following elections in March.

Councils actually have little control over what happens on private land ‘ ’

The rate of decline is higher than UWA’s School of Agriculture and Environment researchers predicted in 2020, after the area was rezoned to allow townhouse and apartment developments.

School head Bryan Boruff, who co-authored the 2020 study, said the loss of trees could send temperatures soaring over summer.

“We’re seeing a very significant increase in the amount of built materials that are replacing what vegetation was there,” Dr Boruff said.

“This has the potential to have big impacts, particularly in heat exposure.”

The ArborCarbon study found that council-run planting programs had failed to offset the clearing of

Dr Boruff said it was unlikely that planting on council land could offset predicted losses.

“It’s really important for people to understand that that the majority of land in our residential neighbourhoods are private, and councils actually have little control over what happens on private land,” he said.

“The 20 or 30% that councils have control over is multi-use… you’re talking about footpaths, active spaces, sporting grounds.”

The result, according to Dr Boruff, could see large numbers of trees clustered in parks and verges, while residential blocks were left exposed to the sun.

“What’s really important… is the spatial arrangement of our canopy and how we can maximise the cooling effects by being smart and strategic about how we position the trees that we plant,” he said.

• Please turn to page 47

Asbestos threat near school

By JACK MADDERN

The wife of the owner of a Cottesloe laneway disputes claims of deadly asbestos contaminating the rightof-way, saying they had not seen any confirmation.

“If the council confirms there is asbestos in our laneway, then we will definitely act to remove it,” Doll Syminton said.

“They say they have got a report, and they’re going to give us the report.”

But Cottesloe council last week confirmed the presence of asbestos, four months after

they denied the need to take action.

The lane between Mann and Grant streets borders North Cottesloe Primary School and Solaris Cancer Centre.

A chain-link fence is the only thing separating primary school students from the loose asbestos.

Cottesloe confirmed to resident Maryanne Fiore that it had found asbestos in the lane.

“Firstly please accept my apologies for the slight delay in following up my original response to your email concerns about the asbestos al-

leged to be found in the above laneway,” health manager Graeme Bissett wrote to Ms Fiore three hours after the POST asked questions on the matter.

“I have carried out an investigation with my environmental health officer and carried out our own sampling.

“This has been taken to a lab and had an analysis.

“This has come back positive on a number of the sample submitted confirming your allegations.

“I have now contacted the owner and outlined the issue

• Please turn to page 47

A chain link fence Separates the laneway from North Cottesloe Primary School. INSET: Asbestos was found in the lane.

Mainstream media has shied away from the arresting headline “Evolution of the human penis: Why size does matter” circulated by the University of WA’s media section.

This fascinating expose that puts to rest an age-old argument is the result of research by Forrest Research Fellow Dr Upama Aich, from UWA’s Centre for Evolutionary Biology.

The study used 343 anatomically correct computer-generated male gures that varied in height, body shape and penis size.

More than 800 men and women were

A horse called Subiaco had its best day ever at the races last weekend.

Having failed to make an impression in its rst three runs the 28/1 outsider left the rest of the eld in its wake as it romped home in the Dundalk Stadium Handicap in Ireland last Friday.

“He has been spoiling his races by being slowly away and latching on a bit keen,” jockey Leigh Roche said.

“Today he jumped and travelled.”

In the Southern Hemisphere, another horse with the same moniker had less luck across the ditch this month.

shown life-sized projections in-person or participated in online surveys to test if penis size a ected sexual attractiveness and/or was perceived as a sign of ghting ability.

“A larger penis made a man more attractive to women and, perhaps more surprisingly, we also found that men use penis size to judge both a rival’s attractiveness and his ability to win ghts,” Dr Aich said.

“Men rated rivals with a larger penis as being more physically threatening and sexually competitive.

“Female choice and

male-male competition have jointly favoured the larger penis size seen in humans.”

Dr Aich’s co-author, Emeritus Professor Michael D. Jennions, from the Australian National University, said it appeared the enlarged penis “evolved more in response to its e ect as a sexual ornament to attract females than as a badge of status used by males, although it does both.”

Subiaco – a fouryear-old gelding – finished 10th in the 1600m race at Trentham racecourse, New Zealand on January 3. But just ve months earlier he was first across the line over 1550m at Cambridge

Synthetic track in NZ, its only win in 16 races.

Born and bred WA horse The City of Subiaco ran its last race in Albany 11 years ago and notched up two wins, four seconds and three thirds from 28 starts.

Scrappy swan set to sail

By BONNIE CHRISTIAN

Abandoned hip and knee implants destined for scrap have been transformed into an elegant swan by Christ Church Grammar School student Thom Yates.

Stainless steel hip instruments form a feathered body, titanium hip femoral implants curve into a long neck and knee implants transform into a chest and head.

Le Cygne in Steel Major was commissioned by the Year 12’s art teacher who was impressed by his first major sculpture of a leg created from medical materials.

“Most of these instruments have been sitting around too long and can’t be used so they either get thrown away or remelted,” Thom said.

“My dad has collected them over the years.

Thom’s dad is orthopaedic

surgeon Piers Yates, whose own sculpture, Crucifix, created out of medical equipment, hangs outside the chapel at St John of God Murdoch Hospital.

Thom picked up the skills to craft Le Cygne from his dad and created it over four weeks of the summer school break.

The piece will be on display in different parts of the school

Nedlands

Nedlands council is on auditor general Caroline Spencer’s “naughty list” after repeatedly missing reporting deadlines.

The council has not provided its financials to auditors on time since 2021.

Last financial year’s accounts

until it finds a permanent home at the new performing arts centre.

“I chose a black swan because it’s connected to the school, it forms part of our emblem, which I used as the reference when creating this sculpture,” he said.

Thom also plans to enter it into the Wynne Prize in New South Wales.

on ‘naughty list’

were submitted in November, more than a month after the deadline.

Ms Spencer said her office had started naming which councils failed to meet deadlines to encourage them “to avoid this ‘OAG naughty list’, as it is already commonly referred to by the sector”.

Commissioner Bianca Sandri said at a meeting on Wednesday that staff were working to resolve “systemic issues” after the elected council was dismissed last year.

“I know that the team are working very hard to try and put the systems and processes back in place,” she said.

Subiaco romps clear in the Dundalk Stadium Handicap in Ireland.

A tale of two Subis

Thom Yates with his elegant sculpture Le Cygne in Steel Major which is crafted out of unused hip and knee implants. Photo: Jack Maddern

Beds replace beers at Ocean Grand

By JEN REWELL

Beers will be replaced by beds at a contentious City Beach tower after developer Blackburne ditched a planned tavern and increased the number of flats at its Ocean Grand project.

The height of the 23-storey complex will also increase by 90cm.

The WA Planning Commission unanimously approved amendments requested by developer Blackburne last week.

A tavern was removed from the plans, and the commercial floor space was reduced from 16 to 11 tenancies (1728sq.m).

There will be 17 more residential apartments, for a total of 264.

Commissioner Megan Adair said the balance between the number of residences and tenancies needed “to be explicitly recognised”.

“My concern [is] the cumulative effect of amendments … where amenity and community outcomes are incrementally reduced,” she said.

“The commission has to

consider satisfying itself that proposals still deliver the public interest outcomes that justify state intervention.”

There were about 300 public submissions to the meeting, which was closed to the public but viewable online.

WAPC chair Emma Cole said it was “a very different” type of meeting to the one at the Boulevard Centre in March, when hundreds of concerned locals opposed the project.

The WAPC swept through the approval at that meeting despite the opposition of vocal locals and the staff and elected members of the Town of Cambridge.

Mayor Gary Mack said the Town had participated constructively in the assessment process but still had broader concerns and profound disappointment with the approval process.

“The Town of Cambridge has consistently opposed the scale and intensity of the original approval,” he said.

Matthew Cain, representing Blackburne at the WAPC, said getting rid of the tavern was based on “market advice as to the long-term sustainability of commercial elements”.

He said the changes meant that there would be reduced traffic and an increase in deep soil areas.

“The project is moving in the right direction and this is more of a tidy up and a strategic review,” he said.

Cott fan keen to fill vacancy

By BRET CHRISTIAN

Cottesloe’s green canopy and the controversial planning changes imposed on it have prompted resident Jennifer Paterson to nominate for the vacant seat on her local council.

She has been involved in local community work for the 25 years she has lived in Cottesloe.

She said she wanted to advocate for “sensible planning and to protect urban canopy, particularly in light of state planning and greening strategies that do not represent the community nor create liveable neighbourhoods”.

She was instantly smitten when she moved to WA from the US in 2000.

“I fell in love with Cottesloe,” she said.

“I kept saying ‘what is this place?’ It was by the sea. It had everything.”

She and her husband raised three children in Cottesloe but worry that rising prices will exclude the next generation from the suburb.

She quickly turned her skills from project management and board leadership for non-profit organisations to the local scene.

One of her projects was to establish the popular Cycling Without Age program.

Relying on volunteers and funds seeded by the Cottesloe

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Clamp on QEII night parking

By LLOYD GORMAN

Council rangers are set to clamp down on QEII workers who park their cars “really dangerously” in residential streets near the healthcare campus.

Hardy Road resident Jane Boxall told the Perth City Council Annual Electors Meeting this week that illegal parking meant people were “taking their chances” with their safety by driving in the area – especially out of hours.

While there were “very friendly” interactions between residents and medical staff on their way to or from work, there were also “regular violations” of parking regulations, she said.

“The common practice of parking outside parking signs has become really dangerous and this is particularly after hours,” said Ms Boxall, who is also a committee member of the City of Perth Western Residents association.

“At T-junctions and crossroads the illegally parked cars mean that a person has to take a chance, cross their fingers and just pull across an intersection hoping there’s nothing coming the other way.

“It’s a very busy precinct in the early morning and the late evening, right up to shifts starting after 9pm.

“Can we have parking inspectors in Kanimbla, Hardy and Monash precincts outside of 9 to 5 hours please?” she asked the mayor and CEO Michelle Reynolds.

Ms Reynolds said parking officers worked weeknights and weekends but would not say exactly where and when action would be taken.

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Marine Parade meander … Jennifer Paterson pedals Nancy Johnson and her great-grandson Toby in Cottesloe in 2019. Photo: Billie Fairclough

Blackburne has got more apartments at Ocean Grand.

Is this the key to finding Sarah?

of the missing hours in the time-lines of the nights of the Claremont abductions.

John spotted a car with a faded Telecom logo as his cart rounded a corner.

He then saw a strong-looking dark-haired man walking out of the bush, carrying something over his shoulder.

He says it was a trenching shovel, its blade designed for burying cables.

“The bloke was about 20 feet from the firebreak,” he said. “He was coming out of the bush towards the car.

“When he saw me and that I had stopped, he headed back into the bush, and looked over his shoulder at me twice.

“I got worried. He was a big bloke and armed with a shovel.

“I took off. I did another lap. When I came back he was gone and the car was gone.”

John date-checked the encounter but did not report it at the time, on the insistence of his family.

With his conscience nagging him and prompted by two more murders, he finally told his story to a detective he had met socially, 17 months after the shovel encounter.

Later, dissatisfied with the response, he repeated the same story to a police inspector.

“The cops never got back to me,” he said.

“They never took me to the site. They didn’t take a written

statement.

“No, I never showed them the direction the bloke had come from the bush to this day.”

Apart from his attempts to get his story investigated, John again kept quiet until he read the book Stalking Claremont, contacting the author at the POST.

To seek both sides of the story, the POST put John’s account to WA police, along with the names of the two officers John had reported to. Police replied:

“[We] are progressing through the relevant area, but are not able to meet your [Thursday] deadline,”

The POST went to press with its report. (Horseman reports clue to Spiers site, POST February 12, 2022).

But on the Friday, police did respond to questions from The West Australian.

“There is no evidence to validate the information”, was the lukewarm pseudo denial the paper printed, naming the POST but neglecting to contact this newspaper for its side of the story.

Police added that the horse trainer’s account was investigated in October 1997.

This date is significant. It was seven months after Ciara Glennon’s body was discovered, and by this time the Macro investigation into three murders had gone off the rails.

The most senior detectives were convinced that the culprit was Cottesloe public servant Lance Williams. He had no ac-

cess to a station wagon or Telstra exchange buildings.

Police clung to the Lance Williams belief until 2008, in the process wrongly trashing the reputations of two other named men: taxi driver Steven Ross and Claremont’s former mayor Peter Weygers.

In 2004, the POST has learned, the horse-trainer’s information was not in files presented to an international team of cold case investigators who gathered in Perth to try to crack the case.

The report of these investigators flagged the strong thread of Telstra connections, but the team was told nothing of John’s

his Telstra role uppermost in their minds.

The Stirling Road phone-box … A re-enactment of the night Sarah Spiers disappeared, staged to prompt the memories of witnesses.

Hills encounter.

“It was a red-hot lead that just lay dormant,” one insider said. It gets worse.

Edwards was finally arrested in late 2016, after which two large squads of detectives trawled every aspect of his life, plus every conceivable scrap of evidence to present at his trial starting late 2019.

But they missed something.

In 2018 Telstra demolished its surplus Hills telephone exchange, 20 minutes from the murderer’s house.

By then Edwards had been in custody for well over a year, with investigating detectives keeping

But did their trawl of the old files prompt them to forensically examine the interior of the hut before it was bulldozed? They missed it.

Had they not, there was a chance they could have discovered some trace of Sarah. Her clothes, belt and distinctive sunflower keyring are still missing.

One lock of hair or a DNA sample could also have been enough to tie the site to her killer.

The POST, accompanied by experts, made several visits to the site, which has had fires, water run-off and brush-slashing equipment through it.

It was clear that a proper in-depth search of, say, a 100m radius of surrounding bush would need a big undertaking by the authorities.

We left empty-handed, apart from the door lock from the demolished hut.

It still sits on the POST editor’s desk, a chilling prompt that a visitor with the worst of possible intentions could have inserted his Telstra key into that lock. And it is a reminder to never forget that Sarah is still out there.

Killer’s key? The lock from the Hills Telstra hut.

Bradley Edwards

Tenants to be told: Get on your bike

By LLOYD GORM AN

Zero parking but “abundant” bicycle bays for residents are planned in a governmentowned block of 55 affordable and social home units in Subiaco.

The proposed $23.5million building at 566 Hay Street would have four visitor car bays and 34 bicycle racks, plus an outdoor bike shed.

The building is proposed to be

80% affordable and 20% social housing.

Members of the public have until February 14 to have their say on the development application for the six-storey building near Lords Recreation Centre.

Under the plan Development WA (DWA) would own the building and it would be run and operated by a community housing provider.

The proposal is being advertised on the Development WA

Lake guard confronts teens

By JEN REWELL

Teenagers fishing at Herdsman Lake have been confronted by angry locals who have taken their own initiative to protect wildlife.

Several swans were recently impaled by hooks or entangled in line, and one juvenile bird had to be euthanised.

Alice, who asked that her last name not be published, was one of many wildlife lovers who were appalled by reports of teenage boys deliberately luring swans with bread-baited hooks.

“I was so upset to see the front page of the POST … that I headed to Herdsman Lake for my Saturday morning cycle ride,” she said.

Near the end of her ride, she confronted two teenage boys who were carrying fishing equipment and bread.

“They were walking into the thick of the reeds with their fishing rods,” she said.

She asked them what they were doing and told them fishing was not permitted.

When they moved down the track, she followed them and they eventually left the reserve.

“They accused me of harassing them and said that they were 14 and 15 years old,” she said.

There is no suggestion that those particular boys were involved in cruelty to swans.

“I reported them to the RSPCA, which others had too, and they encouraged me to also let the City of Stirling know, which I have done,” Alice said.

Stirling council said acts of deliberate cruelty to wildlife in the wetlands caused significant distress and were being investigated by RSPCA WA and WA Police.

“The City is not authorised to investigate animal cruelty but works closely with these agencies to ensure community safety and environmental protection,” a statement said.

WA Seabird Rescue president Matt Watson said there had been a sharp increase in the number of black swans with entanglement injuries during the school holidays.

“Normally entanglements are in fish-eating birds like pelicans and cormorants and are inadvertent, not intentional,” he said.

“But black swans are vegetarian and we are seeing 25% of rescues caught up in hooks and lures.”

• Please turn to page 57

CASCADE MI STUDY

website, where the DWA has effectively applied to itself for permission to construct the “Build to Rent” project – with “nil” parking spots for people who live there.

Planning Solutions consultants, who were commissioned by DWA, said in their report to DWA that while a “shortfall” in the car parking provision was being sought, it was considered appropriate given the site’s “locational advantage”.

The consultants argued that tenants could meet most of their daily and weekly needs within walking distance.

“The site is also well serviced by public transport including two railway stations and four bus routes linking the site to the wider metro area,” the report said.

“This supports flexibility for residents to occupy a dwelling without requiring a car bay.”

• Please turn to page 57

On your bike … This Subiaco development will have space for dozens of bicycles but no cars.

Matt Watson with a sick pelican rescued at Herdsman Lake. INSET: Teenage fishers are still active at the lake.

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Ferry tests Matilda Bay waters

By LLOYD GORMAN

A Transperth ferry carried out a Matilda Bay test run this week.

The ferry moved around the bay and sailed to Applecross and back to Elizabeth Quay on Wednesday morning.

Megan Bagworth, from

Borer research too late, too slow

By JACK MADDERN

Polyphagous shot-hole borer breakthrough treatments and research have begun to make headway almost 4½ years after the pest was identified.

Most scientists leading the charge against the biosecurity threat believe the state’s response was too slow with 5000 metre trees cut down.

Experts from industry and universities say that their research should have started years ago when the first beetle was found.

Curtin’s population biology professor Ben Phillips and a team are assembling the first predictive model to track the beetle’s spread.

He predicted the borer would spread naturally by one to three

kilometres each year, and further from human intervention.

His model is based on temperature thresholds where the borer finds it too hot or too cold to grow its population.

“Perth is an okay spot, but further north is a much happier place for them to grow, and the eastern seaboard is much more amenable,” Prof. Phillips said.

“It would be explosive over east more than it is here, and if I were a biosecurity person over there, I would be very worried about PSHB.”

He said the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development has a strong biosecurity containment track record, but the management of the borer exposed them to something they were not prepared for.

“This was always going to be a

hard pest to eradicate, like they have done with others in the past, and research into managing them could have started sooner,” he said.

“They didn’t have the tools they needed, so it was like sending firefighters out to deal with a bushfire with buckets instead of planes and hoses.”

Prof. Phillips’ model will factor in the natural spread of borer beetles flying to the next tree and the human spread from people carrying infested wood.

“We can predict the first one well because there is data on flight ability, and that will result in a continuous spreading pattern,” he said.

“Calling this the invasion front, we would predict the borer will

• Please turn to page 57

It will be a one to three-kilometre spread each year until the borer reaches the end of DPIRD’s new containment zone.

Safety on Swan, said it appeared the craft was doing “wash testing” at 5 knots and 8 knots. It was accompanied by drones.

It is the first time a ferry has entered the bay since the Cook government announced a $107million expansion of the existing Public Transport Authority’s ferry service between Perth and South Perth.

Sailing and community groups in the bay say the planned ferry route would pose a safety risk to some water users.

Terminals at Matilda Bay and Applecross were rubber stamped last month but the PTA has not applied for approval to sail to Matilda Bay and Applecross.

A community led protest rally against Matilda Bay for a terminal and expanded route is planned at Parliament House at 1pm on February 19.

The Department of Transport confirmed the ferry was in Matilda Bay so “navigational safety representatives could review the vessel’s wake at a range of low speeds”.

“This information will be used in further consultation and planning for ferry service.”

Early arrival … A Transperth ferry spotted at Matilda Bay this week.

Aboat that had been the subject of complaints from Dalkeith residents sank in Freshwater Bay last week. The Black n earned the ire of Victoria Avenue residents after a man used it as his home for months while tied up to a mooring with a four-hour limit. Department of Transport contractors tried to raise the vessel last Friday, but the salvage e ort was abandoned after it began to break apart. A diver helped a crew use huge yellow lift bags to re- oat the vessel on Wednesday. A Department spokesperson said the boat owner could be ned under new laws.

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West Leed rape accused on trial

By BEN DICKINSON

A 41-year-old man who allegedly strangled his partner while she was holding their baby son in their West Leederville apartment has stood trial on a string of domestic violence charges.

Two women – both mothers of the man’s children – told this week’s District Court trial that he raped and assaulted them during the course of their relationships in the late 2000s and 2010s.

“I felt numb,” the West Leederville woman told the court, describing the final months of her six-year relationship with the man.

“[I was] an eggshell of the person I was before.”

The raft of allegations against the man, who cannot be named

to protect the identity of his alleged victims, came to light after the two women learned of each other’s existence and shared details of their frighteningly similar alleged ordeals.

The West Leederville woman, who grew up in the Netherlands, met the man on a working holiday in 2009, when she was 21.

She quickly fell in love with him, she told the court, and initially overlooked his behaviour as he became controlling.

“If I would laugh at a joke from a male telling the joke, that was unacceptable,” she said.

“He often talked about the past, that he had been cheated on.”

She said the man even pressured her not to spend time with her sister, who had come to visit from the Netherlands just a few months into the couple’s

relationship.

“[He said] my sister is a slut, and if you hang around her I can’t trust you,” she told the trial.

“I can’t recall why I was ok with that.

Police allege the man raped his then-partner while they were living together in Hamilton Hill in 2014, then twice more after they moved to West Leederville later that year.

Both the man and the woman told the court their relationship was strained by the time she gave birth to a son in 2015.

It boiled over in June, when the man allegedly shattered a microwave’s glass door in a fit of rage.

“He was furious that [our baby] cried again and that he woke up from it,” the woman told the court.

“The glass was over our son.”

He was furious that [our baby] cried again ‘ ’

The man allegedly backed his partner against a cot and wrapped his hand around her throat.

“Then he put pressure, and my head was moving back,” the woman told the court.

Defence counsel Mark Gunning suggested in court that the man had only put his hand against the woman’s chest to push her away.

“No, he put force and he squeezed my throat,” the woman said.

The trial earlier heard evidence from the man’s earlier partner, with whom he has

two children.

That woman told the court the man pinned her against a wall of a house in Swan View in 2009 – while she was nearly six months pregnant with their second child – and twice punched her in the abdomen.

“I thought I was going to lose [the baby],” the woman told the court.

The man denied the entire incident in his evidence, telling the court it “didn’t happen”.

“Did the arguing ever get physical?” defence counsel Mark Gunning asked him.

“No, never,” he said. “I’d go for a walk. I don’t see the point in arguing.”

Police allege he raped her three times in 2007 and 2008.

The jury was due to consider its verdict on eight charges after the POST had gone to press.

New padel courts to be a big hit

By JEN REWELL

A full family effort has paid off for padel-loving brothers Danny and Jay Usher who opened a new sports facility in Cambridge last week.

The Usher family has been working hard for more than a year to find and build a home for the sport they love.

All their hard work came together when about 400 people attended the opening of the padel facility at Lake Monger Recreation Club on Sunday, and bookings opened for court use.

“There were lots of locals who came down to have a look and Gregory Street residents who wished us luck,” Danny said.

“We are so lucky to be surrounded by people who want to help.”

Pedestrian crossing has only one leg

By JEN REWELL

Pedestrians are set to be left stranded halfway across a dangerous Galup road crossing.

Main Roads has only approved the southern half of a Lake Monger Drive pedestrian crossing, with a delay of at least 18 months expected before the job will be completed.

Pedestrians will be able to use push-button traffic lights to cross two lanes of busy traffic at the bottom of Kimberley Street in West Leederville.

But having reached the

median strip, they will have to take their lives into their hands to get to the Galup side.

Cambridge council staff understand the crossing will be completed in the 2027-28 financial year.

The crossing to Galup has been on Cambridge’s books for years, as staff consulted the community and finetuned the location.

The road carries about 23,400 vehicles per day, with most driving about 65.2km/h.

It was “difficult and sometimes dangerous” for people to cross from West Leederville to

Temporary Road Closure - Balandi Way, City Beach

In accordance with section 3.50(1)(a) of the Local Government Act 1995, notice is hereby given that Balandi Way (westbound direction, west of Bimbimbie Lane), City Beach, is proposed to be temporarily closed from 16 February 2026 to 12 August 2027.

The temporary partial closure is required to support construction works at the adjacent site, including the development of Lot 560 and works within the Ocean Gardens Retirement Village, as well as associated service and drainage diversion works within Balandi Way.

During this period:

• Access arrangements will change within the affected section of Balandi Way

• Traffic detours will be in place and clearly signed

• Local access will be maintained where possible Road users are advised to allow additional travel time and follow all on-site signage.

For further information or to provide comments, please contact Town of Cambridge on 08 9347 6000 or via email at mail@cambridge.wa.gov.au.

LISA CLACK Chief Executive Officer

Galup (formerly Lake Monger), Cambridge staff said.

“Users must rely on gaps in the traffic to cross, which poses a significant safety risk to vulnerable road users,” they said.

“This type of crossing improves accessibility and ensures a safer crossing experience, while also minimising delays to traffic.”

The design shows two staggered pedestrian crossings with push-button activation across the four-lane road.

The southern part of the crossing will go to tender soon.

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The Usher family began their padel push in early 2025, having negotiated with the bowling club to build on abandoned futsal courts.

They were granted approval by the Town of Cambridge to build the self-funded courts on a sub-

leased section of the recreation club’s land.

Padel is a small-court version of tennis and is popular worldwide.

The small-court sports all have something in common – they are easy to play for people of diverse levels of fitness, skill, age and ability.

Reabold Tennis Club installed similar courts under a sub-lease in 2020.

Another sport, a version of hockey called floorball, was stymied by the Town of Cambridge after it negotiated a deal with Cambridge Bowling Club (Cam parks spend frozen, POST, January 24).

The council has stopped all “unplanned improvements” to council-owned parks or community until a $300,000 Leisure Assets Master Plan (LAMP) is completed in late 2028.

The club had already established a successful relationship with Fox Football Fives, another mini version of an established game.

and activities

• Find out what kills more older people than heart attacks and cancer. Find out what can be done to avert this.

• Hear about dealing with arthritis or the challenges of isolation in the Antarctic.

• We will be going to see Meow Meow’s “The Red Shoes”, Catalpa’s The Flight to Freedom, and A Song at Twilight.

• For outings we have a Busselton Jetty Dinner or visit a Miniature Village.

• For exercise we have our weekday walkers and Chair Pilates & Yoga

• Try out a morning on the river at Freshwater Bay kayaking or Mini Golf

• We have mind exercises like Mah Jong, Pony Canasta, or Scrabble.

• Come along to enjoy for mornings playing games, nd out what the new hit game called Rummikub

Crushing it… Brothers Danny (left) and Jay Usher are padel-ing hard with their new Cambridge venture.

Subi civic centre – want, or need?

A couple of weeks ago, in response to my concerns, City of Subiaco CEO Colin Cameron kindly invited me to meet him to discuss the new administration centre project. He was extremely polite and persuasive in his argument that the new centre was needed and indeed cost-effective, at the estimated cost of $64million. Some hope.   I was staggered that $5.5million had been spent on professional fees including consultants, and at Mr Cameron’s assertion that the current facilities in Hay Street were costing a million dollars a year.

Despite his obvious enthusiasm and endorsement of the project, I thought most of his reasons for its construction were superficial and there seemed to be no-one asking: Is this a want, or a need?

We need some of our councillors to stop and ask exactly those questions.

In my view the solution is blindingly obvious:

• Construct a fully insulated gable roof on the existing Rokeby Road site;

• Refurbish the existing offices with redesign where efficiencies can be made;

• Insulate the buildings’ walls

and install 20mm double glazing.

The timeline will be considerably shorter, the cost probably 20% of the estimated new build project, and we will have a modern, “green” admin centre for at least the next 40 years, that will not burden the ratepayers with debt.

Back when the WA Government ‘saved’ Matilda Bay

In March 1942 the Royal Australian Air Force took over the Matilda Bay Reserve.

The bay was closed to the public, and the US Navy’s Catalina flying boat fleet took over the University Boat Club, the Tea Rooms, the Mounts Bay Sailing Club and the tennis court.

The area was fenced and occupied under National Security (General) Regulations until December 1945 when some of it was handed back.

However, in early 1946 the RAAF Marine Section sought to continue its occupation of Pelican Point and the University Boat Club area.

It was argued that it was essential for post-war defence plans, and that a slipway, hangars and stores were needed for use in Melville Water.

We can be grateful that, on this occasion, the State Government fought hard to persuade the Commonwealth that this should not happen.

families in the weekend and the waters used by increasing numbers of sailing and rowing craft”.

The chairman of the State Gardens Board agreed that the land should be retained “for the purpose for which it is reserved; that is, Recreation, and it would be most undesirable that a permanent Flying Boat Base should be established on the Swan River and the use of this very popular reserve interfered with.”

The Minister for Lands wrote to the Premier: “I agree with the Committee that we should not allow the reserve to be interfered with as it is not only very popular with the people but is in my opinion one of our beauty spots which would no doubt be spoilt by buildings of all descriptions.”

Premier Frank Wise agreed, and so did his Cabinet.

As a resident of Cambridge since its inception until late 2024, I watch from just across the border with a mix of incredulity and sadness the clown show that the council has become.

Sport, exercise and fitness is a key component of good health. They should be supported by local government and at the very least not stymied. This is even more so when facilities can be developed at

no cost to ratepayers, such as the $2.2million floorball courts at Cambridge Bowling Club (Cam parks spend frozen, POST, January 24).

These courts will benefit children and adults in the community.

Yet the council would rather waste $300,000 of ratepayers’ money on a bureaucratic report that will take nearly three years to complete before gathering

John Allen Juniperbank

Way, Subiaco

Cambridge caught up in battle of the buzzwords

dust in perpetuity.

Bleating about “fairness” and “sustainability” is using buzzwords in a lame attempt to defend the indefensible.

Other projects to support the health of residents are also off the agenda until 2029. One word sums this up – appalling!

Joe Kosterich

Morden Street, Wembley Downs

• More letters page 18

The Swan River Reference Committee was unanimous in advising the government to oppose the application, saying the required functions could be carried out from other bases.

It argued that “the river shores, from the City to Pelican Point, were the rendezvous of

The community celebrated the return of its beloved bay in its entirety following the wartime Emergency.

What equivalent emergency could today’s State Government see to justify its decision to again alienate the community from full enjoyment of Matilda Bay?

Sue Graham-Taylor Megalong Street, Nedlands

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Ever thought about leading your community?

Nominate for City of Nedlands Council March 2026 Election.

To everyone in the City of Nedlands

As Commissioners appointed to restore confidence in the City of Nedlands we are committed to supporting a smooth and positive transition back to an elected Council at the upcoming extraordinary election on 28 March 2026.

If you have thought about leading your community as an Elected Member, we invite you to attend the City’s upcoming information session for prospective candidates or visit the City’s website for more information about how to nominate - nedlands.wa.gov.au/nominate .

As an Elected Member, you have the chance to influence decisions, represent your neighbourhood, support community programs, restore the City’s financial sustainability and help ensure the City continues to thrive.

Often, the best leaders are those who never sought the spotlight, but are driven by a desire to help and contribute to their community. You might be more ready than you think, so register for the information session on Thursday, 5 February 2026 at nedlands.wa.gov.au/infosession .

Equally important is voting. Your vote is one of the most powerful ways to effect positive change. Voting closes on 28th of March and allows you to choose representatives who reflects your priorities. Strong voter turnout means a strong mandate for the elected Council.

We encourage you to think about your role in the election process, whether that means putting your name forward as Mayor or Councillor, encouraging others to stand or making sure your vote is counted on election day — every contribution matters.

We look forward to seeing local residents shape the next chapter of the City of Nedlands, through a vibrant and positive democratic process.

Sincerely,

David Caddy Bianca Sandri Cath Hart Chair Commissioner Deputy Chair Commissioner Commissioner

Key Dates:

•Nomination Info Session

Thursday, 5 February, 5pm in Council Chambers

•Nominations Open Thursday, 5 February

•Nominations Close Thursday, 12 February

•Election Day Saturday, 28 March

Postal Voting:

Postal votes are received following the close of nominations and must be returned prior to Election Day on Saturday, 28 March 2026.

REMINDER

To be eligible to nominate for Council or to vote in the upcoming election, you must be enrolled within the district by 30 January 2026. To check or update your enrolment, visit the WA Electoral Commission website at elections.wa.gov.au.

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Cycle of life turns violent

An argument between two cyclists allegedly turned violent at North Fremantle train station on January 10.

Beat Police Beat

The two men were riding on a bike path when they became engaged in a “verbal altercation”, according to police, which escalated to an assault at the station a short time later.

Police allege one of the men, believed to be in his early 40s, hit and choked the other rider – a man in his mid-50s.

The alleged assailant was wearing a light blue Canterbury T-shirt, black shorts with the All Blacks

With Ben Dickinson

logo, black On Running sneakers, and a blue helmet.

“Investigators believe several members of the public were present at the time,” a police spokesperson said.

Anyone with footage or information about the alleged assailant’s identity is urged to contact Crime Stoppers.

Bail breach over home-made gun

A West Perth man accused of fashioning a weapon in his Mount Street home has been arrested after failing to report for bail.

Thomas Jack James, 35, appeared in the dock at Perth Magistrates Court on Tuesday after failing to report to Northbridge police station on Australia Day.

“They’re open seven days a week,” Magistrate Dianne Scaddan told Mr James.

“When you’re told what to do you don’t get to make a choice.

“We’ve taken that away from you.”

Police Beat

Not guilty plea to cycle rage

A Claremont woman who allegedly ran over a cyclist in a road rage incident has pleaded not guilty to a dangerous driving charge.

Catherine Ann Crosland, 60, is accused of recklessly running over cyclist Darron Freegard with her Range Rover in Stirling Road on May 31 last year.

Mr Freegard, a 57-yearold Subiaco resident, suffered broken bones in his left hand and foot, a broken wrist, and a shattered finger joint after he went under one of the Range Rover’s rear wheels.

He sat in the public gal-

Would you like assault with that?

“If you come back again not complying with your bail, you’re going to find yourself in custody,” Ms Scaddan said.

• Have you been a victim of crime? Please send details to the POST at ben@postnewspapers.com.au or call Ben on 9381 3088.

Mr James is charged with making a firearm or related thing without a licence, two counts of carrying or possessing a prohibited weapon, and one count of possessing drug paraphernalia – all on December 3 last year. He was released again on bail and is next due back in court on February 16.

A 42-year-old man has been charged with causing grievous bodily harm, after an altercation at a Cottesloe restaurant on December 28.

The male victim was at Cottesloe Beach Hotel’s Tigerfish restaurant in Marine Parade about 9pm on the Sunday night when he was allegedly attacked.

Police say they are continuing their investigation after the alleged assailant’s arrest.

They would like to speak to anyone who witnessed the assault, including a group of people pictured on CCTV.

Anyone with information should contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

lery of a Perth Magistrates Court courtroom last Friday as Ms Crosland entered her plea to a charge of dangerous driving occasioning grievous bodily harm.

“Not guilty,” she told Magistrate Andrew Matthews, while standing next to her lawyer.

A police prosecutor told Mr Matthews that police would call nine witnesses at trial, including four police officers and five members of the public. Some of the witnesses are other cyclists who were with Mr Freegard, as well as a woman who was cycling just behind Mr Freegard’s group. A trial date is expected to be set at the next hearing on March 31.

Catherine Ann Crosland faces charges over an incident in Claremont, above.

WITH BEN DICKINSON

These people could help police investigating an assault in a Cottesloe restaurant.

Pedal rage … Police would like to speak to this man about an assault on another cyclist.

Cambridge Notice

Water vs heritage – the Kings Park dilemma

Back in December, Botanic Gardens and Parks Authority environment and infrastructure director Shane Kearney advised (Saving water, one dead lawn at a time, POST, December 6) that a “rethink on grass could be the answer to WA’s water woes”.

The headline made me enormously sad.

How can the Kings Park Botanic Gardens and Parks Authority, and its board, think it is okay to turn off the taps in Perth’s biggest tourist attraction and heritage botanical gardens used by the local community?

The article said there had been “a successful trial last summer” of water used on the DNA Broadwalk.

I didn’t realise that “successful” meant turning this popular walkway into a dust bowl.

The term “golden and crispy” seems to be worn as a badge of honour.

And this approach is to be continued again this summer and thereafter.

Let’s take a moment to respect our predecessors’ vision and legacy.

My parents told me that Kings Park, and in particular the Fraser Avenue tree-lined canopy, was saved by those very predecessors when the athletes village was being planned for the 1962 Commonwealth and Empire Games.

They had the vision to nurture the park, and instead the village was built in City Beach.

The Broadwalk Vista was developed in 1966.

Water conservation is just one component of the bigger picture, which should involve respecting the legacy of WA’s founders and our history, maintaining tourism highlights and providing pleasure to the local community and users of the park.

PUBLIC NOTICE

Long shadow cast by Cambridge’s LAMP

ANNUAL ELECTORS MEETING

The Town of Cambridge invites electors to attend its 2026 Annual Electors Meeting.

The purpose of the meeting is to present the Town’s 2024/25 Annual Report and to provide electors with an opportunity to raise matters relating to the Town.

The Annual Report provides a summary of the Town’s activities, major projects and initiatives undertaken during the 2024/25 financial year.

The Annual Report is available to view online here. Hard copies are available for inspection prior to the meeting at the Town’s Administration Centre and the Cambridge Library. Copies will also be available at the meeting.

Meeting details are as follows:

Date: Tuesday 10 February 2026

Time: 6.00pm

Location: Town of Cambridge Council Chambers

1 Bold Park Drive, Floreat

Motions: Electors are requested to submit Notices of Motion in writing by 12.00pm on Monday, 9 February 2026 to gov@cambridge.wa.gov.au.

The Notice of Motion form is available on the Town’s Agenda and Minutes webpage.

Questions:Electors are requested to submit questions in advance to gov@cambridge.wa.gov.au.

For further information, please contact the Town on (08) 9347 6000.

LISA CLACK CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

The POST’s January 24 report (Cam parks spend frozen) about Cambridge council’s decision to freeze funding (except for maintenance and necessary repairs) on parks and community centres until a “Leisure Assets Master Plan” is completed in late 2028 raises more questions then answers.

Various statements made by the mayor and councillors reek of weaselwords typical of politicians.

The comment that “pausing unplanned improvements is not saying no, it’s about making sure we say yes in a way that supports clubs, protects community interests, and uses rate-

payer funds wisely” appears to me to be pure gobbledygook. It stands to reason that applications for all future or unexpected improvements have to be planned and presented to the council for consideration and if approved on the merits should be accommodated in future budgets. What the mayor seems to be saying is that they will not accept and consider future applications for any improvements whatsoever for two years (probably more), resulting in no capital expenditure for parks and community hubs. This is nonsensical and impractical.

Restored confidence in community kindness

I enjoyed the lovely letter from Margaret Wilkes (More random kindness, POST, January 24), reporting her gratitude for the help and support she has received from total strangers while struggling with mobility issues after recent surgery.

Also last week, a letter from 79-year-old Jenny Orchard (Inthe face of teenage hooning), thanking the anonymous young people who came to her aid when she was abused and threatened by two youths wearing balaclavas. Both letters, following on from

my own experience of being reunited with a precious bangle that fell unnoticed from my wrist at North Cottesloe, confirmed my newfound belief in the innate goodness of our community.

I was so happy to have the bangle back that I thought at first I must not wear it to the beach again.

I know now we have to maintain trust in our community/universe, to be careful and not burden it but know that good things happen to us.

Maria Halphen Marine Parade, Cottesloe

Furthermore I predict that, as happens in all government projects, the LAMP exercise will not come in on time and within budget.

Suffice to say I’m smelling a rat. I suspect an external consultant will take stock of all parks and community hubs to determine any “excess” land that could be sold to developers. The council must come clean and disclose to all ratepayers the full scope of the LAMP project, clearly specifying the issues and matters to be investigated. Only then will public speculation cease.

History repeating?

Apparently, back in 1967, Council keen to modernise by replacing the “inadequate and uneconomic to maintain” council building, secured from the Minister for Lands, the area in the municipal gardens that is now the site of the current council chambers and admin centre.

This encroachment on their much-loved gardens, aroused some indignation from local residents – “The new building will be in the middle of the gardens!”

There was also little comfort by the Council’s assurance that “no trees of any consequence would be cut down, though several small trees and bushes would be removed.” Letters were written to the newspaper. One resident wrote: “These beautiful gardens have been in existence for more than 66 years, and most people take pride in their layout… Sit up and take notice, Subiaco ratepayers, or you may find some of the park disappearing.”

Once the new chambers and admin offices were built, Mayor Abrahams seemingly “oblivious of the anguish some felt that the once revered municipal gardens were now no more than a ‘setting’”, wrote proudly of the “building’s pleasing appearance and design and its’ attractive garden surroundings.”

(Reference: Ken Spillman, Identity Prized: A History of Subiaco)

Judith Halliday Kings Park Road, West Perth

Shane Kearney advocates using less water in Kings Park. LEFT: The Broadwalk Vista has become “Golden Grass”.

Bruce Strang  Tighe Street, Jolimont

Stephanie Stroud Barker Rd, Subiaco

The proposed Subiaco council chambers may a ect historic Rankin Gardens.

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Every move has a reason. Sometimes it’s a celebration. Sometimes it’s a difficult decision.

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CONTACT AGENT

THE FEATURES YOU WILL LOVE

Custom built just metres from the beach, where the simple pleasure of watching the seasons change as boats drift through Gage Roads and the Rottnest lighthouse flash gently after dusk shapes a lifestyle reminiscent of a private, boutique hotel by the sea. Open plan living and dining flow naturally to a large, sheltered alfresco and heated saltwater swimming pool flanked by beautifully landscaped, low maintenance gardens. Whet her entertaining friends or spending quiet afternoons poolside, the home is designed to feel effortless.

HOME OPENS

Saturday 31st January - Sneak Preview Sunday 1st Febuary 11:00am - 12:00pm

Invention gets to the heart of the matter

A sudden cardiac episode in the worst place imaginable led to a National Park Service helicopter plucking me off California’s Sierra Nevada mountain range 6½ years ago.

I’d just finished a long day of hiking when my heart suddenly lurched, then fluttered, then began to pound in a jerky and unpredictable rhythm.

I was a full day’s hike from the nearest road, but I knew I couldn’t make it there.

My heart was running on one cylinder, leaving me gasping for air.

I was 29, and experiencing atrial fibrillation.

I’d first heard the term months earlier, when I was diagnosed with the condition after suffering a similar episode near Palm Springs.

Left untreated, an AF episode can lead to clots forming in the heart, increasing the risk of a potentially fatal stroke.

More than half a million Australians suffer from AF, making it one of our most common heart problems.

It’s most common among the elderly and people who suffer from diabetes and other heart diseases, but it’s also disproportionately common among people who participate in endurance

sports like long-distance hiking.

During an AF flare-up, muscle tissues in the heart produce rogue electrical impulses that conflict with the signals produced by the heart’s natural pacemaker.

After returning to Australia, I was lucky to undergo a catheter ablation procedure just a month before COVID shut down elective surgeries.

Liquid nitrogen

I spent about two hours on the table at Sir Charles Gairden Hospital under heavy sedation – but awake – while their incredible cardiology team fed tiny doses of liquid nitrogen through a catheter that ran from my groin, through my femoral artery, and into my heart.

The liquid nitrogen was pumped into a small balloon, which was pressed against heart tissue to freeze it, creating a scar.

Working through a screen, the surgeon drew a small ring around the source of the problem, trapping the rogue electrical impulse inside a ‘fence’ of non-conductive scar tissue.

The surgery was a success, but I was readmitted to hospital the next night after suffering uncontrollable vomiting and dizziness.

The operation had bruised my vagus nerve, which runs close to the back of the heart and controls the digestive system.

The nerve healed, and years later I haven’t had another AF episode.

So I was intrigued this month when I heard from the staff at neighbouring Hollywood Private Hospital, who told me excitedly about a new device making ablations quicker and safer for patients like me.

Cardiologist Kushwin Rajamani gave me an up-close look at the Sphere 9, a catheter developed by Medtronic that surgeons at Hollywood have recently employed in WA for the first time.

The 9mm-globe at the end of the probe can both map the heart and deliver the treatment, replacing as many as four catheters commonly used in ablations.

“It looks like a piece of jewel-

lery,” Dr Rajamani said.

“It’s quite a genius innovation.”

The catheter can deliver rapid pulses of high-voltage electrical fields to destroy the problematic tissue, a method that has been found to be less likely to cause complications, including vagus nerve damage.

Less risk

Dr Rajamani, who has performed more than 2000 ablations, said the device has made the procedures quicker and safer.

“There’s less equipment in the heart, and less risk of complications,” he said.

“When I started doing these 10 years ago the average procedure took four hours, and now it can take 45 minutes.”

I had no idea I suffered from AF until the exertion of months of hiking made it noticeable.

The condition carries on entirely unnoticed in many people, some of whom never get potentially lifesaving blood thinners or ablation procedures before it is too late.

“Awareness can change people’s lives,” Dr Rajamani said.

“Without early intervention, atrial fibrillation can lead to the risk of heart failure and increased mortality, along with a reduced quality of life.”

He said it was important that people get their vital signs regularly checked by their GP so they can monitor for changes – such as a rise in resting heart rate – that could provide early clues.

ALL GRAIN BREWING WORKSHOP

General Class Information

• Small group classes (max 5 people) – perfect for beginners or enthusiasts.

• Private group bookings available with customizable sessions.

• Enjoy light meals and refreshments during the class.

• Take home 20L of freshly brewed wort to ferment (fermentation equipment required).

• All necessary ingredients provided for both the workshop and fermenting the beer at home.

• Corporate events available for team-building days or nights.

• Gift vouchers available – a great present for beer lovers.

• Each attendee receives a $100 voucher towards a Grainfather All Grain Brewing System.

• Classes run for approximately 3.5 hours

• Cost: $250 per person.

Note: To ferment your beer at home, you’ll need fermentation equipment, which can be purchased before or on the day of your class. Starter kits begin at $59.95, and your instructor can help you create a custom setup tailored to your needs during the workshop.

Reporter BEN DICKINSON was rescued from the Pacific Crest Trail after a cardiac episode. This month, he got to see the new device being used to treat people with his common heart problem.

ABOVE: Dr Kushwin Rajamani with the Sphere 9 catheter. LEFT: The helicopter that airlifted POST reporter Ben Dickinson from the Sierra Nevada mountain range.

Elevated,

Stylishly

Renovated North-Facing Entertainer in the Heart of Claremont

Positioned high on the hill in one of Claremont’s most walkable and tightly held pockets, this beautifully renovated single-level residence delivers an exceptional sense of space, light and privacy, with a highly functional layout designed for modern living and entertaining. Whether hosting long lunches, family gatherings or relaxed evenings with friends, the scale and integration of these spaces is outstanding.

Contact Mareena Weston 0422 406 199 mweston@haivenproperty.com.au haivenproperty.com.au

A PASSION FOR PEOPLE AND PROPERTY

Why did you choose real estate as a career?

My passion for real estate began as a child and evolved more recently when I purchased my first property in 2024. Experiencing the process first-hand showed me just how exciting and life-changing it can be, and how important it is to have the right guidance and clear communication throughout. Above all, real estate allows me to meet new people, form lasting relationships, and ensure my clients feel supported at every stage of the process.

What do you love about living in Perth?

I relocated from the Mornington Peninsula, Melbourne, just over two years ago, and Perth quickly felt like home. I love being able to walk to my favourite spot at Mosman Beach and embrace the relaxed coastal lifestyle. Most importantly, I’m grateful for the friendships I’ve built since moving here, and I haven’t stopped smiling. I finally understand why people say, ‘West is Best.’

That’s an interesting accent, where are you from?

I was born and raised in San Francisco, California, and spent many holidays at our family home in the mountains of McCall, Idaho. I like to describe my accent as a bit of a twang; it’s sparked plenty of guesses over the years, along with more than a few comparisons to Miley Cyrus.

What are you most looking forward to achieving at CY?

I’m incredibly excited to be working alongside Richard Young as part of Team Young, and being surrounded by some of the industry’s top performers at CY allows me to continually learn, from deepening my market knowledge to refining the art of negotiation. I’m looking forward to growing as an agent, delivering outstanding results for our clients, and helping buyers find their dream homes.

Perfectly elevated to take advantage of the premium green belt view to the ocean and outer reef surf breaks, stretching all the way north to Surfers Point. This quiet location is well regarded as one of the very best along the Leeuwin Ridge, right in the heart of the Margaret River wine region.

Fairing well in the sailing world

By JEN REWELL

A dozen young sailors from Royal Perth Yacht Club met the team principal of the United States SailGP Team last week and asked him about his high-speed career choice.

Mike Buckley is a two-time World Champion sailor who has built the US team up since 2023.

“Whatever sport you play, it’s important that you enjoy it and it’s fun,” he said.

He was fresh from practicing in the strong winds of the Fremantle Doctor and relished the relaxed atmosphere of the RPYC juniors’ question time.

The kids asked questions

like ‘what is the most common thing that breaks?’ and ‘where do boats go in between races?’

He said the front fairing was likely to get destroyed if the boat nosedived on a rough day, and they had a pre-made splint to go over it.

“Every screw and bolt comes out of the 50-foot boats, and they get broken down and packed into shipping

containers that go onto our own big ship,” he said.

The ship will take a month to get to Auckland for the next SailGP race.

One young sailor asked if it was a challenge to be a SailGP coach.

“It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done by far,” Mike said.

“Everybody in SailGP is the best at their job and they’ve worked their whole life to make it to the top.

“There’s no exact science to it, but it’s got to be fun, because it’s so hard that if it wasn’t fun you’d quit.

“If I wasn’t having the time of my life I’d go play golf.”

The US SailGP Team finished 5th at the Perth leg, which was the opening event for the 2026 SailGP season.

Fury over internet blackout

By JACK MADDERN

Claremont residents are seeking compensation after a 16-day NBN outage kept them in the dark over the Christmas break.

The occupants of Grandstand Apartments at Claremont Oval are furious at the National Broadband Network’s slow repairs and failure to offer compensation for the digital blackout.

They are also angry at being charged internet fees for the period that they were off-line.

Wendy Ann-Parkinson, from the building manage-

heard nothing in the way of compensation since the issue was resolved on December 29.

“We can’t contact the NBN directly, we have to go through our providers,” she said.

“Our management’s provider, Aussie Broadband, had a guy out to the site within the week, and he confirmed it was not the building’s problem it was an NBN issue, so he was hassling them.

“It took NBN 16 days to send someone out for emergency works, although they didn’t admit it was their fault, and we would love to know what the issue was.

“It was only through sheer weight of numbers, instructing all our residents to contact

their service providers, that we were able to get someone from the NBN to help.”

The NBN did not answer questions about what caused the internet issue, nor whether they would support compensation.

“We are sorry for any delays in reconnecting customers across the Christmas period after a fault affected some services in the building,” a spokesperson said.

“We schedule technician visits at the earliest available time we can.

“We will continue to monitor the local network and performance to ensure there aren’t continuing issues with resident connections.”

The US SailGP Team nished fth at the Oracle Perth Sail Grand Prix held last week. INSET: Mike Buckley had some words of wisdom for the kids at Royal

Plastics, batteries rubbish Australia

Make it your business to help clean up Australia with the Business Clean Up Day on Tuesday February 24.

That will be the first of three days Clean Up Australia has set for volunteers to pick up rubbish across the nation.

Registrations are now open for the day, and also for Schools Clean Up Day on Friday February 27, and the wider Clean Up Australia Day on Sunday March 1.

Participants can nominate a date and location to suit them, and claim their free kits for individuals, families, community groups and schools, which include gloves and rubbish bags.

In 2025 more than 800,000 volunteers took part in a total of 8000 events across Australia.

The 2024 litter report said plastics were still the No.1 litter type that volunteers found in Australia’s national parks, bushlands and waterways.

Discarded plastics represented about 81% of all counted litter.

E-waste made its way into the top 10, with vapes and batteries making up most of

the reported e-waste found in the environment.

Clean Up Australia chair

Pip Kiernan said Australia’s litter disposal and recycling challenges were constantly changing.

“The one thing we know for certain is that too much litter is still making its way into our streets, parks, bushlands and waterways,” she said.

“Now is the time to register, get your gloves on and get involved.

“Clean Up Australia Day is about coming together, as neighbours, as communities and as fellow Aussies for a common goal.

“Whether you’re hitting the beach, cleaning a creek, or picking up litter in your local park, your efforts count.

“When we come together, we create real, visible change.

“So, let’s get our gloves on and together, give back to the place that we call home.”

More than 23 million volunteers have taken part in Clean Up Australia Day since it was founded by Pip’s father, Ian Kiernan, in 1989.

For more information and to register go to cleanup.org.au.

Celebrate a century of lovely music

The Royal Schools Music Club is celebrating 100 years this year with monthly recitals, beginning March 7.

Club president and pianist Tommy Seah will perform on that day with pianist and honorary life member Anna Sleptsova.

The recital will be at the Callaway Music Auditorium at the University of Western Australia Music Department.

The April concert will be an intimate performance to celebrate women’s voices of the 19th Century, with Ashley Smith

on clarinet, Cecilia Sun on piano, and UWA’s newly appointed Chair of Voice, Lisa HarperBrown.

Applicants for the 2026 Centenary Scholarship will perform in May on Mother’s Day, and in June six finalist choirs will compete for the Michaela Collingwood Choral (MCC) Award.

The club will celebrate young musicians in July, and in August the Excellence Awards will take place.

The biennial Max and Lorraine

Kousins Wind and Brass Award in September has increased prizes thanks to the generosity of Max and Lorraine Kousins. Scholarship applications must be in by March 30. Amateur choirs wishing to enter for the MCC Award must apply by April 30.

Royal Schools Music Club membership costs $75, which includes free entry to nine recitals.

For more information go to rsmc.info, email rsmc@rsmc.info or phone 0419 930 624.

BOLD PARK COMMUNITY SCHOOL NEW YEAR, NEW SCHOOL?

A parent shared, “When I visited Bold Park Community School, I told my husband, this school is worth moving north of the river for.” And they did.

At Bold Park Community School, we are deliberately small by design. We cater for students from Pre-Kindergarten through to Year 12, set within nature and in community, where relationships are at our core.

Be Bold – Be Brave – Belong is our tagline, and we live by it.

Not all children thrive in a high school of 1,000+ students, which is why Bold Park Community School has reimagined what school can be – without compromise.

Last year, every one of our students graduated with WACE, with offers se-

cured at UWA, Curtin, Notre Dame, the ADF, and TAFE. ATAR is not the goal – though some students do achieve high ATAR results – but rather a personalised, curated learning experience that truly matters.

Ask yourself: what becomes possible when a school community commits to learning that is innovative, human-centred, and deeply connected to the rhythms of nature and culture? Just imagine … we have.

Who might young people become when they are immersed in a landscape of STEM, artistic expression, ecological stewardship, and design thinking?

Bold Park Community School is one of a small number of schools worldwide that delivers a whole-school, Reggio-inspired approach – and this school is right here in Perth, across our Wembley and Maylands campuses.

Surely every child deserves a school experience like this. Choose wisely.

ADVERTISEMENT

Sign up now to help rid our environment of plastic rubbish with Clean Up Australia Day on March 1.

Tommy Seah

Andy Nye

STARSof theFUTURE

Stars shine brightly from early years

Toddlers are now the stars of the future as arts companies begin to engage children as young as two.

According to WA Health, the first 2000 days of life are a critical time for physical, cognitive, social and emotional health. Babies develop faster at this time than at any other time in their lives.

Arts educators believe that artistic engagement for toddlers stimulates imagination, coordination, discovery and social interaction.

Michelle Meschiati, principal of Silhouette Dance School, said that introducing two-year-olds to music and movement developed a different side of their brain.

“Our Little Étoiles (Stars) program is

designed for children aged two to four years with their parents or carers. It is playbased but helps develop skills like coordination.”

She said the fundamentals of listening to music and learning to hop, skip and jump was a great physical and mental foundation for toddlers.

She has also introduced

visual aids to movements which she says aids neurodiverse children and those with developmental issues like Down Syndrome.

“Some children respond really well to visual cues rather than verbal instruction,” she said.

Spare Parts Puppet Theatre has also introduced an early years program

advertising feature

called Puppet Playtime, engaging babies and toddlers and their parents or carers with stories and activities to build play and conversation.

“Puppet Playtime demonstrates the social value of the arts,” said Spare Parts’ artistic director Phillip Mitchell.

“Play, creative activities, reading and storytelling with babies and children promotes brain development and imagination, develops language and emotions and strengthens relationships.”

Spare Parts also developed a theatre show,

Reach for the Sky, for children aged three to seven to engage them in the joy of imagination.

“Early classes eventually help children find their passion, whether it’s performance, dance or gymnastics, or just having fun in a social setting,” Michelle said.

Kids become ripper rappers

Freestyle rapper and comedian Stian Macshane turns learning into laughter and rhyming into pure fun in his Fringe show, 123 R.A.P.

suggestions, and packed with fun games, musical challenges and feel-good freestyle moments in a family-friendly setting where every rhyme teaches kids about confidence, creativity, and selfexpression.

Kids become the stars in his interactive freestyle comedy experience with his signature lightning-fast rhymes, audience interaction, and improvisation skills designed especially for young audiences.

123 R.A.P. performs at Fringe Connect in Scarborough on February 7, 8, 14 and 15. Book through fringeworld.com. au.

Each performance is completely improvised, built entirely from audience

■ Stian Macshane, right, turns rap rhymes into a kids’ game.

Silhouette Dance Studio

Silhouette Dance Studio is excited to welcome new and returning students for another inspiring year of dance.

Located in Shenton Park and Cottesloe, the studio continues to offer highquality dance training in a warm, inclusive environment where every dancer feels supported, encouraged, and proud of their progress.

At Silhouette, we believe strong foundations create con dent dancers. Our classes focus on excellent technique, musicality, and safe, age-appropriate training, while nurturing creativity, con dence, and a genuine love of dance.

Whether a student is dancing for fun, tness, or pre-professional level, our experienced teachers are

committed to helping each dancer grow at their own pace in a positive and motivating atmosphere.

One of the most exciting offerings this year is our preschool ballet program Little Étoiles, designed especially for children aged two to four.

Little Étoiles introduces young dancers to ballet through imaginative movement, music, coordination activities and foundational ballet steps, creating a joyful rst experience of dance in a nurturing setting. It’s the perfect start for little ones who love to move, twirl and shine.

Silhouette Dance Studio is also proud to be expanding opportunities for students through a new musical production program launching this year. This exciting addi-

tion will give dancers the chance to build performance skills, con dence, teamwork and stage presence in a fun and supportive production environment, combining dance with the storytelling magic of musical theatre.

With a variety of classes available for different ages and experience levels, Silhouette Dance Studio is looking forward to another exciting year of training, creativity and community connection. Enrolments for this year are now open.

To learn more or book a trial class, visit www. silhouettedancestudio.com.au.

Helen O’Grady Learn the art of conversation. Eye contact, greetings, everyday chit-chat and full sentences are such important skills but with

technology crowding our lives, it’s easy to see why children are losing the art of conversation.

The Helen O’Grady Drama Academy’s unique drama program has been helping children gain con dence, self-esteem and verbal communication skills for over 40 years.

Classes include speech training, dramatic role play, creative movement, improvisation, dress-ups and much more. Children can connect and communicate in a safe environment that fosters creativity and imagination. All teachers are quali ed educators with specialist training. Classes are enrolling now. Call 9402 8744, email justin.lowson@ helenogrady.net.au.

Advertorial

■ Creative play stimulates imagination and emotional development.

■ Hopping and skipping develops coordination.

SILHOUETTE DANCE STUDIO

Feb 7th

TERM 1 COMMENCES

MINI STARS

Our Minis Program offers Ballet, Jazz, Tap, Lyrical, Acrobatics, Drama, HipHop, Musical Theatre with a strong focus on building confidence and strong foundations of dance.

ELEMENTARY THROUGH TO SENIORS

Offering classes in RAD Ballet, Drama, Musical Theatre, Commercial & Broadway Jazz, Tap, Acrobatics, HipHop, Lyrical and Contemporary RECREATIONAL TO PRE-PROFFESIONAL

SDS offers both a Recreational Program as well as Examinations, Competitions and Development Programs.

Enjoy festive face painting and family fun as we gather to celebrate the Year of the Horse and witness the excitement of auction day together, sharing in a spirit of good fortune. Saturday, 14th February 1:15pm – 2:00pm 1 Cliff Road, Claremont 0433 258 818

National parks protect beyond borders

A study has revealed that protected areas such as national parks and wildlife reserves can have a “spillover” effect of boosting biodiversity for 5km beyond their boundaries.

The study by Professor Graeme Cumming from the University of Western Australia’s Oceans Institute and School of Earth and Oceans has been published in Nature magazine.

It looked in depth at vegetation spillovers – the projected difference in plant composition made by protected areas to land adjacent to their boundaries – across Australia.

The results showed that 71% (2189) of 3063 measured protected areas provided vegetation spillovers within 5km of the boundary.

In WA, some of the protected areas with the largest spillover effects at 5km included Monadnocks Conservation Park, Lane Poole Reserve and Beelu National Park.

“Spillovers from protected areas multiply the benefits of area-based conservation by increasing the range of places endangered and beneficial or useful species can live and grow,” Prof. Cumming said.

“This knowledge can help guide informed decisions to

tackle ongoing biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation.”

The study also found that the size of the vegetation spillover effect was influenced by management inside the protected area.

Prof. Cumming said greater attention to spillovers was likely to show that protected areas were more valuable to society than most estimates suggested.

“This research could help state and commonwealth governments design policy to deliberately facilitate the spread of biodiversity and its benefits from protected areas,” he said.

Jodi’s creation to make waves at Fringe World

Jodi Palasin creates art in a unique way.

Jodi is blind, and for 15 years she has been creating pieces that come alive through touch and sound.

Her recently-created piece “Jelly” will be on display at the Making Waves exhibition presented by Rocky Bay as part of this year’s Fringe World Festival.

Jodi said her motivation for creating art was simple: “It’s important to me because it makes me happy.

“I like creating mosaics because it’s just like a puzzle. I can feel the different shapes. I also really enjoy painting.”

She also said she enjoyed the

challenge of making a visual art form as a blind person.

Rocky Bay support staff at the Joondalup hub helped her to create “Jelly” with materials she could not only feel but also hear.

Jodi said it was her favourite piece to date.

“I really enjoyed making this because of all the different feels of the material and the sounds I created with it,” she said.

Making Waves will feature original works by WA artists living with disability.

The free exhibition will run 8am to 5pm from January 27 to February 6 in the lobby of the Central Park Perth office building at 152 St Georges Terrace.

Jelly, by blind artist Jodi Palasin, comes alive through touch and sound.

Lane Poole Reserve, pictured, is one of WA’s protected areas with the largest spillover of protection for wildlife up to 5km beyond its borders.

McCusker interns notch up a milestone

The McCusker Centre for Citizenship recently recorded two significant achievements.

On December 10 it had placed more than 5000 students in an organisation to complete an internship, which added up to more than half a million volunteer hours.

The centre began its internship program in 2016 with 16 students, as a way for them to make a positive social impact on the community.

Now 5300 students have been placed in community organisations, serving more than 540,000 hours.

Each intern spends 100 hours on a project, while gaining experience and the opportunity to put their skills into practice.

Intelife, a WA disability support organisation, said it had hosted more than 20 interns.

CEO Paul Fleay said interns

Feast on some of the best local produce and cuisine in Western Australia at Subi Spritz in March.

had helped the organisation with its social impact analysis and traineeships program.

Computer science and IT students had given invaluable support with tech-focused projects.

“Our partnership with the McCusker Centre internship program has been beneficial for Intelife, for the people we serve, and for the students who have joined our team, including some who have stayed on as part-time employees or volunteers,” he said.

A McCusker Centre for Citizenship spokesperson said many interns said their internship was one of the highlights of attending UWA.

Third-year biomedical science student Annalise Cook said her internship with the Fremantle Women’s Health Centre was the best unit she took in her degree.

“It was an experience that can’t be replicated in class work and it was extremely rewarding,” she said.

UWA Professor of Practice and McCusker Chair in Citizenship

Michelle Scott said there had been an increase in demand from students to undertake an internship.

For more information about the McCusker Centre for Citizenship, go to mccuskercentre.uwa.edu.au.

Spruce up for Subi Spritz

The fifth annual Europeaninspired food and wine festival, Subi Spritz, will be on from March 26 to 29 in the new year. Locals are invited to whet their appetite with mouth-watering events at local eateries, such as the conti roll contest, and food and beverage pairings that combine the best of WA produce with contemporary Italian flavours.

Subiaco Mayor David

McMullen said: “Subi Spritz is our iconic event showcasing our very own food and beverage experiences to the whole of Perth.

“It not only draws visitors to the City of Subiaco during the festival; it also keeps them coming back all year round once they discover what our fantastic venues have to offer.”

For more information and for tickets go to subispritz. com.au.

From left: James Fitzpatrick, Gisela Roth, Michelle Scott, Charlotte Ford, Denis Reynolds, Malcolm McCusker, Tonya McCusker, UWA Vice-Chancellor Amit Chakma, Krutin Patel, Kurian George and Ban Lanzona.

Offers by 5pm, Monday 16 February 2026 (Unless Sold Prior)

HomeOpen Sat31January 11:00am-11:30am

FEATURES:

• Renovated and extended 1920’s character, Architect Carl Huston

• Manicured, landscaped formal front and rear gardens

• Generous dining area for 10+

• Kitchen with island, suite of European appliances, scullery

• Alfresco dining, BBQ kitchen, 17m pool

• Self contained guest house

• Oversized double garage, additional undercover parking for 2

Your best move Down South.

202/42 Bunker Bay Road, Naturaliste

1 1 1 58m²

Discover a rare opportunity to own your own luxury villa within the exclusive Pullman Bunker Bay Resort - one of Western Australia's most iconic coastal destinations. Perfectly positioned in the heart of the South West, this five-star retreat combines effortless lifestyle appeal with solid investment potential, offering the chance to enjoy your own private escape while earning a return when you're not there. Wake to the sound of the ocean and spend your days exploring crystal-clear turquoise bays, world-class surf breaks, pristine national parks, award-winning wineries, and fine dining experiences. Home Opens.

Contact the Exclusive Selling Agent.

What to know.

Offers from $185,000

Who to talk to.

Mitch Fairclough 0427 386 690 mfairclough@realmark.com.au

20 Howson Rise, Yallingup

6 5 63.08ha

Set on an exceptional 7.6-acre Yallingup location surrounded by magnificent mature Marri trees and beautiful wildlife, this architecturally designed north facing residence delivers an extraordinary combination of scale, privacy, versatility and sustainability.

Designed for thermal efficiency and effortless living, the home spans approximately 650sqm including covered outdoor areas and offers multiple living zones, expansive accommodation and outstanding storage throughout.

Home Open.

Saturday 31 January 2026 11:00am to 11:45am

What to know.

All offers presented by 5pm 15 February 2026 (unless sold prior).

Who to talk to.

Julie Fairclough 0407 174 258 jfairclough@realmark.com.au

Mitch Fairclough 0427 386 690

mfairclough@realmark.com.au

8A Geographe Close, Quindalup

394m2 43

Grounded, calm and intentional, this contemporary coastal home is designed to slow the pace and restore ease. Clean lines, restrained materials and dappled natural light create quiet luxury, where spaces unfold gently and feel cohesive.

Flow and materiality work in harmony, with seamless indoor–outdoor transitions, expansive glazing and integrated storage supporting everyday living. Living and retreat spaces are shaped with purpose, restraint and connection to light.

Quietly positioned in a peaceful Quindalup cul-de-sac, moments from Geographe Bay, the setting offers coastal connection with retreat. Walking trails and Dunsborough’s relaxed lifestyle create a place that feels calm, personal and deeply connected living.

Offers Presented by 5pm 04/02/2026 (unless sold prior)

36 Spinnaker Boulevard, Geographe

42 2

675m2

Absolute waterfront living commands attention, with north-facing panoramic views across Geographe Bay. A frontrow position defined by an uninterrupted connection to the ocean and the Port Geographe marina lifestyle.

Designed for effortless coastal living, the home delivers light-filled open-plan interiors, Jarrah flooring, louvred windows and bifold doors that connect seamlessly to ocean-facing entertaining. A breezeway creates a private outdoor zone complete with kitchen and limestone finishes, while the flexible four-bedroom layout balances everyday comfort with relaxed refinement.

Perfectly positioned for a life shaped by Geographe Bay — from sunset drinks and family gatherings to gentle sea breezes and ever-changing views as the sun sets behind Cape Naturaliste.

Offers Presented by 5pm 04/02/2026 (unless sold prior)

867 737

17 Seaview Rise, Eagle Bay

34 Kawana Boulevard, Dunsborough

2 Marri Drive, Dunsborough

An

Bowling

Cambridge

Pennants: Well done Annie Warrender, Geoff Parker, Phil Werrett and Pam Islip.

Monday Jan 19: 1st Bruce Strang and Andrew Flack; Plate Dave Phillips, David Foulsham, Bob Gauntlett.

Wednesday Jan 21: No bowls due to weather.

Friday Jan 23: 1st Chris Westergren, Ken Alford, Michael Marsh, Dae Miller. 2nd Paula Poynter, Carole Nolan, Dina Shah.

Saturday Jan 24: Tie for first Don Quin and Jay Medhat, and Ted Delaney and Rob Stevenson; 2nd Colin Herring, Chris Westergren, Pat Lee.

Friday Bowls now start at 4.30pm. Names in by 4.15pm. Ladies’ singles started Jan 28. Next matches Feb 4 and 11.

First Wednesday lunch of 2026 will be cold meats and salads offered by chefs Elizabeth and Gavin. All welcome. Add your name to the list on the board. Skyline Restaurant is open Fridays and Saturdays. Walk-ins welcome or book with Ross Bolton.

Hollywood Subiaco

On Tuesday January 20 our ladies played away at Manning. Margaret McHugh, Betsy Tapley, Anne Ormsby and Jeannine Millsteed lost 10-30; Usha Nigam, Dave Leeson, Lesley Langley and Dot Leeson lost 14-26.

Thursday January 22 saw 2Gold at home to Morley. Craig Hirsch, Jim West, Kim Jefferis and Mike Hatch lost 1221; David Allport, Wally Graham, George Sterpini and Glen Morey won 2423; Mike Basford, Milton Byass, Tony Byrne and Rob Campbell won 23-12. There were no pennants matches on Saturday due to the Australia Day long weekend.

Mosman Park

Mosman Park had some successful pennants matches last week.

Thursday Div 1 men gained 5 points by defeating Sorrento; Div 5 opengender gained 5½pts by defeating Nollamara.

Tuesday ladies premier team defeated Safety Bay by 5½pts. Div 2 ladies O/G defeated Cambridge for 4½ points. The ladies singles were a hard fight between Lisa Featherby and ladies captain Cathie Smith. Cathie took the chocolates by one point on the last end. Wonderful bowls. Very well done to both ladies.

Wednesday Scroungers January 21: Beautiful evening weather for play-off between Tim Rolfe, Trish Bouvre, Liz Walker and Breda Ryan. Tim and Liz were the ultimate winners.

Men’s championship Fours winners John Townsend, Matt Jones, John Pallett, Mario Van Bemmel.

Australia Day saw a very busy clubhouse with the community invited to celebrate and see the fireworks in the evening. Members played off their annual Australia Day Cup, played between Australia and the Rest of the World.

Lisa Featherby just missed out on the club’s ladies championship but on Sunday afternoon January 25 she defeated Therese Hastings to take out the State Singles Ladies Championship 2519. Very well done, Lisa. Mahjong is played at the club Thursdays at 9am for social members.

Subiaco Pétanque

Saturday January 24 saw a large contingent of members enjoying pleasant weather in an afternoon of social petanque.  There will be another round of the President’s Cup at the club this Saturday, January 31, at the summer starting time of 4pm. Visitors are welcome on Saturdays and Wednesdays. Go to petanquesubiaco.com for details.

Talk about lithium, energy project

Vulcan Energy Resources managing director and CEO Cris Moreno will be guest presenter at the Australian Shareholders Association investors’ forum on February 3. His presentation will be about Vulcan Energy’s Lionheart Phase One integrated lithium and renewable energy project in the Upper Rhine Valley bordering Germany and France.

The forum will be 11.45am to 12.30pm in the State Library Theatre, Alexander Library Building, Perth Cultural Centre, a 10-minute walk from Perth railway station. All who follow the share market and are interested in sharing their knowledge are invited to attend. Entry is free.

The Australian Shareholders Association (ASA) has been working to support shareholders with education and advocacy for more than 60 years. They aim to represent the interests of retail shareholders and have members in all states. For more information text Len Roy on 0400 292 171.

Go west for fun and games in 2026

Look forward to an exciting term of activities when Westcoast Community Centre starts up for 2026.

Activities on offer include talks, restaurant meals, excursions, arts and crafts, fitness programs, music and theatre, cards, games, a book club, and prose and poetry sessions. Join the group booking to see Meow Meow’s The Red Shoes at

His Majesty’s Theatre, Theatre 180’s Catalpa: Flight to Freedom, or Noel Coward’s A Song at Twilight in South Perth.

Talks will include Lynne Milne’s popular presentation Tales of Forensic Palynology and Botany: Past and Present.

Go for dinner at Busselton Jetty, join a walking group, take part in chair pilates and yoga, play mini

golf, or kayak at Freshwater Bay. Get in early by enrolling in person at the Peppermint Grove Library precinct on Tuesday, February 3, from 9 to 10.30am. Or enrol any time by phoning the Westcoast Community Centre on 9286 8676, at The Pod at The Grove Library on Tuesdays from 9am to 1.30pm or online at westcoastcommunity.com.au.

Neds hotter, drier after tree loss

• From page 3

ArborCarbon reported that current planting budgets were low, maintenance was not aligned with defined service levels, and staffing capacity was stretched.

“Without investment in resourcing and proactive management, [Nedlands] will struggle to achieve its canopy targets,” the report said.

Nedlands has taken some measures to protect trees from redevelopment, but its efforts have been stymied by the state government and in some cases, its own residents.

Planning Minister John Carey rejected a scheme amendment in 2024 that would have required landowners on lots zoned R20 or below to obtain council approval to fell trees more than 8m in height.

Mr Carey cited “the rights of private property owners”.

Property owners killed off a council plan in 2020 that would have limited tree losses from townhouse subdivisions.

Council staff wanted subdividing owners to cede a strip of land at the back of their blocks to make room

for shared laneways, eliminating the need for private crossovers from each townhouse to the street.

Then-planning director Peter Mickleson warned that hundreds of verge trees would have to be cut down to make room for the new crossovers.

“Affected landowners managed to convince the councillors that developers’ profits were more important than trees, and the opportunity to acquire these lanes has now been lost forever,” Mr Mickleson said after leaving the council.

Other measures in the council’s new strategy include penalties for developers who let verge trees die during construction projects, and the planting of more species that are resistant to the destructive shot-hole borer beetle.

Dr Boruff said there was no “silver bullet” to protect urban tree canopy, which required a multipronged approach by councils and the state government.

“There are ways through strategic design to minimise that canopy loss and enhance liveability and sustainability of our redeveloped neighbourhoods,” he said.

“The developers will tell you that comes at a cost.

“Should they maybe be forced to think a little bit more openly about design… that enhances sustainability?

“That would be nice to see.”

Asbestos threat near school

• From page 3

and requested that they contact the Town to address this issue.

“I have suggested they contact their own consultant to investigate and recommend treatment options to resolve this issue.”

It is not confirmed that the council’s communication reached the Symintons.

The council’s stand was different last September when Ms Fiore was told that no action would be taken.

“It was only one piece of suspected asbestos-containing material that was observed at the time of inspection, which has not been tested,” environmental officer Jacqueline Luseno told Ms Fiore at the time.

“Based on the investigation, it was determined that there is not enough evidence to substantiate any action as things stand.”

Ms Syminton was confronted by Ms Fiore this week while being interviewed by the POST in the laneway.

“This has been going on for two years,” Ms Fiore said to the POST in front of Ms Syminton.

Ms Syminton said Ms Fiore was wrong.

“I’m not saying it doesn’t exist but please could you show me where it is?” Ms Syminton said.

“The first I knew of this was from your report.”

She was told the picture of asbestos published in the POST last week (Deadly asbestos loose in Cottesloe) was taken by an ANZ Enviro officer

who investigated and confirmed the presence of the substance.

Ms Syminton said she has been working with the council and school to solve laneway issues. She has also contacted the authors of the ANZ Enviro report but has not yet commissioned a report of her own.

Ms Fiore hopes the asbestos will be removed and the laneway gifted to the Crown.

Asbestos Diseases Society CEO Melita Markey said there was an urgent need to resolve the matter given that students would return to school next week.

Ms Markey said the laneway posed a very serious risk to public health and that action should have already been taken months ago to rectify the situation.

A scene from Theatre 180’s Catalpa: Flight to Freedom, which is one of Westcoast Community Centre’s planned theatre outings.

One of many dead verge trees outside Nedlands development sites.

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French giant acquires Perth geotech firm

By Sam Jones

One of Australia’s most successful geospatial tech firms has joined French Space Agency subsidiary CLS Group after more than 30 years of operating independently.

Perth-founded NGIS revealed it had been acquired by France’s CLS Group, bringing its expertise in digital maps to the French space and sustainability company.

The sale price was not revealed.

Founded in Perth in 1993, NGIS initially focused on pro-

viding mapping solutions for some of the state’s largest miners before rising to become a global leader in geospatial technology solutions.

It employs 110 people across Australasia, Europe and North America.

NGIS chief executive Paul Farrell said the acquisition would prove a transformative step that would accelerate the scale of its solutions.

“Together, we are uniquely positioned to help global clients solve the most complex challenges, while continuing to cultivate

innovation in Australia,” he said. CLS president Stéphanie Limouzin said the acquisition provided a foothold in the AsiaPacific.

“In a world facing unprecedented environmental and regulatory challenges, our responsibility is to provide our clients with concrete, reliable and measurable solutions,” she said.

“The integration of NGIS intro CSL Group marks a major strategic milestone: it strengthens our ability to support businesses and territories worldwide, by putting space and geospatial intelligence at the service of a more transparent, responsible and sustainable economy.”

The acquisition means CLS now operates in five continents

and 39 sites worldwide, and employs more than 1200 people.

Headquartered in Toulouse, France, CLS is a subsidiary of the French Space Agency CNES and investment firm CNP.

In recent years NGIS has developed an interactive battle hologram for the Australian Defence Force; a mapping tool for flood migration paths in Abu Dhabi; a program to monitor the disappearance of underwater forests; and a tool which can display the distribution and severity of pesticide resistance across Australia.

Wanneroo Markets sell for $9.25m

By Jayde Andrews

Western suburb property investor brothers Martin and David Steens have sold Wanneroo Markets to a western Sydney private investment syndicate for $9.25million.

GreenX taps investors for $13.6m

By Justin Fris

European-focused developer GreenX Metals has announced plans to raise $13.6million to help develop activities across its assets.

Ben Stoikovich-led GreenX said it would issue 16million new ordinary shares at an issue price of 86cents each, with SCP Resource Finance helping facilitate the placement.

“The strengthened balance sheet places the company in a strong posi-

The

More loyal readers

tion for 2026, as it looks to undertake a more targeted exploration program at Tannenberg designed to delineate the project’s true scale and potential through systematic data integration, target refinement and drill-ready prioritisation,”

Mr Stoikovich said.

GreenX last month completed the acquisition of Tannenberg copper project in central Germany, on the back of securing a 90% stake in Group 11 Exploration GmbH.

Mr Stoikovich said the company had made significant progress in a year at Tannenberg but GreenX had “barely scratched the surface” and would intensify more “targeted” exploration works at the site.

GreenX said during the September 2025 quarter that its technical team would continue its exploration targeting and fieldwork plans at Eleonore North antimony-gold project in Greenland.

V&L Perth bought the Wangara property from Perth building group Westech Nominees whose directors include Martin Steens, David Quinlivan and David Steens.

The markets at 33 Prindiville Drive cover 2985 square metres, contain nearly 110 stalls and have about 350 car bays.

Ray White capital markets senior adviser Michael Milne and capital markets director Brett Wilkins brokered the deal.

“The asset came with a proven income stream combined with the significant land content,” Mr Milne said.

The sale price reflects $403 a square metre and 8.81% on static net income.

The buyers plan to keep the existing conditions, according to Mr Milne.

“[V&L Perth] intend to continue and further improve the existing Wanneroo Markets opera-

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tion,” he said.

Mr Wilkins said the property attracted a high number of expressions of interest from local, interstate and offshore buyers.

“This sale demonstrates the depth of enquiry we are seeing from eastern states and overseas buyers attracted to Perth’s market fundamentals,” he said.

“Astute investor and developer capital has

Proven income stream combined with signi cant land content

clearly identified the Perth commercial property market as offering compelling value and a strong growth trajectory.”

Mr Milne said variety markets remained a specialised investment category.

“This is not a passive asset class,” he said.

“It appeals to experienced investors with intensive management capability and a clear strategic vision for the future of the operation.”

ASIC records show Kimsong Veng and Lychhing Veng are V&L directors, while other members of the family also appear as shareholders.

NGIS’s Paul Farrell, left, and Nathan Eaton with CLS president Stéphanie Limouzin.

Wanneroo Markets was sold in November. Photo: Ray White Real Estate.

Michael Milne, left, and Martin Steens.

Pop, pointes and goosebumps

“I’m going for goosebumps,” insists choreographer Ihsan Rustem of his new work for Ballet at the Quarry.

Explaining his creation of the titular work Incandescence for WA Ballet’s festival season, Ihsan said the moment he came across a mash-up of Blondie (Debbie Harry) and composer Phillip Glass, he knew this was is it!

“It gave me goosebumps,”he said, “and now I really have to step up.”

Born in London to Turkish parents, Ishan trained at Rambert School of Ballet and now lives and works from Switzerland

with a repertoire of more than 60 ballets performed across Europe and the US.

But it is music that defines his work.

“I played the violin as a child at my mother’s insistence, and I hated it,” he said.

“But at Rambert I was the most musical in the company, I always got the rhythm straight away. Now I love that I had to study it.

Music is my anchor.”

For his debut work for WA Ballet he brings together a nostalgic mashup of pop songs, with American composer David Lang’s profoundly moving anthem Our Common Fate creating his first public work with dancers en

pointe.

Known for his bold, contemporary, emotionally charged dance style, Ihsan said: “I understand classical ballet, but I never wanted to dance in a classical company. Rambert trained me to be incredibly versatile. At this point in my career it would be so easy for me to stick to a formulaic style, but I want to challenge myself.”

He is also challenging the dancers with his precise “Swiss-clock” style. Moving with the dancers on the floor, he pushes them, demonstrating minute movements and detailed forms.

“I want to crush concepts of boundaries and tap into

Take part in Penny’s Pot Luck Party this weekend with cabaret and opera singer Penny Shaw. Each night she will produce a different “menu” of songs from opera and musical theatre with stories, and surprise guests drawn from her mysterious cooking pot. Saturday and Sunday at This Terrace Greenhouse, 223 South Terrace, South Fremantle.

places they didn’t know they could go,” he said.

But for all his Swiss precision, Ihsan has a relaxed Londoner’s style, exclaiming that WA Ballet’s Quarry season of four world premieres is “bonkers”!

His Incandescence is joined by Sydney choreographer Tim Harbour’s new work, Once and Future and WAB dancers Chihiro Nomura and Polly Hilton in their solo mainstage choreographic debuts.

■ WAB presents Incandescence: Ballet at the Quarry for Perth Festival at Quarry Amphitheatre, City Beach from February 6 to 28.

Fascination in thousands of FB images

“There was this finite moment in human history when we all participated in a far more honest and convivial form of online social interaction,” said Fremantle artist Tessa MacKay of her new exhibition, Social Realism.

Tessa is a photoreal artist who won the Archibald Packing Room Prize in 2019 for her portrait of actor David Wenham.

For Social Realism, she wanted to explore the early days of social media when “we were uploading our images with no real intent beyond a kind of absentminded fun”.

“At the time, it served a genuine social utility, and it looked like social networks might actually deliver on their promise of creating the new digital town square,” she said. “We’re all so digitally isolated now, and our online avatars are curated within an inch of their life in service of the

reputational economy of ‘likes’ and ‘follows’.”

Tessa has been compiling a few thousand Facebook photos from a mix of strangers and friends who have had active accounts since the early 2000s.

“I’m looking for unremarkable, mundane and largely forgettable images, often taken accidentally, with little compositional merit by traditional photographic standards,” she said. She said it was important that she grounded these otherwise easily dismissed “low-value” digital images within a more historic painting tradition by blending photorealism with elements from Classical Realism, 17th Century Dutch Golden Age painters, and 18th Century Neo-Impressionists.

■ Her exhibition of paintings Social Realism is showing at Lawson Flats’ gallery space, 4 Sherwood Court in Perth city, from February 5 to March 11.

■ ■ ■

Virtuoso is part clown, part character comedy, which follows Tobias (Casey Filips), a pretentious actor in the audition of a lifetime. With dreams of becoming the next Hollywood superstar, and a black turtlenecktights combo to match, Tobias will stop at nothing to give a career defining performance – or is he destined for a lifetime of delivering UberEats? State Theatre Centre, February 4 to 15.

■ ■ ■

The power-diva half of Frisky and Mannish, and queen of pop-mashvaudeville, Miss Frisky (Laura Corcoran) makes her solo debut with Frisky’s Reshuffle – a music extravaganza, in which the audience can challenge her and her four-piece band to play absolutely any song in any style. De Parel, Pleasure

Gardens, February 4 to 15.

■

■

■

Head First Acrobats returns to its first-ever production, Elixir, with the remake Elixir Revived With new acts and remakes, it follows four scientists who attempt to create the elixir of life. Testing the concoctions on themselves results in outrageous physical comedy and sexier athletic prowess. Aurora, Pleasure Gardens, until February 15.

■

Making his debut at Fringe, YouTube star magician Saksham’s Magical Madness includes levitations, teleportations, impossible transformations, and moments that blur the line between illusion and reality blended with cuttingedge technology. Royale Theatre at Planet Royale, Northbridge, February 7 and 8.

■ Georgia Waite and Heath Kolka: Incandescence Ballet at the Quarry.

Photo: Hypnosis Creative Agency

■ Miss Frisky goes solo.

■ Penny’s Pot Luck Party.

■ Casey Filips as wannabe actor Tobias.

■ A new elixir of life.

SARAH McNEILL

SARAH McNEILL

■ Photo-realism and social realism collide in Tessa MacKay’s painting, Yas Planning a BBQ and Lei’s Party.

Photo: Jessica Maurer

■ Magician Saksham

The brutal business of being left behind

Blue Moon (M)

Much like its subject, legendary Broadway lyricist Lorenz Hart (Ethan Hawke), Blue Moon is a strange cat.

Richard Linklater’s bittersweet tribute to the original writing partner of Hart and composer Richard Rodgers (Andrew

I have been dating a girl for seven months, but I am bothered by the number of sexual partners she has had, which is much higher than mine.

Scott) – who together wrote the standards Bewitched (Bothered and Bewildered) and My Funny Valentine as well as the titular favourite – is 100 minutes of rapid-fire, real-time dialogue and exhausting dramatic inertia.

Of course, there’s no one better equipped to play Hart than loquacious longtime Linklater collaborator Hawke.

He handles the witty

I don’t know the actual number because she doesn’t want to talk about it. We are exclusive with each other, though on the night when we first sparked an interest, she was making out with a night. Our relationship continued from there. Is her past something I should be legitimately concerned about?

Art

Art, you want physical intimacy and you want a relationship, but instant physical intimacy with a woman creates a problem. You fear that what she does with you, she will do with another. If you can’t get a hold

monologues with the ease of a seasoned filibusterer – even if Linklater has to shave a good ruler’slength off the actor’s rangy physique to bring him down to Hart’s diminutive size.

The film plays out on March 31, 1943, at the famed Sardi’s, where Bobby Cannavale is tending the bar, there’s a pianist (Jonah Lees) tinkling out classics,

direct answers

to find yourself too often intimately involved with someone you can’t have a relationship with. Get a handle on this dilemma now, and you are likely to have a good life. Fail to find the answer, and your life will be fraught with anxiety that knows no solution.

Wayne & Tamara

and it’s opening night of Oklahoma!, Rodgers’ collaboration with Oscar Hammerstein II (Simon Delaney) – with whom he will go on to even greater fame.

Hart, an alcoholic who died drunk in the street six months later, is trying not to drown his sorrows but feeling deep pangs of jealousy.

He knows Oklahoma! will be a hit, even if he

can’t help a brutally funny takedown of The Surrey With the Fringe On Top between friends.

Working from a script by Robert Kaplow (Me and Orson Welles), Linklater’s chamber piece is dense with the business of Broadway, Hart’s infatuation with aspiring young theatre designer Elizabeth Weiland (Margaret Qualley) – the story is based on their

letters – and amusing segues, such as Hart casually supplying EB White (Patrick Kennedy) the idea for his children’s book Stuart Little. Ultimately, though, it’s about the brutal business of being left behind. Will musical theatre lovers enjoy it? I did, but it’s also a wordy slog that not even Hart’s delightful stream of bon mots can bolster.

Nothing is neutral, everything is political.

Perth Festival invites you to a creative corner of the CBD for Summit at Lawson Flats. A series of raw encounters – films, listening sessions, improvised performances, and urgent conversations – where nothing is off-limits. A place to spark ideas, challenge assumptions, and leave with your worldview slightly scrambled.

Get tickets

perthfestival.com.au

Floodland Tue 10 Feb

Lawson Flats

Liquid Architecture Presents Wed 18 Feb

Lawson Flats

■ Porthole windows, facebrick and Colorbond cladding are architectural features of this 1998 home.

Timeless design on the south coast

The challenge when designing a home is to ensure it won’t date too quickly or look like it belongs to a particular era.

Mark and Sue Unger made this a priority when they designed this Middleton Beach house in 1998 for owners whose brief was “no compromise” and “views from as many windows as possible”.

No expense was spared when building the solid, double-brick house that is perfectly positioned at the beach end of the street.

Windows in different shapes and sizes frame the coastline, flooding the interior with natural light and creating a seamless connection between

indoors and out.

With travertine natural stone, sandstone brickwork, granite, blackbutt and jarrah throughout, every space feels refined and purposefully crafted.

The heart of the home is a large, open-plan living area that captures some

of the finest views of the beach, Lake Seppings, Emu Point and north to the Porongurups and Stirling Range. A north-facing deck with cafe-style electric blinds is an ideal setting to take in more of the ever-changing colours of

the landscape.

The owners, who are downsizing, said they were drawn to the location because of the views, beach lifestyle and walkability to the local shops.

Their house is 350m from a neighbourhood watering hole, Rats Bar,

Stirling Highway

Architect Harold Krantz designed this 1940s block of flats on the corner of Portland Street.

AGENT: Chris Shellabear, Shellabears.

47 Waratah Avenue

An ad in the POST said this 2024 home was

which the founders named after the initials of their children.

Also near the bar is a popular fish-andchip shop, Hooked on Middleton.

Among the improvements to the home over the years is a recently renovated granite kitchen.

There is a plenty of storage space and a hobby room for creative types.

– SARAH McNEILL

■ Windows in di erent shapes and sizes frame the everchanging views of Middleton

Walk to the local bar and sh-and-chip shop from the 856sq.m property at the beach end of the street.

or follow Instagram@juliebailey_property

Tech tycoon neighbour to golf course

IT entrepreneur Camillo Della Maddalena has emerged as the buyer of a $5.8million house backing onto Cottesloe golf course. Mr Della Maddalena’s new abode at 1 Mayfair Street, Mt Claremont, settled on January 20, Landgate shows. The three-level house overlooking the third green is on the corner of Haldane Street. A six-car garage, lift, cellar and EV charger are among the many features of the house on a 520sq.m site. Last year, the state government awarded Mr Della Maddalena’s company CDM Australia and 14 other companies about $375million worth of technology infrastructure work, according to Business News. The tender attracted 72 submissions.

Bullsbrook echoes of sandcastle house

Remember the “sandcastle house” at 64 Branksome Gardens, City Beach? The whimsical limestone house with a prominent turret and stained-glass windows sold for $5.9million in 2018. Now the creative couple behind the unconventional design, Tani and Tim Richards, are selling another passion project – the “Earth Castle” at 93 Wilson Road, Bullsbrook. Both homes share the

■

same distinctive use of stonework and gothic-inspired detailing, linking the coastal castle with the earthy house. The ve-bedroom and ve-bathroom rural property was built into the landscape, like “Hobbit” houses from Lord of the Rings. A grass roof doubles as a space for morning exercise, yoga, or sunset cocktails, according to agent Simon Bird’s website. For more information on the 25.87ha property phone 0406 045 099.

Pining for housing on Norfolk Island

We complain that building a house in Perth takes too long, but spare a thought for those on Norfolk Island where construction is at a much slower pace. Houses on the South Pacific island are built using timber from the iconic trees, and other essential building

materials arrive by sea, sometimes taking two or even three months to arrive because rough seas and unpredictable weather often make it unsafe for ships to dock. Concrete has become incredibly expensive for the islanders, many of whom build their own houses. A big, concrete driveway is a status symbol – like having a Mercedes or Porsche out the front. Airconditioning is rare because electricity prices are about three times higher than in mainland Australia, a tour guide told the POST last week. “Land is handed down through the generations, but it is getting to the stage where we are running out of land,” Kim Quintal said. Like many people on the island – about twice the size of Rottnest – Mr Quintal is a descendant of the nine mutineers from HMS Bounty who settled on Pitcairn Island in 1790.

Get set for auctions

After a quiet summer lull, the auction market is nally stirring again, and the next round falls on Valentine’s Day. The four local properties scheduled for auction on Saturday, February 14, are: FLOREAT •4 Hurdles Drive at 11.30am, SWANBOURNE •6 Australind Street at 12.30pm, CLAREMONT • 19 Parker Road at 1pm and •1 Cliff Road at 2pm.

■

Luxury refurb for Crawley apartment block

Aluxury Crawley apartment that had been vacant since it was built in 2009 has finally sold off-market for $14.5million.

The late John Squarcini, a colourful property developer and horse owner, built the 10 apartments at 6 Wingfield Avenue as an investment.

Mr Squarcini died in 2023 and the following year his family put the 1463sq.m property on the market but it failed to sell (Changing Hands, September 28, 2024).

“In the end it all came down to price,” agent Wayne Lawrence told the POST at the time.

The price was right for SKS Group, a property development company founded in Malaysia in 1983.

The Burswood-based company plans to convert the building, which overlooks the river, into a $45million luxury apartment complex.

SKS is part way through gutting the interior and expects the project to be completed by the first quarter of 2027.

Chief financial officer Eugene Lim told Business News that the property was rare, given it was owned by

a single entity.

“There are not a lot of buildings like that on offer,” he told reporter Claire Tyrell.

“It’s very rare you come across a property where there’s one owner and the person wants to sell.

“We know what we’re buying, and we will be able to deliver it very quickly; from settlement to completion is about 12 months.”

Mr Lim said it was the first time the company, which has its own building arm, had converted an existing building into

a new project.

It is currently building a $130 million build-to-rent tower in Cockburn and has approval for projects in West Perth and Cockburn.

CBRE’s Derek Barlow brokered the deal on behalf of SKS and Bravestar Group represented the vendor.

Mr Barlow said qualified

buyers who could execute a refurbishment of scale were approached during the sales campaign.

“With construction prices remaining a key challenge to the delivery of residential apartments, we are dedicating time to identifying refurbishment opportunities of scale,” Mr Barlow said.

The best proper es in the western suburbs are in the

The POST targets a popula on of 112,000 local people each week

POST Property writer Julie Bailey would like to hear your real estate news. Email julie@postnewspapers.com.au

■ On the right side of the street ... this Mt Claremont house overlooking the third green of Cottesloe golf course has sold for $5.8million.

This charming Swanbourne home, with a pool in the backyard, is to be auctioned on February 14.

■ After being on the market for about 18 months, this Crawley apartment complex has nally sold o -market to a developer for $14.5million.

The creative couple who built the sandcastle house in City Beach, right, are selling their Bullsbrook house which also has gothic and stone features.

• Enclosed laundry room with ample storage. 3

• Scenic views across the Swan River towards the Perth CBD from an open-plan living area and all bedrooms.

• Generously proportioned kitchen with enclosed scullery.

• Dedicated study and enclosed laundry room with storage.

•

•

• Uninterrupted views across the Swan River towards the Perth CBD from a grand open-plan living area.

• North-facing kitchen with dedicated scullery.

• 107m 2 of dual-balcony space with uninterrupted views of the river and parkland.

• Spacious open-plan living, with large kitchen, enclosed scullery, dedicated bar area and bespoke arched glazing. Grand master suite with walk-in robe and freestanding bath.

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Tenants to be told: Get on your bike

• From page 7

Tenants would know before they moved in that no parking was provided for them in the building, and that visitor parking would be managed by the community housing provider.

Other privately built unit blocks – including another build-to-rent complex – in the area that was once occupied by the Australia Fine China factory, provide parking for residents.

Affordable housing is aimed for single people earning up to $66,898,

couples earning up to $100,347, and a parent or parents earning up to $140,486.

Affordable housing tenants would pay “a maximum of 74.9% of the market rental rate for the area in which the apartments are located”.

The report said workers such as “local teachers, ambulance officers, bus drivers, dental hygienists, enrolled nurses, hairdressers and childcare workers” would be the likely tenants.

Social housing rentals would be

aimed for people on a “very low to low income”, with rent set at “below-market rates”, which amounted to about 25% of gross household income. To get onto the Department of Communities public housing waitlist candidates must meet eligibility criteria set by the Department of Housing and Works.

Stop lake fishing

• From page 7

Research too late, too slow

• From page 9

spread one to three kilometres a year purely from their natural movements.

“Human contaminated spread is much harder to predict and can often go longer distances, which is likely to increase the spread as the borer population grows and human contact with them inevitably becomes more frequent.”

Theo Evans, an entomology associate professor at UWA said it was now important for the state to learn from its mistakes.

Prof. Evans expected positive results

from his cost-effective chemical treatment and beetle-killing worms he and a team at UWA had been trialling.

Prof. Evans needed to prove his treatment was safe to use to get through regulatory hurdles, which he expects will take several months of data collection.

“We have found a partner to test our results on but are waiting on the WAARC contract and for the fine print to be discussed,” he said.

He is looking for parties interested in trialling his treatment but has also offered to test chemical treatments developed by other industry players.

Borers to save trees

• From page 1

“With the right conditions, they can grow pretty quickly.

“One female can produce around 40 to 50 eggs.” He started the project 10 months ago by taking infested wood from the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development.

A beetle will go from egg to adult in eight weeks before joining Mr Khan’s thriving test tube community.

Murdoch is one of the three WA universities receiving WA agricultural research collaboration funding.

While Murdoch focuses on combating the beetles’ fungal food, Curtin looks at predictive modelling and UWA is investigating chemical treatments.

Mr Khan said his beetle colony eventually could be used to test treatment effectiveness.

Growing a colony of biosecurity threats is normally illegal under the Biosecurity and Agriculture Management Act 2007.

DBCA was monitoring the area for illegal fishing, a spokesperson said.

“No fishing” signs were already in place, but more detailed signage was on its way.

There are 143 trained WASR volunteers who are on call to rescue birds in distress.

Some only respond to duck rescues but others are happy to catch more difficult birds like pelicans and gannets.

“Black swans are super friendly, they’re not a difficult bird to catch and there’s a really good success of rescuing them,” Matt said.

“We always need more volunteers, from people on the phone roster, to fundraising and governance,” he said.

The non-profit organisation was fully self-funded and donations were tax deductible, he said.

Cott fan keen to fill vacancy

• From page 5

council, they bought two electric rickshaws to give elderly and disabled people a cycling experience along the beach footpath.

A third specialised vehicle for disabled people was funded by the Federal Government.

“It’s wonderful to see people using the path interact with the cyclists,” she said.

“When a battery went flat people came from nowhere to push the rickshaw back to base at Curtin Heritage Living.”

“It is an example of inclusivity that can bring together a community and also inspire accessible pathways, encourage green spaces, promote safer

cycling and connect people.”

She said she has enthusiastic support from the community for her council campaign, with 20 locals turning up to its launch.

The vacancy is for the two years remaining of the term of former Cottesloe councillor Katy Mason, who resigned after she moved to Nedlands (Mason exit costs $42k, POST December 13).

The postal vote for the seat will be held on March 26, the same day as a by-election for Peppermint Grove.

Email le ers to: le ers@postnewspapers.com.au

Cambridge dream to come at a cost

THE Sporting

What is Cambridge council playing at?

You might have read in the POST last week that the council, which covers many of the western suburbs, has turned its back on funding any new sport or park infrastructure projects over the next three years.

But the council WILL spend $300,000 on something called a Leisure Assets Master Plan which is sure to provide a nice earn for the fortunate consultants tasked to come up with the grand vision for what appears to be a one-piece jigsaw puzzle.

This is a council that encompasses Wembley golf course, a remarkable money spinner and popular place to swing a club, Bold Park with its pool and bush tracks and paths, versatile Perry Lakes, the sporting fields at Pat Goodridge, Alderbury and City Beach, netball hot spot Matthews, several life-saving coastal surf clubs, and numerous parks, ovals and reserves.

Navigate Cambridge any weekend and it is full of people, young, old and everywhere in between, playing sport at mostly excellent facilities, or walking, running, swimming and cycling in a fashion that underlines that we are an outdoor society with much attention given to physical activities.

Archery, athletics, basketball, bowls, croquet, cricket, cycling, football, netball, soccer, swimming and tennis are just some of the formal sports that thrive in Cambridge.

But not floorball.

A booming sport for youngsters that was a staple at Revo Sport in Shenton Park before the Water Corp turned off the tap late last year (though Revo’s

Dredging miracles at new break

In a place like Cottesloe, which has been fully surfed, surveyed, drone-filmed, GPStracked and Instagrammed from every conceivable angle, you’d think every grain of sand had already been catalogued, hash-tagged and reviewed.

Surfing can feel more like a routine than a frontier on a coastline so familiar which makes stumbling across a genuinely new sandbank and wave all the more satisfying.

The Port Beach sand nourishment project has certainly left its mark and not all of it welcome.

Reef buried, cloudier water and habitats rearranged yet at the same time there is more beach to enjoy for ocean lovers. But tucked inside the drift

imminent return in an inner northern suburb provides splendid news and a likely future column subject).

There was a recent bid to build a couple of self-funded floorball courts at an underused part of Cambridge Bowling Club.

The council soon kiboshed that idea, though without providing an intelligible reason to the proponents and potential landlord.

But there was a hint to the council’s rationale deep in the recent POST story.

“Possibilities for redevelopment of the bowling club after the lease ends in 2031 are a large indoor sport facility or building new council offices,”

Jen Rewell’s report suggested.

Rule out the council offices.

Cambridge has a perfectly adequate civic centre in Bold Park and does not need a new Taj Mahal on its doorstep. Leave that to Subiaco.

But what about an indoor facil-

ity, say like Lord’s in Subiaco or the Loftus centre in Leederville?

What better way for local government representatives to use bricks and mortar to service the community while also creating a tangible legacy that recognises their own hard work and visionary approach?

Former premier Colin Barnett has Perth Stadium; why not add Cambridge Stadium to the legacy register in the western suburbs? There was also an alarm bell in the report that Cambridge Bowling Club would not be able to renew its lease after 2031.

This is a club that sits directly opposite Floreat Forum, once WA’s first American-style shopping centre but now run down and the subject of likely high-rise development in the coming years.

The initial Floreat Forum proposal indicated up to 1250 units could be built in a series of high-rise towers, bringing 2500 people into the precinct and

Floreat Oval and adjacent tennis, croquet and bowling clubs – a realistic forecast indicates that Cambridge, with budgeted expenditure of $73million this year, would have to find at least half that sum to fund the project – but it would not surprise if the concept has already been considered as part of the area’s future use.

providing a captive audience for the gym and other activities needed to anchor a potential indoor centre over the road.

Moving Cambridge library from its position on Floreat Forum’s northern boundary into an active public setting also makes some strategic sense.

Council operatives with an eye on the future would surely have weighed up the benefits of such a move.

An indoor sport centre might not eventuate in a sporting precinct that already takes in

of unintended and unforeseen consequences, like the joy inside an unexpected tube, is something quietly magical.

It is the birth of a new mystowave as the coastline quietly rewrites itself, sentence by sandy sentence.

On a walk along Marine Parade a few weeks ago, I noticed a sandbank had formed on the north side of the Dutch Inn groyne, sculpted by the migration of dredged sand. What it had created was a playful, little left-hander, curling and folding like a mini version of City Beach groyne.

It wasn’t dramatic or aweinspiring, but it had shape. And surfers love and live for shape.

When the swell nudged up to ridable, I headed down with my 7’6” and optimistic thoughts of being the first to ride this new wave.

The sun was out, the sea breeze was light and kneehigh left-handers were curling down the shallow sand bank completely unaware the new surf break hadn’t yet been officially named or argued over in the carpark. Which brings us to the matter of names.

I thought of calling it The Dredge, Left Bank, Dutch Drift or Accidentals.

In my correspondence with Martin Richardson on the sand drift story I told him about the wave.

He surfed it before sending me a text a couple of days later saying the bank had now disappeared. Huey giveth and Huey taketh away and sometimes small miracles do happen.

Maybe the wave should be called Miracles because you never know if it might reappear or never appear again.

The issue for Cambridge over the next three years is not that people in important positions might be dreaming big but that important spending is set to be abandoned.

Cambridge mayor Gary Mack said the LAMP would “shine a light on future community needs” as if there were a host of high-powered infrastructure projects likely to test the council’s priority listing.

There aren’t. Clubs certainly need nurtured grounds and maintained facilities, and ratepayers provided with activity options, but that is about it.

Sport in Cambridge mostly operates at club or community level, not like the state and national leagues based in other places that require major infrastructure support.

That means sport and leisure spending should be used primarily to maintain what exists and then to top up the parts that need improvement.

Anything beyond that is more about vanity than utility.

The LAMP is surely not a vehicle designed simply to foreshadow a major infrastructure project like an indoor sport centre that might turf out existing and historic organisations, such as a bowling club based at its current site since the years immediately after World War II.

Yet how is a council that freezes potential spending for three years, because it is “not about saying no [but] making sure we say yes in a way that supports clubs, protects community interests and uses ratepayer funds wisely”, acting in the best interests of the people who live and play in the community?

Cambridge already has processes to determine where it directs its funding.

Like every council, it has staff in various departments to enact the various funding arrangements and councillors whose role it is to consider and negotiate the allocation of resources.

In short, a democratic process that might not be ideal but is surely better than the other options. Winston Churchill might have expressed a similar view. It is a good thing to have vision but not if it is powered by a LAMP that keeps ratepayers and athletes in the dark.

surfing with cameron bedford-brown

Cameron Bedford-Brown surfs … “Miracles” or the “The Dredge” at Dutch Inn. Photo: Brodie Bedford-Brown

John townsend

Lord’s in Subiaco.

Floorball advocate Bruce Young, left, and Cambridge Bowling Club president Steve Rushforth wanted to convert this unused green into a floorball court.

Flo orball was a staple at Revo Sport in Shenton Park.

Use this shape to make a drawing. The best two entries will win.

How to enter:

Do your best Doodlebug drawing in the box above, and fill in the entry form. Cut out the drawing and entry form and ask an adult to email it to sarah@postnewspapers.com.au, with “Doodlebug” in the subject heading. Or drop your entry off to our office at 276 Onslow Road, Shenton Park 6008, during normal business hours, or mail it to POST Kids at that address. For artists up to the age of 12. ENTRIES MUST ARRIVE BY NOON ON WEDNESDAY.

Name: Age

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What have you drawn?:

On the trail of a snail

There were a few interesting snails creeping across my desk this week, like Hannah’s rainbow one, and Harvey’s winning one. Harvey Knox, 8, from City Beach did a great picture in pen and inks of a snail carrying a frog and a mochi (a Japanese cake) on his shell. Maybe that’s the snail’s version of fast-food? It is a delicately rendered drawing with beautiful high-

Q. Why do gorillas sunbake in the summer?

A. To work on their orangu-tans!

Q. What do electricians watch on TV?

A. Current affairs!

Q. How did the duck get lost?

A. It wandered off the beaten quack!

■ “Rockstar” entertainer Morgan James with two Fringe circus shows. MORGAN James calls himself the “rock star of kids’ entertainment” with his one-man circus. The award-winning WA performer has toured the world with his shows, A One Man Circus and A Circus Game Show.

Morgan uses his world-class circus skills, razor-sharp timing and larrikin humour to blur the line between skill and silliness at 4pm every Saturday and Sunday inside The Big Top at The Pleasure Garden. “I wanted to make a show that lets kids take their parents to the circus - not the other way around,” he said. “Everyone walks out smiling. Hearing a dad roar with laughter is pure gold. That’s the magic – that’s the circus.” A Circus Game Show is a choose-your-own-adventure where the audience plays games, chooses acts, and

Q. What do you call an escaped prisoner?

A. A runaway success!

Tongue twister

The big, bad baby brought back the black blanket

lights. Our other main winner this week is Mia Tyrrell, 11, from City Beach, for her lovely picture of an elephant. It is a very simple drawing but one with lots of expression in just a few lines. I also love Annabelle’s delicious prawn, Mia’s scorpion, George’s colourful woodpecker, Ellen’s mice stealing poor Kitty’s food and Zara’s terrific drawing of a black swan against a backdrop of the Australian and West Australian flags. Great work, everyone!

Roll up, roll up, for one-man show

everyone wins the prize of the circus. In his game show format, Morgan blends circus artistry, larrikin comedy, and audience participation. He takes this show to Fringe Connect in Scarborough this weekend and on February 7, 8, 14 and 15 at 11am.

Robyn Perkins and Elaine Fellows embark on a quest for animals and laughs.

Photo: Alexander Voodoo

Search for a cool cat

You can join marine biologist-turned-comedian Robyn Perkins over the next two weekends on her quest to find the coolest animal in the world. With musician and fellow comedian Elaine Fellows, Robyn’s science-music-comedy-game show is smart, silly and full of unique animal facts. It is a must for all kids who love animals! The Quest For The Coolest Animal In The World is on at The Parlour in The Pleasure Garden on February 7, 8, 14 and 15 at 2.50pm.

A daring young man from New Guinea

Set off to reach Oz in a tinnie.

He followed a stork All the way to Cape York, Then headed for Cairns in a mini!

WANT TO PLACE A CLASSIFIED AD? Head to postnewspapers.com.au and lodge your classified online or drop by our o ce at 276 Onslow Rd, Shenton Park.

Mia Tyrrell (11)

Harvey Knox (8)

Hannah Kim, Annabelle Knox, Mia Donisi, George Dodds, Milla Longley, Luca Zed, Ilyssa Teh, Ellen Turner, Luella Polmear, Zara Romano.

Setting the benchmark in Home Renovations