Hero’s welcome
Helensburgh is set to greet Saya Sakakibara
Bring your streamers, dress up and show off the Burgh spirit! Saya and Kai are coming home!
Fresh off her stunning victory at the 2024 Paris Olympics, Olympic BMX Gold Medallist Saya Sakakibara will be sharing her remarkable journey with the community at the Helensburgh Tigers Football Club house, near Rex Jackson Oval.
The event will begin at 11am, with Saya scheduled for a 30-minute Q+A. She will discuss her path to Olympic gold, including the challenges she has overcome and the determination that led her to success.
Following her talk, Saya will sign autographs for fans, Heathcote MP Maryanne Stuart will MC the day.
The Ukulele Springstrum
Free Sunday event puts a spring in the Illawarra’s step
On Sunday 29th September Spring will have sprung, and to celebrate, the Wollongong ukulele group, the Swingaleles, is inviting everyone to join them at the Fraternity Club in Fairy Meadow at their ‘Illawarra Ukulele Springstrum.’
The ‘Springstrum’ is a cheery ukulele festival and this year has
almost 50 performances and workshops. There will also be ukulele merchandise there, workshops on the ukulele, all-in strum-a- long, and a competition for ukulele players performing their original songs. The Springstrum is on from 10am to 6pm. There will be plenty of fun, food and drink available, plus free parking.
28 Sept Helensburgh Historical Society’s Open Day 27-29 Sept
Creators Mark Inaugural Art Prize and Exhibition
28 Sept Scarborough Boardriders Club 40th Celebration 2 October NAIDOC After Party 3 October Emerging Concert Artists 5 October Port Kembla’s Open Street Festival
11-12 October Annual Quilt and Flower Show
16 October Veterans Walk and Talk
19 October Culture Mix
Click here for more events
From Olympic to fashion icon
By Jeremy Lasek
“Swimming has given me so much and I still love it. And that’s how I always want to feel about swimming”
– Emma McKeon
Justwhen you thought life couldn’t get any more exiting for our home-grown Olympic ‘Golden Girl’, Emma McKeon, it absolutely does.
What a week she is having. First though, let’s quickly recap Emma’s year to date. In January, Australia’s most decorated Olympian added the prestigious award of Young Australian of the Year to her impressive list of achievements. Next, on her 30th birthday, came a prestigious role as Ambassador for luxury design and fashion house, Dior. Dior said the partnership reflected the luxury brand’s admiration of sporting values such as discipline, perseverance – and most of all, going beyond limits.
The Paris Olympics saw Emma add more gold, silver and bronze medals to her record tally of 14 medals, and in the process passing Ian Thorpe by achieving her sixth Olympic gold. She now ranks seventh in the world for her incredible haul of medals at three Olympics.
Just weeks ago, Emma was back in her home town for what she described as a ‘pinch me moment” when a stunning new area above North Wollongong Beach was named in her honour.
Last night, an excited Emma was back in Europe, declaring on Instagram: “A dream day in Paris for my first fashion show for @dior.” This wasn’t just any
fashion show, Emma was stepping out at the famous Paris Fashion Week.
And it doesn’t stop there – Emma now finds herself on the front cover of the October edition of the glossy Harper’s Bazaar Australia magazine that hits newsstands today.
The Bazaar photo shoot is simply stunning, capturing a radiant Emma close to nature and her Wollongong home in the rolling green hills of Gerringong. The striking fashion has a definite Scottish highlands flavour. Who knows, Emma might get another ambassadorship offer from Kiama Tourism.
On Instagram, Bazaar Australia said, “In a rare moment of quiet, she returned to her roots on the NSW South Coast to shoot this cover ahead of the upcoming challenge: blending into something more like normal life.”
“I suppose there’s definitely a decision to make,” Emma says of her future, “but I think…swimming has given me so much and I still love it. And that’s how I always want to feel about swimming.”
Emma McKeon may have retired from competitive swimming but there’s no doubt this remarkable young woman is showing no signs of slowing down, and wherever she is, and whatever she does, she is always doing Wollongong and the Illawarra proud.
E-scooters helped lower CO2
By Zachary Houtenville
“These scooters are electrically charged and reduce our footprint” – Nathan McBriarty, WCC READ MORE
Locals share their thoughts
Wollongong City Council is thinking about extending its e-scooter project after a year-long trial in which commuters embraced micromobility and the city saved an estimated 22 tonnes of CO2 emissions.
“We’ve already been working with the state government in the background on what it could look like and how we could expand and work on this throughout our city,” said Nathan McBriarty, Council’s Manager of Infrastructure Strategy and Planning.
Launched on 29 September 2023 as part of the city’s sustainable transport initiatives, the e-scooter trial has given commuters and recreational riders a convenient, greener way to travel.
“These scooters are electrically charged and reduce our footprint,” said Nathan.
“This might even lead to someone deciding they only need one vehicle for their household, meaning the emissions of that second vehicle are no longer added to our atmosphere.”
Council has had plenty of positive feedback from residents during the 12-month trial, which has covered key city centre destinations such as the Lighthouse, University, WIN Entertainment Centre and Stuart Park, as well as surrounding suburbs.
Scooters are easy to find and book via
a smartphone app. At the moment, riders may go as far north as Sandon Point, after which point geofencing technology will kick in and power down their e-scooter.
This tracking tech also limits scooter speed and allows for ‘no ride zones’ like Crown Street Mall and Wollongong Botanic Gardens.
“We’ve implemented measures like specific parking zones and speed controls to ensure safety and reduce clutter,” Nathan said.
“For example, on the Blue Mile, scooters are limited to 10km per hour, which aligns with walking speeds, minimising risks.”
Across the country, e-scooter trials have had their challenges. After Melbourne recently banned e-scooters, some Wollongong residents have also expressed doubts, raising concerns about keeping the city tidy and safe, especially in light of occasional ‘drunk scooting’.
However, Council and Neuron have reported that 99.99% of all rides have been accident free and ended safely.
A year ago, we asked four local residents what they thought about the e-scooter trial. As the 12-month period draws to an end, we checked back in with them.
Click here to find out how their views have changed.
Open Street Festival Open Street Festival
SAT 5 OCT, 1-10PM•ALL
MAIN STAGE: MAT McHUGH
THE STRIDES • AZURE RYDER • RUBY JACKSON • CIRCADIA
ILE ILU • FRANK SULTANA • THE GROOVE • KUGANG DJARMBI
ROVING: CURIOUS LEGENDS • JERRY HATRICKS • STREET BEATZ
PLUS: LIGHT PROJECTIONS • ART EXHIBITION • MAKERS MARKETS
FOOD STALLS • MARKET DJ'S: DISCO NONNA SULTANS OF SPIN • CHELSEY DAGGER
Presented by Wollongong City Council. Proudly funded by the NSW Government. In partnership with Port Kembla Chamber of Commerce. With support from Illuminart.
Gladys: A Musical Affair is coming to Wollongong
By Genevieve Swart
Pressconferences are back with swing, with Gladys: A Musical Affair opening to a full house and a standing ovation at the Sydney Fringe Festival this week.
“We’ve sold out every night in Sydney and we’ve got a waiting list of over 100 people,” says the stage show’s creator, ABC Illawarra presenter Nick Rheinberger.
at Kiama’s Folk by the Sea a preview. “We did a Daryl song called Daryl Maguire Esquire, which was great fun, but we had a real hit with a sort of Calypso song we do called Gladys at 11 o’clock, which is about those daily press conferences that everyone watched religiously.”
BOOK
Tickets to Friday, Oct 11’s show in Wollongong
“What we’re trying to do with the show is document this weird few years that we’ve all been through – Black Summer, followed by Covid.”
Nick wrote the music and lyrics as part of a satirical side hustle with his partner, Tia Wilson, who plays former NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian.
Last Saturday, they gave festival goers
The former Liberal leader is a complex character, Nick acknowledges. “There’s no denying that during Covid, plus the bushfires, plus floods, she was like our mother, and she did an amazing job, worked harder than anybody.
“In one newspaper, she was The Woman Who Saved Australia – and yet two weeks later she was gone, because of this relationship with Daryl. It’s like a phoenix going too close to the sun … it had all the elements of classic tragedy.
So we thought, ‘We’ve got to turn this into a show.’”
Gladys: A Musical Affair stars Tia, Nick, Mel Wishart and Rob Laurie. All four actors are also musicians and play multiple roles. “We swap instruments incessantly,” Nick says. “There are many, many colourful blazers, which is, of course, Gladys’s signature.
“I play Dodgy Daryl in his akubra, as well as health minister Brad Hazzard, mostly silently in a mask. Rob plays [RFS commissioner] Shane Fitzsimmons, as well as Gladys’s dad, and Mel Wishart has a very funny turn as health officer Kerry Chant, with an increasingly manic song called Just Keep Calm, while she plays the clarinet.”
Nick began his media career 33 years ago, after busking around Australia with the Pickled Herrings. “My first job in radio was writing comedy for a breakfast program in Canberra at 4.30 in the morning and there was always an instrument next to the desk, guitar and ukulele. So I used to do lots of funny songs and that’s my stock in trade…
“I grew up in a family that was in the theatre. Mum and Dad did lots of different shows. Other parents were playing tennis or bridge or whatever, but they were always on stage.”
It was Nick’s day job on ABC radio that inspired his latest musical, which he describes as “a form of therapy” after months of non-stop broadcasting through Black Summer. “It was quite debilitating for all of us, although we weren’t directly in the path of the flame.”
In the aftermath, Nick took a break and spent it writing songs. “That became a Black Summer rock opera called Watch And Act, which we put on at the Shoalhaven Entertainment Centre with a choir and a rock band and video projection. It was one of the most amazing experiences of my life.”
In Watch and Act, fictional Gladys fronted a press conference, delivering her message via a song called Strong Winds, High Temperatures. Covid lockdowns prompted this character’s revival. “Tia and I decided… we’d produce a series of videos kind of taking the mickey out of the whole thing – not necessarily about her, but just about the whole situation.”
Tia – a high school teacher when she’s not performing – is known across the Illawarra as part of all-women musical comedy group Cheeky Tzatziki, and one of the mainstays of the Vault Cabaret in Port Kembla. “And she’s increasingly well known as premier Gladys on our YouTube and Facebook pages,” Nick says.
“Tia’s very aware of the feminist reading of it, and doesn’t want to attack a woman in power just for the sake of it. But if you put your hand up to be the premier of the state and go through the process of ICAC you’ve got to take your medicine when it comes.”
After performances in Wollongong and Kangaroo Valley in October, Nick would love to take the show to regional Australia. “Especially to the home of Daryl Maguire – Wagga Wagga.”
“We’ve also said, Gladys, if you want to come, there’s a seat for you.”
“In one newspaper, she was The Woman Who Saved Australia – and yet two weeks later she was gone, because of this relationship with Daryl. It’s like a phoenix going too close to the sun … it had all the elements of classic tragedy.”
– Nick Rheinberger
Tia Wilson plays former NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian; Nick Rheinberger is Daryl Maguire
Look out for Tall Rice Flower
By Emma Rooksby of Growing Illawarra Natives
“The
Tall Rice Flower has a distinct preference for dappled sun conditions on higher elevations. The former can make it tricky to photograph. This shot was the best I could manage as the sun went in behind clouds.” – Emma Rooksby
Ifyou go down to Saddleback Mountain today, or to Mount Keira (Djeera) or Mount Kembla (Djembla), you might be lucky enough to come across a truly incredible flowering experience of a local plant that’s almost unknown on the coastal plain, or in gardens. It’s a well-kept secret of higher elevations along the escarpment.
Standing up to 2m high, and currently absolutely festooned with white pom-pom-type flowers, the Tall Rice Flower (or Pimelea ligustrina var. hypericina) is putting on the most amazing flowering show. I’ve not seen anything like it in my 15 years in Wollongong, although old-timers may have known better.
The Tall Rice Flower has a distinct preference for dappled sun conditions on higher elevations. The former can make it tricky to photograph. Image by Emma Rooksby.
Tall Rice Flower is a really striking plant when in flower, but you can walk past it without batting an eyelid when it’s not flowering. Now is the right time to go out and spot it in nature.
Hoddles Track at Saddleback Mountain would be perfect, as plants are flowering all along the track as it leads down from the summit. Queen Victoria
Drive at the top of Mount Keira (Djeera) is another good spot, although cars whizz up and down the road so it isn’t the safest spot to dawdle.
The inflorescences of Tall Rice Flower are actually made up of numerous separate small flowers, growing together to form a ball or pom-pom shape. Each flower has bright yellow stamens at its centre. Image by Emma Rooksby.
Tall Rice Flower plants also attract a range of insect pollinators. Walking at Saddleback Mountain the other day, a few of us saw the flowers attracting Macleay’s Swallowtail butterflies (Graphium macleayanus), which were poking around. These butterflies can be seen around the region, feeding on flowers of a wide range of plant species. Their larvae enjoy eating the leaves of many local native tree and shrub species, including the Cryptocaryas, Tasmannias and Cinnamomums, which I’ll have to get around to featuring another time! Here’s a Macleay’s Swallowtail enjoying the Tall Rice Flower flowers. This butterfly skipped from flower to flower so quickly it was incredibly hard to photograph. But the keen eye and steady hand of Elena Martinez resulted in this shot. Image by Elena Martinez.
Open Day at Old Mine Surgery
By Jeremy Lasek
It’s exactly 140 years since coal was first discovered at Helensburgh and the remarkable history of Wollongong’s most northern community will be celebrated this weekend when an open day is held at the base of the Helensburgh and District Historical Society.
One of Helensburgh’s best-known characters, the president of the historical society, Jim Powell, is hoping for a great turn out at the Old Mine Surgery, filled with history and the home of the society in Parkes Street.
It’s fair to say what Jim doesn’t know about Helensburgh really isn’t worth knowing.
During an open day preview Jim shared stories of the old Metropolitan mine which remains the longest running active coal mine in Australia. At its peak it employed nearly 3000 miners.
“The mine opened and started producing coal in July 1888, but the rail line didn’t arrive until October that year meaning the first coal was stored on site,” Jim said. “It had a reputation for producing the best steaming coal in Australia.”
How Helensburgh coped with the 1919 Spanish Flu
Inside the old mine surgery, which was funded by the mine and operated by a local legend from early last century, Dr Frederick Cox, is an amazing collection of photographs, books and memorabilia. The story of Dr Cox single-handedly working to save local lives during the 1919 ‘Spanish Flu’ pandemic is astonishing. As the only doctor in the district, he treated all the patients and at one stage 100 workers at the mine were off work with the flu. Nine of the 10 lives lost in Helensburgh during the pandemic were mine workers. On 12 September 1919, as the epidemic came to an end, the Illawarra Mercury reported that “the local Masonic Lodge entertained the volunteers in recognition of the splendid services performed by them in the epidemic.” For his heroic life-saving efforts, Dr Cox was presented with a pair of gold cufflinks by Reverend Smee.
The museum traces the history of local sport where Jim explains that the local cricket club was the first sporting team to take the field in the 1880s “and Helensburgh is one of the oldest soccer clubs in the Illawarra”.
Having played coronet and trumpet, Jim has a soft spot for the town’s brass band, which was created in 1895, and was originally made up mainly of men working in the mine. The band hall was built in 1915 but it was lost to an electrical fire in 2000.
A lifetime fighting fires
As a member of the local Fire and Rescue service for more than 40 years, Jim recalls all the big fires that hit the region. “The first fire I fought was back in 1952 when I was a seven-year-old. Dad had me up the ladder putting water in the gutters.”
Many years later, in 1975, Jim joined Fire and Rescue Station 325 Helensburgh and was on the job until 2016 when he retired, after six years as brigade captain.
“I remember 2001 was the last big fire and that was on Christmas Day. The town was cut off and we helped with evacuations from the Stanwell Tops conference centre. We took shelter there as the fire front came through. Then we headed back to Helensburgh to save a house my father helped build. We were fighting that fire for 13 days that summer and at its peak we only got six hours sleep in 48 hours.”
Jim Powell has received many awards and accolades over the years but the one that gives him greatest pride was being awarded Wollongong’s senior citizen of the year in 2017.
Book about Helensburgh
He’s in the process of putting the
finishing touches to a new book capturing most of the great stories about his home town. “It’s called My Town, The Town and its People and it focuses mainly on the people who’ve shaped the town.”
Jim started writing the book before Covid and it’s largely a pictorial history dating back to the early years, while also capturing special moments from recent years, including when the 2022 UCI World Cycling Championships started in Helensburgh and, most recently, the stunning gold medal success of Olympian Saya Sakakibara, the BMX champion at the recent Paris Olympics.
Jim’s partner, Jenny Donohoe, who is the principal researcher for the Helensburgh Historical Society, is also working on a book of her own. “The book will be called Murders and Misdemeanours and at first I thought I’d do the first 50 years of life in Helensburgh, but I quickly discovered that as time went on things got even more interesting.”
Jenny thinks there may have been as many as 20 murders in the Helensburgh area over the years. “It used to be like a wild west town; it was unruly, and a foot policeman was the only thing to keep the town in check.”
Jim and Jenny have a thousand stories to tell but don’t wait for their books. Join them at the Helensburgh Historical Society open day between 10am-2pm on Saturday, 28 September, and any members of the public with new historical material for the collection will be warmly welcomed.
“One of Helensburgh’s best-known characters, the president of the historical society, Jim Powell, is hoping for a great turn out at the Old Mine Surgery, filled with history and the home of the society in Parkes Street.”
Emerald Anniversary of Quilting
By Lynn Kelly of Bulli Corner Quilters
Several Quilting retailers will be present as well as the renowned Trading Table where handmade gifts can be purchased (in time for Christmas)
Bulli Corner Quilters are eagerly looking forward to celebrating their Emerald (or 20 year) Anniversary of Quilting at their Annual Quilt and Flower Show on October 11 and 12.
Twenty years ago, a group of ladies got together to, initially, teach the local parishioners how to sew and make clothes. Due to the amalgamation of local church groups, other ladies became involved and it was decided that the group should be called “Connecting Threads”. They decided to meet up each Wednesday and devote their time to sewing whatever was needed.
One of the ladies in the group became ill and it was suggested that they make her a quilt. This suggestion was eagerly accepted – who would have thought that twenty years later the group would still be going. It was decided that Quilting day would be the fourth Wednesday of the month and so “Bulli Corner Quilters” came into being.
The ladies are very industrious with their quilt making. During 2023 they donated not only quilts but also tee shirts, shorts, skirts, blouses, various bags together with stuffed toys and crochet purses to Operation Christmas Child. Other recipients of quilted items include both Wollongong Hospitals –Public and Private Neo-natal
Departments, as well as the Paediatric Ward of Wollongong Hospital, bed brighteners for the children at Westmead Hospital, personal items were given to the Aboriginal Liaison Officer in local high schools, Eugowra NSW flood victims, and Pyjama Angels.
The year of friendship, devotions and hard work culminates in October’s Quilt and Flower Show. The 2023 Show was the most successful to date, with over $9000 was raised and donated to the Cancer Research Wollongong Unit, Bulli Hospital Auxiliary, Royal Doctor Flying Service, Rural Fire Service, Fred Hollows Foundation and the Heritage Church Restoration Fund at Northern Illawarra Uniting Church.
Whilst the ladies gratefully accept donations from deceased estate and surplus fabric from other sewers, they need to purchase the wadding, thread and other miscellaneous items. Funds raised go towards these purchases.
The October 11 and 12 Quilt & Flower Show is open from 9am to 3pm, $8 entry, with delicious refreshments and credit card facilities available. It is hoped that many readers will come along to the Northern Illawarra Uniting Church, corner of Princes Highway and Point Street, Bulli. Contact Lynn Kelly, 0413 963 070 or lmk1703@yahoo.com.au
Rewild your Soul with Freya
By Amanda De George
“I lead people into the bush and into the sea because for me that’s the shortcut to coming into presence.” – Freya Dawson
There’s a golden thread running through Dr Freya Dawson’s life. A unifying theme. It’s nature, or rather a connection with nature, a sense of being-ness, a blissful feeling of belonging. But there’s also another thread that intertwines with the first, moving not only in and around her life but with that of those around her – it’s her lifelong love of learning and then unlearning.
I first met Freya through one of her events where we snorkelled Bushranger’s Bay and with her encouragement I spent time with the beautiful grey nurse sharks that call the bay their (part time) home. She runs her Rewild your Soul events in some of the Illawarra’s most beautiful natural places.
And for good reason. “I lead people into the bush and into the sea because for me that’s the shortcut to coming into presence,” Freya explained. “Because the sea’s not thinking, the trees are not thinking. Because when you’re with them, for me at least, I can let the thinking go and I can just be.”
Now this is the Freya I know, the one who guides people to learn more about themselves by unlearning the thought patterns that might hold us back; a spiritual, supportive mentor. It’s hard for me to see Freya as she once was: a practising lawyer and an academic teaching constitutional and
administrative law. She said, “I practised for years as a lawyer and I absolutely hated it. Law is all about conflict, and being adversarial and arguing and all that sort of stuff…. I can do that, right. But it didn’t mean I enjoyed it.”
But working firstly as a lawyer in Darwin and then as an academic at the then Northern Territory University gave her the opportunity to explore Kakadu and Lichfield National Parks.
“I’d only just become interested in matters that could be called spiritual at the time,” she said. “I would go on these bush walks right into the wilderness and the energy of those places just blew me away. It was palpable. There was no denying that there was Spirit alive.”
However, it wasn’t until the birth of her first child, Jeremy, a very spirited child, that Freya began to question what she knew about parenting and teaching and education. “That’s where the unlearning started.” Freya went on to write the Joyful Parenting book and now wants to show others a way to unlearn.
“Rewild your Soul is the process of coming into that inner focus and engaging with this unlearning process, which literally does bring you more peace, joy and freedom,” she said.
“It is part of that golden thread. I’m learning all the time. But I’m learning in a different way now than I used to.”
The cart-rut shell: a common local with royal connections
By Andy Lawrence
Thisweek’s muse is a mollusc whose shell you’ve undoubtedly encountered if you’ve ever walked a beach anywhere on the south coastline of Australia. It’s an off-white shell around six centimetres, but can grow to double that and can live for as long as 20 years.
READ MORE
Click to read Andy’s piece on ‘boobie shells’
Dicathais orbita, otherwise known as the cart-rut shell. Both the scientific name and the common name have interesting stories hailing back to European colonisation. The early establishment of museums throughout Australia allowed naturalists to study the flora and fauna of the newly invaded country. The mollusc specialists (known as malacologists) in Sydney described a white shell with deep crenulations that reminded them of the tracks left by
horse-drawn carts. Thus the mode of transport of the day inspired the common name cart-rut shell, which was formally named Dicathais orbita in 1791. Thirty years later, similar snails were found around the coasts of Melbourne but with shallower grooves and a smoother surface. These were named dog winkles for reasons known only to those naturalists, or more formally, Dicathais textilosa. When a creamy white shell made itself known in Perth 20 years after that, the naturalists of the time noted its smooth shell, completely free of ridges but with small nodules and called it Dicathais aegrota. So, for a while it was believed that these snails were different species within the same genus of Dicathais. That was
until three malacologists in 1973 took a closer look. They put the crenulated Dicathais orbita from NSW into a still-water aquarium for three years, where the animal gradually lost its ridges, moving first into the southern form, Dicathais textilosa, before moving into the smoothest noduled form, Dicathais aegrota. They concluded that in fact, Dicathais is monotypic, meaning the genus consists of only one species (Dicathais orbita) that changes its form based on its local habitat conditions, including water temperature, diet, substrate and exposure to wave action. Not all heroes wear capes.
The cart-rut shell is a predatory carnivore that isn’t picky when it comes to their prey. They’ll happily eat mussels, turban snails, barnacles and fellow cart-rut snails. Whether they are playing predator or cannibal, they attack their prey using their radula, a hard modified tongue meaning ‘little scraper’ in Latin. They simultaneously release acidic enzymes that soften the shell of the prey as they scrape away until a hole forms, allowing them access to the soft animal within. The cart-rut snail then sucks out the tissue of the prey through the hole. Cart-rut snails forage up the shoreline as the tide rises before returning to their sheltered niches as the tide lowers.
Besides being a coloniser’s muse, the cart-rut snail and its cousins have some royal history. Each egg produced by the snail is encapsulated in membranes forming a somewhat cylindrical capsule,
which is joined to many others as an egg mass and attached to a hard substrate like a rock. I occasionally come across empty egg masses washed up on the shore. Precursors for the pigment Tyrian purple, otherwise known as royal or imperial purple, are found within the gonads and egg casings of the cart-rut snail. In ancient times, snails in the same family (Muricidae) were used to produce Tyrian purple pigment for textile dying. The extraction involved crushing thousands of snails in a time consuming and laborious process that meant the pigment was expensive and highly sought-after. The pigment became associated with the wealth and power leading to the idea of purple being a ‘royal’ colour, which still persists today.
Looking at the dull white mollusc, you wouldn’t guess that it has connections to royalty. I have a soft spot for overlooked species, particularly ones that are common and seemingly unremarkable. Take a closer look and often those unassuming creatures surprise you with their stories and interesting life histories. I also have an innate passion for knowing the creatures around me, as if knowing their names and behavioural nuances reminds me that we are all threads woven into the same web of life. There is nearly no better feeling than stepping into nature and calling on the names of the plants and animals around me like old friends. Perhaps, you’ll notice next time you step over a cart-rut shell and stop to say hello.
“Precursors for the pigment Tyrian purple, otherwise known as royal or imperial purple, are found within the gonads and egg casings of the cart-rut snail.” – Andy Lawrence
Calls to stop building in foothills
By Jeremy Lasek
“We are very happy with the judgement and feel it’s a great victory not just for Keiraville but for all Wollongong”
– chairperson of KRAG, Geoff Kelly
There are calls for the new Wollongong City Council to follow through with a proposal to stop new housing developments in the foothills of the escarpment to protect the environment and reduce bushfire risk to homes. It follows a court decision last week in which plans for a controversial new development under the escarpment in Keiraville was rejected by the Land and Environment Court.
That plan – initially for 47, then 42 homes in Cosgrove Avenue – was previously rejected by Wollongong City Council on a number of grounds, including bushfire risk. In its judgement, for a scaled-down 24 homes and 54 parking spaces, the Land and Environment Court said the developer has not “demonstrated that the proposal would provide buildings or their occupants with adequate protection from exposure to bushfire. The DA would be refused on these grounds alone.”
With climate change meaning more regular and intense bushfires, threatening populations living under the escarpment, local community groups are celebrating the win in the courts.
In a submission opposing the proposed development, Neighbourhood Forum 5 said: “The bushfire assessment has not been revised by the development still retaining a single access point in this
area surrounded by bushfire prone land at a time when bushfire disasters are becoming more common due to climate change.”
Also strongly objecting to the development was the Keiraville Residents Action Group (KRAG) which said, “In the face of the devastating and unprecedented bushfires experienced in 2020 along the east coast of Australia, the idea of allowing a development of this sort on a high bushfire prone block of land is completely irresponsible.”
KRAG’s submission to Wollongong City Council read: “A development of this density on the edge of dense bushland is unwise. The impact after the devastating bushfires of 2019-20 now puts the onus on the authorities, who now have a ‘legal duty to enquire’.”
The chairperson of KRAG, Geoff Kelly, said: “We are very happy with the judgement and feel it’s a great victory not just for Keiraville but for all Wollongong.”
Members of KRAG are using the Land and Environment Court ruling to pressure Council to ratify a proposal that would effectively lock up 60 sites along the escarpment foothills, preventing future residential development. They include land at Stanwell Park, Wombarra, Mt Keira, Mt Ousley, Mt Pleasant, Balgownie, Keiraville, Figtree, Cordeaux Heights and Farmborough Heights.
SAT 26TH OCT
Archibike
Panel
In the footsteps of Jimmy Barnes at the steelworks
By Jeremy Lasek
Itwas more than 50 years ago that I last toured the Port Kembla Steelworks, as a primary school kid from Dapto.
Who’d have thought all these years later I’d be back in what is now a very different steelmaking plant with a group of town planners, tracing the footsteps of Australia’s best known ‘working class man’, Jimmy Barnes.
That’s exactly what happened during our special behind-the-scenes tour of Bluescope’s Port Kembla Steelworks last week on the opening day of the Planning Institute of Australia’s 2024 NSW conference.
While others headed off for a leisurely heritage stroll along Wollongong’s famed coastal Blue Mile and marvelled at the region’s newest attraction, the Shell Cove
Marina, a dozen of us put on our protective helmets, glasses, gloves and coats to get down and dirty at the steelworks.
Our tour was led by two veterans of steelmaking, Rick Bonnor from Figtree and Bob Nightingale from Thirroul, who started working at the plant as teenagers in the early 1970s. Between them they’ve clocked up 100 years at the giant complex, the largest industrial site in Australia.
Safety drills completed, we headed off for a two-hour journey of learning with plenty of ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’ thrown in as we passed through where the steelmaking is at its most dramatic.
One of those locations is the spectacular BOS (formerly the open
hearth) factory. That’s where in 1985
Jimmy Barnes recorded the spectacular video for his hit single, Working Class Man, with much less protection than we were required to wear on our visit. The molten steel is heated to about 1600 degrees Celsius in the process with sparks flying as temperatures reach their peak. The BOS today it produces the same quantity of steel in 30 minutes which took six hours back in the 70s.
There are so many signs of how much steelmaking has changed since I last toured the steelworks as a primary school kid in the early 1970s and when Rick and Bob started their careers.
Bob laughed when he recalled visiting the steelworks on a school excursion when he was about 15. “I remember going home and telling Mum it was a terrible place.”
Two years later he was back as a metallurgy trainee. “In those days I helped out as a tour guide, which was one of the jobs of the first-year trainees, even though we didn’t know very much.”
Fellow guide Rick had retired for six years before seeing an ad on the TV looking for steelworks tour guides and he thought why not, kicking off his part-time job earlier this year. Between them it seems there’s nothing about the steelworks Bob and Rick don’t know.
Technology and automation has seen a huge drop in the size of the workforce – from 24,000 at its peak to about 3500 today.
Fifty years ago, most of the water used
in the process was piped fresh from nearby dams. Today, recycled water makes up the majority, with some saltwater used in the cooling process.
As our bus took us along Iron Ore Road into Hot Strip Road, we saw work well underway on the rebuild of the No. 6 blast furnace, which is towered over by the largest power crane in the southern hemisphere, costing a whopping $40,000 a week to hire. The blast furnace relining is due to be completed in 2026 at a total budget of $1.15 billion.
The Planning Institute of Australia’s national policy director, John Brockhoff, once had family working at the steelworks, but this was his first tour.
“The steelworks is iconic and you’ve got to understand the history of a town to really get into its planning,” he said.
“So much of Wollongong’s history as a working town revolves around its heavy industry and while the steelworks still plays its role, Wollongong is now a knowledge-based city with the university going gangbusters.”
As you’d expect on a steelworks tour, it was hot, dusty, smelly and dirty; but nowhere near as dirty as I remember from my schoolboy tour, 50 or so years ago.
Three Environment Protection Authority (EPA) officers are based on site working together with about a dozen Bluescope environmental staff to ensure the business operates by minimising pollution. It’s a far cry from the first 50 years.
On namus, solorep tatatemodi ullabor rorempo ssecus et
“Our tour was led by two veterans of steelmaking, Rick Bonnor from Figtree and Bob Nightingale from Thirroul, who started working at the plant as teenagers in the early 1970s.”
– Jeremy Lasek
BE A FRIEND
Support independent local news for $5 a month and you’ll receive the Weekend Flame + access to all our interactive digital puzzles
