City Hub 10 May 2018

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The fox and the city

BY JOHN MOYLE The next time you hear a bustle in the hedgerow chances are its not Led Zeppelin but Basil the fox.

Foxes were introduced to Australia in the 1850s for hunting and are usually associated with farm land, but in recent times they are being seen more frequently in the heart of the urban environment.

Foxes in the inner city are not a new phenomena, having been introduced to Australia in the1850s for hunting.

“They have incurred right into the city and I have seen them even on the university campus and they are all around the city region,” Dr Matthew Crowther, Associate Professor, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Sydney said.

Recent years has seen inner city newspapers and Facebook record frequent sightings from the canals of Leichhardt to Coogee Beach, while residents near Centennial Park and Cooper Park in Sydney’s east have come to see them as just another part of the urban environment.

“Foxes are everywhere in Sydney and have been seen in many parts of Waverley, including Waverley Cemetery, Bondi Golf Course, Bronte Gully, Tamarama Gully and Diamond Bay,” Spokesperson, Waverley Council said.

There are 21 species of foxes throughout the world, but in Australia there is just vulpe vulpe, the European red fox.

With two releases of foxes in Geelong and Ballarat in 1871, Australia was quickly under threat from the new feral species, with the dingo being their only apex predator.

A rising rabbit population ensured the foxes’ success and together they quickly spread across the southern states and into Western Australia.

“Foxes are highly adaptable and while you associate them with farm land, you can find them on beaches, in laneways, creeks and other places as they are capable of surviving in a wide range of places,” Peter West, National Coordinator, Feral Scan Program, NSW Department of Primary Industries said.

Fox on the run in Bronte Park. Photo: Waverley Council

Commonly referred to as carnivorous predators, foxes are highly flexible in their diet and will even include plant material and human food waste.

“Even though foxes are carnivorous they are scavengers and can use any food source whether it is a left over lunch or chips or the fruit that falls on the ground,” Graham Wilson, Manager Biosecurity, Greater Sydney Land Services said.

The Greater Sydney Land Services provide pest services at a coordination level across the Greater Sydney region covering the Blue Mountains, Central Coast and eastern suburbs to Botany.

Foxes are extremely furtive and will normally avoid contact with humans, one of the reasons why we seldom see them.

“Foxes will change the way that they act, such as you’d be lucky to see a fox during the day in the urban environment,” Dr Crowther said.

In farming communities foxes will often venture out during day light hours, especially during lambing season.

Often the only time city folks become aware of a fox in our midst is when the hen house gets raided, or the pet rabbit or guinea pig is discovered eviscerated.

“Foxes are very challenging to manage in urban and peri urban landscapes, so it is recommended that people adopt a few practices including feeding your pets indoors,” Peter West said.

Foxes will normally eat around 500gms of food per day, and in the case of live food, this may include more than one animal as they will often only eat the head and parts of the intestines.

A city fox will have an average lifespan of two to three years, usually succumbing to cars or disease, while the ones that make it to five years are an exception.

While there is no hard data on fox numbers in the inner city region, it is generally accepted that the numbers are higher per square kilometre than in farm land, where there are usually less resources.

“In parts of the urban environment there may be up to five foxes per square kilometre and that density is driven by food availability,” Graham Wilson said.

In 1998, 14 councils and government agencies set up the Urban Feral Animal Action Group to monitor, record and set action for invasive species impacting on Sydney, including foxes.

As a part of Feral Scan, Fox Scan is the mapping site set up to record fox sightings across Australia including inner city Sydney.

“The Fox Scan resource is completely free and is available as a website and a phone app and is part of the Feral Scan community mapping store so that we can manage feral species,” Peter West said.

“The City of Sydney is partnering with organisations such as Fox Scan, and this allows the City to map sightings of foxes, record the damage they cause and record any control measures used,” Spokesperson, City of Sydney said.

The Inner West Council said that they were “previously involved in a Regional Fox Control Program to identify problem sites and implement control measures.”

While farmers have control resources such as shooting and baiting available to them, these are not suitable in an urban environment due to safety of humans and pets.

“There are some places in the inner city where we can use pest controls such as bait but we are very restricted with firearms so cages trapping is the predominate technique, but foxes learn very quickly to avoid traps,” Graham Wilson said.

It seems that the future of the fox in the city is in our hands as denying it food appears to be the cheapest and most effective way of managing its numbers.

Marrickville art mayhem Published weekly and freely available Sydney-wide.

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BY Lanie Tindale Developer Danias Holding has threatened to pull out of Marrickville’s proposed creative hub, saying that the Inner West Council is taking too long to approve it.

The proposal involves converting an old timber storage yard to a 500-artist hub, including office space, cafe and a park.

Danias Holdings told Domain.com that the “Council could approve the hub now without the Development Control Plan or the Voluntary Planning Agreement if they wanted to”.

But the Council says its “master plan process aims ... to understand and retain the areas distinct sense of place and industrial ‘gritty’ character that is unique to this sweet in Sydney’s inner west’, and that it “... is also conscious of streetscape improvements leading to gentrification and blandness of place”.

Danias Holdings proposed the creative hub to the Marrickville Council, which has since merged to become the Inner West Council.

General manager Angelo Angelopoulos told Domain.com “it appears it might be too hard for council to support a project that will put Marrickville on the map at an international level. The Danias group is diverse, we will expand our timber and building operations to the Rich Street site and just look for another site around the Sydney fringes.”

On Tuesday the 1st of May the Council announced a 28 day public exhibition for a development plan in Marrickville and Sydenham. This includes the proposed creative hub.

The site is currently a cluster of warehouses,

Artists impression of Rich Street Precinct. Photo: Supplied

used by 10-15 people for storage and as a workspace. The creative hub would be a workspace for creative professionals, such as videographers, painters and musicians.

Developments on Victoria Road, which connects to Rich Street, will impact the Rich Street Precinct. Industrial land is being rezoned for apartment and business building developments. 80 per cent of the Victoria Road precinct is being reserved for business: about one thousand new apartments are estimated to

be built by 2036. Most of this land is currently owned by Danias Holdings.

Council will introduce a 28-day public public exhibition period, allowing businesses and residents to view the proposed developments in Marrickville. There will also be a 14-day period where the Council will accept submissions.

Other developments in Marrickville include real estate group Mirvac building apartment block Marrick & Co, which includes a playground, cafe and library. city hub 10 MAY 2018

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Sydney traffic 60 years out of date

BY MICK DALEY Readers of NSW Government press releases and the Murdoch press might be forgiven for thinking that Sydney’s road transport system is state of the art and functioning superbly. Bureaucratic prolix has been running hot as new projects are mooted and sometimes as swiftly shut down, including the projected folly of the $1.5bn new stadiums.

Transport NSW boasts of employing state of the art infrastructure and roads planning, despite such bungles as buying trains too wide for existing tunnels. Its latest press release claims; “Right now we’re delivering the largest transport infrastructure program this nation has ever seen - $41.5 billion of investment for game-changing projects like Sydney Metro and Sydney Light Rail that will shape our cities, centres and communities for generations to come.”

Premier Berejiklian has staunchly defended her expansion of Westconnex and the Western Sydney City Deal, enabling transport to the fabled Second Airport. On such exciting gambits as the Opal Card the Premier has waxed lyrical; “Now in 2018, Opal geographically is the world’s largest electronic ticketing system, covering 40,000 square kilometres, 310 train stations, 44 wharves, 23 light rail stops and 39,599 bus stops.”

That’s a small blip on the Coalition’s continued insistence of promoting roads as opposed to public transport, despite such negative press as say, global warming. This is despite the warning of experts who claim this agenda could be as foolish and short-sighted a plan as the federal Government’s plan to eradicate carp with herpes.

A new report by Sydney University’s Professor and Chair in Transport Modelling, Dr Michiel Bliemer says that the modelling used by the State Government to plan its transport infrastructure is 60 years out of date. That places it back in the era of FJ Holdens, the Federal front bench and the first wave of Sydney trams. Picture them next time you’re stuck in traffic.

Bliemer asserts that the government is fully aware of its obsolescent planning, but refuses to admit it.

“The models that are being used today are based on the same assumptions that we made in the 1950s when there was virtually no congestion,” said Dr Bliemer. “These models still assume that congestion is very light and that queues are unlikely to form anywhere in the network.”

Sydney transport then and now. Photo: Supplied

“It’s a bit like going to the supermarket. The 1950’s model assumes that there are always enough checkouts and that queues will never form. When it comes to our roads, that kind of assumption is no longer valid, especially in Sydney where we have a lot of congestion that impacts on travelling times and that cannot be predicted by the old model.”

He says that it shows an ‘unrealistic’ grasp of the problems facing Sydney’s huge and complex traffic problems.

“We have to be able to model the movements of four million people all at once. We need to know how many are moving from home to work or going shopping every single day. The model needs to predict how many people are using a single road and the travel times they face.”

Bliemer has previously pointed out such startling facts as; “Unfortunately, cars are among the most inefficient modes of transport … for each lane of 3.5 metres wide only about 2,000 people per hour are transported, compared with around 22,000

per hour for a tram and 80,000 or more per hour for a train.”

His report comes hard on the heels of a string of bad news stories for Westconnex, the massive $16 billion road transport overhaul that has displaced, disrupted and profoundly upset many Sydneysiders.

Last week the Supreme Court ruled against the compulsory acquisition of land belonging to the property firm Desane in Rozelle. It would have formed part of the controversial third stage of Westconnex.

The privatisation of bus services in Sydney has also been highly controversial, a storm of outrage from Eastern Suburbs commuters forcing Berejiklian to defend what she called ‘teething issues’.

Rhea Liebmann of Westconnex Action Group says that Dr Bliemer’s report confirms what opponents of the roadway have known all along.

“We’ve always had suspicions around the traffic forecasts for Westconnex. It’s been questioned on a lot of occasions but like everything else with Westconnex it appears to be secret.

“If it’s correct that the traffic modelling doesn’t take into account modern congestion, then that puts out all their other projections, but more importantly those affect the air quality measures, the local traffic projection and so on.

“The 1950s modelling that Roads and Maritime Services has used just assumes that when you put a car in at one end it comes out the other. It doesn’t allow for bank-ups around exit points, so that means there’s going to be an awful lot more traffic on the roads than expected, pumping out more air pollution and a lot more people looking to ‘rat-run’ (leave major roads and duck around side-streets, a big concern around areas in the inner West), so there’ll be more drastic impact on local roads traffic than forecast.

“There won’t be more cars paying more tolls, it will just mean cars being on the road longer, which of course will also impact on their journey time projections.”

Liebmann says that Bliemer’s report has catalysed a fresh wave of opposition to Westconnex.

“Every day we’re reading something bad about Westconnex in the way it’s starting to fall apart. We’re continuing to gear up our fight against this toxic, secretive tollway.”

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Westconnex tunnel vision

BY LANIE TINDALE “They should actually get the WestConnex project, set fire to it, and put it in the garbage can.

That’s what I think the alternative to Stage Three of WestConnex is” said Jamie Parker, NSW MP for Balmain.

“The City of Sydney does have some alternatives to Stage Three, and ... I agree with like 90 per cent of the proposal. The intention of it I definitely agree with.”

The 2017 City of Sydney report recommended the NSW Government abandon Stage Three of the WestConnex, and cede construction of an M5 tunnel. It instead recommends the NSW Government build a direct motorway between Port Botany and Sydney Airport, bring forward proposed underground railway Sydney Metro West to Haberfield, upgrade the A3 connector road between the M4 and M5, and “connect the City West link to the Eastern Distributor via the Cross City Tunnel”.

When the report was released, Premier Gladys Berejiklian told the Sydney Morning Herald, “I respect people have strong opinions on this project but the City of Sydney does not represent greater western Sydney where the public will benefit from this massive road project.”

Mr. Parker, a former Leichhardt Mayor, explicitly supported proposed underground rail network the Sydney Metro West during his presentation.

“The Western metro could be really important … We’re supporting more stops rather than less”.

He also said he wanted the Western Harbour Tunnel to be built using “a conventional tunnel rather than using a trench.

“If they do want to build a trench, the impact of the casting plant on White Bay is really significant.

So they could consider casting those tunnel pipes at Port Kembla, which is where they did the

Jamie Parker talks WestConnex at Balmain Town Hall. Photo: Supplied

casting for the pipes for the Cross Sydney Tunnel.”

Trenching, also known as cut and cover construction, involves digging a large hole which is covered by a concrete deck.

Construction is completed in the tunnel while life as usual (largely) resumes above it. It is cheaper than tunnelling but requires the use of pollution ventilation pipes.

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During a presentation in Balmain Town Hall on Thursday the 8th of May, Mr. Parker conceded that conventional tunnelling is more difficult than trenching because “grades are challenging and it’s more expensive” but believes it is worth the extra cost.

Mr. Parker’s presentation addressed various local concerns, including the proposed Western

Harbour Tunnel, which will link Rozelle to the Northern Beaches.

Former Leichhardt Councillor Kath Hacking attended the event and opposes the WestConnex.

“I’m yet to be convinced that the WestConnex is going to achieve all of the needs of the community … I believe the government has not been honest with us on many aspects of the WestConnex”.

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city hub 10 MAY 2018

5

Westconnex stage 3 rorts begin

BY Wendy Bacon NSW Planning approved Stage 3 of Westconnex despite receiving formal advice from the NSW Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) that a more detailed environmental assessment of its impacts on the community was needed.

Along with other government agencies, the EPA was given a final opportunity to respond to the NSW Roads and Maritime Services’ Preferred Infrastructure and Response to Submissions Report (SPIR). The purpose of the SPIR was to respond to thousands of criticisms of the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Stage 3 proposal to build a tunnel between St Peters, Haberfield and Rozelle.

In a letter to NSW Planning in February this year, EPA Metropolitan Regional Director Ms. Giselle Howard acknowledged that RMS had addressed some concerns raised by the EPA in its earlier rejection of the EIS, but went on to explain that the agency “reiterates its previous advice that all impacts be “assessed in detail during the Environmental Impact Assessment rather than under post-approval management plans”.

The EIS was limited to a broad assessment of impacts of a ‘concept’ for which no detailed engineering solutions or designs are available.

The concept includes a three layered underground interchange at Rozelle of a sort that has not previously been constructed anywhere in the world. The approval requires a number of post-approval plans before construction begins but these rarely involve detailed environmental assessments and will be approved without any input from community stakeholders.

The Department’s failure to post the agencies’ responses follows the Minister for Planning Anthony Roberts’ secret approval of the Stage 3 EIS on April 17. Mr. Roberts did not release his decision until the afternoon of Friday April 27th, and was then not available for comment.

It is perhaps a sign of increasingly fragility of the government’s position on WestConnex that it has attempted to delay release of the agencies’ responses. The EPA’s reservations are in addition to scores of criticisms in independent peer reviews

Parramatta road protest WestConnex stage 3. Photo: Chris Nash

commissioned by NSW Planning that have been posted on the department’s website. These peer reviews unbelievably include findings that traffic congestion levels would be at ‘saturation’ point in St Peters and queues would back up into tunnels at Haberfield if the planned projects are completed. By then somewhere between $20 and $45 billion will have been spent for a solution that was supposed to be about solving Sydney’s traffic congestion.

The EPA’s criticisms of the NSW Planning approach to Westconnex’s planning decisions reinforces the position of groups campaigning against Westconnex, that the approval is so flawed that it lacks legitimacy. At a protest outside NSW Parliament on May 1st, City of Sydney Mayor Clover Moore, three Greens MPs Mehreen Faruqi MLC, Balmain MP Jamie Parker and Newtown MP Jenny Leong, Inner West Independent Councillor Pauline Lockie and Waverley Labor

Councillor Marjorie O’Neill ripped up giant facsimiles of the approval.

Although it has not previously rejected a WestConnex EIS so clearly, the NSW EPA has made many criticisms of previous WestConnex EISs. It criticised the lack of time it was given to respond to the M4 East EIS and complained that there were “outstanding issues” with the air quality assessment that had not been addressed.

In its response to the New M5 Response to Submissions, it again argued that the RMS’s EIS consultant AECOM had not “comprehensively” or “transparently” addressed outstanding problems with the air quality assessment.

The EPA carries the responsibility of ensuring WestConnex complies with environmental law and its licences but it cannot halt work when persistent breaches occur; its powers to do so in relation to declared ‘state significant infrastructure’ projects were removed in amendments to the NSW

Planning and Assessment Act, passed by the LNP government in 2012 before WestConnex began.

This meant that when overpowering odours repeatedly spread over the St Peters and nearby communities in 2017, the EPA was unable to order work to stop.

Last week, the EPA initiated a prosecution against CPB Contractors Pty Ltd (previously known as Leighton Contractors) in the NSW Land and Environment Court for allegedly causing offensive odours from WestConnex St Peters interchange site on four occasions in 2017 in contravention of section 129 of the Protection of the Environment Operations Act. A contravention of section 129 can attract a maximum penalty of $1 million for a corporation.

In December, CPB Contractors’ WestConnex New M5 ‘s major subcontractor Metropolitan Demolition and Recycling pleaded guilty to providing false information to the EPA in relation to a diary, which was allegedly used to “avoid RMS fees by underreporting overloaded trucks.”

CIMIC, which has already received $4 billion worth of WestConnex contracts, has been reported to be involved in bidding to buy 50 per cent of Sydney Motorway Corporation that controls WestConnex. A CIMIC subsidiary CPB contractor is also shortlisted for the contract for the WestConnex Stage 3 mainline tunnel between St Peters and Haberfield.

Meanwhile, the NSW Labor opposition last week released a secret letter between the New M5 CPB Dragados and Samsung consortium and Sydney Motorway Corporation in which it is claiming an extra $706 million to cover cost blowouts. The project, which was originally supposed to be completed in 2019 and then 2020, is now likely to be opened in 2021.

Leightons was involved with AECOM in the failed Brisbane toll road project Clem 7. Since that collapse, AECOM has paid more than $400 million in settlements for damages for making misleading traffic projections.

Wendy Bacon who was previously the Professor of Journalism is a campaigner against WestConnex. You can find more stories about WestConnex on her blog wendybacon.com

Smelly Issue

BY JADE MORELLINI Residents can wave goodbye to the bad smells floating through the streets of Woolloomooloo, Darlinghurst and Potts Point because the water pipes are finally getting fixed.

With only one pipe carrying both wastewater and stormwater, bad odours became present and during heavy rain and the wastewater would overflow into Woolloomooloo Bay. East Sydney Neighbourhood Association member, Jane Anderson said, “For over 25 years, we have had bad odours from the drains on Liverpool St at the corner of Riley. My neighbour used to get raw sewerage in his basement, so it’s essential work.”

Sydney Water aims to get rid of the bad odours by replacing the current combined pipe with two new pipes, one which will carry wastewater straight to the treatment plant at Bondi, and the other which will take only the stormwater into Woolloomooloo Bay, ensuring it remains clean.

A spokesman for Sydney Water said, “Refresh Woolloomooloo is a major investment by Sydney Water to improve public health and the environment for customers in the Woolloomooloo, Darlinghurst and Potts Point area.”

“The Woolloomooloo system is the only large remaining combined system in Sydney and Sydney Water is working to separate the network into dedicated wastewater and stormwater collection systems in Woolloomooloo.”

After tearing out the old pipes, they will be laying almost five kilometres of new wastewater and stormwater pipes which will then be connected to over 200 properties.

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city hub 10 MAY 2018

One hundred and forty new maintenance holes will be built, along with four trash traps to collect and prevent rubbish from going through the stormwater drains.

“Sydney Water has listened to the community and when we’ve finished, Woolloomooloo will have new pipes, odours will be significantly reduced and stormwater flowing into Woolloomooloo Bay will be cleaner,” a spokesman of Sydney Water said.

Locals are relieved that the water pipes are finally being replaced, but many are still angry that it has taken them so long to act.

“It’s an utter joke that they are saying ‘we listened to you’ because it’s taken over 20 years to get any action! When we first moved here in 1989, the block across was a garage with about five workers, probably having a pee each per day.

Now its 50 apartments with hundreds of people peeing, showering and washing clothes and that is the same story throughout the neighbourhood all using infrastructure built over a hundred years ago,”Ms Anderson said.

With such a large number of people in the area and an ineffective water system, it’s no surprise residents are annoyed. But because the drains are so old, it can be difficult to locate the water pipes and word has it that the construction is “a mess, and if you factor in the light rail fiasco, the disturbance is excruciating on top of all the construction and other noise,” Ms Anderson said.

“As the network was built in the 1800’s and is laid among other infrastructure, our crews are working to the highest standard to safely

Sydney Water work on improving the pipes in Woolloomooloo, Darlinghurst and Potts Point. Photo: Supplied

investigate and install new infrastructure for the project,” a spokesman of Sydney Water stated.

“Sydney Water crews are some of the best in the business and are making every effort to minimise disruption to customers as we work through each stage of the investigation and construction.”

The four areas where the drains will be replaced is Stream Street in Woolloomooloo (including Sir John Young Crescent and Crown Street),

Forbes Street in Darlinghurst, Riley Street in Woolloomooloo (including Liverpool Street, Burton Street and Francis Lane) and finally, Darlinghurst Road (including Womerah Avenue and Brougham Lane.)

“The project is about 50 per cent complete and Sydney Water is on track to complete the project by late 2019,” a spokesman from Sydney Water said.

Bulldozed on Bulwara Road

BY JOHN MOYLE Wednesday week ago an Ultimo resident living on Bulwara Road claims she was almost killed by a concrete pumping truck belonging to Parkview, project managers for the TWT New Life apartment development on Harris Street Ultimo.

Walking her dog at about 6.45am, Cathie Barnes arrived at the lights on the Wolseley Hotel side of William Henry Street and waited for them to turn green.

“I put a foot on the crossing and the truck came whistling through and did not stop at the lights,” Cathie Barnes, resident Bulwara Road said.

“It then backed into the intersection of Bulwara Road and William Henry.”

Ms Barnes then claims that the truck tried to do a U-turn in Bulwara Road, and when it couldn’t in the narrow street, did the U-turn at the entrance of the community centre.

“It came almost right into the building to complete the U-turn and then it went up to the concrete site,” Ms Barnes said.

This occurred on the first day for of the concrete pour for the development, and under the conditions for the Bulwara Road work zone should have been conducted under strict safety regulations imposed on the project managers.

This is despite the original DA only approving the Harris Street work zone.

“They must deliver concrete with a sign and have a traffic control person at every entry point, and weirdly, the flagmen were about five metres back inside in Bulwara Road and there were two of them directing people across the road,” Ms Barnes said.

Bulwara Road at this point is only one car width wide.

This event occurred on the day that City of Sydney councillor Prof Kerryn Phelps was also visiting Bulwara Road at the request of action group Friends of Ultimo.

Truck jam on Bulwara Road, Ultimo.

Photo: Supplied

“The meeting with Cr Kerryn Phelps was arranged before the incident and it was fortuitous that she came on the day of the first concrete pour,” Patricia Johnson, Friends of Ultimo said.

Since the backflip by the City of Sydney when Cr Thalis supported the removal of the Bulwara Rd work zone, but despite this, the project managers have gone ahead, even though Roads and Maritime Services not opposing the City of Sydney’s decision.

A letter from Mr Kevin Anderson, MP and Parliamentary Secretary, written on behalf of Melinda Pavey, Minister for Roads and Maritime Services said “Roads and Maritime Services has

decided not to appeal the City of Sydney’s decision to remove the work zone.”

It adds “Roads and Maritime is working with Council and the developer to provide a solution which is more acceptable to the community.”

As with so many situations like this across Sydney the reality is far different from the words typed on official letterhead.

“It’s the City’s job to control the situation and they have failed,” Patricia Johnson said.

“We have noted this to the City of Sydney and have had no response of any kind, and we have had nothing from Parkview.”

More immediately, there has been no response from Town Hall to a very serious breach of basic safety regulations by a Parkview truck driver.

“We have heard nothing from the City of Sydney and they don’t seem to care and just let this company do anything,” Ms Johnson is also concerned about Parkview using the work site for parking vehicles delivery materials to the site, despite this being against DA directives.

“When they aren’t pouring delivery trucks are coming and using the work zone as a parking bay which they are not supposed to do,” Patricia Johnson said.

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7

FEATURE

By Rita Bratovich

Mum Is The Word

As Mother’s Day approaches, all available advertising space is filled with traditional images of happy nuclear families, floral bouquets and shiny kitchen appliances.The mainstream depiction of mothers in the media often seems informed by washing powder commercials, yet the reality is that many families can’t relate to the cookie cutter model of wife, husband, frilly little girl and scruffy little boy, and there are certainly more challenges in modern society than how to get grass stains out of soccer shorts.

Emma is the mother of two young children and is in a committed relationship with a woman, Carol.

However, Emma began her sojourn into motherhood in a much more conventional way she married a man and had her two children within that marriage.That relationship dissolved within a few years, and once she was single again, Emma felt compelled to explore the attraction to women she had always harboured. She met Carol and it felt right and now they co-parent with her ex-husband and his new partner.

“I think it just goes to show you can have that traditional marriage…I had what people would literally say was ‘the dream life’ [the house], the two kids…’ and I would have looked so traditional but it wasn’t working for me,” says Emma, describing how much better the situation is for everyone concerned. Her kids had two unhappy parents before, now they have four very happy parents. “You know, there’s extra love everywhere… the kids are happier.”

Tanya, 6 and Oliver, 4, call Carol by her first name but regard her as a parent.“She’s come on as an amazing step mum.The kids love her,” says Emma.

One thing Emma does find difficult is being without her children for part of the time. It challenges her own notion of motherhood.

“For me around Mother’s Day, as one who has my kids 50% of the time, I think, does this apply to me?” she explains. “No matter what, I think as mums we’ll always feel like we’re not doing as much as we could, or that we’re not fitting some ideal and I think that might be because of representation on TV…”

Despite that niggling doubt, Emma will celebrate Mother’s Day at lunch with her extended family.

It will be the first with Carol as her partner.

Trish got married to her husband, Rex, 14 years ago. They each already had a child from a previous relationship: Rex’s son Neil, 7, and Trish’s son Jasper, 6. Two years into their marriage they had a child together - a boy, Taylor - and then almost nine years later Trish got unexpectedly pregnant again and they had yet another boy, Corey. It’s created an unusual family dynamic with the two older boys being 10 months apart in age and not biologically related and the successive boys being 8 and 17 years younger. But somehow it works.

When Trish and Rex first started their relationship, they gauged their future based on how their respective sons dealt with it.

“That’s how we knew it was gonna work out okay because it was all hinging on how they got along and they hit it off as friends quite quickly,” says Trish.

Trish embraces the concept of Mother’s Day, although she dislikes the commercial side of it. She believes it should be a genuine family celebration with all the generations because motherhood should be acknowledged.

“I think sometimes mums can be underrated - mums kind of keep the family together…I think it’s an important role and I think it’s a rewarding role in a lot of ways too. And I think sometimes you notice it more with your step kids than with your own kids, because they don’t have to love you but if they choose to then you must have done something right.”

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Emma and her children.

Photo: Supplied

There are arguably few things more disconcerting for a mother than having to identify with their child in an entirely new way.

Lynne has three children: Natalie 26, a girl; Simon 22, a boy; and Will, 22. Just Will.

Will was born Rachel and lived as female until around age 15 when they felt they were not really “comfortable in their own skin.” After spending eight months in China studying Shaolin Martial Arts, they returned at age 19 feeling they identified more as a male.What followed was a lot of discussion and counselling followed by hormone treatment and a mastectomy. It was after the mastectomy that Will decided they didn’t identify fully with either gender and wanted to be referred to by the plural pronoun.

It took some adjusting to, but it didn’t rattle Lynne the way it might have some other mothers. She had always recognised Will as being unique.

“Will’s just different. So when they began to identify as a male it actually didn’t shock me at all, it didn’t phase me because I knew Will was just different.”

That said, it should be noted that there definitely is some grief that comes with such a transition.

Lynne accompanied Will to the hospital for the mastectomy and was asked to wait in the recovery room.

“I just sat and cried for three hours because I was saying goodbye to Rachel and saying hello to Will, which obviously is still a little bit sad…” And still hard - she breaks down momentarily as she reflects on it.

While Lynne acknowledges Mother’s Day by bringing flowers to her own mother, she and her kids don’t treat it as a big deal. Her concept of motherhood is much more inspirational: “As a mum, the one thing I want is a beautiful, well rounded child who makes a positive impact in the world regardless of their gender or political beliefs or religious beliefs. Someone who makes a positive impact in the world and respects people and treats them in the proper way, and to me, if I’ve raised children like that, then I’ve raised good kids.”

[Names of children and some adults have been changed to protect their privacy]

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Photo: Pedro Greig

Mrs Hardcastle, it explores class distinction and social status. There is the comedic relationship between an overbearing mother and her son who is mollycoddled and wants to escape, and a husband who is downtrodden and ruled by the matriarch.

ab [intra]

Anglo-Irishman Sir Oliver Goldsmith’s She Stoops To Conquer is a masterpiece that has paved the way for comedy, as we know it today. This play has outlived almost all other English-language comedies from the early 18th to the late 19th century.

Beautifully written in wonderful, colourful Old English, it has long floral descriptions and intense sentence structure and is full of twists and exaggerated moments.

She Stoops To Conquer has lots of big characters, with plenty of room for comedic interpretation. It deals with crises of missing identity where the comedy lies in the misinformation between the two characters.

Set in Northern England in a rural village, in the homestead of Mr and

Rafael Bonachela is back with an electrifying new work, ab [intra], which showcases Australia’s best contemporary dancers and explores the extremes of human nature.

ab [intra] delves into the motivations of human relationships and questions the drive behind one’s ambitions. “ab [intra] translates from Latin for

Director Peter Farmer has moved the period from when it was written in 1773, to the 1920s, slightly modernising it and removing references to horse and cart and the wearing of wigs.

Presented by Lane Cove Theatre Company, She Stoops To Conquer

is community theatre, with a range of experienced cast as well as students studying drama. There is tremendous challenge for the actors taking on an 18th century play, with such rich creativity in the words, as well as spontaneous interchange of emotions.

“In one moment you’re in extreme dire circumstances, then your character will shift and you’ll become upset, then all of a sudden you’re happy, then outraged,” said Alison Grace who plays Mrs Hardcastle. This all adds to the comedy but adds to the challenge, interpreting the words to comedic effect. (MS) May 11-26.The Performance Space at St Aidan’s, 1 Christina St, Longueville. $17-$27+b.f.

Tickets & Info: www. lanecovetheatrecompany.com

“from within”, which I find very poetic. It’s a very intimate, very personal and very unique world that I have created with the dancers, a universe full of sensations and emotions through the purity of movement,” choreographer, Rafael Bonachela said.

With tradition and modernism colliding in his work, Bonachela aimed to create a unique journey for each individual viewer.

“It’s always important for audiences to connect one way or another, I don’t pretend that everybody will feel the same way and that everyone will connect in the same way. I hope there is an individual journey for everyone that connects with them on an emotional level.”

ab [intra] is a “personal performance”, with the inspiration coming from within the dancers and their responses to improvised dance.

“The process started with a series of improvisations, I asked the dancers to be in the moment with each other, to feel and listen to each other and to use their instincts, impulses and responses.

Each improvisation was recorded and afterwards each dancer wrote down anonymously their thoughts, feelings and sensations and that became the inspiration, the trigger and the seeds for the work.” (JM) May 14-26. Roslyn Packer Theatre, 22 Hickson Road,Walsh Bay. $20-$90. Tickets & Info: www.sydneydancecompany.com

REVIEW: Yours The Face At only 60 odd minutes long, this play is a partial memoir, a symposium on commercial beauty, a comedy of awkward love and a reflection on loneliness. Fleur Kilpatrick’s play about the transient romance between a young American supermodel and an Australian photographer is a simple and straightforward story with lots of subtext. It is performed by one actor - in this production, by the engaging Daniela Haddad.

Haddad plays Emily, the supermodel, and Peter, the photographer, often having to toggle between accents, posture and attitude in quick succession during interactions between the two characters. Perhaps predictably, she portrays Emily more

successfully than she does Peter, although Emily is a fuller, more complex character. Haddad’s nonandrogynous appearance and slightly caricatured rendition of the blokey Aussie makes Peter less convincing and relatable - or maybe that’s the way we are meant to perceive him?

There is no set as such, just a stool as an occasional prop, however the entire back wall is used as a screen for frequently changing projections, mostly abstract images, that provide mood and context. Music and sound are also used to fill out the the atmosphere on stage.

It’s a play that gains momentum as it progresses and Haddad clearly becomes more energised and

a&e

Photo: Liz Arday

invested in the characters. An unseen “Nan” to whom Emily writes postcards helps take us away from the closed, insular world of the photographer and model and helps highlight how claustrophobic Emily’s life in particular, is.

The intimate space of the Blood Moon theatre is the perfect

19 STAGE 10 Sounds 11 SCENE 11 SCREEN

setting for this production, and the time and length make it an accessible theatre treat. (RB) Until May 12. Blood Moon Theatre, World Bar, 24 Bayswater Rd, Kings Cross. $15-$30. Tickets & Info: www.lza-theatre.xyz

Arts Editor: Jamie Apps For more A&E stories go to www.altmedia.net.au and don’t forget to join the conversation on Twitter at @CityHubSyd

Kiss Of The Gallery Guard Cara Severino

She Stoops To Conquer

A young country girl becomes an art gallery guard working in Sydney, London and New York, and discovers life, love, forgery and theft.

This new play by the relentless and adventurous writer, Carol Dance, is innovative, exciting and “really quite sweet”, at least according to actor Chloe Schwank, one of three actors (along with Justin Amankwah and Jesse Northam) playing multiple roles. Cara Severino plays Amber, the ingenue mentioned above, and musician Philip Eames will sit at a piano amidst the audience providing mood music, interludes and cues.

The play is minimalist, with the multi-roled actors all in basic costume and using props, accessories, voice and physicality to denote various characters.

“There are scenes where I start as one character, leave, and then come back as a different character,” says Schwank. It’s a tough gig: not only do her characters range from 24 to 90 years old, but “there’s an English woman and a French woman and a New York Brooklyn woman - so very different accents, very different energies for these characters.”

However, Schwank enjoys the challenge and thinks it’s quite fun for the audience.

The set itself is also bare, with dialogue and music providing clues to the location and to the paintings being observed.The performance space itself is within a warehouse.There’s no raised stage and little in the way of structural elements.

Schwank and some of the cast went to the Art Gallery of NSW to “check out the gallery guards” as well as look at the artworks.They were also fortunate enough to get a behind the scenes tour and lots of background information to help inform their characters. Schwank emphasises, however, that the audience doesn’t require any prior art knowledge.

“It’s a very accessible play,” she says. (RB) May 11-26. Philharmonia Choirs Hall, Hickson Rd,Walsh Bay. $35-$45+b.f. Tickets & Info: www.kissofthegalleryguard.net.au

Contributors: Barbara Karpinski, Craig Coventry, Emily Shen, Irina Dunn, Jade Morellini, Joseph Rana, Leann Richards, Lisa Seltzer, Mark Morellini, Mel Somerville, Olga Azar, Rita Bratovich, Rocio Belinda Mendez, Sarah Pritchard, Shon Ho, Jade Morellini, Alex Eugene, Manuel Gonzalez, Tommy Boutros, Riley Hooper, Mohsen Dezaki, Daniel Jaramillo, Georgia Fullerton, Gary Nunn.

city hub 10 MAY 2017

9

Revolt.

She Said.

Revolt Again.

clear intent about pace, dynamics and message. Birch is deliberately being non-conformist in an attempt to “crack apart all the sort of implicit and insidious ways that the language can keep us trapped inside a system,” explains Sanders.

It’s a staunchly feminist play, aggressive and unapologetic, intelligent and evocative. Sanders and his team interviewed around 80 women from Sydney and parts of NSW representing a broad demographic and answering a wide range of questions. He then used that information to help inform the characters and ideas so that the play spoke to an Australian audience.

Stephanie Howell, the set and costume designer, has been masterful in dressing the characters so that their archetypes can be identified without becoming cliched. Her elegant, clean framed set allows for various interpretations of time, place and ideology.

It’s definitely a work that reflects the zeitgeist, possibly more appealing to women and very resilient men. (RB) Until May 19. Old 505 Theatre, 5 Eliza St, Newtown. $30-$45+b.f.

Tickets & Info: www.old505theatre.com

Anna Cheney & Richard Hilliar.

Photo: Jasmine Simmons

“This play is so complex and multi-faceted that there’s probably ten legitimate readings of the title, but the most front foot and obvious one is it’s a call to arms to re-evaluate how we go about changing society particularly with regards to feminism and gender equality.” That’s how director Charles Sanders describes the unconventional, award-winning work by UK playwright, Alice Birch.

It’s a play that is just as difficult to read as it is to perform.There are no given characters; no setting or place descriptions; no clear narrative or circumstances; all those things are open to interpretation.Add to that a complete divergence from standard punctuation, sentence structure and format and you’d think you would end up with random chaos, but according the Sanders, there is

Live Music Guide LIVE WIRE Sydney

By Jamie Apps

Xavier de Maistre.

Photo: Beatrice Waulin

DZ Deathrays: Are set to bring their expanded signature partythrash sound to Sydney. DZ Deathrays fans better get ready to hold on for dear life as they kick on the afterburners with this show.

Fri, May 11, Metro Theatre Xavier de Maistre: Xavier’s performances let the harp sing with a distinctive new voice, creating worlds of exquisite sensitivity. He is strikingly charismatic, plays with breathtaking precision and often presents complex pieces of music that were originally written to be played by an entire orchestra.

Fri, May 11, City Recital Hall Captives: The party-hard band’s new single and video House Parties and Black Balloons perfectly encapsulates the Tasmanian groups vibe. Sydney fans will have a chance to experience it first hand tomorrow night.

Fri, May 11, Waywards Deborah Cheetham: One of Australia’s most significant and acclaimed women. She is a Yorta Yorta woman, soprano, composer, educator and has been a leader in the Australian arts landscape for more than 25 years. Accompanied by pianist Toni Lalich, this is a unique narrative recital by one of Australia’s most admired performers.

Sat, May 12, City Recital Hall Like Thieves: Are bringing their new, heavier sound out on the road 10

city hub 10 MAY 2018

and they are taking Khan out as support on all dates. For Sydney show attendees you’ll also have the opportunity to see Sanity’s Collision on a stacked bill of acts.

Sat, May 12, Red Rattler Theatre Richard Gill Presents A Voyage Of Musical Discovery: For this both entertaining and educational performance, the ARCO Chamber Soloists are joined by the contemporary musicians of Ensemble Offspring and Australian Romantic & Classical Orchestra Artistic Director Richard Gill AO, to explain and demonstrate the different ways that composers over the centuries build and develop musical textures and colours.

Tue, May 15, City Recital Hall Franklin: A collaboration with pianist Ollie McGill of The Cat Empire and featuring acclaimed saxophonist and head of Jazz Studies at WAAPA, Jamie Oehlers, as well as one of the countries most in demand drummers, Dave Beck. Composer and bassist Joseph Franklin has brought these artists together for the album Rites which will launch early next week.

Tue, May 15, Hibernian House The Robert Cray Band: Robert Cray has created a sound that rises from American roots and arrives today both fresh and familiar.

In just over 40 years Cray and his band have recorded 20 studio releases and played bars, concert halls, festivals and arenas around the world.

Wed, May 16, Enmore Theatre Grant Lee Phillips: Over an extensive career Grant-Lee Phillips has earned a reputation as a songwriter’s songwriter - an artist who can deliver lyrical observations with a dry and evocative sense of time and place.

Wed, May 16, Camelot Lounge

Angus & Julia Stone

By Jamie Apps Often as artists grow one of the first things to fall away is extensive regional touring.

As Angus Stone explained to us the two main reasons for this tend to be “logistical and financial difficulties” because as a show grows and develops it becomes more grand and complex thus inhibiting where it can be staged viably.

Once Angus & Julia Stone noticed this trend beginning to happen with their career they chose to make a concerted effort to buck the trend.

“In a way we were starting to go that way with past tours but we had a lot of people asking when we would come back to the more regional places,” explained Angus Stone before adding, “This is how we started and we really enjoy playing to these crowds so this time around we wanted to revisit those places we haven’t visited recently.”

When speaking about the current tour the excitement and joy of being able to travel thanks to their music was incredibly clear in Angus Stone’s voice. Whilst Stone said he would be traveling even without music it is more the vast extent of the travels, to such exotic locations as “Beirut and South Africa, which are places I don’t think many bands go”, that continues to shock him.

Despite touring the world with

his sister off the back of their music Angus continues to be humble and understanding of just how special this opportunity is.

“Doing it the way that it has happened is a pretty special thing to share with the world,” said Stone.

The current tour has the duo criss crossing the country off the back of their latest record, Snow.

As Angus told us this tour is a chance for both himself and

Franklin - Rites Dramatic, dynamic and deep.

These are just a few of the words that immediately jump to mind after listening to Rites. I guess it really shouldn’t be all that surprising given that this record brings together some of our countries most renowned musicians.

Franklin is the new moniker for the joint efforts of composer/bassists Joseph Franklin, The Cat Empire’s pianist Ollie McGill, WAAPA head of jazz studies/

Julia to revisit the emotions they felt during the recording process.

“In the studio there was this magic and excitement in the air, so performing is a really humbling way to get back into it because you can see just how many people feel similar emotions.”

When chatting about the specifics of the live performance Angus told us about the privilege of watching his sister perform.

“For me the highlight is getting

saxophonist Jamie Oehlers and finally drummer Dave Beck.

Throughout Rites each instrument works in unison to create a rich sonic soul upon which each instrument can step into the forefront as the time calls.

Rites caters very nicely to a trained jazz ear but also has the ability to capture the attention of the listener who is not as well accustomed to the art form.

WWW

to sit back and watch Julia play because she is such a beautiful soul and glowing light that listening to her is a really touching and amazing experience,” said Angus before quickly adding with a chuckle, “I guess I’ll be playing a few tunes as well.”

May 12. Hordern Pavillion, 1 Driver Ave, Moore Park.

May 14-15. Enmore Theatre, 118-132 Enmore Rd, Newtown. $89.90+b.f.Tickets & Info: www.angusandjuliastone.com

THE NAKED CITY

CINEMA CHUCKLES!

With Coffin Ed A few weeks ago a young woman in the UK was ejected from a screening of Sergio Leonie’s The Good, The Bad And The Ugly after supposedly laughing too loudly. It was later revealed that the evictee, who was celebrating her 25th birthday, was an Asperger’s sufferer, and that the classic spaghetti western was in fact her favourite film.

Maybe it was the poker faced Clint Eastwood, with that perpetual cigar drooping from the corner of his mouth, that provoked her mirth. Whatever the reason, she obviously saw humour in a movie, that escaped the attention of the average cinema goer.

I’m sure many of us have had that experience - being stuck in a cinema and reacting to a particular movie in a manner that might have upset other less discerning patrons.As a teenager I was once ejected from the Eastwood Odeon after opening a side shutter in the balcony, unleashing a beam of light and

The subject of their laughter was a large brush tailed possum which had taken up temporary residence in the cinema after it had been chased down Elizabeth Street from its normal habitat in Hyde Park. It had appeared for the first time, running along a narrow ledge just in front of the screen, visible only to the front rows of patrons. Maybe some of these punters were finding The Stalker just a bit too dour and a few handfuls of popcorn in the direction of the intruding marsupial provided some much needed light relief. projecting hand puppets onto the The rest of the cinema goers, screen during the parting of the mainly hardcore arthouse Red Sea. devotees, were not amused by Many years later I was stuck in a this sudden burst of laughter, at a screening of the somewhat most inappropriate time. tedious historical saga Troy, loosely Fortunately the possum soon based on Homer’s Iliad and disappeared behind the screen starring Brad Pitt as the hapless only to reappear regularly during Achilles.As the computer the ensuing weeks – generating a generated battle scenes became similar response. more and more annoying I began As a postscript the possum to murmur,“shoot him the ankle, eventually departed the shoot him the ankle”, even though Mandarin Cinema after suddenly the movie was only half over.As appearing one night in the that murmur got louder and theatre foyer. Running amok in louder, I soon raised the ire of the candy bar, it was captured surrounding cinema goers and and placed in a cardboard box was eventually ‘shooshed’ into from which it soon escaped, submission – long before Brad Pitt running directly into the path of finally copped it in the heel. traffic in Elizabeth Street.

Perhaps the most unusual case of Miraculously it did not end as cinema goers ‘losing it” occurred road kill, taking refuge under the at Sydney’s Mandarin Cinema back bonnet of a newly parked car. in the mid 1980s during a Once rescued, with only a scrape screening of Andrei Tarkovsky’s of skin off its little pink nose, it The Stalker – a bleak and deeply was back in a box, totally philosophical art house movie. traumatised but still very much About half way through the 160 alive. Following a period of minute film, punters in the first rehabilitation with the good folk two or three rows began from WIRES, it was released back chuckling amidst one of the most into Hyde Park, as good as gold deeply unsettling sequences in the and mercifully never to set paw entire movie. in an arthouse cinema again.

Chappaquiddick

Political thrillers may tend to be complicated and arouse restlessness in audiences who don’t appreciate the genre, but this film which is based on the incredible true story of the Kennedy cover-up, is intriguing and should stimulate controversy.

In 1969, US senator Ted Kennedy

accidently drove his car off a one-lane bridge on Chappaquiddick Island, which resulted in the death of 28 year-old political strategist Mary Jo Kopechne. He left the scene and didn’t report the accident for nine hours. Through his scandalous deception he tarnished the name of

Tela Umana (Human Canvas)

Lori Cicchini and Edmond Thommen present a contemporary visual exploration of the female human form by two independent photographic artists, both uniquely designing their visions by combining the elements of raw beauty in nature from capture to print.

Lori Cicchini is an editorial fashion, beauty and fine art photographer who’s best work has been described as “emotive” and “narrative”, some of which can be “dark and provoking” yet at the same time “peaceful and beautiful”.

Cicchini’s work has received numerous industry awards and accolades,and has been published in various art and fashion magazines both nationally and internationally.

For Edmond Thommen the magic starts with the camera and his photographs. His artistic expression is a testament to years of careful observation in photography, composition, lighting and design. His skillset allows him to work with light and shades, play with compositions and absorb these into his new creations.

Until May 22. M2 Gallery, 4/450 Elizabeth Street, Surry Hills. Info: www.m2gallery.com.au

Burradise Festival

Burradise Festival at Culburra Beach is a celebration of a coastal surf village two hours south of Sydney with reggae, blues and rock music, handmade markets, multicultural food fair and high tea for mum just to name a few highlights.

The festival will also include The Culburra Beach Bash Surf Tournament, cultural tours, and the opening of a brand new recreational skate park.

The music is the star of the

America’s most celebrated political family.

Audiences will debate, should he have been permitted to continue as a US senator? Was his sentence justifiable?

Australia’s Jason Clarke redeems himself after his involvement in the disastrous horror flick Winchester, his portrayal of Ted Kennedy finally showcasing his acting prowess and cementing his future in Hollywood.

Kate Mara shines in the role of Kopechne, whose screen time is predominantly in flashback scenes and Bruce Dern’s brief but effective role as the elderly Joe Kennedy is a stand-out performance of his career.

This extraordinary film aside from detailing the facts of the case showcases that regardless of social standing nobody is infallible and that most importantly, the law can be perplexing at times. (MMo)

WWWW

Image by Lori Cicchini

festival, with Friday and Saturday night pumping out a world music vibe including West African grooves, blues, roots reggae and Spanish fusion. Some of the exciting artists on the lineup are Moussa Diakite and Wassado, Hatz Fitz and Cara, This Way North, Benji and the Saltwater Sound System and last but not least The Groove.

As a special treat for the mums, browse 40 markets on Saturday with a homemade,

handmade sustainable feel from local traders, makers and produce growers plus sustainability workshops on offer.

There will be acoustic music and heaps for the kids with a jumping castle, face painting and drumming workshops.

The CookaBurra Bake Off will bring the best bakers out of the kitchens, offering a smorgasboard of Mothers’ Day delights, along with a high tea for mum. Bring a blanket and hang out, all in close proximity to the arts and culture exhibitions with theme ‘The Tracks of Burradise’ in the Banksia Room.

May 11-13. Farrant Avenue, Culburra Beach. FREE - $60.

Tickets & Info: www. culburrabeachfestival.org.au

For The Love Of God With the tagline “How the Church is better and worse than you ever imagined” you might reasonably expect a rigorous scrutiny and perhaps expose of the good, bad and unholy behind the stained-glass Cathedral windows, but this is basically innocuous proselytising.

Some sins of the past - in ancient and recent history - are explored, but there’s no real revelation. These are counter-balanced with stories of good deeds done in the name of Christianity, again, no surprises here.

The bible clasping presenters are pleasant, even occasionally humorous. The locations are impressive, taking in historically and religiously significant sites around the world. There are a handful of interesting interviews, but overall, the film is long and rambling and loses focus.

It’s not better or worse than you imagined; it’s mediocre. (RB) WW

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