• The South Fremantle power station (it’s actually in Cockburn, not Fremantle) is the subject of a heritage festival presentation.
STUDENTS from CBC Fremantle will run the annual Murray Mile on Friday April 19 at Fremantle Park. The race is named after college veteran John Murray and will be part of a fundraising festival that aims to help ministries run by Edmund Rice Education Australia. Rice founded the Christian Brothers which took over the St Patrick Boys’ School on High Street in 1901.
THE pipa mightn’t strike a chord with many westerners, but at first pluck they’ll be instantly transported to China, so synonymous is its sound with the superpower (think The Last Emperor). The Fremantle Arts Centre’s been hosting pipa master Lien Peiju this year and she’s been working with local musos including former John Butler Trio bassist Gavin Shoesmith on a fusion of sounds that’ll get an airing on Saturday April 27 at 7.30pm. Adding some spice to the night, Lien hails from that “renegade province” Taiwan.
THE South Fremantle Power Station has long been a subject of fascination for Fremantle folk. What lies behind all that barbed wire? The Fremantle History Society bought a bunch of slides by photographer Andy Outh-Aut capturing the ‘industrial cathedral’ with its towering art deco windows, and they’ll be its contribution to this year’s WA Heritage Festival from 18 April to 18 May. Local history librarian Pam Hartree will present a collection of the images at the council’s reception room on Tuesday April 23 at 6.30pm, with Out-Aut alongside to describe the station’s power over him. Entry’s up the stairs from Kings Square and it’s open to everyone.
PROMINENT WA migrant families are under the spotlight at the WA Maritime Museum this month. ABC radio presenter Verity James will be exploring their experiences before opening up the chat to questions. First off the boat on Sunday April 21 at 2pm is former WA governor Ken Michael, whose parents hailed from Greece.
LYNN MacLAREN wants Western Australia to follow New Zealand’s lead and say “we do”. The land of the long white cloud legalised same-sex marriage this week and the lesbian Greens MLC says she’s got a bill waiting in the wings if the lucky country wants to play catch-up. “I will be putting forward a motion for WA parliamentarians to declare their support for marriage equality,” Ms MacLaren says. She hopes the federal Gillard government will now throw its support behind fellow-Green Adam Bandt’s marriage equality bill which he introduced to federal parliament in February last year (fat chance, with both the PM and opposition leader Tony Abbott reaffirming their joint opposition to equal marriage in the wake of NZ’s decision). NZ’s MPs gave themselves a standing ovation and parliament broke out into song after they passed their legislation.
WA’s up and coming ballet stars will be hoping to plie their way into a royal pile of cash next month when the Royal Academy of Dance hits Fremantle. Students from 17 Perth ballet schools will converge on John Curtin college from May 31 to June 3 to try and earn one of three RAD scholarships up for grabs. The academy has more than 13,000 fans of classical ballet on its books and with a royal charter under its tutu the Queen is patron. The best of the best will be showcased in a public performance on Sunday June 2, with tickets ($25 adults, $20 kids) available on the door.
WESTGATE MALL could be closed and has been tarted up with a “living wall”. Fremantle council’s hoping to give bus-hopping pensioners and students a break from the grots who make the mall a no-go zone by blocking off one end. But it’s discovered there’s no such thing as a simple gate in rule-plagued WA, with the state’s lands department ordering it to prepare a “business case”, initiate a public access way closure and “excise the land” before it can bang in a nail. On the plus-side, if the council agrees it can lease the area and put businesses in there, who’ll benefit from the joint trial with Curtin’s sustainability institute to construct and measure the benefits of the green wall. Mayor Brad Pettitt said it will help to bring ecology back to our streets. The trial will assess which plants are suitable in a hot, windy climate like Freo’s. A second living wall will be constructed on Cantonment Street.