Brad Pettitt's very own blog.
May 25, 2012 1 Comment
The 2012 FREMANTLE HERITAGE FESTIVAL runs from today May 25 to June 4th.
It is a varied array of event form Aboriginal Heritage Tours, to Tram Tours to Workers Club Crawl and Arthur Grady motorcycle ride and display
The Fremantle Society is running Fremantle’s own Amazing Place Race,
Download the program at http://www.fremantle.wa.gov.au/festivals/Heritage_Festival
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May 25, 2012 1 Comment
Last night I had the pleasure of seeing the new Deckchair Theatre production The Magic Hour
This show is quite impressive and powerful and Ursula Yovich’s performance was extraordinary
The Magic Hour is a clever and original twist on fairy tales. It takes familiar stories – Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, Rumplestiltskin, The Frog Prince, Rapunzel and Jack in the Beanstalk – but tells them from the perspective of their supporting female characters: one of the ugly sisters, Jack’s mother, the witch who locks Rapunzel in the tower. Very clever and even thought provoking in places. Some reviews are below too.
It is worth checking out. The season runs until Sunday 3rd June.
Subiaco Post: “Ursula is a masterful storyteller of great humour and charm, embracing an art as old as time.”
The West Australian:”a stimulating evening with a fine new work and a performer at the top of her game…I was as entranced as any kid being read a bedtime story.. [Yovich] delivers a potent, nuanced performance that had the Deckchair Theatre audience on its feet at the curtain”
Theatre Australia “A show to see over and over again, it could travel and run for years. Could this be the ‘Production of the Year’? The enthusiastic, standing ovation certainly suggested that this could be the case.”
PS For those of you that don’t know Deckchair Theatre is in the historic Victoria Hall on High St in Fremantle (a City of Fremantle owned building) which we hope is about to include a small (and narrow) bar called Hobbs Bar in the near future.
May 23, 2012 1 Comment
Congratulations to the Fremantle library as the 2012 winner of the Award for Excellence for the Outdoor Reading Room project in Kings Square.
The idea was kicked off in October 2011, when the City of Fremantle conducted a place making workshop on King Square activation , facilitated by David Engwicht, social innovator and founder of Creative Communities.
The workshop focused on King’s Square, creating positive activity in the space and developing activities that made people want to linger in the area rather than just passing through. And this was one of the ideas it generated.
The project ran over last summer and finished in April and was a great success.
Feedback has been very positive;
“Whetted my appetite to start borrowing from library again”
“Lovely atmosphere, provides a social hub – meet more locals and having
playground next to the reading is fantastic for families”
“Nice to see the Square being used for something that benefits people. See less anti-social behaviour because of the reading room”
“A lovely way to spend the lunch hour – thank you”
“Great use of this open space. Gives parents a chance to read while children play. Keep it in spring/summer.”
“I was watching my three year old play and reading my seven month old a book. GREAT IDEA!”
I was told they actually ended with more books than they started with!
The library won $5000 and the prize money will be spent on trolleys and more furniture for the outdoor reading room which is planned to come back into the square this spring/summer.
May 22, 2012 1 Comment
I don’t normally post press releases but this is a good one.
Thanks to a $1million State Budget allocation, the Duyfken replica will finally be sailing home to a permanent mooring in Fremantle. The $1million investment includes a $263,000 provision to fund Duyfken’s voyage from Sydney to Perth, and approximately $125,000 (indexed) per annum for 10 years.
Duyfken’s first voyage to Australia resulted in Australia’s land mass being cartographically represented on the world map. The 1606 voyage also represented the first time in recorded European history that Aboriginal people came in contact with people from the outside world.
Painstakingly carved out of European Oak by Western Australian Shipwrights, it took four years to construct, and has since been crewed by many West Australians
The impetus to build the replica, a 24 metre long 110 tonne ship which can accommodate a crew of up to 18, came through an enormous community effort. This was led by Michael G Kailis, who unfortunately passed away in June 1999, just weeks before its maiden voyage. It then embarked on a voyage from Australia to The Netherlands in a recreation of a Dutch spice voyage.
Since then it has played an un-official Ambassadorial role for Australia in South East Asia, the Indian sub-continent, Africa and Europe.
It has, until recently, been berthed at the National Maritime Museum in Darling Harbour, Sydney. On May 17th 2012, upon completion of a re-fit in Brisbane, Duyfken embarked on its 5 month voyage to Fremantle where it is to be moored permanently.
Its planned route has taken it to Mackay, having offloaded an errant possum along the way, to Townsville, through the Torres Strait, across to Darwin and down the Western Australian Coast via Dampier and Geraldton, to Fremantle, where it will become a permanent tourist and education attraction.
It is anticipated that Duyfken will arrive in Fremantle Port, in August 2012.
Thanks to the Hon Phil Edman MLC for sending this through.
May 22, 2012 1 Comment
If politics of the green kind is your type of thing then you might want to join Adam Bandt and I for a drink Friday eve in Fremantle.
For those of you that don’t know Adam is the Australian Greens new Deputy Leader and is the the federal pollie for the seat of Melbourne.
Adam will visit his old stomping ground of Fremantle next week and will drop in for a drink and a chat with locals while he’s here.
Adam and I went to Murdoch Uni together in the 1990s. The plan is for an informal sundowner in the appropriately named Greenroom at the Sail and Anchor on Friday 25 May.
People will get a chance to meet Adam and hear his thoughts on the next phase of the Party, under his combined leadership with Christine Milne
Fremantle-based Senator, Scott Ludlam will hopefully be there too.
When: 6pm Friday 25 May
Where: The Green Room – Upstairs at the Sail and Anchor Hotel, Fremantle.
What: Sundowner – drinks and informal meet and greet
Cost: Free
For Information: Phone 9335 7477
Everyone is welcome!
May 18, 2012 5 Comments
This TED video link got me onto this amazing development called VM Bjerget near Ørestad district in Copenhagen.
http://www.ted.com/talks/bjarke_ingels_3_warp_speed_architecture_tales.html
Put simply, it is affordable housing above a multi-storey carpark. This doesn’t sound that attractive but it is and it made me think about how we might use some of these ideas in Fremantle given we need a new multi-storey carpark to replace Point St and others and lots of affordable housing. Here is their blurb and then some photos:
VM Bjerget is a stepped, pyramidal structure where each of the ten floors sits back from the one beneath it, hiding within its base a car park. The apartments, looking like teeth from a giant three dimensional jigsaw, are stacked back upon themselves, allowing each their own yard which overlook the rest and bring with it a sense of community and neighborliness.
Clad in a natural wood paneling, it’s an impressive architectural feat that successfully manages to produce spacious, modern and affordable housing whilst appreciating the need to economize on space. Typically Scandinavian, architecture enthusiasts won’t mind the quick trip on the metro to catch a glimpse of this deceptively simple solution to the difficulties of stylish and economic urban planning.
Thanks Robert Bodkin (of Bodkin’s Boots fame) for sending it through
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May 14, 2012 1 Comment
This little lane crossing the railway near fishing boat harbour is a little street of Fremantle firsts – full of elements that I love.
It is the first street in Fremantle to have a counter-flow bike lane (where you can ride in the opposite direction to cars)
It is also the first West Australian street that I know of to have its own mini bike-only boom gate.
But most importantly it is the first street in Fremantle to be given a Nyoongar name directly chosen by traditional owners in the area.
Thanks to Dr Len Collard, Associate Professor at Curtin University Sustainability Policy Institute and Whadjuk Nyoongar elder for liaising with other traditional owners and suggesting this very appropriate name. The text below is written by Len and explains why its significance and this interpretative signage is now down near the road
The word ‘wardan’ in Nyoongar language means ocean or sea.
The wardan is the place where the female wind ‘yorga mar’ (easterly or land breeze) meets the male wind ‘maaman mar’ (south westerly or sea breeze).
Nyoongar dreamtime tells us that yorga mar and maaman mar were lovers and would chase each other back and forth over the wardan and across the boodjar (land), giving Fremantle its daily easterly and south westerly breezes.
By coming down to Wardan Lane and sitting under the tall trees at the Esplanade Reserve, you can still hear the two lovers whispering to each other as the mar blows between the leaves of the trees.
The Wardan Gaba Boodjera, or the sea side, is where the Whadjuck Nyoongar people watched from high cliffs and white sandy beaches as European traders passed by on their way to Indonesia; and later, as they watched British colonists take up occupancy of this land in 1829.
I expect that this will be the first of many Nyoongar names you will see around Fremantle in coming months and years.
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May 11, 2012 10 Comments
It is amazing how controversial the proposed trial relaxation of the mandatory bicycle helmet laws in Fremantle has been the last few days. When by Adele and I raised the issue after many months of discussion I don’t think either of us expected such a strong response to the issue.
Both the West Australian and the Fremantle Herald ran prominent stories and it also ran on all of the commercial news stations. Here is the West article:
http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/newshome/13656583/fremantle-in-call-for-no-helmets-trial/
After wide examination of the evidence it seems to me that the benefits outweigh the costs. It is clear that more research would add clarity to this often divisive debate. A key advantage of having it as a trial in the geographically defined area of Freo is that it will also enable the State Government to collect more data and evidence on what are the best laws for balancing rider safety whilst increasing cycling numbers.
I would be interested to know what people think and whether a trial as outlined below would make you use your bike more in Fremantle?
For those wanting more detail this article is a good summary with references.
http://theconversation.edu.au/ditching-bike-helmets-laws-better-for-health-42
Here is our thinking in more detail too:
Trial Relaxation of the Mandatory Bicycle Helmet Laws
Building on the amendments the Northern Territory enacted in the 1990s it is proposed that there be a 2-5 year trial in the City of Fremantle based on the following principles:
1. bicycle helmet will be optional If you are over 18 years of age and cycling on a separated cycleway or mixed path
2. bicycle helmet will be optional If you are over 18 years of age and cycling on a road that is speed restricted to 50km/h or less
WHY?
More choice in low risk environments
The trial is based on the principle that adults on bicycles could be treated as such and should be given the choice to wear a bicycle helmet, particularly on low risk, low speed roads and on footpaths and cycleways. Australia and NZ (along with a few cities in Canada) are the only countries in the world that have mandatory bicycle use
Encourage more cycling
When helmet laws were introduced in 1991, cycling dropped by 40 per cent in Australia. It is interesting to note that the Northern Territory, where helmet rules are more relaxed, has a bicycle mode share of 4.2% compared to less than 2% nationally, while 31% of their bicycle users are women, compared to less than 20% nationally.
Safety in numbers
Northern Territory safety record shows they have paid no penalty for this amendment instead the NT has a lower injury rate of cyclists per head of population.
One of the most important safety issues for cycling is the number of people cycling. Numerous studies from around the world have shown a strong inverse relationship between the amount of people cycling and the risk of cycling. Put simple, by doubling the number of people cycling, cycling becomes 30% to 50% safer as fewer people are driving and motorists adapt their behaviour to the increased number of cyclists
Enables Bike Share Schemes
The public bicycle hire schemes in both Melbourne and Brisbane alternative recommendation not doing as well as similar schemes around the world One of the most common publicly raised concerns about the bike hire bikes is the requirement to wear a bicycle helmet.
May 8, 2012 18 Comments
Now the purple pots on South Terrace have been in for a few weeks, I’d be interested to know what you all thought of them? Should we continue them the whole way down to Ginos? What kind of pots and trees do you think would best make the South Tce look great and also slow traffic?
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