Power is demonstrably being taken from the local to the central, as the human drive to get more control continues.
JDAP has just disregarded many hours of work done by the FCC to modify the proposal for the ‘Henderson’ Hotel.
Even more spectacularly, the Minister for Local Government has given local councils only a few weeks to agree to his draconian changes – or he will implement them anyway.
Pioneer Park and the Stateships building
By 1975, the block known as Pioneer Park was almost clear of buildings. Only one remained. According to a note in a Fremantle Society newsletter in 1975, everyone – Government, City Council and Society – had all agreed that it should be removed so that the whole area could become the Park intended for the use of residents and visitors to Fremantle.
Then, in 1978, Council decided it needed an art gallery, and retained the building for that specific purpose. Not much later, it decided to move the (large) City collection to the Fremantle Arts Centre.
(The City now seems to feel no need to have a Fremantle Art Gallery – nor a Fremantle Museum. The City’s art collection and whatever used to be in the Fremantle Museum is all now in store in Canning Vale – at great cost, and almost never seen.)
Meanwhile, back in what was supposed to a people’s park, the Building remains …
It’s not a heritage building, not from the Gold Rush period. It’s an ordinary office building from 1921.
It’s not in good condition. Like a lot of buildings in the West End, it’s exposed below ground level to the high water table and has water in the basement. It was also apparently falling apart above ground, and has, at great expense, had an ‘exo-skeleton’ added, in an attempt to stop the walls falling outwards, I suppose.
It happens to have housed a puppet theatre until recently. This is irrelevant to the building, to its situation and condition. A puppet theatre could be housed anywhere with a hall and some sort of stage. Traditional seaside Punch and Judy shows were housed in a portable structure about one metre square, and entertained people for hundreds of years.
The issue of ‘saving’ the puppet theatre is separate from the question of keeping the building.
Spare Parts should be housed (and probably will be) in a place that’s suitable for its requirements.
The Stateships building should be removed and Pioneer Park given at last to the citizens.
The New Bridge
I like it. It’s simple. Traffic from the north goes straight onto QV St and into town. Traffic from the east goes under the bridge along Beach Street, from which drivers will easily find half a dozen ways to get into the ‘City’. There are options for cyclists and pedestrians.
The only thing I don’t like – and it’s barely relevant – is keeping the ‘Naval Store’ in its prominent place. It’s a fkn shed! All my (long) life I’ve been dismayed at having to look at this shit building when arriving in Freo by car.
And the wooden bridge is gone! It was well past its use-by date, and not a thing of beauty. Vale!
Love in Limbo
Maya Stange grew up in Fremantle. She attended the little-known Family School and then the better-known Lance Holt School, before the John Curtin College of the Arts, where she began her acting apprenticeship.
Her first feature was also Russell Crowe’s first. In the story, three boys, one of whom is Maya’s character’s brother, make their way to Kalgoorlie to lose their virginities, with mixed success. It’s not a great film, and Rusty shdn’t’ve tried to do a Welsh accent. But the production design saves it. It’s set in the 1950s, and it’s all Laminex and primary colours. The acting is, of a piece with the locations and costumes, theatrical.
I made a point of attending the Fremantle premiere, in the presence of the star, at Luna S/X. I’m not sure of the exact number in the cinema, but it was less than ten, including Maya and her Mum and another family member. No red carpet.
Jim Schembri’s review included this:
The film’s art direction (by David McKay) looks like a Norgen Vaas icecream counter. Exaaggerated pastel colours reincarnate a glorious 1950s suburbia which has nothing to do with documentary recreation and everything to do with evoking a nostalgic memory that is universally pleasing. …
Of all the things celebrated in Love in Limbo, it is the romantic vision of a mythical Australia and the glory of its values that help give the film heart, however rose-coloured. There is male bonding through drinking, defiance of authority, larrikins, soft-hearted macho men and golden-hearted whores. Jim Schembri, Murray: 363.
Jim Allpike’s saddlery
Jim Allpike had his saddlery on the corner where the Markets building now is for over forty years, from about 1872. His descendant, Sue Birch, who kindly sent me his story, tells how he could nip out for a quick one at the Freemasons, just over the road.
Voted
I received my ballot paper today Friday 24 September.
I have voted for Adele Carles, although she literally slept with the enemy. However, I think the only real alternative – Hannah Fitzhardinge – represents development at any cost.
I remember that the very first thing Hannah voted for in Council was to make into some kind of tavern the weighbridge in the centre of a traffic island also crossed by a railway line. She also supported the crazy idea of a brewery in J Shed. And big concrete boxes for film studios on South Wharf.
Reckless development is not an intelligent way forward—and does not give any attention to the needs of people in the community.
Looking at the positive: isn’t it good that the three only real contenders for the job of mayor are women?
‘Heritage’ as an issue in Council Election 2021
As ‘heritage’ is a key word on this website, I am looking to see if and how any of the candidates use it in their brief platform on the Council’s page.
Fedele Camara writes, ‘As a 4th generation crayfisher I respect Fremantle’s rich diverse heritage, that is intrinsically linked to the Port.’
Adin Lang: ‘… we need to increase our CBD population, but not at the expense of existing residents or heritage…’
Craig Ross: ‘I am committed to addressing heritage … initiatives…’
Mark Woodcock: ‘… bring back a focus on heritage…’
Andrew Sullivan: ‘I offer my heritage and planning skills…’ [Are there ‘heritage skills‘? Knowledge, maybe, interest, enthuasiasm?]
Elections 2021
The mayoral election may be close. Adele Carles is a strong candidate. Much may depend on how electors remember what happened ten years ago. Hannah Fitzhardinge may be seen as offering new leadership, despite her membership of the overspending Pettitt council, and she might stop the Carles comeback to public life.
Voting might be ranked in this order:
Hannah Fitzhardinge
Adele Carles
Marija Vujcic
Rod Grljusich
Martin Douthwaite
For Council, I’m predicting Fedele Camarda for Beaconsfield (for perseverance, and lack of a credible opponent).
City Ward is one of the most complex and important in the whole state, and a move to a ‘forensic accountant’, in Craig Ross, may be seen to be a good idea. However, Adin Lang, the incumbent, is fighting on, and may win.
Jenny Archibald is, unsurprisingly, unopposed in East Ward.
Ben Lawver should have the local popularity in Hilton enough to get him across the line in the vacancy caused by Sam Wainwright’s retirement (the last Fremantle waterside worker to hold public office?)
Doug Thompson is the old pro, very long-term incumbent in North Ward, and there is a lack of a credible opponent.
I doubt that Andrew Sullivan is seen as completely trustworthy in South Ward, and electors may think it’s time for a change – perhaps to a smart lawyer like Steven Pynt.
I’m predicting three new councillors to go with the new mayor.
https://fremantlestuff.info/council/elections2021.html
Council Elections
They won’t happen until October 2021, but I’m already predicting that Hannah Fitzhardinge will be the next mayor of the ‘City’ of Fremantle:
Walyalup Koort
‘The heart of Walyalup’: good idea. I’m not sure if there is (or should be) a precise area to which it applies.
Almost half of what used to be Kings Square is now civic buildings. Most of the other half is St John’s churchyard, as it has been since 1844.