City Hub 1 October 2015

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city hub 1 OCTOBER 2015

New cycleway opens to compensate for College Street

BY CHRISTOPHER HARRIS City of Sydney has created another separate route for cyclists in the city, despite their $5 million College Street cycleway now fully ripped up by the NSW government.

On Monday September 28, City of Sydney opened another cycleway along Castlereagh Street south and Liverpool Street.

This project was fast tracked by the council after the NSW government sealed the fate of the College Street path to the dismay of cyclists.

The opening of the cycleway meant that for the first time ever there was a dedicated bike path for cyclists from Central Station to the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

There are two paths which now run along the city for 2.5 kilometres, with the aim of reducing congestion and supporting local businesses.

But the latest cycleway has not pleased everyone.

While president of BIKESydney David Borella said he welcomed the cycleway, he said it needed to form a connected grid.

“It’s clear that the design of CBD cycleways - which the RMS clearly took over - needs to be transferred to either the City of Sydney or Transport for NSW or even NSW Health or the Greater Sydney Commission,” Mr Borella told City Hub. “It’s always a great day when a new separated cycleway is opened. However, the RMS is really not grasping the importance of the CBD separated cycleway system needing to be a connected grid -- and not for lack of being consulted by cycling groups like BIKESydney. We’ve met with the RMS many times on this.”

“Remarkably, the new Liverpool Street cycleway stops short at both ends, neither connecting to Oxford Street nor Darling Harbour, which are both regionally-significant access points for the city. This leaves the target market of new or inexperienced riders still needing to ride on the roads which they just won’t do. Why do we build only 90 per cent of an infrastructure?” he questioned.

Mr Borella said the RMS was not adhering to the Sydney Centre Access Strategy when it was continually “ripping up” walking and cycling infrastructure.

“Sydney is very quickly slipping behind world’s ‘best practice’ transport planning,” he said.

“We need a modern approach that incorporates all users and keeps Sydney agile.”

The closure of the College Street cycleway angered cycling

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groups, with many staging protests before and during its removal, which had been taking place over the last six weeks.

It is not known how much this new project and its fast tracking has cost the council.

But Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore said she believed that the initial outlay will be quickly made back through the contribution that the dedicated cycleways will make to the national economy.

“Road congestion already costs our economy more than $5 billion each year, and that’s expected to climb to $8 billion by 2020. By increasing cycling, we can accommodate growth without creating more congestion on our roads or further crowding on public transport,” Clr Moore said in a statement.

“You only need to look to London, New York and Paris to see how cycling infrastructure is dramatically changing the way people move and improving public health,” she said.

Bicycle NSW CEO Ray Rice said that the government should be encouraged to promote active transport such as cycling.

“We’re all for safe separated cycleways, this is a good first step towards a connected grid of cycleways,” Mr Rice told City Hub. “There is a plan for a connected grid, we think that should proceed as soon as possible, however at the moment the government have delayed delivery due to the construction of the George Street light rail,” he said.

“We encourage the government to complete the connected grid in the CBD.” In a statement on Friday September 25, the CEO Coodinator General of the project, Marg Prendergast, reiterated that the removal of the College Street cycleway was due to the street becoming the priority north-south route for general traffic.

“We need College Street to take some of the pressure off the system as a result of the George Street closure,” Ms Prendergast said.

She said the new Castlereagh and Liverpool cycleway was “a better connected cycleway for people to use”.

Ms Prendergast said there were plans in place “over time” to expand the cycleways to Sussex Street, as well as to Darling Harbour and the Barangaroo Precinct.

In the statement, she said the cycleway section on Liverpool Street, between Kent and Sussex streets, will still be under construction until late November.

Riders using the new path.

Source: City of Sydney (Supplied).

Tis the season to rescue those less fortunate

BY LEXY AKILLAS buddy, you’ll get out of here and get a home.’”

The number of cats being adopted and re-homed has reached an allHarry is just one of the thousands of rescue cats finding homes all time high, according to figures from the RSPCA’s 2013-2014 ‘Report on over Australia. animal outcomes from our shelters, care and adoption centres.’

In celebration of World Animal Day on October 4, the RSPCA is Over 25,000 cats were adopted after being received by the RSPCA, holding two days of events at Bicentennial Park in Glebe. which is a 27 per cent increase since 1998-1999.

On Saturday October 3 there will be a mass dog re-homing and CEO of The Cat Protection Society (CPS), Kristina Vesk, told City rescue information day.

Hub she had seen dramatic change in the industry since beginning Saturday will also host the RSPCA’s cat film festival, which will screen CPS in 1958. the Internet’s ‘most watched’ cat videos.

“I can say with confidence that there is an improved understanding It is estimated that there are 33 million pets in Australia, with 63 per of the importance of desexing, but an cent of households owning at least one awareness of early age desexing is not pet. where we would like it,” Ms Vesk said.

It is estimated that there are almost She explained that society’s education 50,000 animals across Australia who live about cats has also increased. in shelters.

“I think that a lot of people are now In the City of Sydney, stray dogs also more aware of the social, health go out to the Sutherland Shire Animal and welfare needs of cats. As long Shelter, which is operated in partnership as you provide them with toys and with the council and has a no-kill policy. environmental stimulation they will be There are 58 staff working at the very, very happy to live indoors.” shelter, who match owner’s preferences Patricia Hood from Sydney Animal and lifestyle to the stray cats and dogs Second Chance is one of the many who found at the shelter. has recently chosen to adopt.

Over the past year, the shelter has She had just lost her 19 year-old cat, found homes for 550 cats and dogs. and decided to take in a litter.

Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore It was then love at first sight with the said it was cheaper and more ethical to two kittens she now calls Harry and adopt from the shelter.

Tina.

“Tragically, 60,000 unwanted pets are “We call him Prince Harry because killed each year in NSW because they’re he’s a ginger, and he loves to mingle with abandoned or surrendered to shelters,” the other kittens I foster,” she said.

Clr Moore said.

“I’ve got four kittens at the moment and Harry goes in and sort of looks after Staff at Sydney Animal Second Chance.

Source: Facebook them and it’s like he is saying ‘it’s okay city hub 1 OCTOBER 2015

3

Leichhardt parents punished for picking up kids

BY RYAN QUINN Leichhardt Council is investigating free 15 minute parking around schools, after numerous councillors head complaints of parents being slapped with fines.

Balmain Public School and the nearby Fr John Therry Catholic Primary School were said to be the hot spots for fines, Independent Councillor John Stamolis said the council wanted to ensure parents would not be punished anymore.

“They just quickly pop in, pick up their children and go home. They just want to go about their normal dayto-day family business which they do every day,” Clr Stamolis said.

Parents raised concerns with council that there had been a recent increase in fines being issued while they pick up their kids from primary school and after school care.

Due to the complaints, Leichhardt Council voted unanimously at a meeting on Tuesday September 22 to investigate implementing 15 minute free parking.

Clr Stamolis said the parents were only briefly stopping at the school and were not taking long enough to justify paid parking.

“By the time you found the pocket change, pumped it into the meter, you would’ve walked in and out, picked up your child and put them in the car.

This is the issue,” Clr Stamolis said.

Fines have been said to be over $100 each for parents who are only gone for a short amount of time.

“You certainly wouldn’t want to be hit with one, and you wouldn’t want to be hit with one every week,” Clr Stamolis.

Greens Councillor Craig Channells felt that the free parking measure would not only make things simpler for parents, but cheaper.

“It seemed a simpler solution to me in any case. There were issues around parking meters and getting a fine, or costing you. If you put one or two dollars every day for a school term, that’s a few hundred bucks,” he said.

Balmain Public School P&C President Robert Bennett often doesn’t drive to the school, but said he could see issues arising from use of parking meters every day if he did.

“I think that would be a very practical response if council were to have 15 minute parking,” he said.

In response to the motion, council officers highlighted in documents that parking spaces in these areas are at a premium, and a fast vehicle turnover needs to be maintained, particularly in peak drop off and pick up times.

Clr Stamolis said he was concerned that council might be ‘clouding’ the issue.

Balmain Public School. Source: Flickr

“Council is so weathered to parking fines at the moment that it worries me that they’ll use any excuse to maintain parking fines, even so much so that they’ll start hitting parents,” he said.

Leichardt Council has already been offering free 30 minute parking along all of its main streets since 2013.

However, this does not include the area’s local school and after school care centres.

In implementing the 2013 free parking, Mayor Darcy Byrne had said that “people shouldn’t have to put their hands in their pockets every time they stop for bread and milk”.

The council is currently waiting on a report from officers to explore the possible implications, benefits and costs of offering free 15 minute parking.

Clr Channells said the community needed to be engaged when deciding such decisions.

“You also need to talk to the community around that area.”

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5

Ultimo School pushes Protestors thrown off campaign for bigger school WestConnex drilling site

BY CHRISTOPHER HARRIS The Ultimo Pyrmont Education Campaign Committee has ramped up its campaign to attain a primary school which will adequately service the rapidly growing area.

The group was formed a month ago

by Mary Mortimer, who feared that attempts to gain political traction for the inner city school had failed.

Since the group presented a significant petition to NSW Education Minister Adrian Piccoli, which has so far not been responded to, the group has now decided to increase its campaign for a new, bigger school.

The group will be reaching out to other parent and citizen associations, through the launch of a webiste.

Another petition has been created on change.org petition, in an attempt to draw attention and support.

At the group’s meeting on Tuesday night, the group heard from the North Sydney Parents and Citizens group, who said they are facing the same issue of the Education Department not appreciating the increase in school aged population in Sydney.

The Ultimo Pyrmont community’s attempts to lobby the government for a bigger school had been set for success until the government reneged on an election promise a bigger school for the area, citing high remediation costs of the proposed cite as the causal factor.

Now, the Education Department

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city hub 1 OCTOBER 2015

has vowed to build a school for 700 students on the existing site.

The Education Minister dismissed complaints from the local school community and residents and said that the decision had already been made by the deparment.

But Ms Mortimer told City Hub that the group believed it was ultimately the elected representatives that needed to ensure access to education for every child.

“The state government gets an enormous amount of money from stamp duty of inner city apartments and should be able to spend that money on ensuring the inner city has adequate services,” Ms Mortimer said.

“Minister Piccoli has been approached by a couple of MPs on our behalf, and he has said the decision has been made by people in the Department of Education, but it is not their responsibility to provide education, it is the government.”

The minister has 30 days in which to respond to the group’s petition, tabled in parliament by Independent Sydney MP Alex Greenwich.

He also has 30 days to respond to questions posed by Christian Democrat MP Reverend Fred Nile.

“Were the communities of Ultimo and Pyrmont promised a new primary school for up to 1,000 students with community facilities and a childcare centre on a different site large enough to provide such facilities?” Rev Nile asked in parliament.

“Why is the community still waiting for the new school and facilities?”

WestConnex Protestors

BY RYAN QUINN in Harborfield on Tuesday Police were called to a morning.

WestConnex protestor site Source Westconnex Action Group (Supplied). in Haberfield on Tuesday morning, September 29.

The protestors, part of the WestConnex Action Group (WAG), were allegedly warned by police that they could be arrested for occupying a new M4 East project drilling site.

The protestors followed workers as they entered the fenced drilling site, which prompted the police to be called.

One of the protestors was WAG member Sharon Laura.

“They said ‘please leave’, and we said ‘well, we’re not leaving, because we don’t understand on what authority you’re doing this, and we’ve been asking these questions for at least three months’,” Ms Laura told City Hub. Protesting Haberfield residents said the believed that the preliminary investigations for the M4 East WestConnex project is being undertaken prior to planning approval.

“We believe we’re being told, the council’s being told, the community’s being told, that this is happening, it’s going ahead, ‘trust us, we know what we’re doing’. Basically, we who live around here, don’t trust them.”

These residents have questioned why contracts have been signed and why work has commenced this early in the process, especially when the Environmental Impact Statement was only released for exhibition on September 10.

Tuesday’s protestors were issued two warnings after

police arrived and continued their protest outside the fenced off area to avoid arrest.

“They said they had permission to set up the work site, we question that. They may have a job sheet, but who really is trespassing? And I would say I believe they are trespassing in doing what they’re doing,” Ms Laura said.

According to her, this is the first drilling site seen in Haberfield, as part of a string of drilling sites being investigated from Homebush to Ashfield.

A joint venture between Leighton Samsung and John Holland Joint Venture signed a contract to deliver the M4 East project in June, two months prior to the release of the Environemntal Impact Statement for exhibition.

PUCC Seafood Spectacular

The third installment of the Chamber’s annual Seafood Spectacular is coming up on Tuesday 20 October. This year’s PUCC Seafood Spectacular celebrates the release of Where The Locals Go, an annual guide featuring the best Pyrmont-Ultimo retailers, tourist destinations, and things to eat, drink, and do in the precinct.

The Seafood Spectacular is held at the Sydney Seafood School at Sydney Fish Market, showcasing eleven mouth-watering canapés, created by eleven talented SydneyTAFE apprentice chefs. The evening will include live cooking theatre and a chance to win a Mudgee weekend escape package from Winning Post Motor Inn, valued at $380.

Seafood Spectacular is presented in partnership with Sydney Fish Market, Belle Property, Sydney Seafood School, SydneyTAFE and The City of Sydney. Three generous sponsors from nearby Mudgee support the event: Gooree Park Wines, Winning Post Motor Inn, and Mudgee Region Tourism.

Director of Belle Property, Caroline Selka says, “Pyrmont is a thriving hub of entrepreneurial and community activity. From dining to education to retail – it’s all here, and this event really shows off the best that the neighbourhood has to offer.”

“As someone who engages with Pyrmont residents on a daily basis, we understand people’s enthusiasm regarding this event and we are thrilled to be taking part in the Spectacular,” she continues. “Not just because we appreciate world-class seafood, but because we are so proud of the talent, hard work and connectedness that makes our community great.”

Seafood Spectacular is the final PUCC networking initiative for 2015. Attendance is free for SydneyTAFE guests and PUCC Members* (max. 2 guests per PUCC membership) and tickets for Non-Members are $100.

RSVP by Friday 9 October at https:// puccseafoodspectacular.eventbrite.com.au.

Date: Tuesday 20 October, 2015 Time: 6pm – 8:30pm Venue: Sydney Seafood School Location: First Floor, Waterfront Arcade, Sydney Fish Market, Pyrmont * NOTE: For PUCC Members, the Chamber’s AGM will be held from 5:30 – 6pm in the Sydney Seafood School theatrette.

Second Progressive Dining Walk Announced

Following the rapid sellout of the annual Pyrmont Progressive Dining Walk event, a second date has been added to the Good Food Month calendar.

The Sydney Connection will host the second Pyrmont Dining Walk on Thursday 22nd October. The event is an exclusive culinary excursion through Pyrmont’s top restaurants.

Over the last decade, the waterfront precinct has blossomed into a thriving dining hub. The Dining Walk offers ten discerning food lovers an exclusive opportunity to walk, talk and eat their way around the area.

The Progressive Dining concept is perfect for those who struggle to decide on a single dining destination. The guided foodie tour starts in the charming sandstone bar at Gallon before progressing to Made In Italy for the authentic taste of old-world Italy. The third leg of the journey unfolds at local bistro Brio, where a sensational main course will be served up before the sweet finale at Le Trader on Harris Street. Guests spend 45 minutes at each eatery, sampling fine wines and a signature dish from each chef.

Date: Thursday 22 October Time: 6:30pm – 10:30pm Venue: Gallon, 117 Harris Street, Pyrmont Tickets: $150 + Booking Fee Bookings: https://www.eventbrite.com. au/e/pyrmont-progressive-dining-walkgood-food-month-tickets-18663134939

Bollywood Comes To Pyrmont

Pyrmont will spice things up with a taste of Indian Bollywood this month at local eatery Bombai to Mumbai. The colourful evening of food and dance will take place on Sunday 25th October from 6pm.

Organised by the Christmas In Pyrmont collective, Bollywood Comes To Pyrmont is the last gathering for the year before Christmas In Pyrmont 2015. For $70 per person, guests will enjoy a delicious buffet of authentic Indian cuisine, BYO with no corkage, and a dynamic night of traditional dancing.

“At Bombai to Mumbai, you will find not just the traditional favourites, but also exclusive and innovative recipes ingeniously created to give you an authentic Indian dining experience,” says B2M Management. “We assure you the best quality, food, service and ambience in this part of the city.”

Reservations are essential and must be made before 18th October.

To reserve your place, contact Mandy on 0448 266 820 or mandymailey@gmail.com.

Bizruption at Fishburners

To celebrate the opening of their brand The third installment of #Bizruption on 23rd September was a big success, featuring an inspirational talk by the NSW Small Business Commissioner, Robyn Hobbs OAM. Scores of small business owners assembled at Fishburners for an evening filled with learning, innovative ideas and fruitful connections within the local business community. Bizruption III was organised

by Ultimo-based digital marketing agency netStripes, an innovative Aussie tech startup that has disrupted digital marketing for small businesses by transforming the way they market their business online. netStripes prides itself on making corporate standard Web design, Search Engine Marketing, Social Media and email marketing solutions accessible and affordable for Australian small business owners. Following the positive response to the

event, the digital marketing masterminds at netStripes are offering a limited number of one-on-one strategy sessions for attendees. Would you like a 45-minute strategy call with digital expert Dinesh De Silva, to help you create a digital presence for your business?

Email now to secure a convenient time: asethi@netstripes.com The next event, Bizruption IV, is scheduled for 19th November 2015 at 5pm.

The Honorable Minister Bruce Bilson will be the Guest Of Honour for the evening.

Let The City Of Sydney Promote Your Business

In a bid to promote Sydney as a world class Christmas destination, The City of Sydney is calling for submissions from local businesses for its upcoming marketing campaign.

The campaign will offer reasons for people to visit the city over the festive season, and shop, eat, drink and experience the city. The City wants to know about your special Christmas events, shopping nights, decorations, promotions, and offers. Get in touch if your business is hosting Christmas events across the following themes: Attractions: Interactive Christmas experiences, decorations and visual spectacles. Shopping & Markets: Christmas promotions, markets and instore experiences. Concerts & Carols: Christmas concerts and carol or choir services. Food & Drink: Christmas themed menus and promotions. Families: Familyfriendly Christmas activities. Nightlife: Late night Christmas experiences.

Submit your event listing by Friday 2 October using the online form at https:// whatson.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/users/ login Register an account for your business and follow the prompts on the form to submit your event. Tag your event ‘Christmas’ to ensure it’s listed in the Sydney Christmas hub. Once submitted, your event could feature on sydneychristmas.com.au, a dedicated Sydney Christmas hub on the What’s On site and may also appear across various Christmas print and digital marketing initiatives, including a dedicated Time Out insert, e-news and social media.

Darling Harbour Construction Update

At its latest community meeting, the Darling Harbour Live group issued an update on the construction works in and around Darling Harbour.

At the ICC Sydney Convention, the concrete pour for the highest level has been completed. To celebrate the completion of the concrete structural works in early September, a tree was placed on the highest point of the building in a ‘topping off’ ceremony.

Structural steel erection for

the ballroom will commence shortly and formwork continues to be stripped from the building’s structure.

The Darling Harbour Theatre (a 2500seat plenary space) is progressing with both structural steel erection and precast concrete plats for tiered seating complete.

At the nearby ICC Sydney Exhibition, services installation and façade glazing work continues. Construction of the new lift from the Harris Street walkway is complete and the lift has now been commissioned.

From mid-September to mid-November, the lift will need to be accessed via a small number of temporary stairs.

In the public spaces, work is well underway. 19 of 53 Crepe Myrtles have been planted in the Chinese Garden of Friendship. Works recently moved to the eastern side of the forecourt and pedestrian access has been moved to the western side. This section of work is expected to be complete in November, weather permitting.

Work continues in Tumbalong Park with in-ground services, infrastructure work and construction of the new stage underway.

A large section of the park will reopen in December 2015.

The next meeting of the Darling Harbour Live Community Liaison Group is scheduled for October 7th 2015.

Head online for more news & events

With so much happening in Pyrmont/Ultimo, we can’t always fit everything in our print newsletter. For more news and events, head to pucc.com.au

Join us on Linkedin LIKE us on Facebook Submission guidelines The Pyrmont Ultimo Chamber of Commerce welcomes submissions for the newsletter from area businesses. These could be about sales, promotions, special offers, changes in the business and other developments. Ideally, each submission should come with an image, such as the company logo or company staff.

Please also provide contact information: website, e-mail, telephone and address (if applicable).

Submissions should be sent to margot@eventproject. com.au no later than the third Friday of the month for inclusion in the following month’s newsletter.

The newsletter is published monthly in AMG publications and on the PUCC website, www.pucc.com.au. The PUCC e-mail database has about 1800 subscribers. Please note that inclusion is limited to space and timeliness.

For inclusion in the PUCC Business Directory please provide all relevant contacts, a short paragraph describing the business, and business logo, to margot@eventproject.com.au.

To join the PUCC, go to www.pucc.com.au and download the application form.

For more information please e-mail margot@eventproject.com.au or call 0410 338 331

city hub 1 OCTOBER 2015

7

“Most effective suicide prevention strategy ever”: report reveals promising findings

BY KENJI SATO A study of notorious suicide destinations has found that installing nets and barriers at these ‘suicide hotspots’ reduces the rate of suicide at these sites by 91 per cent.

“It’s amazing”, said Dr Karolina Krysinska, a researcher at the Black Dog Institute in Sydney and one of the report’s authors.

“It seems to be the most effective suicide prevention strategy ever.”

While many of the barriers these installed barriers can be easily bypassed by those determined to commit suicide, Dr Krysinska told City Hub that people are rarely so determined.

“Most people who think about suicide are ambivalent. They struggle. They are suffering from lots of pain. But they want to live.

And many suicidal behaviours are very impulsive. So if someone is blocked, they get extra time to think about other options,” she said.

The study, which was released last week, found that encouraging help seeking through the use of signboards and emergency phones decreased suicide rates by 51 per cent.

Third party intervention strategies, including suicide patrols, CCTV cameras and police officers, were found to reduce suicide rates by 47 per cent.

Locally, Woollahra Council told City Hub they have seen dramatic improvement at notorious suicide hot spot The Gap in Watson’s Bay. A campaign initiated by federal MP Malcolm Turnbull and state MP Gabrielle Upton in 2007 meant that the council, in coordination with Rose Bay Police and the Black Dog Institute, were able to roll out a series of harm minimisation measures in the area.

A spokesperson for Woollahra Council told City Hub that $2 million funding for the project meant technology could be employed to effectively reduce the suicide rate.

Local police had been able to locate people quickly with enhanced CCTV, as well as thermal imaging to find people who are loitering in the area at night.

The vicinity now features phones on which people can call Lifeline, fencing which curves inwards so it is difficult to scale, but easy to climb back over, as well as more lighting.

“Council now has regular meetings with The Black Dog Institute and Rose Bay Local Area Command to monitor the project, as a combined community,” the council spokesperson said.

Professor Jane Pirkis, the report’s lead author, said strategies could work in unison to reduce harm.

“The barriers act as a mechanism to stop people, even briefly, to think about their course of action and maybe seek help. The barriers slow people down, so there’s a possibility that a third party might be able to intervene,” she said.

The report investigated whether suicidal people stopped by barriers at suicide hotspots went on to commit suicide elsewhere. It found this was sometimes the case, but that barriers still “significantly reduced” the overall suicide rate.

Professor Pirkis told City Hub that preventing suicides at the hotspots was important to prevent ‘copycat’ suicides.

“Suicide hotspots are self-perpetuating,” Professor Pirkis said.

“They become known as places people have gone to take their lives.

Woollahra Council said increased mental health awareness has meant federal funding increases for the Gap.

So there’s a bit of mythology that is created around them.”

Irresponsible media coverage of suicides can also cause copycat suicides, the Executive Director of the Lifeline Research Foundation Alan Woodward told City Hub. “Suicidal behaviours can be triggered by public reporting of suicides with explicit details around how and where people have ended their lives. We don’t want that sort of media reporting,” Mr Woodward said.

“In Australia we have been world leading in the production of the mindframe guidelines for the media reporting of suicide. By and large the media does draw upon those guidelines and is responsible in its reporting,” he said.

Professor Jane Stein-Parbury, a professor of mental health nursing, agreed that media outlets should be careful about how they report suicide. But Professor Stein-Parbury said that it was also important that the issue of suicide be discussed openly.

“A lot of people fear that if they bring up the issue of suicide with somebody that they’ll put the idea into their head,” she said.

“But people are often relieved if you bring it up in an accepting and empathetic way. They think ‘here’s someone who knows

Could the Alex be saved?

BY CHRISTOPHER HARRIS The developers of the Alexandria Hotel site may be walking away from the table, following the turn out of 100 people at a conciliation conference on Wednesday September 30.

The NSW Land and Environment Court ordered the conference to see if either party could compromise on the proposed redevelopment.

Speaking to City Hub on Wednesday morning, Ben Noblet, a representative of the Save The Alex group, said he thought the strong turn out could cause the developer to reconsider demolishing the hotel for construction of 28 apartments on the site.

“Although nothing was decided today and the appeals were not yet officially withdrawn, it was mentioned by Mr Philip Clay SC who was appearing for the City of Sydney that the developers would put aside the current application and weigh up their options,” Mr Noblet said.

He said the applicant realised “pretty quickly” there would be no compromise available.

“They are setting that application aside, and considering what they can do to retain the building, and resubmit that through council.”

Wednesday’s conference was the latest episode in the enormous opposition to the demolition of the hotel.

In July, developers set their sights on demolishing the 1930s building to construct apartments.

But opposition to the plan has drawn widespread 8

city hub 1 OCTOBER 2015

support, resulting in an interim heritage order placed on the hotel until early next year and the case moving to the NSW Land and Environment Court.

The pubs’ licensee Harry McAsey told City Hub that he was very pleased with the widespread support the pub had gotten.

“It has been overwhelming, and you have a business and you operate in the community, in the village, in your suburb, and sometimes you are unaware of the passion people have toward the venue,” Mr McAsey said.

“With the possibility of it being taken away, they are standing up and voicing their opinion.”

He said the reason why the pub had gotten so much support was because it had “served the community for numerous decades.”

President of Alexandria Resident Action Group Ben Aveling told City Hub that the hotel was of superlative heritage significance because of the unique period and condition of the building.

“Even the developer’s own heritage assessment acknowledges that there is a case. One of the things they do is identify six similar hotels, implication being that this one doesn’t need to be kept. All of the others are heritage listed, but not in as good a condition.”

The developer, Centennial Property Group, did not respond to City Hub’s enquiries in time for print.

Source: Flickr.

what I’m going through’.”

Professor Stein-Parbury said that feelings of loneliness and isolation were some of the biggest contributing factors in suicide.

“Sometimes there’s an underlying mental illness. We know that people who are mentally ill are marginalised. They’re not accepted by society. But often it’s just a matter of saying ‘is there someone you can call to be with you? What would stop you from killing yourself?’” she said.

“If it’s a mother, they might say ‘my kids’. So you look for where the protective factors are and you try to mobilise them often if is getting somebody to be with the person when they’re in their crisis.”

According to data from ABS, in 2013 1,885 males and 637 females died by suicide, which equated to an average of 6.9 deaths by suicide each day in Australia.

With additional reporting by Christopher Harris.

Support for those in distress is available from Lifeline: 13 11 14 BeyondBlue: 1300 22 4636

Lockout laws claim unlikely casualty

BY ALEXANDER LEWIS There is bad news for partygoers seeking to stock up on smokes and Coke in the wee hours, as Taylor Square’s oldest news agency becomes the latest collateral casualty of lockouts.

The 24 hour purveyor of darts, deakfast and magazines closed last Saturday September 26, after 83 years of operation by the same family.

Owner Mark Pigott pointed the finger at the state government’s lockout laws, which he said resulted in a 40 per cent drop in trade since the lockout laws took force.

Introduced in 2014 in reaction to the deaths of two youths due to alcohol-fuelled violence, the laws prohibit revellers from entering venues after 1:30am, which for many was just the start of a night out.

The laws have delivered a particularly hard punch on Oxford Street businesses, which were already plagued with declines in customers for years.

President of the Darlinghurst Business Partnership Stephan Gyory shot down suggestions that the news agency closed due to the diminishing popularity of printed media, accusing lawmakers of “throw[ing]

Darlinghurst under a bus”.

“Some glib observers have suggested that the dead-tree publishing business model is over.

But figures from around the world show that printed media is a viable, if niche, market -- if you have customers in your area. And that’s the point,” Mr Gyory said.

The partnership is working on a strategy to bring people back to Darlinghurst, but for many proprietors like Mr Pigott, it is too late.

“None of this will change the reality for the Pigotts,” Mr Gyrory said.

“They will go, their history will be lost, eventually someone else will open, or ‘even better’, develop that property and life will go on.”

Mr Pigott paid tribute to his business in a Facebook post on the day of its closure.

“The Pigott Family would like to thank the countless numbers of customers we have served since 1932 along with the many dozens of staff members we have worked with over this considerable time,” the post read.

“We wish everyone concerned all the best for the future on behalf of the three generations of our family that have operated the newsagency in all its forms since 1932.”

Protestors rally for abortion legalisation

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Dr Mehreen Faruqi speaking at Monday’s rallly. Source: Supplied.

Tasmania already has these protest-free zones, while Victoria and ACT parliaments are working toward it, according to Dr Faruqi.

Supporter and attendee Monique Newberry said she felt that abortion misinformation was a cause of stigma slowing the momentum needed to decriminalise the procedure.

“Abortion is currently criminalised. A lot of people have no idea.

A lot of my friends were surprised to hear that, including ones that had had access to an abortion,” she said.

Senator Rhiannon said she agreed that there is a myth surrounding the legality of abortion.

“Many of us have had this experience that people don’t actually believe you when you say it is a crime. They actually shake their head and you’ve got to delve into a bit to remind them how serious it is,” she said.

The recent poll also found that 76 per cent of those surveyed believed abortion to be legal in NSW. However, law and medical student Josephine de Costa said that it is an unenforced law, with only a small amount of prosecutions happening the last few decades.

Ms de Costa was invited to highlight to the rally how this law will affect her as a doctor in the future.

“This law impacts me in two huge ways: firstly it restricts a service that I may need, that 1 in 3 women will need in their lifetimes, and it also restricts the things I can provide as a doctor,” she said.

“If this law doesn’t change, the future-me and my practice as a doctor will be limited because my patients simply won’t have access to adequate termination services.”

The rally came the same day as the announcement of a new national phone service which will enable access to abortion drug RU486 without visiting a doctor or pharmacist, provided by the Tabbot Foundation.

The September 28 Global Day of Action for Access to Safe and Legal Abortion has spanned two decades. Initally chosen to commemorate the abolition of slavery in Brazil, it is now known as the day of the “free womb”.

“Today is an international day for women having the right to seek a safe abortion, and there’s fantastic actions around the world,” Senator Rhiannon concluded.

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SSI 6307 Land generally located on and adjacent to the M4 and Parramatta Road corridor from Homebush Bay Drive at Homebush to Parramatta Road and City West Link (Wattle Street) at Haberfield, in inner western Sydney.

Roads and Maritime Services Ashfield, Auburn, Burwood, Canada Bay and Strathfield Minister for Planning

Description of proposal: The M4 East motorway upgrade and extension forms part of the WestConnex scheme. The project comprises the following key features: • widening and realignment of the M4 between Homebush Bay Drive at Homebush and Underwood Road at Homebush; • two 5.5 km three-lane tunnels (one eastbound and one westbound) extending from west of Underwood Road at Homebush to near Alt Street at Haberfield; • upgrade of the existing Homebush Bay Drive interchange to connect the western end of each tunnel to the existing M4 and Homebush Bay Drive; • an on-ramp at Powells Creek, west of George Street at North Strathfield providing access to the M4 westbound; • an interchange at Concord Road at North Strathfield/Concord, with access to the eastbound tunnel and exit from the westbound tunnel. Access to the existing M4 to Concord Road would be maintained via Sydney Street. A new access would be provided from Concord Road southbound to the existing M4 westbound, with the existing on-ramp from Concord Road northbound to the M4 westbound to be removed; • an interchange at Wattle Street (City West Link) at Haberfield, with access to the westbound tunnel and exit from the eastbound tunnel. Ramps at this interchange will also provide access to the future eastbound tunnel and exit from the westbound tunnel as part of the future M4-M5 link project. Wattle Street westbound lanes will also be realigned to facilitate connection of the proposed tunnels to the surface road network; • an interchange at Parramatta Road at Ashfield/Haberfield, with access to the westbound tunnel and exit from the eastbound tunnel. Parramatta Road westbound lanes will also be realigned to facilitate connection to the proposed tunnels to the surface road network; • associated road works, including reconfiguration of lanes and changes to traffic signalling, including creating temporary and permanent cul-de-sacs at some local roads, and associated work at locations on and adjacent to arterial roads connecting to the tunnels; • tunnel ventilation systems and facilities located within the existing M4 corridor near Underwood Road at Homebush, and at the corner of Parramatta Road and Wattle Street at Haberfield; • provision of a fresh air supply intake facility at Cintra Park at Concord; • pedestrian and cycle facilities, including re-routing of the existing eastbound cycleway located on the northern shoulder of the existing M4, from west of Homebush Bay Drive to near Pomeroy Street, and a new cycleway on-ramp from Queen Street to the M4 westbound; • tunnel support systems and services including electricity substations, fire pump rooms and tanks, water treatment facilities, and fire and life safety systems including emergency evacuation infrastructure; • a motorway operations complex at Homebush; • provision of road infrastructure and services to support the future implementation of smart motorway operations; • installation of tolling gantries and control systems along the length of the M4; • provision of new and modified noise abatement structures; and • temporary ancillary construction facilities and temporary works to facilitate construction of the project.

Exhibition The SSI Application, Environmental Impact Statement and other accompanying documents may be viewed on the Department’s website (www.majorprojects.planning.nsw.gov.au) and may be inspected from Wednesday 9 September 2015 until Monday 2 November 2015 during the relevant authorities ordinary office hours at: • Department of Planning and Environment: Information Centre, 23-33 Bridge Street, Sydney; • Roads and Maritime Services (Head Office): Level 9, 101 Miller Street, North Sydney; • Ashfield Council: Customer Service Centre – 260 Liverpool Road, Ashfield; • Auburn City Council: Civic Precinct Centre – 1 Susan Street, Auburn; • Burwood Council: Suite 1 – Level 2, 1-17 Elsie Street, Burwood; • City of Canada Bay Council: Civic Centre – 1A Marlborough Street, Drummoyne; • Strathfield Council: Customer Service Centre – 65 Homebush Road, Strathfield; • Ashfield Library: Level 3, 260 Liverpool Road, Ashfield; • Auburn City Library: Civic Place – 1 Susan Street, Auburn; • Burwood Library: 2 Conder Street, Burwood; • Concord Library: 60 Flavelle Street, Concord; • Five Dock Library: Level 1, 4-12 Garfield Street, Five Dock; • Strathfield Main Library: 65-67 Rochester Street, Homebush; and • Nature Conservation Council of NSW: Level 2, 5 Wilson Street, Newtown.

At the time of publishing this advertisement, the Minister for Planning has not directed that a public hearing should be held.

Submissions Any person may make a written submission concerning the SSI application during the exhibition period. If a submission is made by way of objection, the grounds of objection must be specified in the submission.

Persons wishing to make a submission should use the online form if possible. To find the online form go to the web-page for this proposal via www.majorprojects.planning.nsw.gov.au/page/on-exhibition Your submission must reach the Department by Monday 2 November 2015. Before making your submission, please read our Privacy Statement at www.planning.nsw.gov.au/privacy or for a copy, telephone the number below.

The Department will publish your submission on its website in accordance with the privacy statement.

If you cannot lodge online you can write to the address below. If you want the Department to delete your personal information before publication, please make this clear at the top of your letter. You need to include: • your name and address, at the top of the letter only; • the name of the application and the application number (SSI 6307); • a statement on whether you support or object to the proposal; • the reasons why you support or object to the proposal; and • a declaration of any reportable political donations made in the previous two years. To find out what is reportable, and for a disclosure form, go to www.planning.nsw.gov.au/donations or phone the number below for a copy.

Contact Phone: Information Centre – 1300 305 695 Address: Planning Services, Department of Planning and Environment, GPO Box 39 SYDNEY NSW 2001 or fax to (02) 9228 6366. Your submission should be marked, Attention: Director – Infrastructure Projects.

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BY RYAN QUINN Pro-choice campaigners and Greens MPs united on Monday September 28 to make it clear that abortion should not still be criminalised within NSW. Around 50 people gathered at Martin Place on Monday afternoon to mark the September 28 Global Day of Action for Access to Safe and Legal Abortion, calling for its decriminalisation and for protest-free zones around existing abortion clinics in NSW. Greens MP and Status of Women spokesperson Dr Mehreen Faruqi told the portest that the “myths and taboos” around abortion needed addressing.

“It’s time to break the silence, the taboo, the stigma, and the taint of criminality that surrounds abortion,” Dr Faruqi said.

“What we’ve got to do is bust the law that says that women and their doctors are criminals for a basic human right and a medical procedure.”

The protestors wore End12 t-shirts, chanting in support of Dr Faruqi’s comments.

End12 refers to division 12 (sections 82 and 83) of the NSW Crimes Act 1900 which criminalises abortion, where it is only lawful if it is to prevent serious risk to life, mental and physical health under a 1971 Levine District Court ruling.

Dr Faruqi has given notice to NSW Parliament that she will be introducing a bill to decriminalise abortion and create safe zones around clinics.

Currently, abortion is legal in the ACT and legalised under certain timeframes and circumstance in Victoria, Western Australia, and Tasmania, and also in South Australia and Northern Territory if pregnancy is deemed a danger.

Greens Queensland Senator Larissa Waters told the protest she was from one of only two states where “control of our bodies is still considered a crime”.

Greens NSW Senator Lee Rhiannon also agreed that Dr Faruqi’s proposed legislation was not just a necessity for women and transgender men’s rights (female to male transition), but also necessary for their safety.

“It’s also a life and death issue. Tens of thousands of people have died because abortion is not legal, because of the conditions under which the law currently operates,” she said to the crowd.

A recent survey of 1015 NSW residents on issues of abortion found that the majority support abortion, no matter the location, gender or political leaning, according to Dr Faruqi.

The survey was the first of its kind, finding that 87 per cent believed a person should be able to have an abortion.

“Overwhelmingly, the people of NSW have said that they support a woman’s right to make a choice about her own body,” Dr Faruqi told the crowd.

“They overwhelmingly support the decriminalisation of abortion. They also overwhelmingly support the [sic] enaction of exclusion zones outside clinics.”

In addition to decriminalisation, the protestors are calling for protest-free zones to be enacted around NSW abortion clinics, preventing the intimidation of anybody entering or exiting by anti-abortion groups.

Dr Faruqi told the crowd of her recent visit to the Fertility Control Clinic in Albury.

“I did visit the clinic and experienced first-hand what is experienced by women who are going in for a simple medical procedure. They actually need security guards outside that clinic.”

EXTENSION OF EXHIBITION OF STATE SIGNIFICANT INFRASTRUCTURE APPLICATION WestConnex – M4 East Motorway

9

ARTS FEATURE

Humanity in Poetry: Writing Through Fences at Word Travels’ Story Fest

BY NYSSA BOOTH This October, Australia’s largest performing writers program, Word Travels’ Story Fest, is taking on the international conversation surrounding refugees. For most Australians it is impossible to understand what it is like to have to flee your home country, blinded to what the future may hold.

Through the power of creative writing, Story Fest provides a voice to those who have transformed their challenges into influential stories, and is a platform to discuss past experiences with passion, vulnerability and raw authenticity.

The weekend extravaganza will consist of multiple poetry slams, forums, discussions and a special event entitled Writing Through Fences, which will open the Australian Poetry Slam National Final at the Sydney Opera House.

Featuring three refugee poets who sought asylum in Australia, Writing Through Fences is sure to spark heartfelt discussion among the audience and other competing poets. “You will hear from people who have travelled through the darkest places in the human psyche and have found poetry to guide them to sunlight,” said Creative Director of Word Travels, Miles Merrill.

Hani Aden is a Somali writer, who wrote from Christmas Island where she was held for 13 months. During her time in detention, Aden reached to poetry as an outlet to express her emotion and pain. “I thought expressing myself through the power of poetry and storytelling was the only way many of us could walk free in this land,” she explained. Aden is performing alongside Yarrie Bangura, a young refugee, who as a child fled civil war in Sierra Leone; and Kaveh Arya, who fled Iran and became a refugee in Turkey, until he and his family migrated to Australia in 1995.

While all three poets grew up surrounded by war and danger, they agree that by sharing their stories they are bringing to light the social and cultural issues that surround refugees and seeking asylum.

“I want to let many people know seeking asylum is not a crime,” said Aden. “Together we can make change because [it is] kindness [that will] keep the world afloat.”

“I think that’s a constructive way of drawing attention to a real problem, to a real situation which we are faced with in the world, as you know, the refugee crisis is evermore alive now,” said Kaveh Arya.

10

city hub 1 OCTOBER 2015

Hani Aden

about my pain,” she explained. “I had to find another way to express my pain, which was through music and creative writing – poetry.”

Bangura writes short autobiographical poems and stories, and is one half of the band Sierra Sisters, whose music has featured on several commercials and Triple J Unearthed. Her work reflects the terrifying experiences that haunt her past, and bring to light the issues that many refugees are facing today.

“I never thought that it would get to that length, that people would be interested,” said Bangura. “I was doing it because it made me feel good and it was letting out and chucking away the things that I don’t want to remember anymore in my life – or at least I don’t want to deal with.”

Writing Through Fences is opening the Australian Poetry Slam National Final, one of the most anticipated events in Sydney’s literary and performance calendar. Over the weekend, 20 of Australia’s finest poets will speak, scream, whisper and shout their way to being crowned Australian Poetry Slam Champion.

The Story Fest will also include children’s activities ranging from workshops and events in which they will learn the art of creative writing.

Word Travels’ Story Fest, and Writing Through Fences in particular, is a not-to-be-missed opportunity to immerse yourself in eye-opening and inspirational, truth-telling tales. The festival will provide a new perspective of life, and the ongoing, international issues surrounding refugees.

Arya grew up reading from one of the only books his parents kept - a book of poems. “It was one of the only books, that they kept, that I could actually read and sort of connect to, so I started reading that book at a young age and I fell in love with poetry that way,” he explained.

WORD TRAVELS’ STORY FEST In his work, poetry is an afterthought. Instead Kaveh chooses Oct 9–11. to focus on his life experiences as the primary objective, which Info: wordtravels.info/story-fest provide a unique and effective contribution to the international conversation surrounding human rights and refugees.

AUSTRALIAN POETRY SLAM As a child, Yarrie Bangura fled from her home in Sierra NSW FINAL Leone to Guinea, where she lived in a refugee camp with her Oct 9, 8pm. Sydney Dance Lounge, family before migrating to Australia in 2004. For Yarrie, Pier 4/5, Hickson Rd, Sydney. $30+b.f. writing best expressed her pain and enabled her to escape all Tickets: eventbrite.com.au the terrible things from her past. “I felt like I always had to talk

City Hub’s pick of the festival:

AUSTRALIAN POETRY SLAM NATIONAL FINAL feat. WRITING THROUGH FENCES

Oct 11, 7pm. Drama Theatre, Sydney Opera House. $36-$44+b.f.

Tickets: sydneyoperahouse.com Follow Kaveh Arya at: facebook.com/ kaveh.theunlikelypoet

city hub 1 OCTOBER 2015

11

EAT DRINK

EAT &&DRINK

By Jackie McMillan Lotus @ The Galeries

From slickly modern private dining rooms, to texture-rich ceramics and stone, highlighted by natural light flooding into what must have been a difficult u-shaped space, DS17 have taken the lessons of Alpha and outdone themselves. Equally so, in Head Chef ChrisYan’s hands, the now-extensive menu builds upon the ideas germinated in Lotus’s initial Walsh Bay outlet, but far surpasses them.The through-

ROCKS & CBD Yayoi Galeries There’s a wonderful elegance to the new Yayoi Teishoku Japanese Restaurant, and it’s all about balance. It’s fitting because Teishoku is about providing a nutritious, varied meal, combining rice, miso soup and pickles, with your choice of protein.Wagyu Sukiyaki ($25) combines slippery udon, shredded beef, cabbage and mushrooms in a sweet and umami rich broth. Miso Pork Loin Katsu ($18.80) is deep fried and dangerously more-ish. It’s also fun to pick across the various nibbles and decide how best to utilise the accompanying 62 degree egg. Finish with Matcha Anmitsu ($6) a.k.a. green tea ice cream and strange jelly bits, and you’ve uncovered one of the better ways to spend a CBD lunch hour.

By Jackie McMillan jackie@alternativemediagroup.com

line is the dumplings – like Steamed Mud Crab and Pork Xiao Long Bao ($21/4) and Steamed Scallop Siu Mai ($14/4) – loaded with the expected premium fillings, but boasting even thinner skins. Surprisingly, your go-to dish from this selection, is the compelling Baked BBQ Pork Bun ($9/3) - perfect against a richly herb-infused Tea Thyme ($18) cocktail.Well-handled okra elevates Wok-fried King Prawns with Home-Made XO Sauce and Lime ($36) but the real stars are the dishes that celebrate natural, healthy, Aussie ingredients, homage to chef’s time with pioneer, Kylie Kwong. Gently closing your lips around the supple, yielding Crystal Ice Plant Salad ($16) is a revelation, and it responds favourably to Chinese interpretation with cucumber, enoki and black vinegar dressing. Equally exciting are the vibrant green saltbush leaves offsetting tender hunks of Wok-Fried Wallaby Rump ($29) that ChefYan has cleverly sautéed in sweet-bean paste.Yes, this is the Chinese-Australian I’ve been waiting to enjoy.

The Galeries, Level 1, 500 George Street, Sydney (02) 9267 3699 lotusrestaurant.com.au Chinese $$$$

Level 1,The Galeries, 500 George Street, Sydney (02) 9283 4835 yayoi.com.au Japanese $$ William Blue Dining If meals at most fine dining restaurants seem pricy, I’ve found the fancy, whitetablecloth restaurant for you. Located in the old Rockpool site, your inexpensive three-course meal is prepared and served by students (overseen by industry professionals). Sure there might be some at-the-table-training if you choose the cork-stoppered but well-priced 2008 Wiltinger Braune Kupp Kabinett Riesling Mosel ($68/bottle), but it’s a small price to pay. Expect standout Aussie produce from Pepe Saya butter to Alto oil to pleasantly pink Milly Hill Lamb ($18) with saffron fondant potatoes, asparagus, pickled

turnips and flavoursome jus. Kingfish Ceviche ($11) is nicely presented, and my crosshatched slab of Swordfish ($18) was cooked precisely as requested.

107-109 George Street,The Rocks (02) 9492 3290 williambluedining.com Modern Australian $$ Bar at the End of the Wharf My date’s late, so I’m nursing an Old Fashioned ($20), gritty with undissolved sugar. Sitting in a theatre bar surrounded by urbane theatre types, it strikes me as incongruous to be tucking into Dip Boards ($22/2 people) and Meatballs ($14) in tomato marjoram in front of a world-class view. More balls arrive – this time Spicy Chorizo and Pea Arancini ($12) – punctuated by drinks: a nicely tart Tommy’s Margarita ($18) and a summery

prepared, alongside a decent selection of sandwiches and sweet treats. It’s not every day you’re greeted with a freshly cracked coconut adorned with Mars Bars and cookies covered in Smarties with strawberry garnishes, or there’s always the Jack Johnson edition - with more fruit than you could than you could pile on top of Carmen Miranda’s head - something to suit my vegan partner in crime.

The top shelf cups of processed, sustainable 100% Arabica beans will no doubt be a welcomed addition to the area, as will the fine selection of edible bits and bites on offer. And with such a tasteful fit out and an impressively small footprint, I wouldn’t mind seeing more of these things pop up - perhaps in an area I go to more often (or ever).

Heritage Business Park, 5-9 Ricketty Street, Alexandria (0416) 509 806 thegrindandco.com.au Café $

The Grind & Co

By DJ Hookie Restaurant in an abandoned train? Rave in a semi trailer? How about a café in a shipping container? Sure, why not… add it to the list of weird shit I never thought I’d see. But Christine and Rani Ousman’s new coffee and food bar The Grind & Co – nestled in the parking lot of an industrial thoroughfare – certainly took me by surprise.The amazingly re-imagined shipping container surprisingly provides enough real estate for the outstanding coffee to be NEWTOWN & ENVIRONS The Cross Eyed Dog A level-by-level revamp is occurring in Zanzibar, with the first floor bar summoning the 1920s and turning out a surprising range of bespoke whisky cocktails.The Jam and Smoke ($19.50) standout tames Bruichladdich Port Charlotte with Grand Marnier, lemon, egg white and marmalade, without losing the whisky’s peaty intent.Their Hunter Valley wine focus means you can accompany your tender, char-grilled Hanger Steak ($22) with juicy red 2014 Chambourcin ($11/glass).

It’s decked out with house-made 12

chipotle butter and teamed with brilliant chips, crisp onion rings and smoked jus. I’d return just to eat it again.And while it’s hard to top, Mushroom Raviolo ($17.50) puts up a good fight with toothsome pasta and Vegemite-enhanced filling.

Level 1, Zanzibar, 323 King Street, Newtown (02) 9519 1511 zanzibarnewtown.com.au Pub Bistro $$ Ribs & Burgers Zetland With a smile that could light up a thousand service stations, we were greeted at the register by an enthusiastic attendee who wholeheartedly put the ‘zeal’ into

city hub 1 OCTOBER 2015

Zetland.Taking a seat after ordering, I noticed the long queue of locals lining up for large brown paper bags to take away.The Old School Cheese Burger ($10.50) could have used a higher ‘patty to bun’ ratio, as the meat was its only decent feature.

Pork Spare Ribs ($28.50) were a little on the dry side, but the smoky BBQ sauce was a savior, albeit thinly spread. Surprisingly, my standout were Chicken Wings ($9.50) with sticky soy.We also had a kick-ass Vanilla Malt Thick Shake ($7).

Tenancy 1 APEX Building, 6 Defries Avenue, Zetland (02) 9697 0888 ribsandburgers.com/au/ American $$-$$$

Hotel Palisade

By Alex Harmon With a convict-cum-chic menu, craft beers and views of the coat hanger, one of Sydney’s oldest pubs has reopened with a vengeance. Overlooking Barangaroo, it still has a certain quietness, with a whiff of potential;

Sippin’ By The Sea ($18). It’s an easydrinking companion to lightly battered Calamari ($16) with smoked paprika aioli.

Yet maybe there’s something to be said for pre-theatre food being egalitarian and accessible, down to Cauliflower ($9) with paprika and tahini.

Pier 4, Hickson Road, Walsh Bay (02) 9250 1761 Bar, Bar Food $$

EASTERN SUBURBS & BEACHES The Village Inn After a tough week due to his ‘no high vis.’ dress code, Leeroy Petersen showed me what his new venue should be known for – good food. Inside the once ‘durty’ old Irish bar, you’ll now be bathed in natural

and with plans to open a penthouse bar upstairs, the owners are surely banking on this. Grab yourself a Feral Hop Hog ($6.50/$11), a pale ale that packs a punch of hops from the Swan Valley and pull up at the bar, or for a little speakeasy elegance, take the Governors Gimlet ($16), a petite cocktail with gin, celery liqueur and lime, into the parlour room and find a cosy, dark nook.The food is very working class English, with a side of Sydney sophistication, like the Potted Chicken Liver Pate ($12) topped with cider jelly, or the Chicken and Tarragon Pie ($22) with minted peas and potato mash. It’s exactly what you’d expect from a gastro pub a stone’s throw from The Rocks, full of revelry, even on a Sunday night.

And if you want to stick to historically themed revelry, you simply must end with smashed Toffee Cheesecake ($10) and a Spiced Negroni ($17) – the sweetness of the former will caress the bitterness of the latter nicely.

35 Bettington Street, Millers Point (0421) 001 474 hotelpalisade.com.au Pub Bistro $$

light as you tuck into The Underwood ($18) with braised, pickled beef, honey carrots and mustard on toasted soy linseed bread. Pet Two Four ($17): ham hock terrine with duck rillette win best tasting pun (ducks have two legs and pigs have four).The lighter Nordic ($17) cured salmon with smoked baby potatoes and crunchy capers, pairs nicely with Pfeiffer Pinot Gris ($12/glass); and the snazzy ‘tradies’ doughnut’: Chocolate Churros ($8) goes down a treat.

9-11 Glenmore Road, Paddington (02) 9331 0911 thevillageinn.com.au Pub Food $$ ACME While the much-lauded ACME’s Macaroni, Pig’s Head, Egg Yolk ($18) is undeniably delicious, you might be left wondering:

FOOD NEWS

where’s the rest of it? Engaging staff do give adequate warning duos need three pastas, three entrees, salad and probably dessert. Gnawing on a fistful of raw baby Turnips in Bottaga Butter ($12), it’s hard not to contemplate food costs - especially as a snack-sized half roasted Beetroot on Macadamia Butter ($14) lands, accentuated by grated coffee bean.The winning aspect is Chef Mitch Orr’s imaginative combinations: Beef Tartare, Prawn and Burnt Onion ($24) and Spaghetti ($24) with calamari and Korean bolognaise.

Foamy Coconut Rice Cream ($10), hiding a treasure trove of caramelized white chocolate, nails dessert.

60 Bayswater Road, Rushcutters Bay (02) 8068 0932 weareacme.com.au Modern Australian $$$

By Jackie McMillan

Pastoral Smallgoods Farmers’ markets are basically some of my favourite Last month I revisited Pastoral Smallgoods in Waterloo. Headed up

by Jonathan Sankey, they were last year’s winner of the best Traditional Bone-In Leg Ham in the prestigious Australian Ham Awards run by Australian Pork Limited.A tour of their superclean factory taught me a lot about the journey Aussie pork takes between the farm and our Xmas tables, with this busy little producer selling their award-winning hams to everyone from David Jones Foodhall to ALDI. However if you’re a bit sick of waiting until Xmas time for quality ham, they’ve recently come up with a new product I think you might enjoy. It’s an English-style raw ham that you roast up at home.The Gammon Ham Roast (Smoked) [RRP $18.99/1.5kg] comes in the perfect size to feed a dinner table full of guests, with enough slices left over for sandwiches the next day, or maybe a breakfast fry-up of ham and eggs? If you follow their website cooking instructions, you’re assured of getting a nice bit of crackling up top.While I preferred the simpler smoked version for reasons of versatility (and crackling), there’s also a Gammon Ham Roast (Herb Dusted) [RRP $18.99/1.5kg] adaptation for the same

bar fly

price.You can pick both types at your local Harris Farm, and surprise the family of choice with a different sort of Sunday roast.Against honey carrots, green beans and baked spuds, it’s sure to go down a treat! www.pastoralsmallgoods.com.au

By Amie Barbeler

Junk Lounge Level 2, Cruise Bar, Overseas Passenger Terminal,The Rocks (02) 9251 1188 cruisebar.com.au My date might have been fluttering her eyelashes at me from across the table, but it was Cruise Bar’s gorgeous twilight views of Sydney Harbour that I found myself lusting over. Sprawling across three levels, my date and I spent our evening at the oriental-inspired (and appropriately named) Junk Lounge on Level Two. Unable to resist an innovative cocktail, I opted for the refreshing and bubbly Shiso Flesh ($21), a clever balance of gin, red shiso, rhubarb bitters, cucumber and carbonated water.

My date went for the sweet and sour Aloe Geisha ($18) made from rum, sake, aloe vera, cherry bitters, lemon balm, lime and egg white.

Together we shared what has to be Cruise Bar’s best dish: the Hainanese Chicken Rice ($36).You receive a whole poached chicken chopped into chunks, served with fluffy rice, wilted bok choy and a side of chilli paste, accompanied by a French press of clear soup.

EAT & DRINK Rosie Campbell’s

Bright, sunshiny colours and a cosy, welcoming interior transform this difficult corner space into the type of spot you’ll probably enjoy spending time in.Throw in a waitress with a Caribbean grandmother, and you’ll soon have the toasted coconut topped Bowl of Corn ($8) and vibrant, soupy Callaloo Greens ($8) on your table, with some idea about how to eat them. Hint: they’ll brighten $ - mains less than $15

$$ - mains between $15-$22

INNER WEST Damda The first thing you’ll notice at Damda, beyond the strong design aesthetic, is the monstrous, smoke-belching oven and tattooed, Korean coal-master.This modern reinterpretation of Korean barbecue - the name means ‘resemble’ – is doing things differently. Instead of cooking at your table, sit back and enjoy cocktail carafes like delicate Green Seoul ($25) with mint, grape and lemon. Sticky-sweet chilli rice cake skewers, Ddeok Ggochi ($8/10 pieces), are great against Korean Cass ($6) beer.

Outstandingly tender and smoky Kalbi Beef Ribs ($35.50) arrive in a large metal tray, laden with gochujang noodle salad, cornballs, lotus root chips and house-made

By Jackie McMillan up your Grilled Jerk Chicken ($18), but are also good enough to simply say: hell, hand me a spoon! Snapper Ceviche ($20) accentuates lovely fresh snapper with hot sauce.Another hot sauce highlight is their housemade habanero guava – fruity, hot and exciting – and for everyone else there’s jerk mayo. Smother ‘em over the fries that come with your Soft Shell Crab Burger ($18). It ain’t first date material, but it’s a juicy blast of deep fried crustacean barely contained between two soft, golden buns.The kitchen outpaced our rum-based cocktail selections, so get a Red Stripe ($8) to tide you over. If I’m truthful, beers may make the better eating companions.

The aptly named Campbell’s Sip ($19) with Pampero dark rum; Floyd’s Old Fashioned ($22) made on Ron Zacapa 23 year old, and even the Kingston Sour ($18) with Appleton Estate V/X, all functioned better as postdinner sip’n’savour drinks to me.

320 Campbell Street, Surry Hills (02) 8356 9120 rosiecampbells.com Caribbean, Jamaican $$ $$$ - mains between $22-$30

kimchi.Add on more meat – like Bossam ($17) (pork belly) – and apply the three accompanying sauces.

166 Norton Street, Leichhardt (02) 9560 0527 facebook.com/damda2015 Korean $$ Majestic Harvest Despite some hipster trappings - Edison bulbs, cold drip, and dishes presented on boards and in frypans - the food is remarkably honest and free from (much) pretension.The aforementioned, slightly unwieldy frypan, dubbed The Majestic ($19), is loaded with well-handled kale, supple Serrano ham, a trio of poached eggs with rich golden yolks, baked beans and black pudding.Taleggio and basil have been softly folded through Scrambled Eggs ($12.50) offset by roasted Roma tomatoes. For

$$$$ - mains over $30

those who cringe at butter, a board bearing Bircher Muesli ($11) with blueberries, walnuts and coconut, is made compelling by blackened apple compote.Allpress Coffee scrubs up well as a Latte ($3.50) despite the machine running flat chat.

49 New Canterbury Road, Petersham (02) 8097 2222 majesticgourmetgrocers.com.au Breakfast, Café $ One6Eight Husband and wife team, Leigh and Amanda McDivitt, turn their talents to weekend High Tea ($50/head), in the rich red womb of their Balmain fine diner.While chef has banished crusts-off cucumber sandwiches in favour of savoury items like vongole popcorn and compressed confit chicken wings, re-add the cucumber with Cool As

One Tea Lounge & Grill

David Yip’s enthusiasm for what could broadly be termed stunt food is palpable. An ideas man, David is constantly devising new ways to make his dishes and cocktails fun.

This is basically how I ended up with a rotating, dry ice billowing, Matcha Wheel One Tea Experience ($50/8 people) dominating my table for two. Not that I mind a bit of spectacle, which is lucky because it was rapidly ($18), a daytime-friendly tequila, Cointreau and chilli concoction. On the ground floor of your slightly risqué platter,Amanda entices you with hot cinnamon doughnuts filled with Seville orange and Cointreau crème patisserie.Your boozy long lunch continues into Sailor Jerry’s and apricot marshmallows, alongside a winning verrine of sherbet-like lemon and yuzu parfait. It’s perfect against an equally airy Raspberry Sorbet Bellini ($17).

233 Darling Street Balmain (02) 9555 8750 one6eight.info High Tea, Cocktails $$$ ocers.com.au Breakfast, Café $ DARLO, KINGS X & SURRY HILLS Master Breaking ranks with the ‘simple food

followed by a dramatic at the table glass cloche reveal of tea-smoked Gyokuro Smoked Octopus Avocado ($15), an intensely smoky cold dish.Then, as we worked our way through our eight flower-accentuated cocktail cups (and teapot of refills), more smoky wisps of dry ice curled around our fingers, this time from under a pretty verrine of Salmon Tartare ($13). By contrast, sambal-dipped Lollipop Corn ($12) seemed almost sedate, luring us into a false sense of security before our 300 degree Lava Stone Grill ($58/180g) landed with cubes of top-notch 9+ wagyu beef ready to sizzle and dip in yakiniku (BBQ) sauce and matcha salt.Yes, Japanese green tea pops up everywhere, though its best expression is in the Matcha Lava Bomb ($20) dessert. After the requisite at the table flaming (with orange liqueur) it literally had me scraping oozing matcha white chocolate pudding and miso caramel from the plate.

73 York Street, Sydney (02) 9279 3311 onetealounge.com.au Japanese, Cocktails $$$$

done well’ trend everyone seems to be following, Master takes some risks in a reasonably priced menu.What looked like tuna sashimi turned out to be Watermelon in Preserved Mustard & Nori ($10), and tasted like nothing I’ve tried before.

Roasted Squid with Snow Pea Sprouts ($20) convinces you the noodle-looking things are noodles, but they’re squid. Burnt Cabbage with Fish Sauce Butter ($18) is the best cabbage I’ve had. Period. If you go here and don’t order it, we can’t be friends.

Trying to explain the flavour of Congee with Pear and Coriander ($10) would be like trying to describe a colour you’ve never seen, so I won’t bother.

368 Crown Street, Surry Hills (02) 8065 0838 masterdining.com.au Chinese $$ Dragoncello Chef Roy McVeigh marches to the sound

of his own beat – and to be honest, it’s refreshing. In an unpretentious upstairs room, enlivened by vibrant Tapestry Girl pegboard murals, he defies expectations with a Sydney Rock Oyster, Burnt Leek, Potato Skins and Citrus Leaf Gel ($3/ each) presented without any visible bivalve.Toffee Beetroot, Boudin Noir, Crackling and Apple ($18) utilises sweetness to well-balanced effect; ditto my dish of the night: Pea Mousse ($28) set under a tangle of its own leaves and flowers, with candied bacon and pouredat-the-table Parmesan broth. Geranium Panna Cotta ($17) deftly juggles intense floral sweetness with tomato soup cake and two forms of rhubarb. Nope, haven’t seen that before.

Level 1, 466 Cleveland Street, Surry Hills (02) 8399 0907 dragoncello.com.au Bar, Modern Australian $$$

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38-42 Parramatta Rd Stanmore 2048 Tel: (02) 9565 1275— annint1@optusnet.com.au www.annandaleinteriors.com.au - www.facebook.com/annandaleinteriors city hub 1 OCTOBER 2015

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ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT Oppenheimer This year marks the 70th anniversary of the bombings on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Oppenheimer is intended as a piece that will heal wounds from this most dreadful time.

“It’s a really dramatic piece about a really contemporary issue. The costumes, the dance and the music are spectacular,” explained the playwright, Professor Allen Marett. “The masks are absolutely gorgeous. It’s structured like a traditional Noh play.

The only thing that isn’t Noh is that it’s a modern story and it’s in English. It is a story about the ghost of American scientist Robert J Oppenheimer, the ‘father of the atomic bomb’.”

In traditional Noh plays the main character is often a ghost. In Japanese culture, a ghost means someone who is not able to depart from the world because they still have some ties to it – those ties can be love, sometimes because they were involved in terrible actions, war or any unresolved attachment to the world. It results in becoming a ghost and hanging around, and that’s regarded as a pretty miserable existence. Through a process of interacting with another character, the ghost finds a way to resolve those issues.

“Noh is a genre of theatre, it’s a tradition that comes from the 13th Century. It’s a form of medieval Japanese music, regarded as one of the great world theatre forms, originally associated with the Samari class and is strongly influenced by Zen Buddhism,” Marett added. (MS) Until Oct 1, 6pm. Sydney Conservatorium of Music, Conservatory Road. $45-$65.Tickets & info: music.sydney.edu.au

13 – A New Musical

Sydney’s freshest independent musical theatre company Birdie Productions presents 13, a musical featuring an all-child cast and band.

It revolves around a 13-year-old New Yorker Evan Goldman, who is very popular and has a ‘perfect’ family. But suddenly everything turns upside down when his parents get a divorce and he has to move with his mum to small-town Appleton, Indiana.

Directed by Meg Day with choreography by Ashlee Evans and musical direction by Paul Young, some of the young cast includes Noah

Mullins, Scout Silbersher, Ethan Fuller, Skye Butcher and Joe Howe.

Day believes this is a show everyone can relate to, no matter the age: “Every-day teen struggles and decisions are played out on stage in a funny and honest way. 13 moves beyond the cheesy teen-musical formula with an empowering and refreshing exploration of growing up to find your place in the world.” (AMal) Until Oct 5, 8pm and 2pm. Bryan Brown Theatre, 80 Rickard Road, Bankstown. $32.

Tickets & info: birdieproductions.com.au

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Edward II In 1593, Christopher Marlowe wrote his tragic masterpiece Edward II, a classic tale of the clash between desire and the law, underpinned by the reckless actions of a King treating the nation as his playground. One of England’s earliest plays, it tells the story of King Edward II and his male lover’s allconsuming lust, resulting in the alienation of Edward’s wife, the creation of enemies in his court and the potential toppling of the nation.

As part of the 2015 Reginald Season, the Seymour Centre and Sport for Jove Theatre will be presenting a contemporary take on Marlowe’s tragedy, transposing the intriguing political machinations at work in Edward II into today’s highly political climate.

Directed by Co-Artistic Director and Co-Founder of Sport for Jove Theatre Company, Terry Karabelas, and with a set designed by the award-winning Alicia Clements, the play is sure to bring the intricate conspiracies of court to the Seymour Centre. (ES) Oct 1–17. Reginald Theatre, Seymour Centre – Cnr of City Rd and Cleveland St, Chippendale. $25–$36. Info: seymourcentre.com or Box Office: 9351 7940

Velvet

Fans of circus, variety, cabaret and/or disco – rejoice! Velvet explodes into Sydney in an electrifying boogie wonderland of glitter and disco glamour. Following award-winning runs at the Adelaide and Edinburgh Fringe Festivals and hot off the stage in Brisbane, director Craig Iliott is excited to bring his fabulous show home to the Sydney Opera House stage.

“Velvet is a nightclub, but it’s a state of mind, it’s a fantasy,” explained Craig. “On one level its an amalgamate of variety and concert forms put together to a disco soundtrack, but on another level there’s a loose narrative where we chart the progression of a young man’s journey of self discovery.”

The protagonist in question is played by “stunning performer” Brendan Maclean (The Great Gatsby), who has carved himself an undeniable mark in the entertainment world through his work in pop music and film.

A fairy-god-mother-like mentor embodied by no other than Marcia Hines guides Maclean through the night.

Ilott considers the initial idea of meeting Australia’s queen of disco for the first time one of the most challenging parts of the production, having thought to himself “Is she even going to take me seriously? Or is she going to say ‘little boy, go away! Stop talking to me about what disco is, I lived it!’”

Fortunately, that wasn’t the case: “The best thing

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

about Marcia is that she’s got such a generous soul, she’s such a fine woman... I think there’s no doubt that Marcia’s energy in the room helped immeasurably to create the great family vibe that the cast has.”

Ilott has assembled a handpicked cast of ten including “an astonishing bunch of Australian singers and performers” accompanied by international acts including Perle Noire, a burlesque artist hailing from New Orleans; German handstand acrobat Mirko Köckenberger; and most eccentric of all Scotland’s “Incredible Hula Boy” Craig Reid.

Velvet is an uplifting crowd pleaser of a show, “but that’s not to say it doesn’t have levels”. (AM) Oct 6 – Nov 1. Studio, Sydney Opera House. $35-$89.Tickets & info: sydneyoperahouse.com or velvettheshow.com

Contributors: Brendan Modini, Carmen Cita, Craig Coventry, Greg Webster, Hannah Chapman, Alicia Sim, Nyssa Booth, Lauren Edwards, Peter Urquhart, James Harkness, Lauren Bell, Leann Richards, Lisa Seltzer, Mark Morellini, Matthew Bernard, Mel Somerville, Michael Muir, Olga Azar, Rocio Belinda Mendez, Sarah Pritchard, Sinead McLaughlin, Siri Williams, Athina Mallis, Leigh Livingstone, Joseph Rana, Jemma Clarke, Jacqui Rothwell.

Review: A Steady Rain

Umm, okay... It takes a while to take in Keith Huff’s A Steady Rain.

It’s intense, dark, conflicting, and its pace drives home the need to sit up and take note.

Unrelenting and unassuming, A Steady Rain is a grim tale that explores the intertwined lives of two policeman who must bear the consequences of their actions and decisions.

A brutally mesmerising take by Adam Cook featuring exceptional performances by Justin Stewart Cotta & Nick Barkla, A Steady Rain is a shocker of a plot where friendship collides with work ethics, and morals collide with fate.

Featuring a plot inspired by true events the play tells the story of a young boy who, due to the actions of the two policeman, accidentally

ends up being killed and eaten by a cannibalistic serial killer!

Watching it is as scary and terrifying as actually witnessing it, and this speaks volumes about the realism in the portrayal. Superbly acted and finely directed, A Steady Rain explores a myriad of themes: friendship, guilt, innocence, morals, loyalty, faith and crime.

More importantly, the play also reflects on human life and how one action can derail a person’s existence.

It’s a lot to take, but it will be worth your time! (JR & JRoth) Sept 22 – Oct 17. The Old Fitz Theatre, 29 Dowling Street Woolloomooloo. $25-$35.

Tickets & info: oldfitztheatre.com

Ghosts

City Hub Talks A Steady Rain with Justin Stewart Corta: Co-star in the two-hander A Steady Rain, Justin Stewart Corta stumbled into acting and after studying at NIDA, stumbled further into rock and roll, touring with the likes of Ozzie [check] Osbourne and Marilyn Manson. In 2009, he returned to the Sydney theatre scene and has

THEATRE & PERFORMANCE THE GONDOLIERS If you want to see an opera without drama but full of lively music and humour, Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Sydney’s The Gondoliers is your best bet.

It focuses on two gondoliers, Marco and Guiseppe, who must disappoint their new brides Tessa and Gianetta when they not only find out they’re not brothers, but that one of them is a king and was promised in childhood to Casilda, daughter of the eccentric Duke and Duchess of Plaza Toro.

been “loving every minute since.” In his latest role he plays a Chicago cop who finds himself in a corrupt and salacious environment. Will Australian audiences relate to American police corruption?

“Like most things, we are all more alike than different. The humanity and the dilemmas in A Steady Rain are certainly not bound to Chicago Illinois ... The driving themes and plots within the play should and will reach folks from all walks of life,” explained Corta.

He is hesitant to express exactly what he hopes for audiences to experience, but does offer: “We hope to give you a truly engaging night in the theatre, a night in which you feel like we have taken you on a personal ride in our stuffy and sweaty squad car. A night in which you watched a couple of actors risk something.” (OA)

Directed by Gordon Costello with musical director Rod Mounjed and choreographer Elizabeth Lowrence, this joyful opera stars Dean Sinclair, Michael Bond, Anthony Mason and Spencer Darby. (AMal) Until Oct 3, 8pm. Smith Auditorium Lyric Theatre, Shore School, William Street, North Sydney. $35-$40 (group and family rates avaliable).

Tickets & info: gsosydney.com.au A PROPERTY OF THE CLAN The first show to take to the stage at the newly established Blood Moon Theatre space at Kings

Cross establishment The World Bar is A Property Of The Clan. This show was adapted into the film Blackrock in 1997, so it may be familiar to some. A Property Of The Clan follows a small group of teens who witness the sexual assault and murder of a 14-yearold girl at a party, and is sure to be a truly moving production and great first outing for Blood Moon Theatre. Following this production, Blood Moon Theatre will look to develop a diverse line-up of shows including comedy, cabaret and other stage curiosities to truly honour the unique artistic heritage

The Depot Theatre brings a long lost and taboo play back to life with it’s upcoming production of Ghosts.

“It was a highly religious world in Norway in 1881 when Henrik Ibsen wrote Ghosts, both the Catholic and Lutheran churches were very prominent,” explained Emily McGowan, who plays housemaid Regina in the play.“The play couldn’t be performed straight away because it was so shocking to the audience at the time. Ghosts has a lot of elements outside what the Church considers a normal marriage. Ibsen puts things like incest on the stage, things nobody wanted to talk about. He’s saying ‘they actually happen, they actually effect people, I’m going to put it on the stage and show you’.A lot of women at the time covered up their husband’s sins in order to keep up appearances and maintain the family,” she added.

Ghosts is set in a big house on a remote Norwegian Fjord where the family is isolated from the rest of the world.The time frame has been moved forward to the 1950’s.

of Kings Cross. (JA) Until Oct 17. Blood Moon Theatre, 24 Bayswater Rd, Darlinghurst. $20-30+b.f.

Tickets & info: eventbrite.com.au WE, THE LOST COMPANY The Clockfire Theatre Company returns with their latest production for The Old 505 Theatre in the company’s newly built 70 seat theatre venue.

The metaphoric depths of ‘water’ and the myths of Mother Nature’s most mysterious element are explored in we, the lost company.

Evoking the beach series of Brett Whiteley, this production

Syphilis, incest, euthanasia, debauchery - so much of what happens in the play is taboo. It’s a melodrama. It’s so heavy.

The main character Mrs Alving keeps so much a secret that when things do come out in the open, it makes it all the more difficult.There’s the maternal love of Mrs Alving, the love for her son Oswald is so powerful she sacrifices his childhood and sends him away because she doesn’t want him learning the habits of his father, who liked to have affairs and liked to drink.There’s family love, romantic love and incestuous love.

“Ibsen doesn’t hold back.The characters have so much inner conflict.There’s so much for the actors to work with.That’s the best thing about Ghosts,” added McGowan. (MS) Oct 7 – 24.The Depot Theatre, 142 Addison Rd, Marrickville. $20-$29.

Tickets & info: thedepottheatre.com or email info@thedepottheatre.com

implements a combination of physical theatre, poetics and recorded memories from Sydney communities. (AM) Oct 13-31. Old 505 Theatre, 5 Eliza St, Newtown. $22-33+b.f.

Tickets & info: old505theatre.com MATILDA THE MUSICAL Roald Dahl’s story of a remarkably clever little girl with magical abilities has finally received the musical treatment. Matilda’s magical powers are down-played in favour of her other abilities – her brilliant storytelling and astonishing academic finesse, her piercing wit

and the devious pranks she plays on her neglectful parents. With a mesmerizing combination of music and staging to play up these devices – the lack of magic tricks is hardly a bother. The characters in this adaption strike a perfect balance between comic and authentic. This is a show with something for all age groups. Fans of Dahl and Tim Minchin’s music alike should be satisfied. (AM) Until October 25. Sydney Lyric Theatre, Pirrama Road, Pyrmont. $50-$150. Tickets & info: au.matildathemusical.com or ticketmaster.com.au city hub 1 OCTOBER 2015

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T H E NA K E D C I T Y

FUTURE SCHLOCK!

By Coffin Ed, Jay Katz and Miss Death There’s been a lot of public discussion about innovation lately, spurred on by the sudden Turnbull coup, and promising all variety of technical whizbangery.A technological fast speed train is about to leave the station and if we don’t jump on now, we’re all going to be left way, way behind.

Ever since H.G.Wells thousands of novelists, filmmakers, comic book artists and futurologists have been predicting a brave new world in which scientific advancement totally revolutionizes our everyday lives. Some of it like The Jetsons and Star Wars seems totally fanciful, but other manifestations like driverless cars and buses appear only decades away – if you believe the boffins from Silicon Valley.

Foreseeing the future has always been a dicey process and invariably the soothsayers overstep the mark – even allowing for the usual poetic licence.

You only have to look to Hollywood to see where reality has caught up with predictions made for the world in three or four decades later.When Ridley Scott made Blade Runner back in 1982, his dystopian vision of Los Angeles was years away in 2019.Today, that leaves only four years to get flying vehicles and replicants off the drawing board and into the mean streets of LA before the movie passes its use-by date.

Here in Sydney we seem to take the future with a large grain of salt, no real sense of foreboding and just a pragmatic acceptance that things are going to change – hopefully for the better but possibly also for the worse.At least the Sydney Town Hall has been earthquake-proofed and if the city suddenly collapses around it, we’ll still be able to check the time of day.

So what will Sydney look like in another fifty to a hundred years. No more cabbies and yes no more Uber drivers (ha, ha, ha) as a fleet of driverless cars

shuttle us from point A to point B. Robots (aka replicants), you might expect, will be everywhere – from flipping burgers in Maccas to manning the 7-Elevens, 24 hours a day.Woollies at Town Hall will be long gone but the massive neo-Stalinist civic square that once sat directly opposite the Town will have also disappeared, replaced by a one hundred storey casino, controlled by the Packer dynasty.

Elsewhere the rampaging high rises will have spread like a cancer consuming whole suburbs like Woolloomooloo and Glebe and reducing green areas like Hyde Park and the Domain to the size of a bed sheet.Virtual parks, accessed by dedicated computerised glasses, will in fact replace all public recreational areas, saving a fortune on horticulture, and freeing up vast areas of public land for even higher high rise.

As in nearly all futuristic cities, the streets and freeways will become inexorably clogged and we’ll embrace the ‘skyways’ to facilitate everything from pizza deliveries to the Sydney sightseeing bus.The family drone will quickly replace the family car and it won’t be long before the aerial routes become inexorably clogged as well.

Chances are we’ll then look to going underground as the city is criss-crossed by a subterranean maze of six lane motorways and motorised pedestrian walkways.

The chronic housing shortage will also force thousands underground as a new phenomenon appears; the ‘low rise’ – multi-storeyed apartment blocks

Danelle Bergstrom – Return

Return, presented by Arthouse Gallery, is the latest collection of oil paintings by acclaimed Australian artist Danelle Bergstrom.

Inspired by her own experiences and memories, Bergstrom paints a series of evocative and highly reflective landscape pieces inspired by the land around her enclave in Hill End. The dream-like sceneries have a sense of rawness about them, visible through the mixing of the fleeting shades of blue and earthly, grounded browns.

The artworks symbolise a journey of self-reflection and acceptance for the artist: “Although Hill End has NEAR KIN KIN As part of the newly revamped Art & About program, this soaring bamboo tower stands over 20 metres tall, situated in the high thoroughfare location of the forecourt of Customs House Square. This structural achievement has been a huge feat for design collaborate Cave Urban, based off a previous 12-metre construction for Sculptures by the Sea. The tower’s ties to nature reflect upon the many layers of Sydney Cove’s 16

city hub 1 OCTOBER 2015

a powerful presence imbued with its own history, it is my intensely personal relationship with the area that compels me to paint images inspired by the natural bush surrounds,” explained Bergstrom. “The actual location is relevant only in that it is infused with my memories and the feelings that they evoke, which make it seem to me that nature is capable of personifying and portraying my moods and emotions.” (ASha) Oct 15 – Nov 7. Arthouse Gallery, 66 McLachlan Avenue, Rushcutters Bay. Info: arthousegallery.com.au

history, and encourage bustling city commuters to step inside and be reminded be absorbed in the visual and acoustic tranquillity. (AM) Until Oct 11. Customs House Square forecourt.

Info: caveurban.com or artandabout.com.au STREETS OF PAPUNYA This exhibition unearths the tumultuous history of Papunya, a Western Desert town regarded as the birthplace of contemporary

Aboriginal painting. Curator Vivien Johnson tells the history of Papunya painting through artwork examples dating back to Albert Namatjira’s final paintings, executed in 1959, through to examples from the 1970s and 80s when the town was simultaneously experiencing it’s ‘glory days’ and dark times as the ‘carpetbagging capital of the desert’, and on to the modern renaissance. In particular, this exhibition showcases the remarkable art of the present day

descending hundreds of metres into the earth’s crust. Home to the city’s underclasses and public housing tenants, they will eventually lead to a new subgenus of Sydneysiders, the ‘mole people’, a group of cellar dwellers who almost never venture into the world above them – saving a fortune on UV cream and umbrellas in the process.

If it’s all a bit too much to take in, then ponder the words of American baseball player and homespun philosopher Yogi Berra and his immortal quote – “the future ain’t what it used to be”.We rest our case!

Wolf&Kitten – Outsider Art Show Street art meets tradition with the artistic duo Wolf&Kitten, whose collaborative art show will debut early this October. Dolan Reskov and Juliette Furio make up this dynamic pair, and together they create an entity that is colourful and expressive, beautiful and chaotic.

The exhibition will feature a number of their works, which combine bold visuals with sophisticated forms, celebrating art in all its glory.

“That it is my pathological need to question everything…that tends to mean that my paintings become quite layered,” explained Furio, who trained at the National Art School.

For Reskov, art is a means for expression and experimentation:“Composition is pivotal…it’s OK to do whatever you want – you are free!” he explained.

Furio’s controlled and balanced artistic style, combined with the raw power and creativity from Reskov’s background in graffiti, has created wild yet finely crafted works that will be on display at women painters of Papunya, celebrating of the reemergence of Papunya painting maintained by present day female painters as part of the Papunya Tjupi Arts Centre established in 2007. An exhibition that treats Aboriginal art and its history with regard and respect.

(AM) Until Nov 7, Tues–Sat, 10am-5pm. UNSW Galleries, cnr Oxford Street and Greens Road, Paddington.

Free. Info: artdesign.unsw.edu.au

Paddington RSL for one day and night only. Both artists have agreed to keep the exhibition casual, holding it locally, and allowing their guests a drink on the house while they enjoy the range of exciting sculptures and paintings. (NB) Oct 3. Paddington RSL, 220-232 Oxford St, Paddington. Free Event. Info: wolfnkitten.com or (02) 9332 8222

PEOPLE LIKE US This varied and excellently curated collection of works exploring the interrelationships between art, technology and the human experience; implementing video, sound and sculptural installations.

Interaction plays a key role in this exhibition, from George Poonkhin Khut’s Brighthearts app that invites you to control beautiful moving images through your heartbeat; Su-Mei Tse’s aurally immersive purring cat portraits;

Veloscape, an installation by Laura Fisher and Volker Kuchelmeister that takes you on a self-guided virtual bike tour through Sydney; and Inside – Topologies of Stroke, John McGhee’s virtual reality animation work that invites the viewer to explore the inner world inside our brains. (AM) Until Nov 7, Tues–Sat, 10am-5pm. UNSW Galleries, corner of Oxford Street and Greens Road. Free. Info: artdesign.unsw.edu.au

Sydney Live Music Guide LIVE WIRE

By Jamie Apps Pierce Brothers: Melbourne folk-pop duo and multiinstrumentalists Jack and Pat Pierce arrive in Sydney tonight to celebrate their new EP Into The Dirt, which was released last week. Returning home to Australia after touring the world with sell-out shows, the boys are sure to be bringing the energy and excitement with them onto the stage.

Thu, Oct 1, Newtown Social Club Marshall Okell: With his signature dirty blues sound, Okell has quickly become a recognisable and beloved name on the touring circuit. Now with his fourth album Sipping On Rocket Fuel arriving on record store shelves, he is upping the ante and touring even more intensely.

Fri, Oct 2,The Vanguard Little May – #Artforthecompany: Sydney band little may have taken a unique approach to satiating their creative appetite for the release of their debut album For The Company by producing an online art campaign which culminates with a physical exhibition and album release party this weekend.

Fri-Sun, Oct 2-4, Goodspace – Above The Lord Gladstone Hotel Robbie Miller: A natural at straddling the line between overtly emotive and restrained, singer songwriter Miller makes a much welcomed return to the music scene. Picking up where he left off by simultaneously warming or breaking hearts with his silky smooth voice and releasing his debut EP The Faster The Blood Slows, fans will be kicking themselves if they miss this show.

Sat, Oct 3,The Newsagency

Chunk! No, Captain Chunk: When you think pop-rock, France is probably the last place that comes to mind, but that is exactly where Chunk! No, Captain Chunk hail from. Returning to Australia for their first ever headline tour these shows could be the ultimate gateway drug for anybody with a fleeting interest in hardcore music, as they do a wonderful job of blending catchy pop elements with a driving and potent hardcore breakdowns.

Sun, Oct 4,The Bald Faced Stag Jazzgroove Presents: PILOT / Eamon Dillworth’s VIATA: This exciting Melbourne five piece have already released an EP, received generous radio play around the world, and played sold-out shows in both Melbourne and Europe whilst also placing second in the prestigious Europafest Jazz Competition in Bucharest in their short career to date. Playing in Sydney for the first time next week they will be performing a set of intricate arrangements with elements of jazz, rock and blues.

Tue, Oct 6, Foundry 616 Greg Nunan & The General Jacksons: Having honed his craft by travelling up and down the Australian east coast, performing as a resident in the Crazy Elephant Bar – Singapores home of jazz – and also touring internationally. It is now time for Greg and his band to return home and once again hit the Aussie roads with their chunky guitar riffs and authentic songs which have them pegged as one to watch for all blues and roots fans.

Wed, Oct 7, Frankie’s Pizza

Lost Ragas Jamie Apps Before heading out into the vast desert mountains of the Flinders Ranges, Matt Walker of Lost Ragas spoke with City Hub about the bands upcoming busy tour schedule.

Matt was in extremely high spirits ahead of his week-long trek, and hopes that while out there he will find inspiration and return recharged for the tour:“I’m actually in the middle of getting my pack together and sorting out my food. I’ve done a bit of hiking and camping before but this is another level, we’re (Matt’s son and some of his own friends) hiking for five or six days and sleeping out under the stars.Then I come back and a day later I start doing gigs, I’ll either be really refreshed or half dead and malnourished,” he said laughingly.

Lost Ragas initially came together a somewhat of a side project for Matt and Shane Reilly, but they instantly found a connection that saw them bringing in Roger Bergodaz and Simon Bourke to tour together, which organically shifted into a more collective band feel.“We’re all a similar age and have been playing for a long time, so we’re all pretty established in what we do, so when something clicks and feels right it’s pretty obvious from the start,” said Matt.

The story of the bands evolution into essentially the ‘main project’ for the four members is extremely interesting.When Matt initially approached Roger and Simon he had actually expected them to be playing different

instruments than what they actually wound up playing for the band. Roger was originally intended to be the drummer but when asked to join was “really digging bass”, and Simon who is usually a hammond organ player and singer had coincidently been enjoying playing drums at home, so everything fell into place neatly.“Part of the reason we’ve stuck together so tightly and why it feels so good is because everybody is doing something they really want to do, and in their cases it’s playing a second instrument they don’t usually play, so they’re enjoying the challenge and freshness that brings,” said Matt.

Even though his gruelling trek was foremost on his mind (purely because of its imminency), Matt was clearly just as excited to hit the road with the band after taking a brief time off, as he described the bands excitement levels:“We love playing live and do so regularly. If we don’t play anywhere for a month or so we actually get a bit unsettled, so we’re really looking forward to all of our gigs.” (JA) Oct 23. Lazybones Lounge, 294 Marrickville Rd, Marrickville. $15.Tickets & info: lazyboneslounge.com.au

Oh Wonder - Oh Wonder

Wilding – Molecules to Moons

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The opening third of Oh Wonder’s debut self-titled album kicks things off in fantastic fashion with some extremely catchy dreamy electronic pop songs, sadly though the magic falls away sharply from there.

Perhaps it was the unorthodox release method chosen by the duo, where they released each individual track month by month before unveiling the full record. After the first five tracks it seems they found a successful formula and tried hard to duplicate that, making the remainder of the album too blurred and simplistic. (JA)

Molecules to Moons has a deliciously nostalgic vibe to it, reminiscent of many years past. It is bouncy and upbeat without being tinny or thin – bringing the sixties back and revamping them for our musically saturated age.

Wilding’s flowy psychedelic beats move steadily and with some force into the brain.They filter downwards through the body, covering the muscles, trailing through the veins, and eventually pooling around the heart.The sound fills the listener up, reaching up into the muscles of the mouth, building foundations under the smiles corners. Each song is short and should be listened to in a group to keep this music’s liquid glow alive in the listener.

This music is beautiful, it is really fun and it is affecting, it will leave a lasting memory in the whole body long after it is turned off. (SP)

NotIfICatIoN of aborIgINal HErItagE ImPaCt assEssmENt, aNd INvItatIoN for rEgIstratIoNs of INtErEst – UNIvErsIty of sydNEy, darlINgtoN aNd CamPErdowN CamPUsEs The University of Sydney is proposing to undertake an Aboriginal Heritage Impact Assessment (AHIA) to inform the redevelopment of six future Campus Improvement Program (CIP) precincts around the University of Sydney. Contact details for the proponent are: Ian Kelly, E: ian.kelly@sydney.edu.au, P: 02 9351 2222.

Registrations are invited from Aboriginal individuals and organisations, who may hold cultural knowledge for the area relevant to determining the significance of Aboriginal objects and/or places and who wish to be involved in the community consultation process.

The purpose of the Aboriginal community consultation is to assist in preparing the AHIA for the project area, and obtaining Aboriginal Heritage Impact Permits if required.

Registrations of interest should be provided by no later than OctObeR 15, 2015 to AlAn WilliAms at AHms, by: Phone: (02) 9555 4000, Fax: (02) 9555 7005 email: awilliams@ahms.com.au

POst: 2/729 elizabeth street, Waterloo, nsW 2017 city hub 1 OCTOBER 2015

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Sicario On the surface, Sicario appears to be yet another thriller exploring the never ending war on drugs, pitting bad guys against worse guys.

But this intense film is much deeper and cerebral.

Reminiscent of films such as The Silence Of The Lambs, Zero Dark Thirty and Camp X-Ray – which all place female protagonists in the lead role in male dominated worlds – it explores this interesting dynamic along with the consequences of the confronting violence happening all around them.

Emily Blunt as Kate Macer provides a wonderful performance, as the viewer follows along with her as she struggles to comprehend and discover the true intentions of the task force she is assigned to in order to finally make a difference in the war on drugs.

The Intern

Director Denis Villeneuve and cinematographer Roger Deakins combine expertly to build the tension, without being overtly graphic in the depiction of violence but maintaining that weight and sense of finality to every shot fired, as it slowly suffocates the viewer and keeps them guessing as to who the real bad guy is. (JA) WWWW

LONDON ROAD This film adaption of the National Theatre’s production by the same name musically showcases the effects the 2006 Ipswich prostitute murders had on the local community.

Described as a musical, mystery and a thriller – London Road is seemingly a documentary in the opening

FILM CUT SNAKE This gritty and violent Australian psychological crime-thriller is set in Melbourne in the mid 1970’s, and centres on a man who is drawn back to the dark world of crime.

Sparra (Alex Russell) has closed the door on his past, works an honest job and is engaged to his girlfriend (Jessica De Gouw), but his dark secrets resurface when Pommie (Sullivan Stapleton) an ex-con, shows up at his doorstep.There’s a strangeness between these characters which permeates throughout.Their relationship is awkwardly pretentious and Sparra is quietly terrified.This is not a great film, but Stapleton’s performance as the unnerving psychopath is praiseworthy and should lead to greater roles. (MMo) WWW BLINKY BILL THE MOVIE Australia’s iconic Blinky Bill, the adventurous koala affectionately regarded as something of a national treasure, returns to the silver screen in his latest big adventure.When his father vanishes whilst on an 18

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sequences, as middle class residents of London Road are interviewed before the musical elements set in.

The exact words from actual interviews revealing the community’s lingering paranoia and unease are transformed into chilling and unsettling songs, incorporated into many overwhelming musical numbers.

The murdered girls and serial killer Steve Wright are only mentioned, as this is the story of the local community, their attempt to rid the area of prostitutes, the bleakness after the bodies were discovered and their resilience for new beginnings.

Movie-goers who detest contemporary musicals may be pleasantly surprised by the innovative approach, the catchy tunes and choreography in this haunting and triumphant film. (MMo) WWWW

exploration trip, Blinky Bill leaves his home in Green Patch on a quest to find him.

A fine cast of Australian acting talent provide the voices in this mammoth CGI feature. Mesmerizing, colourful and a delight to watch, this film showcases the beauty of the great Australian outdoors. Scary scenes and dark characters could potentially have evolved a frightening film experience for the much younger children, but these elements were cleverly negated by the zany characters, humorous sequences and dialogue. (MMo) WWW PIXELS These days you can almost hear the world collectively groan at the term ‘new Adam Sandler movie’.

Thankfully, Sandler is a semblance of a grown-up in Pixels – a comedy packed full of retro video game nostalgia such as Pac-Man, Donkey Kong and Centipede.The concept may be fun, but the story is weak – aliens misinterpret a record of life sent to space in the ‘80s as a declaration of war and respond by challenging the earth.They adapt themselves to look like old-school video games — and

give the people of earth three attempts at saving the planet. Sandler plays child arcade prodigy, Sam Brenner who is enlisted to help lead the defence. (LL) WW ODDBALL Along the lines of Babe and Red Dog comes the inspiring true story of a farmer who, with the help of his dog, saves an entire colony of dying penguins and revives tourism in his small seaside town.This ‘magical’ (the narrator reminds us repeatedly) tale involves an eccentric chicken farmer (brilliantly acted by Shane Jackson) and his clever granddaughter (Coco Jack Gillies), alongside a mischievous dog (Oddball), cute fairy penguins and sly foxes.There is enough heart and humor to please both young and adults alike. Director Stuart McDonald brings depth to the characters, Oddball is Australian cinema come of age. (JR) WWW1/2 HOW TO CHANGE THE WORLD The 70s was a period of great change, brought about from the clash of the conservative order with emerging progressive social and political values.Amidst the chaos and upheaval Greenpeace was born,

Ben Whittaker (Robert DeNiro) is a 70-year-old widower who finds himself bored and underwhelmed in his retirement. He seizes an opportunity to take up a senior internship position at an online fashion start-up, where he is immediately a hit with everyone - except for company founder Jules Ostin (Anne Hathaway), who is finding herself overwhelmed with the pressures of running her own company.

At the initial idea of Hollywood heavyweights DeNiro and Hathaway paired up as an ‘odd couple’ (spinning on not one but two usual tropes: age and gender) working office jobs like regular people, you’d be forgiven for preparing yourself for something lacking in substance. Set expectations aside however, and settle in for an all-round delightful romp through an emotional and modern human journey.

The Intern provides a fairly measured (if not adding environmentalism to the agenda. How To Change The World chronicles the rise of the organisation, drawing on unseen archival footage, voiceover excerpts from Greenpeace founder Bob Hunter’s writing and interviews with fellow activists including his wife Bobbi Hunter.There are some poignant scenes to be found in Greenpeace’s first expedition to stop Russian whaling vessels off the Californian coast in 1975. It also serves as a stark reminder of the importance that Greenpeace’s work accomplishes. (ASim) WWW1/2 KILL ME THREE TIMES In more ways than one, this movie offers nothing new.This said, from the moment Simon Pegg says that loved yet despised four letter word that thou-shall-not-say-to-your-parent, the movie offers a unique element which defines good cinema: entertainment!

Kill Me Three Times is a blood-soaked, darkly comic-action thriller that tells the story of an assassin (Pegg) who is hired to kill a woman (Alice Braga) of a sun-drenched Western Australian town, but finds himself in the middle of

gimmicky) look into the hectic office life of a start-up business that is growing much quicker than anyone can keep up with.The contrast of Ben’s traditional workplace sensibilities make for genuine moments of hilarity, and anyone who has ever felt overwhelmed in an office job will laugh and cry in solidarity with his millennial co-workers.You should spot some familiar actors from various other comedies, and some faces you’ll hope to see again.

Most refreshing of all however, is watching a fictional relationship evolve between a younger woman and an older man that doesn’t feel pressured to head in a romantic direction. DeNiro is genuinely endearing as Ben, and Hathaway’s complex character gradually emerges as her life and challenges are revealed. (AM) WWW1/ 2

mayhem, chaos and blackmail. It is told thrice from different perspectives and time-frames; not genuine, but amazingly fun to watch. (JR) WWWW GAYBY BABY This extraordinary Australian documentary delves into the lives of a few same-sex couples with children, and asks whether they can simultaneously provide both the mothering and fathering skills to raise a family.These families’ lives are put under the microscope as cameras follow them, their parenting skills showcased and open for public scrutiny. Revealing interviews, notably with the the children (who have been told their parents have “sinned against God”) are thought-provoking, effectively illustrating their concerns for their families. (MMo) WWW1/2 LIFE Based on the true story of photographer Dennis Stock’s (Robert Pattinson) encounters and experiences working with the iconic and mysterious movie star James Dean (Dane Dehaan); Life unfolds just as Dean’s film East of Eden is about to be released.What follows is the tale

of a friendship that developed between one of the most famous names in Hollywood and an awkward but pushy photographer who is commissioned by LIFE magazine in 1955 to take pictures of Dean.

Featuring some amazing shots, Life does justice to Stock’s interpretation of Dean.This is a different perspective on Dean’s life, which is touching to watch. (JR & JRoth) WWW1/ 2 HOLDING THE MAN An endearing love story based on the memoirs of Tim Conigrave, which centres on two teenagers who met in a catholic boy’s high school in Melbourne in the 1970’s, and their romance which kindled a fifteen year relationship.This heart-breaking story deals with the prejudice and disapproval Tim Conigrave (Ryan Corr) and John Caleo (Craig Scott) experienced and the promiscuity which led to their ultimate battle with aids. Corr delivers an intense and highly emotional performance, supported by veteran actors Anthony La Paglia, Guy Pierce and Geoffrey Rush. (MMo) WWWW1/2

Kings Court Massage Kings Court is the only place that has twenty two massage rooms and eleven hot tubs, spas, and bubble baths.

Wall to wall beautiful ladies, pool tables and luxurious leather lounges. You can have a coffee and enjoy the friendly atmosphere.

Approachable managers help you choose a lady for your massage.

There is a fair queing system and no hidden charges or credit card fees. We are just along from Central Railway at 261 Parramatta Rd Glebe, Sydney NSW 2037 Phone 02 9660 0666 Its a $10.00 Taxi Ride from the CBD Visit our web site at

www.kingscourt.com.au We are open 9 am to 1 am and 24 hours on Weekends. There is a 20% discount from 9 am to 12 noon & FREE ENTRY before 9 pm each day.

After 9pm there is a $20 entry fee that protects the massage ladies from dealing with men who have no intention of being polite.

Parking is available in the Broadway Shopping Centre near our discreet rear entrance at 18 Grose St Glebe.

Check out the website for information, funny stuff and pictures of pretty women. There are no photos of the regular girls as they are too shy. We don’t provide full service.

Also check out our Facebook to see a mixture of really funny pics, photos, stories and links to the best pages of our website. This is updated regularly:

www.facebook.com/Kingscourtmassage

Kings Court Massage: Where the first time customer can meet the first time massage girl!

VACANCIES Kings Court is the best place to learn adult massage. You

can work with us part time or casual. Work times can suit students or young mothers. We have off street parking for ladies with cars and for your interview you can park in the Broadway Shopping Centre near our discreet rear entry at 18 Grose Street Glebe 2037 with two hours free parking. The Grose St address is the best way to find us using GPS plotting.

Ring us on 02 9660 0666 Some ladies from out of town stay over when they visit. We have the bestest and sweetest customers of any place. The website is www.kingscourt.com.au Have a look at, “Is this your first time” and see the ten tips that help customers to understand how we do business.

Hi, this is Big John the owner of Kings Court Massage.

This week the cartoon advertising pays homage to the TV program “Lost in Space.” This week we have another of the recurring story where St James who is a rich bastard tries to figure out where the boys are going for fun. Each week you can see how things don’t work out for him due to his personality of being a prick. Naturally the guys do not want him to mess up things for them at their favourite place. Here at Kings Court Massage we have a simple test that keeps the wrong men out. It is coincidental that the kind of person who is likely to be a trouble maker or demanding of the girls will not pay the $20.00 non refundable entry fee and is not admitted while at the same time nice, polite and considerate men never hesitate to pay.

VACANCIES We are currently looking for new ladies who would like to do a massage with a happy ending. It is a safe place to work, where you do not do full service. Everyone can handle a discrete financial boost, especially as tax time is approaching.

It is ideal as a part time or casual job and you are paid cash daily. When you start we get one of the regular girls to show you how to do your first massage.

We do have the bestest and sweetest customers of any place. The website is: www.kingscourt.com.au The best new thing we have at the moment is all the really funny stuff on our Facebook page: www.facebook.com/Kingscourtmassage

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FREE FRESH FOOD COOKING DEMONSTRATIONS @ PADDY’S FLEMINGTON • VISIT WEBSITE FOR SCHEDULE

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city hub 1 OCTOBER 2015