Collaborative Exhibitions at Whitespace

It is great to see Whitespace Gallery on Packenham St in Fremantle emerge as another quality exhibition space for local artists.

If you haven’t been there then there are a couple of exhibitions between now and Christmas worth checking out.

Jane Tangney and ..  beautiful co-exhibition runs until this Wednesday (see below).

This is followed by another collaboration starting on Friday the 13^th between Stephen Brameld and Jay Staples called Observatory Klesh ‘ which rides the “cusp of figuration and abstraction”

Check them both out at:

Whitespace, 1 Pakenham Street, Fremantle

City of Fremantle thanks local volunteers

Today the City of Fremantle is celebrating the invaluable contributions local volunteers have made, and continue to make, in the community.

International Volunteer Day is held on 5 December each year and acknowledges the incredible efforts of volunteers and organisations and promotes volunteerism. This year’s theme ‘Volunteer for an inclusive future’ highlights the role volunteers play in contributing to inclusion and reducing inequality in their community.

Fitting with the inclusive theme, the City celebrated International Volunteer Day in conjunction with International Day of People with Disability with a community party at The Meeting Place this morning.

Local volunteers were invited to a special morning tea and treated to inspirational talks and fun activities where they could try a mini massage, take a ride on a trishaw or enjoy music from the Walyalup Kannajil Choir.

Earlier in the week, the City also hosted an inclusive volunteering workshop facilitated by E-QUAL Disability Consultants. This free workshop was designed to support local volunteers and volunteer organisations who work with colleagues or clients with a disability.

Freo is home to countless volunteers who each played a crucial role in creating a resilient and inclusive community.

I’m fortunate to see first-hand the incredible work our volunteers do for the City of Fremantle’s organisation and the wider community. To our passionate Fremantle Tourism Ambassadors, dedicated Wanjoo Lounge helpers and the many volunteers who lend a hand at Fremantle Library, The Meeting Place and Fremantle Community Legal Centre, we say thank you.

Fremantle has a long and proud history of volunteering; in fact some organisations only exist because of volunteers. Whether it’s raising funds for disadvantaged people, providing much needed health services, helping keep our beaches clean or coaching the local sporting team, every volunteer’s contribution in the community is valued.

We are lucky to have many inspiring volunteers who give their time, passion and skills to make Fremantle a better place to live, work and visit.”

For more information about volunteering in Fremantle, visit the City’s website.

Have Your Say on New plans for a Hotel Development on Point Street in Fremantle’s East End

New plans for a hotel development on Point Street in Fremantle’s East End have been released for public comment.

The seven storey mixed-use development includes plans for a Doubletree by Hilton hotel with 168 rooms and a ground floor restaurant and bar.

There will also be 45 residential apartments and ground floor tenancies including five shops and two commercial units.

The development is proposed on the site of the existing Point Street multi-storey car park and the adjoining temporary open air car park.

A public information session about the proposal will be held on 9 January 2020 from 5:30-6pm at the City of Fremantle’s administration offices at Fremantle Oval, 70 Parry Street, Fremantle.

The plans and associated documents are available on the City of Fremantle’s My Say Freo website or can be viewed during business hours at the City’s customer service desk at Fremantle Oval.

The deadline for public submissions is 14 January 2020.

The plans will then be considered by the Fremantle Council’s Planning Committee before being referred to the Joint Development Assessment Panel for a final decision.

The Doubletree by Hilton proposal is just one of many hotel developments in the pipeline for Fremantle.

The City is also assessing a new application to redevelop the Woolstores shopping centre, which includes a 141-room hotel along with new commercial office space, retail outlets and a child care centre.

Work is currently underway to convert a row of the historic Warders Cottages on Henderson Street into a boutique 11-room hotel with a new indoor and outdoor bar and dining area nestled between the rear of the cottages and the Fremantle Markets.

Plans have also been approved to transform Fremantle’s state heritage-listed Police and Courthouse complex into a hotel and restaurant precinct.

The development plan includes a 62-room hotel on the police station site, adapting the courthouse into a bar and restaurant and adapting the lock-up and police quarters into shops and commercial units.

For more information and to have your say on the Point Street proposal visit the My Say Freo website.

Christmas has come to Fremantle!

Santa Claus and his helpers are back in Freo spreading Christmas cheer and paying for shoppers’ parking.

The big guy from the North Pole will be visiting car parks and businesses in the city centre on Mondays through to Thursdays, handing out lollies to the kids and paying for parking, from now right up until Christmas Eve.

For tips on Santa’s whereabouts and updates on the latest sightings, check out the City of Fremantle Facebook page.

If you see Santa and his elf grab a selfie and tag the City of Fremantle.

Along with free parking Santa, the City of Fremantle’s Christmas shopping initiative to provide two-hour free parking at all of its off-street car parks has kicked off today.

The free parking offer will run until Boxing Day and be available Monday to Thursday from 9am-4pm via the City of Fremantle’s PayStay mobile parking app.

To take advantage of the free parking offer all people need to do is download the PayStay app and activate their parking sessions via the app.

It is no longer a requirement to pre-load credit to use PayStay. People who download the app and register for the first time using a postcode in the Perth metro area will have their minimum credit balance and minimum top-up amount automatically set to zero.

People who have already registered with PayStay can login to their account on the website or the app and set their minimum balances to zero.

The PayStay app can be downloaded from the Apple App Store or Google Play, or by visiting the PayStay website.

Fremantle offers WA’s best open air shopping experience, with a diverse range of shops to find the perfect gifts for everyone, plus a host of places to relax and unwind after a successful shopping expedition.

To enter the #shopfreo competition just spend $20 in any participating store and ask for your unique code, then go online at visitfremantle.com to enter the codeword for your chance to win $500 to spend in the store.

Two winners will be drawn every Monday through to 23 December.

 

Perfect time to tidy up the garden before Christmas

With Christmas around the corner, now is the perfect time to tidy up the garden.

The City of Fremantle’s six-monthly green waste verge collection kicked off today.

All domestic properties north of South Street (Area A) will have their green waste collected over the next week, while green waste from all domestic properties south of South Street (Area B) will be collected the following week, from Monday 9 December.

Green waste that will be collected includes tree trunks, branches and shrub prunings up to 1.5 metres in length and 30cm in diameter. Up to two cubic metres of green waste can be left for collection.

General rubbish, junk or whitegoods, bags or boxes of leaves, loose leaves or grass clippings, dug out lawn, weeds or root materials and sand and soil materials will not be collected.

To make it easier to collect, green waste should be placed away from walls, fences, power poles and trees and should not obstruct footpaths, driveways or sprinklers.

The next green waste collection will happen in April and May next year.

Please keep our neighbourhood tidy by placing the material on the verge no more than two days before the collection date. Placing waste on your verge prior to this may incur fines.

If people miss the verge collection they can place garden organics in the green lid FOGO bin or they can drop off green waste at the City of Fremantle Recycling Centre on Montreal Street free of charge all year round.

 

For more information visit the Verge Collections page on the City’s website.

 

Helping Freo kids have healthy ears – Fremantle Foundation Impact 100 winner for 2019

I have been away on leave recently but there were a few good stories in those a couple of weeks that I wanted to belated put up on the blog.

First is my the amazing Fremantle Foundation Impact 100. Earlier this month 180+ donors and community members gathered in the Old Boys School Fremantle to hear 4x incredible pitches from the Impact100 Fremantle finalists.

This year Australian Dental Health Foundation, Earbus Foundation, Fremantle Mind Inc. and Walyalup Kannajil Community Choir raised the bar with their pitches in an effort to win the game-changing $100,000 grant.

Earbus Foundation were the chosen recipients of the major $100,000 grant which will help them customise an Earbus and put a team on the road to provide vital ear health services to the children in the greater Fremantle region.

Thanks to the generosity of our Impact100 Fremantle donors we raised a total of $115,000 allowing our three deserving finalists Australian Dental Health Foundation, Fremantle Mind Inc. and Walyalup Kannajil Community Choir to each receive a $5,000 grant.

Funding will help Earbus Foundation customise a fit-out of a vehicle to be used as a mobile children’s hearing clinic and employ clinicians. The mobile clinic will visit sites in the greater Fremantle region, to screen children’s ears and identify those who need treatment and further referral to the locally based ENT clinic. The key objectives are the reduction in middle ear disease and high attendance rates.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) specifies that rates of chronic Otitis Media (OM) above 4% in children constitutes a “massive public health problem” requiring urgent attention. Australia is the only western country with documented chronic suppurative OM rates above 6%. Healthy ears are the key to children’s learning at school. Children who can’t hear, can’t learn.

Impact100 Fremantle is only possible thanks to the generosity of our 2019 donors. Thank you to everyone who contributed to Impact100 Fremantle 2019.

Donations are now open for 2020. Become an Impact100 Fremantle member and Donate Now.

Vale Rev Garlett

I was saddened to hear of the passing of the much loved and respected elder Reverend Sealin Garlett over the weekend.

Rev Garlett AM is deeply respected. As a fluent speaker of Nyungar language, he was an advocate for reconciliation and protection of some of Perth’s most important and recognised spiritual and cultural heritage sites.

The loss to the Aboriginal community is also felt by the wider community as we acknowledge the enormous amount of knowledge, history and culture that has passed with him.

His passion for retaining and teaching language as well as his efforts in reconciliation have left a remarkable legacy.

Out of respect to Reverend Garlett the City of Fremantle is flying the Aboriginal flag at half-mast on the Fremantle Town Hall.

I will be attending the memorial to honour Reverend Sealin Garlett later today and encourage everyone to come along and pay their respects.

Today’s  Public Memorial Service will be held from 5pm to 7pm at Manning Park, 61 Azelia Road, Spearwood. Further details can be found on the attached flyer.