CityNews 210422

JON STANHOPE / THE RIGHTS AND WRONGS OF REMEMBERING WAR SERVICE Phantom bull sends policemen scattering in fear

NICHOLE OVERALL

Don’t mess with Master Tom – or his kid’s phone!

IAN MEIKLE

Where the lobster is the star

WENDY JOHNSON APRIL 22, 2021

ROBBED WHILE SLEEPING

ROBERT MACKLIN shares the horror of waking to a burglary in his bedroom

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NEWS / Housing ACT

Tenant trapped in a wheelchair nightmare

By Danielle

NOHRA AFTER more than 35 years of hell, Dianne Corcoran, a woman living with spina bifida, has had enough of Housing ACT putting her in homes that aren’t disability modified.

Dianne, 53, of Nicholls, has been placed in three homes in that time that were inappropriate for someone who uses a motorised wheelchair.

It’s been a nightmare, according to Dianne, who says two homes before her current one, she was put in a splitlevel flat in Kingston, where she had to “bum it” up and down the stairs.

She had to leave three tripod sticks around the house to move around because she couldn’t use her wheelchair.

Dianne was then moved to a onebedroom flat in north Lyneham where, she says, the bathroom was too small and the shower stuck out too far, so she couldn’t get to the toilet.

“It was not wheelchair-friendly at all,” she says.

Fed up with being placed in unmodified homes, she took her complaint to a local TV news service, demanding a disability-friendly home.

INDEX

A few days after the interview Housing ACT got her a new home – the one she’s in now – but it wasn’t modified either; no ramps, no front-door railings, no bathroom modifications and no patio.

She’d felt pressured to move in, accusing Housing ACT of saying she’d go to the bottom of the waitlist if she didn’t.

Initially, Dianne says she had to borrow a ramp from a friend to get into the house, then she had to fight to get the back ramp done. It was made of wood and lasted only two years.

“It rotted, and then I fell over it,” she says.

“The ambulance had to come and lift me up off the ground. I was stranded out there for hours.”

It’s since been replaced but the big issue since day one has been the width of doorways, she says.

“They are too small. Getting through the door is a nightmare.

Sometimes it takes about five minutes,” she says.

“The door has ripped the side of the chair and has cracked the controller, which would cost about $5000 to replace.”

She says her requests to have the doors widened have been met with excuse after excuse, including it being a structural issue.

But Dianne says she’s had a build-

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Ph 02 6189 0777 Fax 02 6189 0778 9b/189 Flemington Rd, Mitchell 2911

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Housing ACT tenant Dianne Corcoran demonstrates the difficulty she has getting out of her front door.

Photo: Danielle Nohra ing engineer and builder look at the problem and both told her there was no reason the brick couldn’t be shaved back to widen the door.

Recently, Dianne says Housing ACT demurred on what she believed was the offer of a “Class C” house in Taylor in July. A Class C house is a specially modified building with wider door frames to allow for wheelchair movement.

“They got my hopes up high,” she says.

“I wouldn’t mind having a modern,

Managing Director: James Anderson, 0404 077605, james@citynews.com.au Director: Kate Meikle, kate@citynews.com.au Senior advertising account executives: David Cusack, 0435 380656 Tracey Avery, 0477 939999 Advertising account executives: Damien Klemke, 0439 139001 Karen Davis, 0427 410442 Editor: Ian Meikle, editor@citynews.com.au Digital news editor: Danielle Nohra, danielle@citynews.com.au Journalists: Andrew Mathieson, andrew@citynews.com.au Nick Overall, nick@citynews.com.au Belinda Strahorn, belinda@citynews.com.au; Nathan Schmidt, nathan@citynews.com.au Kathryn Vukovljak, kathryn@citynews.com.au Arts editor: Helen Musa, helen@citynews.com.au Production manager: Janet Ewen Proof reader: Glenda Anderson Distribution manager: Cameron Sparks

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bigger house to get around in, but if they’re not going to give me a new house, then do this house up.”

However, a spokeswoman for Housing ACT said the Allocations Unit and Growth and Renewal Program does not “promise” clients homes before delivery and allocation.

Dianne is adamant she was and says: “This whole situation has been stressful and very, very tiring. I’ve ended up in hospital more than a dozen times because of the stress.”

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Dianne’s dilemma isn’t uncommon among the disability community, with Advocacy for Inclusion CEO Nicolas Lawler saying the current housing wait times for people with a disability are about three years.

“There’s a complete shortage of housing,” he says.

As for placing someone, like Dianne, in an unmodified home, Nicolas says it’s putting their welfare at risk and is not appropriate.

“I understand the need for urgency in terms of there’s a house here, this person needs a house, let’s just get them into the house, but if they can’t do anything when they’re in there, it’s bad for the person’s welfare,” he says.

“More attention is needed and certainly more housing-specific homes are needed within the ACT, but more importantly there needs to be that broader consultation with people who have a disability to ensure that their needs are met.”

It’s something that Housing ACT believes it is doing, with its spokeswoman saying it’s committed to providing safe, accessible and affordable housing for people with disabilities.

“During the application and assessment process, Housing ACT gathers information on disability requirements and uses this to inform the offer and allocation of a property that is suitable to the individual’s needs,” she says.

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SEVEN DAYS

Don’t mess with Master Tom… or his kid’s phone MASTER Tom Adam is a 6th dan black belt in hapkido, a Korean form of grinding self-defence that relies on joint locks, grappling, throwing techniques, kicks, punches and other striking attacks.

Clearly, Tom is someone you don’t mess with, but one Canberra miscreant was testing the master’s patience recently.

First, some more about Tom. Unsurprisingly, he’s the principal of the Canberra Martial Arts and Fitness studio in Phillip, which he founded 10 years ago. He’s been teaching hapkido for 15 years.

He is eloquent and articulate and told me during an interview on 2CC’s “CityNews Sunday Roast” program that his business had a hard time

Tom Adam… don’t mess with the master. through the covid year, but there were others worse off that he stood up for as the Phillip Business Community president. He is emerging as someone, politically, you don’t mess with, either.

But back to the dope who was chancing his arm. Tom’s daughter’s iPhone 11 was stolen in Civic, outside the merry-go-round, on the afternoon of April 8.

Tom remotely switched it to something called “lost mode” and put a message on his daughter’s phone asking the person who had it to call him.

With breathtaking stupidity, the plonker who had the phone called Tom from his own number and said: “Who the fxxk is this?”

“The guy who owns the phone,” said Tom and the man hung up.

Tom cheerfully posted the man’s number on Facebook, which inspired scores of other people to call the clown and tell him to hand the phone back. Nothing doing.

Using the Find-My-Phone app, the mobile was traced to a home in Gungahlin and six-dan Tom went a’calling, but the guy answering the door claimed not to have it.

Undaunted, Tom sent a message to the stolen phone asking for it to be left in a public place where he could trace and recover it, and a few days ago Tom got a call from two young girls who’d found the mobile in Civic.

The thief was too dumb to wipe the numbers he’d called from the phone and Tom’s been through them, tracked the man’s identity and told the police. You don’t mess with Master Tom. HITS and memories radio station 2CA is on something of a ratings roll.

The first survey results are out and it’s posting the best numbers anyone at the station can remember. Their collective memories can get back only 27 years, but that’s a millennium

A BETTER FUTURE

tired, old FM breakfast radio formula.

It’s real local radio with real local personalities.”

Jen’s no stranger to broadcasting and is a podcast host, producer, educator and has had a hand in the creation of local, national and international podcasts.

Radio stars pray for ratings… not really, it’s 2CA’s new breakfast duo Jen Seyderhelm and Paul Holmes. in the radio game.

The station, a favourite of former Red Hill resident Paul Keating, got an overall 2.7 per cent jump, with individual announcers Jason Costa up in mornings 3.1 per cent, which at 10.9 per cent gets him ahead of FM rivals Hit 104.7 – a rare treat for people on the AM band. Drive announcer Cathy Dinn was also up by 2.4 per cent.

But the interesting rise is in the breakfast slot with Paul Holmes, who jumped 2.5 per cent. Interesting

because the station is going to parlay the momentum of his 7 per cent market share into a new, “real local radio” format, with a new face – Jen Seyderhelm – joining the breakfast show.

Here I declare an interest having worked with Jen on 2CC. She is sharp, bright and so much fun to share a microphone with.

More pertinently, program director Pete Davidson says: “It’s a no-brainer to pair up Holmsey and Jen for breakfast. This isn’t the same

DEPRESSING news in the revelation that the average Australian will spend 16.6 years of their life on their mobile phone (that’s 33 per cent of their waking hours). According to a survey of 1000 people by reviews. org, we spend 5.5 hours per day on average messing with the phone.

Gen Zers spend the most time on their phone (7.3 hours a day), Millennials (6.7 hours), Gen X (6 hours) and Baby Boomers (2.9 hours).

A CALL out to the gentlemen of the Goodwin Homes Monash Men’s Shed who invited me over for a yarn.

I’d never been in a men’s shed before and it was full of fraternal warmth.

These blokes are happy to help with charity projects and make stuff for fund-raising stalls. Jim Crane, at neredahandjim@gmail.com, would be the man to contact.

Ian Meikle is the editor of “CityNews” and can be heard on the “CityNews Sunday Roast” news and interview program, 2CC, 9am-noon.

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CANBERRA MATTERS

Time for leadership in good landscape design A PAMPHLET arrived in Dickson letterboxes that won’t bring much joy to the other areas of the city. It announced that $3 million is to be spent on Woolley Street, Dickson.

This will do little to balance how funds are spent across Canberra.

And, by the way – not many in Dickson were exactly jumping for joy at this news, either.

This is the same City Renewal Authority that delivered little to write home about in the way of design. Loads of pop-ups, temporary structures and faded paint here and there. Expensive distractions while cookie-cutter apartment buildings appear in greater numbers.

The authority recently boasted about the City Walk upgrades in Civic. This has brought in more chairs, planter boxes, a grassed area and adornments along City Walk. It works because there are more seats.

But somehow it doesn’t quite work. It looks like left-overs cobbled together to do something “modern”. Did anyone from the outsider-dominated authority take time to understand Civic’s open spaces?

The area has been redesigned every couple of years over the last few decades. It’s not the design of open spaces that needs the attention. It continues to be that the Canberra Centre attracts people away from the shops

The need for design leadership in urban matters needs to be treated seriously to allow Canberra to regain some credibility in landscape design – what the place used to be about. around the open areas. Frequent tarting up of these spaces seems like a waste of money when the unresolved issue is what to do to bring shoppers into these open plazas.

Despite all these distractions, there are many good shops in the open plazas around Civic, but obviously not enough foot traffic to keep certain businesses operating outside the Canberra Centre mall.

ANOTHER piece of design has been the Northbourne landscaped works that accompanied the light rail.

In 2015, an ACT minister stated that: “Following the introduction of light rail, the Northbourne Avenue corridor will continue to be a treelined boulevard that is designed and landscaped to be a grand entrance to the national capital”.

The wild grasses look better than the often-dead patchwork of lawns that previously made up the

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An artist’s impression from 2015 of the Northbourne Avenue tramline. centre landscapes along Northbourne Avenue. Those former gums were magnificent even if they did have the habit of falling over. They’ve gone – so let’s not revisit all that.

Will the replacement trees and landscapes provide a grand entrance to this city? I hope they do soon, being sometime in the next couple of years.

In the first year there was a lot of weeds but the maintenance seems to have now caught up and the wild grasses are now dominating.

What was published in the pre-construction publicity is yet to be realised. I recall from 2015 that there were images of an abundance of flowers among the grasses (see top image). Fingers crossed that this is still to happen because along with more mature trees, that will make the

whole corridor work. Definitely like those swaying wild grasses.

The corridor design was pre-City Renewal Authority, so there is a good chance it will look like something designed for Canberra rather than some ideas plonked here from elsewhere. Using local designers works, apparently.

I HAVE asked several colleagues to name good public-garden design or landscape work delivered recently somewhere in Canberra.

Everyone has struggled and often has been derisive about some of what

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is being done in the name of design.

No-one was thrilled about what was done along Constitution Avenue – or at least they didn’t accept the hype.

It has benefitted from some overdue maintenance recently.

The city is overdue to have a design leader and a team of experts who insist on good landscape design for large and small public works throughout the whole city – and ensure we get more people-friendly parks and gardens (especially in and around Woden).

The need for design leadership in urban matters needs to be treated seriously to allow Canberra to regain some credibility in landscape design – what the place used to be about.

Hopefully, someone in this Labor/ Greens government understands why landscape design is important.

Paul Costigan is an independent commentator and consultant on the visual arts, photography, urban design, environmental issues and everyday matters.

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POLITICS / infrastructure

Secrets, sales and power of public ownership REVELATIONS at a Senate inquiry from the former CEO Christine Holgate on Australia Post’s parcel delivery service raises critical questions about infrastructure for community good.

The Boston Consulting Group’s secret recommendations on privatisation of the parcel delivery service were a bombshell exposé of a government with an ongoing agenda to transfer successful public enterprise into private hands.

Community infrastructure is a public good. Unfortunately, it is often in the sights of the conservative elements of politics. There have been successes, such as the privatisation of Qantas, Commonwealth Bank and Telstra, and these are used as justifications for further similar actions.

However, the cost to the public has been constant as may be illustrated by the sale of government buildings that are then leased back from the private sector.

How much better off would

There are valid criticisms of government handling of infrastructure. Roads always seem to be overcrowded long before they are upgraded. The National Broadband Network has not gone well. the taxpayer have been if government buildings, such as the Department of Foreign Affairs RG Casey building, remained in public hands?

Australia Post’s parcel delivery service has been keeping up with the times. Online purchasing has resulted in an explosion in the need for parcel delivery. At the same time, the letter elements of the postal service have seen a commensurate drop – with letters rapidly giving way to email and other forms of electronic messaging.

Despite these changes, paper deliveries still remain an important part of our wide network of communication.

If the only measure was financial viability, our postal service would probably close down. It is not the only measure. Building and retaining a sense of community has never been more important than since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Selling off the financially lucrative

part of a business, when it can be used to support the struggling arm, misses the big picture. There are plenty of private delivery services and they remain in competition with Australia Post.

The postal infrastructure that supports the parcel delivery system, and Australia Post more broadly, is an important community asset. In so many small towns and in suburban parts of our cities throughout this nation the small businesses that are engaged in postal and parcel services ensure a community vibrancy, engagement and access that would not otherwise be possible.

We ought to have learnt our lesson with electricity. Over the past couple of decades Australian jurisdictions have privatised different elements of their electricity infrastructure.

As Prof John Quiggin, of the School of Economics at Queensland University, argued: “When new investment became necessary in the early 2000s, the result was a dramatic upsurge in prices. This was primarily because the National Electricity Market

Prof John Quiggin… “When new investment [in electricity infrastructure] became necessary in the early 2000s, the result was a dramatic upsurge in prices.” regulatory system allowed rates of return on capital far higher than those needed to finance the system under public ownership”.

Australia is paying the penalty.

As Australians have rapidly adopted rooftop solar it is the grids that are having trouble keeping up with the demand. The infrastructure has not been upgraded to meet the growing need.

The chance for strong environmental action at the personal and local level has been undermined by ideology of privatisation and government actions.

There are valid criticisms of government handling of infrastructure. Roads always seem to be overcrowded long before they are upgraded. The National Broadband Network has not gone well.

However, where governments have their hands tied because they do not own the infrastructure, the situation is so much worse.

Of course, governments do have the opportunity to invest to support private businesses. The proposed government infrastructure support of more than $4 billion for the Adani coal mine provides a relatively recent example.

The electricity infrastructure issue goes way beyond rooftop solar on homes.

There is a huge solar farm on the outskirts of Broken Hill that is illustrative. It is ideally located to take advantage of the sun and should be significantly boosting the grid at minimal ongoing costs.

Unfortunately, it regularly runs way below capacity as the ageing grid cannot handle the amount of electricity that is produced by that plant.

Australia Post has been at risk for a number of years. The parcel service has provided a Phoenix-like solution to ensure a viable service supporting the whole business. It makes no sense to sell off the viable part and allow the rest to wallow.

Michael Moore is a former member of the ACT Legislative Assembly and an independent minister for health. He has been a political columnist with “CityNews” since 2006.

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NEWS / profile

Bec Cody has a new life... and the weekends off!

By Belinda

STRAHORN BEC Cody’s journey to work, as a former Labor backbencher, led her through the corridors of power.

Now as chief executive at the ACT Mental Health Community Coalition, her daily commute – past rough sleepers – has a far more sobering effect.

Ms Cody, 48, draws perspective from her journey to work, which takes her past the homeless regularly camped outside her Civic-based office.

“Seeing the homeless gather outside the office is really tough,” Ms Cody told “CityNews”.

“There is always more that can be done, however it takes a multitude of ideas to create a solution, and I am humbled to be part of an organisation that helps advocate for better support for homeless people.”

Ms Cody, who lost her seat at last year’s election, is weeks into her new role with the coalition, which acts as the peak body for community-based mental health services in the ACT. The former Murrumbidgee MLA, hopes her well-trodden path in politics will help secure precious funding for a suite of mental-health organisations

operating on a “shoestring budget”.

“The work the organisations do, that we represent, is incredible and they don’t get the support they should,” said Ms Cody.

“Mental ill health is a real talking point at the moment, which is fabulous, because hopefully it will make it less of a taboo subject, but for all the good work that our member organisations do, the funding that they receive needs to be increased.”

Having endured her own struggles with mental health and domestic violence, and supporting a son with autism, Ms Cody believes the biggest challenge for mental health remains lifting the stigma attached to the illness.

“I’ve been through a lot in life, I left a violent relationship, I am a single mum, I raised my two boys with my eldest son struggling with his own battles and I’ve studied and worked full time,” Ms Cody said.

“Everyone is battling their own demons, everyone has their own story and we need to be mindful of that.”

Sydney born but Kambah raised, Ms Cody’s political awakening occurred at the age of nine.

“I was devastated to learn they were bulldozing the horse paddocks near my house in Kambah to build Gleneagles Estate and that’s when I took part in my first activism,” Ms Cody said.

But before gravitating to a career

Bec Cody… “It’s nice to be me and not Bec Cody the politician anymore.”

Photo: Belinda Strahorn in politics, Ms Cody worked as a hairdresser and salon owner.

An early school leaver, she later returned to study, putting herself through a degree in law and politics before entering the public service.

In 2016 she was elected to the ACT Legislative Assembly.

Ms Cody said joining the Labor Party in the early 2000s was a turning point in her life.

“I met some incredible women there, women who would stand up for what they believed in, women who showed

a strength that I’d forgotten about,” Ms Cody said.

It was her dad who invited her to a party meeting where she would find a supportive community and draw encouragement from female elders who helped her find her strength to leave a controlling first marriage.

“Sneaking out and going to Labor Party meetings gave me the strength to leave my marriage,” she said.

Ms Cody remarried and later split up with her second husband.

While she has enjoyed a lengthy

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association with the Labor Party and has a strong family background within the movement, she has felt a weight removed from her shoulders not having to play the part of a politician.

Despite being “disappointed” about losing her seat, time away from politics has given Ms Cody the opportunity to reflect on the personal contribution she wishes to make going forward.

“It’s nice to be me and not Bec Cody the politician anymore,” Ms Cody said.

“Again, there were advantages to that but there’s lots of advantages to being just me.”

One of those freedoms is having her weekends back.

“It’s been really nice to take my dog for a walk, get my nails done and enjoy some downtime, I know that sounds really pathetic but I haven’t had a weekend off in 34 years, I’ve been working since I was 14,” Ms Cody said.

Cody’s diverse occupations coupled with broad life experience will serve her well in her new role as an advocate for the less fortunate.

The path Cody travels each day serves as a constant reminder, not that she needs it, of the work yet to be done eliminating injustice and inequality from the community.

“I’ve always been really serious and committed to the causes I’m passionate about, that won’t change, no matter what role I’m in,” she said.

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POLITICS / war memorial expansion

Rights and wrongs of remembering war service

Albert Jacka, the first Australian to be awarded the Victoria Cross in World War I.

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Jon Stanhope was chief minister from 2001 to 2011 and represented Ginninderra for the Labor Party from 1998. He is the only chief minister to have governed with a majority in the Assembly.

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are dead as is my brother Tony. I am nevertheless certain, if I was able to ask them or my brother Simon, Robyn’s uncle Max or indeed my quartet of great uncles buried somewhere in France, if they supported a half-billion-dollar expansion of a war memorial in order to better reflect or honour their service or that of all other service men and women who have given or risked their lives in war, that they would all answer with a resounding: “No”.

But they would say that, wouldn’t they?

In the last month, I’ve been reading books relating to World War I and what prompted me to write about the

The procedure in that little room was – firstly a question from one of the medical officers, “How do you feel?

Are your wounds better?” The whole atmosphere was repugnant.

Could anyone imagine Jacka, a frontline troop, answering in any other manner than “I’m all right”.

Could anyone imagine a member past or present of the Australian Defence Force answering a question about whether they believe a memorial to their service should be expanded or enhanced, in any manner other than that of Jacka, namely “I’m all right – I don’t want or expect a memorial to my service”.

For myself, I do want and expect our recognition of their service and sacrifice to be of the highest order.

IN

died from the combined effects of alcohol and tobacco, aged 70.

Two of my brothers, Simon and Tony, both born in England before my parents migrated to Australia, were members of the Australian Defence Force.

Simon is a Vietnam veteran and Tony served in the Australian Navy for 10 years. Tony died two years ago at the age of 69 from a brain tumour which the Australian Navy did not dispute may have been linked to his service in warships clad with asbestos or other aspects of his service. Simon has a range of chronic, debilitating and potentially life-threatening health issues that the Australian Army has not disputed are a legacy of his service in Vietnam.

The treatment each received from the Commonwealth after becoming ill has been exemplary.

Both my father and Robyn’s father

current imbroglio re the expansion of the Australian War Memorial was a two-page vignette at Page 296 of the “RSL Book of World War I” titled “Boarding System: Jacka a Victim of the Anzac Legend”, which was written in 1932 by Capt Ken Millar MC, following the death of Albert Jacka, the first Australian to be awarded the Victoria Cross in World War I. Millar, who served with Jacka wrote, with undisguised bitterness, the following: Outstanding gallant-man of super courage – Jacka is dead. His warrackled body is now at rest.

Only 39 years of age, and dead from the effects of severe wounds, in the prime of life. Jack was the victim of a wretched voluntary system of fighting a war.

If Jacka had been in the Imperial Army he would not have been allowed to go back to the line, time after time, with his wounds.

The wretched AIF system which prevailed of boarding an officer [appearing before an officer] was to leave the onus on him to say how he was.

Was there ever such a travesty of justice to wounded men – I mean to men of “guts” and spirit, such as Jacka?

LL

On the one hand, I worry that a decision to spend half a billion dollars on a memorial related to war is a questionable priority when, for so many Australians, life is a daily struggle to survive.

On the other hand, I can’t clear my mind when I think about the more than 100,000 Australians who have given their life and the countless others who have offered their life in defence of our freedom and the greater good, of the thought that there can be no price too high to honour their memory and their sacrifice.

In World War I, as with so many families, two of my great uncles on my father’s side and two on my mother’s died as members of the British and Allied forces in France.

In World War II, my wife Robyn’s uncle Max Poyser was killed when HMAS Parramatta was sunk off Tobruk by a German U-boat. My father Eric Stanhope and Robyn’s father Gordon Poyser each served and fought in World War II. Neither of our fathers were physically injured, but both spent much of their lives after the war either self-medicating or personally managing, as best they could, the impacts of their wartime experience. My father

I worry that a decision to spend half a billion dollars on a memorial related to war is a questionable priority when, for so many Australians, life is a daily struggle to survive.

SE

I HAVE conflicting views about the proposed $500 million expansion of the Australian War Memorial.

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NEWS / cover story

Robbed as they slept, thieves in the bedroom “The cars are gone!” It was Wendy, downstairs in the double garage. “We’ve been robbed.”

Author and “CityNews” columnist ROBERT MACKLIN shares the horror of waking to discover thieves had been in his bedroom as he slept...

FOR a split second I thought it was a joke.

It was break of day and our two granddaughters had been with us after school the day before.

They both have a cheeky sense of humour and after all, it was April Fool’s Day… but then the absurdity hit home: my watch and my phone had been right there on the Chinese lowboy beside the bed when I climbed between the sheets.

“Wait a minute,” I said. Wendy, my wife, sat up. “What?”

“I don’t know…”

Suddenly on automatic pilot I opened the nearby door to the courtyard and went barefoot into the cool Canberra air.

The big timber back gate was open, swinging on its hinges. It leads to a laneway between the estate’s townhouses. Teenagers often use it to get to a rocky knoll overlooking the Cooleman Court mall where they do whatever it is teenage boys do.

I closed it and headed back inside. The bed was empty.

Then, echoing from a distance: “The cars are gone!”

It was Wendy, downstairs in the double garage.

“We’ve been robbed.”

I’m not sure who spoke the words. They were lost in a swelling landslide of horror – a few stinging rocks of realisation becoming painful boulders as they morphed into images of intruders, shadows by the bed. It felt like an endless thumping on that precious psychic membrane that protects our privacy, our safety from the traffic’s roar and the fearsome crowds.

“We’d better call the police.”

I reached for the mobile that was no longer there. We hur-

ried to the kitchen-cum-family room. Wendy always leaves her red handbag on the faux leather couch and inside it is the ancient mobile that my sons and I reckon is the last steam-driven phone in the west.

The couch was bare, naked.

She dashed into her adjoining study and back.

“They’ve taken my handbag!”

Only a woman knows the awfulness of that sentence. Her handbag is her portable identity; it contains everything that navigates her passage through the days – the Medicare, the EFTPOS, purse, change, credit cards… oh God, the credit cards. “My Visa,” she said, and the membrane threatened to collapse.

The landline on the kitchen bench – rarely used, an object of historic wonder to the granddaughters – now the last lifeline. I grabbed it and dialled 000, asked for “Police” and when I said, “burglary” the voice gave me the Canberra number – 131444. A man answered; I related what detail I could; the police would “attend” the scene asap, he said.

My turn to dash back to the bedroom – one piece of luck: they missed my wallet in the back pocket of my jeans, tossed on the floor in the small adjoining dressing room and in it my cards. The pressure eased just slightly.

But as I held it I realised I was standing just where the thief had stood in the darkness.

And leaning against the Chinese lowboy was a golf stick, a five-iron I’d kept within reach since I read of a home invasion two years ago.

The thieves – at least two of them since they’d driven away

Robert and Wendy Macklin… “My watch and phone had been right there beside the bed when I climbed between the sheets,” says Robert. both cars – could have seen it; they could have picked it up; they could have raised it above their shoulders and brought it crashing down… I saw a struggle, flashing knives, gouts of blood…

I banished the thought.

Credit cards. Insurance. Action. But on Good Friday? So first, son Ben, father of those two little girls, 11 and 10.

“I’ll be right over,” he said.

Ben beat the cops to the scene. I called the bank to freeze the accounts while he started with the insurance. Doing something helped a little, but those disembodied voices telling me to press “one” or “three” interposed with vainglorious announcements of their products or their privacy policies made the senses roar.

And when they asked me to stay on the line to give them a rating, I raged, hesitated but then complied. They were emissaries from recovery-land.

The local constabulary arrived as a duo – Jayden and Grace both in full action uniform – he tall, dark and clean shaven, Grace short, pert and pleasantly confident. By now the sun was shining into the

family room, reflecting off the pool. “What a lovely home,” she said.

Jayden and I went into my office, one wall of which is festooned with the covers of my 29 books. Jayden recognised some of the titles – the SAS biographies – “Wow,” he said. “This is great.” It didn’t feel so great, but authors crave praise the way desert-dwellers thirst for water.

And he meant well. He wrote

down a few details and asked me to sign. It felt like a miniclosure.

But unbeknown to either of us, Ben’s wife Sarina – a brilliant IT whiz – had traced my stolen mobile! She called Ben on his phone.

The thieves and/or my car were across Lake Burley Griffin at an inner-northern suburb. In fact, she had the actual street address!

Jayden and Grace took the news calmly, doubtfully, but

passed it on to HQ. Sarina called Ben again. My mobile was on the move. It had reached the top of Mt Ainslie, which overlooks the War Memorial and the lake to Parliament House. “It’s at Mt Ainslie!” he said. I dropped my phone.

By then the lads at HQ were also calling him and Sarina. They were excited because there’s only one road up and down that mountain. In fact, they were spreading road spikes across it right then.

Even the dog squad was joining in. It was all systems go!

But Sarina’s system was handicapped – it only latched on to the mobile momentarily.

Continuous coverage required a major investment and without it she was a little behind real time. This meant the big operation on the Mt Ainslie road was just a minute or so too late.

However, the car – or at least the phone – was back at that original street address. In a morning of wretchedness that was at least something to hang on to. All was not lost.

Or was it?

a

NEXT WEEK: The return to recovery-land is a long and winding road. robert@robertmacklin.com

M

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Phone: 6241 6332 CityNews April 22-28, 2021 11

YESTERDAYS / the phantom white bull

Policemen scatter from a ‘shadowy thing of rage’

By Nichole

OVERALL ON the plains towards Yass, there’s a lonely hollow huddled at the base of picturesque hills, bounded by the mighty Murrumbidgee River known as “Washpen” – so called for its purpose in washing the sheep tended in the area.

Its nearest neighbour is “Yeumberra”, the almost 730-hectare Merino stud of Charles Hall since 1853.

At the close of June, 1876, police from the largest population hub, Queanbeyan, a good 60 kilometres distant, received a telegram requesting their presence in the isolated spot on fears of foul play.

Sure enough, the end of their sojourn was greeted with a bloodsplattered hat.

Next, lying by the ashes of his campfire, young shepherd Jeremiah McCarthy (or Maloney) with “his skull blown off”.

As intimately detailed in “The Queanbeyan Age”: “In order to obliterate all traces of his crime, the murderer had removed the shattered portions of his victim’s head and face, and scooped out the brains through which were scattered the

12 CityNews April 22-28, 2021

charge of slugs”.

The near headless form, with his rough woollen blanket as a shroud, was buried in a hasty grave, the boughs of a gunyah tree sheltering his “last earthly home”.

The murderer was unmasked as “Waterloo Tom”, a veteran of the 1815 battle and said to have distinguished himself in the defeat of the French Emperor Napoleon by the English Duke of Wellington.

About 60, harshly depicted as “6-foot-4-inches of ungainliness, with large flapping ears, scraggly beard, ferocious expression and baboon gait”, his real name was William Hutton. He’d made the shores of the new British colony in 1822.

Reputed to carry “a gun with a barrel six-feet long, and a sheath knife made from a scythe-blade”, he routinely boasted of having killed “thousands of men”.

In this instance, he initially proclaimed his innocence.

With evidence required for the trial, the unfortunate shepherd’s body needed to be exhumed.

Charged with the gruesome task was Sen-Sgt Martin Brennan, accompanying him, Constable James McIntosh and two policemen from Yass.

As they reached the site, suddenly, “an extraordinary cumuli stratus cloud, or ‘woolpack’ descended and enveloped the mountains and the

A 1951 newspaper image depicting the arrival of the phantom white bull.

Washpen in comparative darkness”.

Before a shovel touched the earth there came a teeth-rattling explosion followed by a deep rumbling reverberating through the darkened valley.

More than thunder; shouts of an earthquake.

Next, from the hills behind, a bellowing roar. Whirling about to see materialise “a huge bull of immaculate whiteness, a shadowy thing of rage”.

Charging in their direction, it moved at an incredible speed for its size and weight.

There could not be heard though, a single hoofbeat.

Diving for safety behind the trees, trembling hands drew revolvers.

There’d be no need for a single round to be fired. Reaching the open

wound in the ground that bore the corpse of the unfortunate soul, the bull drew to a halt. Pawing forcefully, it lay down beside the grave, moaning piteously. Heaving a last, heavy sigh – it died.

Shaking in bewilderment, the policemen went on with their ghoulish task, if much more quickly than before.

Back in Queanbeyan, inquiries throughout the district as to ownership produced no claims. Nor did anyone know of such an animal to be found anywhere in the area.

Two days later, Constable McIntosh returned to bury the creature – only to find it had vanished, not a single sign of its presence.

Sgt Brennan would declare he was merely describing what four police

officers, in full control of their faculties, observed in the middle of an otherwise ordinary day. None could explain precisely what had occurred, but agreed it to be a “psychological phenomenon”.

William Hutton stood trial at Goulburn in October, 1876. With motive unclear, he was found guilty and sentenced to death.

His military service saved him from the noose. Instead, 10 years of his life behind steel bars with the added burden of hard labour.

The tale, declared as “among the weirdest of the Canberra district”, didn’t quite end there.

Already deemed a “maniac”, bound in chains and enclosed in a tiny rockbound space, so began his nightly tortuous screams of “being trampled to death by a great white bull”.

Also to emerge, a legend attached to the Halls of “Yeumberra”. On the death of one of their own, the appearance of a white bull.

This echos yet another famous example of the region’s unexplained similarly written up over time: the Black Horse of Sutton. The galloping beast is said to appear on the passing of members of a family from that locality.

Has then, the capital of a nation long had its very own harbinger of doom?

More real-life, local crime at Nichole Overall’s capitalcrimefiles.com.au

WHIMSY

In a word, there’s randy and there’s… Randy AN Australian female meeting an American male for the first time and him saying: “Hi, I’m Randy” might cause her to blush, given its raunchy Australian meaning (Australian “randy” translates to American “horny”).

I’ve spent a few years working in the US and learned to speak American English and adopt American syntax to avoid blank expressions from my American interlocutors.

For example, most Americans have no idea what a fortnight is, so it’s better just to say two weeks. Most Americans are paid weekly or monthly, unlike Australian employees who are often paid fortnightly – which may account for its common usage here and not in the US.

Words that are spelt the same can have different meanings as well. “Your flight will be taking off momentarily” might cause alarm in Australia and rapid checking to see if it’s a crash-prone Boeing 737 MAX. In Australia, “momentarily” means “for a short period of time”. In America it means “soon”, so Americans would no doubt be pleased to know their flight was taking off “momentarily”.

American black people can understandably be touchy about perceived racism. I once innocently asked a black waitress for a white coffee – most Americans have no idea what a flat white is. It raised her temperature alarmingly. I should have asked for a coffee with cream.

In Australia, the entrée dish comes before the main meal. In America, the main course is the entrée dish and the dish before that is the appetiser, which is odd because in French, entrée means “beginning”. And in America a biscuit is a cookie, and a scone is a biscuit!

Australians are far more

exposed to American English from TV shows and movies than Americans are to Australian English. Many Americans are surprised to discover that Australians can speak English, and often think Australia is somewhere near Germany.

At the start of my first army posting to the US military in Arizona, I was required to take an English language test to determine whether I could communicate effectively with my American colleagues.

While Australians can usually converse reasonably well with Americans, Americans may have no clue what New Zealanders are saying. I recall being at Auckland airport when passengers on a flight to the US were called to the “chicken counter”. There were blank looks from the Americans, but of course the Kiwi passengers speedily lined up at the check-in counter. Presumably, the Americans headed for KFC. Clive Williams is a Canberra columnist.

There’s randy and there’s Randy... amorous turtles and Lord Randolph Churchill.

In due course we will be able to travel to the US again, so I thought I would provide a helpful word conversion list to aid the first-time Australian traveller:

Australian to American Anti- = Counter- (as in anticlockwise) Bathroom = Room containing a bath and/or shower but not necessarily a toilet Biscuit = Cookie Bonnet = Hood (of a car) Boot = Trunk (of a car) Bottle Shop = Off licence

Chemist = Drugstore (usually supermarket size) Chips = French fries Crisps = Chips Drawing Pin = Thumbtack Dressing Gown = Bathrobe Flat/Unit = Apartment Full Stop = Period Grill = Broil Holiday = Vacation Indicator = Turn signal (of a car) Job = Mission (as in completing the job) Jumper = Sweater Lavatory = Bathroom Lift = Elevator Mobile (phone) = Cell (phone)

Pavement = Sidewalk People = Folks Petrol = Gas Post = Mail Postcode = Zip Randy = Horny Rubbish = Garbage Scone = Biscuit Soft Drink = Soda “Sorry” = “Excuse me” (when you bump into someone) Spanner = Wrench Sweets = Candy Trainers = Sneakers Trousers = Pants Vest = Undershirt Wardrobe = Closet

CityNews April 22-28, 2021 13

ALL ABOUT WODEN VALLEY

advertising feature

Valley of wisdom or is it named after wildlife?

WODEN Valley, one of the ACT’s original 18 districts used in land administration, has question marks around the origin of its name.

It is said to be named after a nearby homestead, whose owner Dr James Murray titled it “Woden” in October, 1837, after the Old English god of wisdom.

While, historian Dr Harold Koch believes the name may have its origins in the Aboriginal words “wadyan” or “wadhan”, meaning possum.

But regardless of its origin, the valley, subdivided into about 12 suburbs, is home to many experts that are passionate about where they work.

Car signage experts expand to the south

Tailoring an holistic approach to health

EXPERTS in signage, merchandise and graphic design for more than a decade, RoJo Customs has opened a new store, RoJo Signage, in Phillip that specialises in signage and wrapping of all types of vehicles, says owner Rohan Thomas.

“Our team can wrap any vehicle, from large trucks to small minis, from vans to utes,” says Rohan.

“We get lots of clients bringing brand new vehicles to us and we do the rest.”

The RoJo Customs store in Civic has been operating for 11 years and Rohan says they’ve helped countless businesses with screen printing, embroidery, merchandise, shopfront and interior signage, and a whole range of graphic design and promotional needs.

Now, Rohan says the team is excited to expand the business and bring their skills to Canberra’s south side.

“We see all types of businesses benefitting from advertising their business on a vehicle,” says Rohan “Whether it’s tradies, IT, hospitality, the car wrapping really adds a boost to the brand recognition throughout Canberra and we can help with design,

THE exercise physiologists at Arthritis ACT, a non-profit that supports people with chronic pain conditions, illness and disability, work with patients of all ages and fitness levels to achieve their health goals, says CEO Rebecca Davey.

Based out of their Bruce and Pearce practices, Rebecca says their specialists develop individually tailored programs and can even see patients in their home or gym.

“Our exercise physiologists work with patients to make sure that they’re doing the right exercises [and] that they’re beneficial to their health,” she says.

That might include anything from tai chi classes that strengthen balance and address falls prevention, Arthritis ACT CEO Rebecca Davey. to hydrotherapy, which can improve underlying trauma that can impact physical overall aerobic fitness, she says. pain and through services such as art therapy, The physiologists are part of Arthritis ACT’s it can help to start their recovery, she says. holistic approach to treatment and work closely with physiotherapists, osteopaths, Arthritis ACT, building 1, Colette Place, Pearce, dietitians and counsellors, says Rebecca. and building 18, 170 Haydon Drive, Bruce. Call Arthritis ACT also treats the psychological 1800 011041, email info@arthritisact.org.au or components to pain, too, she says. visit arthritisact.org.au Sufferers don’t always understand the

RoJo Customs and RoJo Signage owner Rohan Thomas. layout, ideas and more.”

RoJo Signage, 2/43 Colbee Court, Phillip. Call 0410 986737 or visit rojosignage.com.au

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2/43 Colbee Court, Phillip 14 CityNews April 22-28, 2021

info@rojosignage.com.au rojosignage.com.au

DO YOU HAVE PAIN OR A DISABLING CONDITION? THEN IT IS TIME TO MEET OUR OSTEOPATHY TEAM

Gwen Estigoy:

Sophie Bullock:

Blake Dean:

Gwen Estigoy has a passion for working for people from diverse backgrounds.

Sophie Bullock has post graduate qualifications in hydrotherapy, making her unique in Canberra.

Blake Dean is a walking encyclopaedia of exercise, with a passion for helping clients improve their mobility and decrease their pain through appropriate exercise intervention.

Gwen instructs Tai Chi for our Falls Prevention program as well as regularly supporting people to meet their exercise goals in our hydrotherapy program and within our own gyms.

Gwen works with individuals, groups, and also leads our LGBTI program.

As with all our Exercise Physiologists Gwen has a four-year university degree as well as extensive industry experience working with people with chronic pain conditions.

Full of enthusaism, Sophie is a non-sports centred Exercise Physiologist, meaning she does not have an intensive sports background herself, so she understands those who struggle with engaging in exercise due to a lack of participation in organised sport.

Sophie works with anyone needing to improve their health, whether one on one or in group exercise.

Sophie works with clients in our popular hydrotherapy program, in our gyms and through home visits, and has a passion for working with children.

Blake has been instrumental in delivering our ‘My Exercise’ program, which targets the relief of lower back pain, sciatic pain, shoulder and upper body concerns as well as leg, hip and and ankle interventions – for those who do not qualify for physiotherapy-led GLAD programs.

Blake provides individual and group exercise, including for teens and young adults with disability.

Blake can deliver programs in the clinic or through our hydrotherapy program as well as attending your gym with you.

CALL FOR YOUR APPOINTMENT – 1800 011 041 Physiotherapy – including the GLAD program for knee and hip osteoarthritis, sports injury prevention and rehabilitation, and pain condition support.

Exercise Physiology – Individual exercise prescriptions, small group classes to increase strength and improve rehabilitation, strength and balance classes, hydrotherapy support.

Occupational Therapy – access reports for NDIS and Disability Support Pensions, home modifications, equipment prescriptions.

Dietetics – meal planning, weight management support, food intolerance support.

www.arthritisact.org.au | e: info@arthritisact.org.au

ALL ABOUT WODEN VALLEY 9 ORTHOPAEDIC SURGEONS, TOGETHER WITH A PAIN MANAGEMENT SPECIALIST, WORKING TOGETHER TO EXPEDITE TREATMENT AND RECOVERY

Dr Tsai

Dr Policinski

AProf Roberts

Prof Smith

Dr Burns

A/Prof Boesel

Dr Aubin

Dr Kulisiewicz

Dr Lakis

Prof Little

CONVENIENTLY LOCATED IN WODEN As part of our service we offer: • A state of the art practice, with a team of surgeons, physicians, nurses and medical administrators • Consultation appointments in Young, Moruya and Vincentia offered by 3 of our surgeons • Monthly patient information sessions to help them, and their carers, better prepare for joint replacement surgery and rehabilitation

Centre covers all orthopaedic subspecialties FIND US NEXT DOOR TO THE CANBERRA SOUTHERN CROSS CLUB & OPPOSITE WESTFIELD WODEN

• The largest single practice covering all orthopaedic subspecialty areas - from the tip of your toes to the top of your spine • 2 visiting paediatric orthopaedic surgeons • A visiting pain management specialist • Access to our 7 day a week Trauma Line by your referring doctor

WE DON’T JUST FIX BONES, WE FIX PEOPLE 02 6221 9320 | www.orthoACT.com.au

“ISN’T IT TIME TO TURN IN YOUR OLD RUNNING SHOES?”

WITH a team of orthopaedic surgeons, including paediatric orthopaedic surgeons and a pain management specialist, Orthopaedics ACT covers all orthopaedic subspecialty areas including management of trauma, says practice manager Deborah Henry.

Based in a town-centre location, opposite Westfield Woden and close to the bus interchange, and in close proximity to both public and private hospitals, Deborah says Woden is geographically the centre of Canberra and a convenient, easily accessible location for patients with plenty of parking.

“We are co-located in a specialist centre with radiology, nuclear medicine and a physiotherapy practice,” says Deborah.

“Having multiple surgeons means we are able to assist from head-to-toe as well as being able to crossrefer within the practice, including utilising the services

of our pain management specialist.”

Orthopaedics ACT also has a three-bed, nurse-led clinic for all post-operative care.

“Our surgeons treat in both the public and private systems, offering consultations, non-surgical and surgical solutions,” she says.

If needed, Deborah says Orthopaedics ACT’s trauma phone line is accessible to the referring doctor, available between 9am to 5pm, seven days per week to manage trauma injuries that don’t require a visit to the emergency department.

Three of the surgeons offer consultations in regional and coastal NSW (Young, Moruya and Vincentia).

Orthopaedics ACT, Woden Specialist Medical Centre, level 2, 90 Corinna Street, Woden. Call 6221 9320 or visit orthoact.com.au

Focused training helps prevent injury WITH the snow season starting soon, Manuka Woden Physiotherapy and Sports Injuries Clinic principal Greg Nash is urging skiers or snowboarders to make sure they’re fit and ready before heading to the snow.

Whether it’s football, netball or snowsports, Greg says the best prevention against injury is fitness.

“If training is appropriate and focused, that’s going to be a nice way of preventing injuries,” he says.

With snowsports it’s often knees and wrists that are the biggest issue, says Greg, who will assess clients, looking out for muscle weakness and restrictions in range of motion and hypermobility.

He says people with pre-existing injuries from last season often think they’re okay until they’re on the field again.

“Physiotherapists are well placed to identify potential risks and problems like that because we see the results when they don’t get those problems fixed,” he says.

“If necessary, we can strap them or provide them with supportive braces.”

Greg is backed by 35 years’ experience working in musculoskeletal physiotherapy, sports injuries, and occupational health and safety, and splits his time

between the Manuka and Woden clinics.

He says the Woden location, opposite Westfield, is wheelchair accessible and is positioned near the bus interchange, for people who don’t drive.

As for their Manuka clinic, Greg says it will reopen in the next few weeks, now positioned on Principal Greg Nash. the ground floor on Bougainville Street and with wheelchair accessibility and convenient off-street parking, which is free to clients.

Manuka Woden Physiotherapy and Sports Injuries Clinic, 3/48 Corinna Street, Woden. Call 6281 1382 or visit manukawodenphysio.com.au

The treatment you want when you need it Guaranteed Continuity of Treatment with Principal • Extensive range of shoes for Runners, Joggers, Walkers and Gym enthusiasts of all ages • Brands include Asics, Brooks, Nike, New Balance, Mizuno, Saucony, Hoka and On • Great range of technical running apparel which breathes (wicks moisture) all year round

• Extensive range of nutrition products from Endura, GU, Hammer and Tailwind • Come in and speak to our staff of Runners, Triathletes and Orienteers with a passion and a first-hand knowledge of our entire product range!

Visit our ‘long running store’ at 76 Dundas Court, Phillip

6285 3508 16 CityNews April 22-28, 2021

therunnersshop.com.au

MANUKA CLINIC REOPENING SOON

Professional treatment for:• Back & Neck pain • Knee pain • Shoulder pain • Foot/Ankle pain • Conditions associated with all dance genres

WODEN – Phone: 6281 1382 MANUKA – Phone: 6295 6896 24 / 7 Service • All hours appointments available • Gregory Nash (Principal)

advertising feature Runner reveals the importance of socks HAVING the right socks for running is just as important as well-cushioned shoes, says long-time runner and owner of The Runners Shop, Nick Walshe.

“Comfortable socks have become a runners’ essential item, providing breathability and offering blister prevention,” he says.

Nick says they sell a range of sock brands, including Balega, Swiftwick and Injinji, as well as lots of other accessories, from shoes and hats to watches.

“And, no one wants to leave their phones at home, so we sell a variety of running belts that can hold them safely, as well as wallets and water bottles,” he says.

“Running is a good way to clear the head, and Canberra has so many beautiful open spaces to explore in the fresh air.

“We find that as people are getting fitter, and starting to go beyond 10-15 minutes of jogging or running for more than a few kilometres, they need decent running shoes.”

The Runners Shop sells shoes by Brooks, Hoka, Saucony, Mizuno, On, New Balance, Asics, Nike, Altra and Topo, and Nick recommends replacing shoes after about 800km of running.

The Runners Shop, 76 Dundas Court, Phillip.

Call 6285 3508 or visit therunnersshop.com.au

The Royal Military College Big Band will perform as part of the “Silver is Gold Chief Minister’s Concert”.

Free, toe-tapping concert promises big hits A FREE concert, organised by the Council on the Ageing ACT, will have the audience tapping its feet on Thursday, April 29, with some of the biggest hits of Broadway and London’s West End, says CEO Jenny Mobbs.

The “Silver is Gold Chief Minister’s Concert”, held at the Canberra Theatre Centre, will also see the Royal Military College Big Band perform classic tunes from some of the biggest bands of all time.

The concert will transport the audience back in time, says Jenny.

“There’ll be music from shows like ‘West Side Story’, ‘All That Jazz’, ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’, and bands like The Beatles and ABBA,” she says.

“And it’s curated by expert musician Capt Shane Gillard, who’s

The Runners Shop owner Nick Walshe.

worked with international stars like Michael Buble, Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber and Olivia Newton John – to name just a few.”

It’s just one of a series of events throughout the year organised by COTA ACT that Jenny says aims to “reimagine ageing” in the ACT. “The concert will be a nostalgic 60 minute performance that will get the audience tapping their feet and it’s the perfect opportunity to get back out to the theatre after a year that meant people couldn’t,” she says.

And, Jenny says the event is free to attend with a gold coin entry.

“Silver is Gold Chief Minister’s Concert”, at Canberra Theatre Centre, April 29. Information and tickets at canberratheatrecentre.com.au

CANBERRA THEATRE CENTRE SILVER IS GOLD

Concert

Thursday 29 April 2021, 12pm

FREE

PRESENTED BY: ACT Chief Minister CATEGORY: Special Event

Enjoy an afternoon of music conducted and curated by Captain Shane Gillard from RMC Big Band especially for this event called Music of the Stage and Screen .

This wonderful performance will be performed by the RMC Big Band, which is made up of musicians from the Band of the Royal Military College- Duntroon.

Hear the big hits from your most loved musicals including Westside Story and All that Jazz. Come and experience an 18 piece band live as they play the Abba medley and all your favourite Beatles songs.

Entry is free with a gold coin donation.

All attendees will be required to register their details prior to the performance with the Canberra Theatre Centre. Registration is FREE and is now open!

DURATION: Approximately 60 minutes, no interval SUIT CHILDREN?: This performance is suitable for children.

VENUE: Canberra Theatre Centre

Bookings can be made online or by phoning Canberra Theatre on 6275 2700 CityNews April 22-28, 2021 17

LETTERS

How railing Rebecca will succumb to the system OCCASIONALLY the written word is much more powerful than radio or television. The inconsistency or absurdity of what may be said becomes more obvious.

The inconsistency and absurdity arose from the flattering piece (CN April 8) about the new Greens minister Rebecca Vassarotti.

Rebecca railed about the undifferentiated political class and how out of touch it is.

Presumably having now joined the political class, she will change the entire order of the eternal regime in short order.

But I suspect she will, in a short time, resemble her colleague Shane Rattenbury who is a fully co-opted functionary in the eternal regime. Having sought to change things from the inside, the resistance she and all the members of the ALP and Greens in the Assembly offered to a poverty inquiry in February, and questions about management of the AMC have been deflected, suggests otherwise.

The price of being on the inside is you become an “insider”. You may want to change the system from the inside, but usually it ends up changing you!

It will become more obvious in time and the inconsistency between what you say and what you do will become more obvious, too.

Martin Gordon, Dunlop

Art precinct awaits ‘token’ tick off COLUMNIST Paul Costigan’s article on “planning disasters” (“Planning plodders learn nothing from the past”, CN March 25) was spot-on.

As another example I’d suggest the Kingston Arts Precinct. In that case the government, to its credit, put a great deal of effort into preparing and consulting on the Section 69 Kingston Masterplan, which was approved in 2014.

However, there was then a secret internal government process to select a single developer for this very large and significant site. When the chosen developer’s tender design concept was finally unveiled in August, 2019, it was seen to have ignored the masterplan. The blatant over-development of the site was explained by the architect as being inspired by the piazza and alleyways of Sienna!

The government required the developer to run a “community engagement” process, including setting up a “Community Panel”.

More than a year of subsequent discussions yielded little material change to the developer’s basic design concept.

A group of nine heritage experts wrote last year to the (then) Minister for Heritage saying the “design shows a complete lack of respect for the historic buildings, particularly through over-development of the site”. The local community group and the National Trust (ACT) have been asking for months to see the ACT Heritage Council’s advice on this project. No response.

We are told that the Suburban Land Agency needs to tick off the design before further (doubtless token) “community participation” is sought, on what sounds like a fait accompli.

The government must do a lot better than this on the West Basin project!

Richard Johnston, Kingston 18 CityNews April 22-28, 2021

Federal Highway.

On questioning the role of the panel in the final approval of this major Dickson development, the community was advised that plans were not submitted for review by the panel.

Why did Dickson not deserve any improvements or reassurances that the panel may have been able to provide?

Or would the building’s bulk, siting, setbacks, urban heating contribution and other significant “public realm” impacts have been too much for that panel to stomach?

Sue Dyer, Downer

It’s really just a question of zoning dose of dorin

It’s not hard to work out, Mr Miller I THINK we need to find someone to explain to John Miller (CN letters, April 15), columnist Jon Stanhope’s graphs and statistics on ACT Health’s underperforming and underfunded Emergency Department (“Targets missed: how does ACT Health get it so wrong?”, CN April 1).

Mr Miller, ACT Health’s target is for Emergency Departments to clear 90 per cent of presentations in under four hours. The ED is only clearing 58 per cent of presentations in this time. The missed target means that an increasing number of people are waiting more than four hours, despite the number of presentations decreasing!

How much longer? Who knows, but it is certain that more and more of those needing treatment in the ED are waiting considerably longer than four hours.

This is not the fault of our dedicated doctors and nurses in the ED who are doing an incredible job in the circumstances. The fault here lies squarely at the feet of ACT Labor and the Greens.

Bob Collins, Latham

Suburbs are getting hotter, Shane A DECEMBER 2017 CSIRO report commissioned by the ACT government found that temperatures in many urban areas are warmer than their rural surroundings, with Canberra suburbs and neighbourhoods the hottest.

This occurs because of the “urban heat island effect”, when pavements, roads and buildings absorb the sun’s heat and radiate it back day and night, increasing the temperature.

Shane Rattenbury, who was then Minister for Climate Change and Sustainability, called for a plan to manage the city’s heat in the face of increasing climate-change impacts.

He said that more water bodies and shade trees will reduce land-surface temperatures.

Yet now residents and the Watson Community Association are waiting to see if almost 440 trees will be removed to make space for an ACT government development in north Watson (“Residents face anxious wait on fate of 440 trees”, CN April 15).

Watson resident Max Pouwer says in the article that Watson has plenty of housing estates. He favours keeping the area as a natural one rather than creating more dense

development.

Where is the Leader of the ACT Greens Shane Rattenbury when you need him? Or will he just sign off on more tree destruction, contradicting his earlier calls to prevent hotter suburbs in Canberra?

Murray May, Cook

Work harder to reduce ED backlog BOB Collins (“Go home and wait until we call. When? No idea”, CN April 15) says that Canberra has a third-world health system and is the worst in the country.

What? The health system in SA is worse.

People are struggling to survive while waiting for ambulances in Adelaide. The Liberals in SA have slashed ambos and privatised health care.

However, how can Andrew Barr look after our health system when they are cutting funds to our health system? We need to do more to reduce the backlog of Emergency Department patients in our health-care sector.

Anton Rusanov, Kaleen

Review panel a ‘sop’ on the landscape WHILE the ACT government has been fond of referring to the role of its Design Review Panel as some sort of bulwark against poor urban planning and design, the panel too often appears to be a mere sop.

The planning and renewal machinations still deliver massive complexes with totally inadequate setbacks or natural shading, and that also give little or no priority to the provision of generous, soft ground-level landscaping and highly appealing and easyto-use “public realm” environments (“Design panel: toothless, faceless and a joke”, Paul Costigan, CN April 8).

In addition, the panel’s role and guidance can be conveniently ignored when it suits the planning minister and his directorate.

The considerable height and mass of the large Coles/apartment block that will take three years to construct in the middle of the Dickson Group Centre should have led to a mandatory review and check-over by the panel, particularly since it is also close to, and will be visible from, the much-heralded city and gateway “boulevard” promised along the nearby Northbourne Avenue and

IN relation to Belinda Strahorn’s article about the Demonstration Housing Project developments (“Directorate sees no conflict in housing approval”, CN April 8), I suggest they be restricted to RZ2 zones and to a 60:40 ratio of green space to building.

The example included in the article comes with nine car park spaces. As these would take up a fair amount of the available green space, lowering the build ratio would leave more green space.

Restricting such developments to RZ2 zones would make the lower levels more suitable for the disabled and elderly, as they would end up near suburban shopping centres, bus stops, pedestrian crossings and so on.

As they grow in popularity, and I think they will, I suggest the current RZ2 zones be expanded, since these developments are not really suitable to be interspersed within suburbs.

A project director in the Capital Renewal Authority putting up her own family home for a Demonstration Housing Project proposal is not a good look. These things are often about perceptions and I am grateful to Ms Strahorn for highlighting this as a possible conflict-of-interest issue.

being who, as husband, father, grandfather gave an example of life-service that some young royal couples could do well to note.

Colliss Parrett, Barton

Parton’s on the right track LIBERAL MLA Mark Parton’s ideas about dual-occupancy “densification” of our existing suburbs, versus intrusive blocks of flats, are generally okay (“Infill prices kill dream of owning a house”, CN March 4).

However, builder-developers (who needs them, when land owners can commission an architect, and get their “dualoccies” built, via competitive tendering, virtually wholesale?) will generally only provide the minimum required amount of sunny private open space – currently six metres in diameter (28.3 square metres) per dwelling. That needs to be at least a mandatory 100 square metres each, still with a minimum dimension of six metres, for healthy family living, with space for say, a shed, gardens, trampoline, trees and maybe a pool.

That would help preserve the appealing green swathe of backyard environments running through and defining our suburbs.

It would also curb the proliferation of grossly over-sized dual occupancies with puny “alfrescos”, increasingly being taken up as sterile, inflationary Airbnbs, because they’re no good for families.

The approval of more basement or partial-basement garages could also be considered for dual-occupancies, to maximise open space (currently, they’re only permitted if the block frontage is more than an atypical 30 metres, on aesthetic grounds – a restriction apparently not regarded as relevant to the blight of two double garages side by side in your typical one-street-frontage dual occupancy.

Jack Kershaw, Kambah

Herman van de Brug, Belconnen

More musical ideas of Vienna THE theme of this year’s Canberra International Music Festival is “the idea of Vienna.”

Helen Musa’s article (“Peelman’s idea of Vienna is all over the place”, CN April 14) included many examples of the occurrence of Vienna in music and culture. Two additional examples are songs, each titled, “Vienna,” by Billy Joel and by Ultravox.

Leon Arundell, Downer

No royal tours to Greece WITH lifelong connections to Greece and one of its beautiful daughters, it is with a tinge of sadness that I reflect that the Queen has never formally visited Greece.

It is thought the main reason may be the fraught history of the monarchy in Greece, which affected Prince Philip’s immediate family, and saw their flight in 1922. But to be clear, it is not completely true that the Queen has never been to Greece. She went at the invitation of King Paul, Prince Philip’s cousin, in 1950, but that was before she became Queen.

The Greek/Danish ancestry of the late Prince Philip created a marvellous human

All the torque’s about electric utes LATELY, there has been much spoken and written about the pros and cons of electric and hydrogen-powered vehicles.

Tesla has released an electric ute (which has not yet reached this antipodean backwater) and I predict that the tradie, who uses a ute to carry often-heavy gear and supplies, will change his mind about electric vehicles when test driving an electric ute, with its enormous torque on all four wheels and prodigious carrying capacity.

The EV’s Achilles heel has been – up to now – its short range: perhaps about 300 kilometres. That problem will soon disappear with the increasing use of solid-state batteries.

These are smaller, lighter and have a greater energy density (electrical capacity per unit volume) than batteries currently in use, and increase range to 700 kilometres or more. And EV prices are coming down.

What more do you need?

Then there is the hydrogen-powered vehicle... but that’s another story.

Douglas Mackenzie, Deakin

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ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT Esther weaves nostalgic ‘Tapestry’

By Helen

MUSA WHEN Esther Hannaford steps on stage at the Canberra Theatre to perform Carole King’s famous 1971 album, “Tapestry”, she’s hoping audience members will feel as if they’re sitting in their living room.

It’s a tall order for a show that’ll be packing nostalgic Australians all around the country in venues both big and intimate, but as she tells me by phone from her home in Melbourne, there’ll only be a little bit of talk and a lot of music.

“This is not a cabaret show, it’s really to pay homage to the music… you’re supposed to sit back and relax, as if you’re in the lounge room – we are taking people back,” Hannaford says.

The “we” includes bassist Mark Wilson, keyboardists Clio Renner and Louis Macklin, guitarist and vocalist Olivia Bartley and drummer Pete Marin.

And they’re betting it won’t just be mums and dads, but younger people, too, who will come to celebrate the 50th anniversary of “Tapestry”, the biggest-selling female album of all time, by listening to hits such as “I Feel the Earth Move”, “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow” and “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman”.

Hannaford is no stranger to the art of Carole King, having played her in the Aussie production of “Beautiful: The Carole King Musical” (2017-2018).

Unsurprisingly, Hannaford feels some kinship with King, who at 79 is still alive and well, engaged in environmental activism in Idaho, and in Hannaford’s words, “a bit of a hippie”.

“She started writing so young… 90 per cent of what she wrote was about love,” she says, describing how Carole initially wrote music for more than two dozen chart hits with her first husband, Gerry Goffin, who wrote the lyrics.

It was a tumultuous marriage, dur-

INSIDE

‘Tale’ takes on a life of its own

NICK OVERALL

ARTS IN THE CITY

Meryl takes on a rebel sculptor

By Helen Musa CANBERRA’S Meryl Tankard is the choreographer for “Claudel”, a reimagining of the story of the rebellious sculptor Camille Claudel and her relationship with Rodin, written and directed

by Wendy Beckett. It premiered in March 2018 at the Athénée Theatre in Paris, then went to the Festival d’Avignon. At the Sydney Opera House until May 9. Book at sydneyoperahouse.com PERCUSSIONIST Louis Sharpe, who conducts the James McCusker Orchestra and the National Capital Orchestra, has been invited by the Australian World Orchestra’s chief conductor, Alexander Briger, to be his assistant conductor for the June season in Canberra, Sydney Conductor Louis Sharpe and Melbourne. He’ll step in for

Photo: Peter Hislop Briger if anything goes wrong.

THE second concert in Musica Viva’s 2021 season sees Russian-born pianist Konstantin Shamray and the Australian National Academy of Music Orchestra’s strings perform works

by Mahler, Kerem, Schnittke and Tchaikovsky. Llewellyn Hall, Thursday, April 29, book at musicaviva.com.au

Esther Hannaford as Carole King. “She was tough yet vulnerable, sensitive, but a survivor.”

Photo: Liam Neal ing which “the piano was her solace, and she’d play it for hours and hours”.

By the 1970s, King was writing her own songs and accompanying herself on the piano. The rest is musical history. She went on to make 25 solo albums, win the Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song, all the while articulating her support for the US Democrats.

After she left New York City, King joined environmental causes such as Alliance for the Wild Rockies, an interest already hinted at in her songs.

“She was tough yet vulnerable, sensitive, but a survivor,” Hannaford says.

“There was a positive, generous element to her and she still has that… she overcame her vulnerabilities to develop strength and she is now very, very confident.”

Hannaford is not lacking in confidence, either.

A child performer in “Scrooge”, she trained as a classical singer with a

private teacher then went on to study musical theatre.

Choice roles followed, such as Penny in the original Australian cast of “Hairspray”, bigger ones such as Ann Darrow, in the world premiere of “King Kong” and Audrey in “Little Shop of Horrors”, then her biggest role ever, Carole King in “Beautiful”, a role to which her multi-octave vocal skills were perfectly suited. However, she had to improve her piano-playing skills so she could comfortably sing and play at the same time.

She was on a roll. Hannaford headed to the Melbourne Theatre Company, where she had performed as Viola in “Twelfth Night” and played heroin addict Julie in the 2019 production of Louis Nowra’s “Così”.

“Doing straight theatre was a great change for me,” she says.

Then covid struck, and 2020 was “a rough year”, but nonetheless in a first for her, she scored the role of Sophie in ABC TV’s comedy “Retrograde”, filmed

THE “Come Alive” Festival of Museum Theatre, long-held at the Courtyard Studio, will move to Daramalan College this year, although the National Library and the National Portrait Gallery remain involved. The event will take place from October 16-19 and so far, Daramalan, Lake Ginninderra, Gungahlin, Lake Tuggeranong, Radford, Girls Grammar, St Clare’s, Telopea and Ulladulla High have expressed interest. Call 0408 034373. and edited under lockdown.

By contrast, 2021 is looking like heaven.

This month she’s been in a Melbourne Theatre Company “Next Stage” show, “Well, That Happened”, created

by Dean Bryant, and now there’s the big tour of “Tapestry” – all of it.

“We are presenting the record as it is, people will hear it to the end,” she says.

“We’ll throw in some words but basically what we’re doing is honouring the 50th anniversary of the album in its entirety – it has stood the test of time.”

Carole King’s “Tapestry” 50th anniversary tour, Canberra Theatre, May 8-9, book at canberratheatrecentre.com.au

AFTER years of work on one of Queanbeyan’s heritage-listed buildings, the long-awaited Rusten House Arts Centre in the grounds of Queanbeyan Hospital will be officially opened on April 22.

A NEW season of the ABC TV series “Total Control” was filming at Parliament House recently, when the call went out from casting agency Bump Models for 30 extras to play MPs in the chamber at short notice. “Preferably 30 years and older, male and female, smart business types”, the plea went. Smart? Have they seen our elected representatives lately?

COMPOSER John Shortis has never had a formal music lesson. Instead, his teachers were The Beatles and without them knowing, they taught him about keys and time signatures, scales and modes, chords and harmony for a 50-year professional music-making. His unorthodox learning and teaching methods will form the basis of a four-day course over four weeks at Ainslie Arts Centre starting on April 28. Email moyajohn@ shortisandsimpson.com

CityNews April 22-28, 2021 19

CINEMA / reviews

When long-term love faces a tough, final future “Supernova” (M) A SUPERNOVA occurs during the last evolutionary stages of a massive star and the connection between this outer-space phenomenon and the title for writer/director Harry Macqueen’s film is perhaps remote and special.

Understanding it is certainly not essential for the filmgoer to be blown away by what reflects from the screen.

The theme is love, of the kind exemplified in the Greek historic writings illustrating the Pythagorean ideal of friendship by Damon through his trust in and love for Pythias.

The relationship between Sam (Colin Firth) and Tusker (Stanley Tucci) has endured for several decades. Now it is time for them to take to the road in their campervan to visit old friends and remembered places before early-onset dementia claims Tusker.

The two actors deliver their characters with stunning virtuosity, investing the film with emotional power that creeps stealthily into our awareness and ends up squeezing it harder than we expect.

Sexuality may underlie the relationship but it’s not the dominating factor. For much of the film’s 94 minutes, the story examines Sam’s conflict based on the certain knowledge that he must expect to live his declining years without the emotional comfort that has become so familiar. He doesn’t bleat about the tough deal with which life is about to confront him. However, the subtlety of the writing of the dialogue and Firth’s delivery of it is masterly. Tucci’s representation of facing the inevitable is no

Two of the piglet stars in the documentary “Gunda”. less skilful but in a different way.

Staying with old friends leavens the story’s sombre power. Cumbria’s Lake District effectively provides welcome intervals in that power.

Playing Elgar’s “Salut d’Amour” just before the closing credits, Firth makes a poignant statement and reveals a hitherto unknown talent.

At Dendy, Palace Electric and Hoyts Woden

“Gunda” (G) AS far as I’ve been able to ascertain, Gunda is the name of the sow who stars in a 93-minute documentary shot on a Norwegian farm by writer/director Viktor Kosakovskiy.

People who raise animals as a business

tend to use quasi-human vocabulary when referring to the sexes of particular individual ones. Kosakovskiy’s film about this sow and her litter of piglets (I counted 12 but the little blighters moved about and into and out of shot so quickly that the correct number may be more – but not less).

The film opens with Gunda’s face visible through a hatch in the wall of a barn. In the darkness behind her, something is moving.

What can it be? Several minutes pass then a little animal staggers out into the light.

It’s clearly a piglet. A very small one. Then another comes into view. And another. And … And they’re hungry. So it’s good that Gunda’s udder stretches all along her underbelly.

With a dozen teats all soon occupied by small bodies busy suckling.

The moments when they are not suckling, they are either sleeping or rushing about squealing.

They’re cute. Days, weeks, months pass. They’re busy learning to fend for themselves, to dig whatever’s edible on or beneath the surface. They’re eventually quite large. Still squeaking. Still feeding.

A big machine arrives. We see its wheels.

And the big steel box that it lowers to the ground from its rear end. It drives away.

Gunda wanders about the field, clearly wondering where the kids have got to.

“Gunda” will never break box-office records. Yet it invites attention because of its display of animal life that city-dwellers may never see. For that reason it has merit.

And a cinema that screens it deserves a modicum of praise.

At Dendy

“The Unholy” (MA) THIS is being marketed as a horror film. A small collection of suffixes can be added to the first four letters of that word “horror” – like “-id”, “-ible”. “-endous”; take your pick – they all expressively describe writer/ director/producer (with Sam Rami) Evan Spiliotopoulos’ film.

Based on a novel “Shrine” by James

Herbert, it purports to tell a story about a miracle in a small Massachusetts town.

Teenaged Alice (Cricket Brown – her feature debut) has been deaf and mute since birth.

Press photographer Gerry (Geoffrey Dean Morgan) finds her and hey presto! she hears, she speaks, and she tells a boy in his early teens confined to a wheelchair that he can walk; and hey presto! again, he walks!

Someone says Alice has had a visit from the Virgin Mary. Before long, big mobs of people come to the town seeking miracles from her. The local bishop wants a bigger piece of the action!

There’s a lot of religion in “The Unholy”.

Committed Christians may find the manner of its handling to be somewhat distressing.

Active non-believers may find the film comforting.

And the scary bits? Pure pabulum. A viewer choosing “The Unholy” as his/her first experience of the moving image (yes, I know; that’s so unlikely as to be impossible) might get one or two jolts of surprise before wondering what it’s all about.

The full star is for the special effects. The half star acknowledges the film’s dramatic merit.

At Dendy, Hoyts and Limelight

WATCH IT! / streaming and stuff

The ‘Tales’ take on a life of their own

By Nick

OVERALL A HEAD-on approach to blistering subject matter means “The Handmaid’s Tale” has continued to generate discussion, debate and everything in between, and this month it’s about to confidently stride into its fourth season.

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Here in Aus, viewers will be able to get their hands on the new season on SBS On Demand from April 29, a day after its US release.

For anyone not in the know, it’s based on the 1985 novel by Margaret Atwood. A story about a theocracy called Gilead, which has overthrown the US government and established a new order, one where women, called “handmaids”, are enslaved in sexual servitude to combat mass infertility.

Nice and light entertainment, then.

This premise has been crafted through a vast array of historical, religious, cultural and political influences. Just some of Atwood’s influences include American puritanism, religious fundamentalism, as well as the events that have transpired in the Soviet Union and the Middle East.

In turn, it whips up publicity with ease.

The American Library Association has labelled the original novel as one of the most frequently challenged books, with the parents of many high school students condemning its presence in curriculum with concerns of “anti-religious messaging” and explicit depictions of sexuality.

Elisabeth Moss in “The Handmaid’s Tale”... the show has seen continued major critical and commercial success.

There was also the hilariously tone-deaf Kardashian controversy of 2019. Kylie Jenner keenly boasted on Instagram her “Handmaid’s Tale”-themed birthday party, complete with costumes the handmaids wear in the show.

The backlash was huge, with fans around the world explaining the disservice she was doing to the story. Given the kind of response she generated, I have a sneaking suspicion Jenner’s antics weren’t quite as naive as many might believe.

Stuff like this has only further planted “The Handmaid’s Tale” in the TV-watching consciousness, with a fifth season already getting the thumbs up for production.

The novel’s plot only goes as far as the end of season one, meaning the show, four seasons later, has more than moved past the content of its original source material.

That’s playing a dangerous game: best example being the ending seasons of “Game of Thrones” (on Binge), which went beyond the

author’s original vision of the book series and resulted in what many considered a disastrous and disappointing conclusion.

There are some who believe “The Handmaid’s Tale” has already outstayed its welcome, but the show has ultimately seen continued major critical and commercial success, winning countless awards. This included the first Outstanding Series Emmy for a show on a streaming service.

Of course, it’s been interpreted, scrutinised, analysed and put through the ringer of every type of “ism” one can think of.

This goes from one end where critics rabbit on about apparent parallels to “Trump’s America” all the way to people calling it an attack on Christianity.

Atwood’s been known to correct some of these more extreme approaches to her story.

“The novel is not a critique of religion, but rather a critique on the use of religion,” she’s famously quoted as saying.

She wants it to be viewed as “a study of power, and how it operates and how it deforms or shapes the people who are living within that kind of regime”.

Unfortunately, for anyone looking to catch up on the show or rewatch it before the fourth season, there’s a bit of a hiccup.

While the fourth season will hit the free-touse SBS On Demand at the end of this month, the first three seasons before it aren’t on the platform.

They’re on Stan, which will mean a bit of hopping between that and SBS On Demand to get all of the show in.

But if thought-provoking TV floats your boat, then switch on, get comfortable and stir up some dystopian-themed party cocktails.

Actually, maybe not that last part.

THEATRE / Stronger Than Fiction

Documentary festival takes a new, longer path

By Helen Musa

IT’S got a slightly corny name, but the Stronger Than Fiction documentary film festival founded during the centenary of Canberra by Deborah Kingsland and Simon Weaving always packs a powerful punch.

Now after a year out in the cold, Deborah and co-director Hannah de Feyter, who has co-curated with her since 2018, have come up with a bright idea to make sure that documentary film lovers in the ACT get together every month.

According to de Feyter, a well-known local producer, filmmaker and experimental viola player, it’s been obvious to them that this year would be different from all others, particularly with the flurry of online film initiatives, so a different model was required.

“Starting in January, the two of us started thinking about a different shape, one film a month so that this year we could have some sense of continuation,” she says.

“We’d like to have a regular community of people who see a movie together once a month… instead of a big, two-week blowout in August.”

But Kingsland is quick to confirm that the festival will include, as usual, Q&As

Co-director of the Stronger Than Fiction festival, Hannah de Feyter.

“The Mole Agent… “What’s so strong is the way it pictures older people, respecting and honouring their emotions,” de Feyter says.

with directors and experts, local musicians performing and opportunities to meet like-minded people and discuss films over a coffee or glass of wine. Added to that would be additional offers such as free childcare and audio description, made possible thanks to a grant from the ACT government.

As co-curators, de Feyter and Kingsland got together at the end of 2020 and attended, virtually, the Berlin Film Festival, watching hundreds of movies together, so they were spoilt for choice.

They won’t tell us everything that will happen this year, but there’s a certain

providence in the ones already lined up for April and May. On April 25, for instance. The festival will kick off at Dendy with “The Mole Agent” by Chilean filmmaker Maite Alberdi – recently nominated at this year’s Oscars for Best Documentary Feature.

“It’s unusual for this festival, in that it’s a story-movie but it’s also true,” de Feyter says.

In it, a woman worried that her mother is being subjected to elder abuse in a nursing home goes to a private-detective agency and hires 83-year-old Sergio to be a mole and infiltrate the home.

Sergio’s own family have concerns about this new career, in which he must learn new techniques involving spy glasses and a microphone pen. But his handsome good looks make him a big hit and the plot unravels.

“What’s so strong is the way it pictures older people, respecting and honouring their emotions,” de Feyter says.

And there’s a real treat for cinematography buffs, since much of it is shot through slanted blinds as Sergio carries out his investigations – “a really inventive way of talking about this issue”.

It’s with some difficulty that we squeeze

out of her details of the next film. As she says: “The film landscape has changed and we can stay flexible by not planning for the whole year”.

Be that as it may, we can report that showing at the end of May is the documentary, “Mayor”, focusing on Musa Hadid, the Christian mayor of Ramallah during his second term in office.

She likens it to US TV sitcom, “Parks and Recreation”, only this one is set on the West Bank, as it turns the lens on a public servant who is doing a really good job – “amazing”, de Feyter says.

“He’s funny, he’s committed and he’s so engaged, hell-bent on making a difficult situation more bearable.”

The film follows his immediate goals to repave the sidewalks, attract more tourism, and plan celebrations, but the grand plan is to end the occupation of Palestine.

If it sounds like a grand plan by Kingsland and de Feyter to open with two films about fabulous men, it’s not.

Through accidental but serendipitous timing, they found themselves looking at films about men who could make a difference and become role models.

“It’s very clear that a lot of male leaders need that,” de Feyter says.

“The Mole Agent”, Dendy Cinemas, 2pm, Sunday, April 25. Book at dendy.com.au

DINING / The Scholar, Dickson

Where the lobster’s the star

By Wendy

JOHNSON THE deep-fried lobster dumplings were the star of the show at a weekend visit to The Scholar yum cha and Chinese seafood restaurant in Dickson.

They were scrumptious. Golden and crispy on the outside and loaded with juicy prawns on the inside (four pieces, $8.80). They were SO good we couldn’t resist the temptation and ordered a second lot.

The Scholar is hugely popular and on our visit hungry customers lined up along the steep staircase patiently waiting to get a table. Yum cha is served seven days a week (off the menu during the weekend and trolley service also on Saturdays and Sundays).

We ordered a couple of items from trollies whipping by, including steamed prawn dumplings (four pieces, $8.80) which were a bit gluggy, and a duck dish, which wasn’t our fave (even though we’re duck worshippers). The duck was super bony and lacked taste. Those dishes confirmed it was best to concentrate on ordering from the extensive menu.

A highlight from the main menu was the fish fillet with ginger and shallots ($20.80). It was cooked to perfection… super moist and the ginger made a statement.

For our veggie hit we selected the Chinese broccoli in oyster sauce

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Deep-fried lobster dumplings… golden and crispy on the outside and loaded with prawns.

Photo: Wendy Johnson ($18.80). Beautifully steamed, the broccoli had great crunch and was presented with just enough oyster sauce to add interest but not overwhelm the vegetable itself.

We looked forward to the chicken fillet with “spicy” Kung Pao sauce ($20.80). It lacked the spice component, however, and was slightly too sweet for our liking.

On a couple of occasions, we spotted staff serving BBQ pork rice noodles. These wide noodles are filled with pork and then folded to form a roll (two for $6.80). Appearance was more impressive than the dish itself. Our slippery noodles hardly had any pork in them and disappointed our palates.

The lineup of live seafood in the massive tanks at the entrance of the restaurant includes abalone, lobster, parrot fish, king crab, morong, mud crab and barramundi (market prices set daily).

The signature dishes section of the menu is intriguing. We wouldn’t mind giving the steamed tofu in egg white with seafood a go ($23.80), or the fillet steak in “typhoon shelter” style (cumin, onion and shallots, $22.80). Traditional dishes feature sliced pigs’ trotters ($10.80), and hot rock salted duck tongue ($29.80).

Wines aren’t at all expensive at The Scholar. Local, regional and national wines feature, including from Hunter Valley, Margaret River, Mornington Peninsula and Barossa.

The Scholar is manic on weekends, and the atmosphere can be chaotic (not unusual for yum cha).

However, our patience was tested more than once. Loads of staff were on deck but it was challenging to get anyone’s attention to order.

And while we get that staff can be stressed when the place is so busy, it wasn’t exactly service with a smile.

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CityNews April 22-28, 2021 21

GARDENING

Hellebore “Anna’s Red”... for a splash of winter colour.

The Algerian iris… cut back leaves to ground level for flowers this winter.

Plant now for winter colour

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BRYANT WINTER doesn’t have to be a drab time in the garden, when colour can be provided with small evergreen shrubs combined with perennials.

Many evergreen shrubs have a display of flowers in winter, and during this wonderful year for gardeners and farmers, plants have shown prolific growth.

A prime example is camellia sasanqua, which flowers for most of the winter and is beloved by honeyeaters for nectar. We know the birds have arrived with their distinctive squawk.

These camellias have been coming into flower considerably earlier, by several weeks at least, this year. The magnificent hedge along our rear

fence of camellia sasanqua “Hiryu”, with its rich, pink flowers came into flower weeks ago.

Equally so is camellia “Paradise Sarah”, with its soft-pink flowers. The main advantage of camellia sasanqua is they’re extremely hardy, and will take extended periods of no rain and full sun.

The drought tolerance of this variety of camellia was demonstrated in the drought of 2003-2008 where they survived in areas with no artificial watering and spasmodic rainfall.

Other small flowering shrubs include the wide range of heathers and ericas, with flowers ranging from pink through to purple and white.

These grow from the Mediterranean to South Africa, demonstrating their drought tolerance.

There are more than 900 species, all good for providing winter colour from late autumn to early spring. E. x darleyensis, a cross between E. carnea and E. erigena, grows exceptionally well to 60cm x 75cm, with its profusion of pink flowers. For white flowers, choose E. x darleyensis “Alba”.

I can’t go past the equally large range of hellebores, or winter rose. To clarify, they’re not

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related to roses, but the name refers to their similarity to old-fashioned roses with single petals. These are arriving in garden centres now, with colours galore. Almost all grow to about 50cm x 50cm, and prefer partial shade.

Some varieties I highly recommend for winter colour include “Charmer” with rich, deep-pink flowers, “Anna’s Red”, “Angel Glow”, “Tutu” and “Tutu White”. These are ideal along the front of a garden bed, or plant in groups, three to five of the same colour. If you already have hellebores, this is the final reminder – cut last year’s leaves to ground level, today! This is important for the sun to get to the base of the plant for flower production.

A similar reminder applies to winter iris; cut back leaves to ground level today for flowers this winter. The iris is also known as Algerian iris, again indicative of its origin and drought tolerance.

Winter annuals combined with perennials, shrubs and bulbs can be a riot of colour. Get planting this weekend!

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Your week in the stars

General knowledge crossword No. 778

By Joanne Madeline Moore

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April 26-May 2, 2021

ARIES (Mar 21 – Apr 20)

Monday night’s Full Supermoon increases your magnetism and boosts your ability to inspire others and transform your own life. So do your best to find appropriate ways to let off steam and choose challenging projects to channel your fiery energy into. A major relationship (whether of the romantic, platonic or professional variety) could also go through a metamorphosis, as you voice your concerns in a respectful way and work through a problem that’s been holding you back.

TAURUS (Apr 21 – May 21)

CREATIVE BRANDING

With unpredictable Uranus still moving slowly through Taurus, old rules have changed and outdated ideologies have been replaced. Change, disruption and transformation are the new norm. So businesses need to innovate; communities need to be creative; people need to pivot; and Bulls need to be very adaptable. So your motto for the moment is from birthday great, comedian and producer Jerry Seinfeld: “If life boils down to one thing, it’s movement. To live is to keep moving.”

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GEMINI (May 22 – June 21)

Avoid being a superficial and garrulous Gemini. You’ll find there’s a lot more going on beneath the surface than meets the eye. The planets (especially the Supermoon in Scorpio) encourage you to slow down, strip back the layers of polite conversation, dive deep, listen and learn. Venus, Neptune and Pluto also boost creativity, compassion, perception and intuition. So you’ll find thoughtful observation and insightful soul-searching will take you far this week Twins.

CANCER (June 22 – July 23)

On Monday night there’s a Full Supermoon (in fellow water sign Scorpio). So expect an emotionally intense week when unresolved issues with a partner, family member or close friend could rise to the surface and demand to be addressed.

Jealousy, possessiveness or power games could also be cause for concern. Resist the urge to be a side-stepping Crab! Do your best to keep things in perspective, as you deal with any drama in a straightforward and honest way.

LEO (July 24 – Aug 23)

Watch out for domestic dramas this week, as the Full Supermoon shines a harsh spotlight on a brewing and stewing family situation. Being housebound, quarantine rules, lockdown laws or social distancing guidelines could contribute to you feeling restless and rather reckless! Clever Cats will cool down, calm down and observe keenly from the sidelines. Friday night’s Sun/Uranus conjunction could spark a brilliant creative idea that shakes up your career or helps you find a new job.

VIRGO (Aug 24 – Sept 23)

This week you’re in a curious state of mind, as Mercury and the Full Supermoon generate a promising opportunity involving international connections, publishing, education or social media. So get your ideas out there on the world wide web, as you inform and entertain others with your mercurial thoughts. Your motto for the moment is from writer (and fellow Virgo) Samuel Johnson: “Curiosity is one of the permanent and certain characteristics of a vigorous mind.”

Down

4 Name the Australian Prime Minister 1945-1949, Ben ... (7) 8 What is literature or art, dealing with amatory explicit matter? (7) 9 Which term describes that which is powered by atomic energy? (7) 10 What are the ensigns or emblems of royalty?

(7) 11 What are important horse races? (7) 12 Which term describes an indictable offence, such as murder, burglary, etc? (6) 14 Name the ship in which Charles Darwin was the official scientist. (6) 18 What is a sole and absolute ruler of a state?

(7) 21 To mimic someone, is to do what? (7) 22 Which expression describes morbid fears?

(7) 23 What is a family relationship known as? (7) 24 What is a sequence of rulers from the same stock? (7)

1 To interrogate someone on return from a mission, is to do what? (7) 2 Name the Maori greeting, expressed by touching or rubbing noses. (5) 3 What is now generally accepted as a thousand million? (7) 4 Name the second-largest country in the world. (6) 5 To become liable through one’s own action, is to do what?

(5) 6 When one is looking with a side glance, what is one doing?

(7) 7 What are talks or chats called? (5) 13 Name the 16th President of the US, Abraham ... (7) 15 Name one of the two Australian monotremes. (7) 16 What is a passage taken out of a book, or the like? (7) 17 Which distilled spirit is made from the grain of barley, rye, oats, etc? (6) 18 What is a light low-powered motorcycle, equipped with pedals? (5) 19 Which straps are used for controlling a horse? (5) 20 Name a machine for use in working metal, wood, etc. (5)

LIBRA (Sept 24 – Oct 23)

The buzz word this week is transformation. Librans have a talent for creating beauty … in the way you speak, sing, write, dance, dress, draw, decorate, cook or just generally create. So that’s what you must do. In a world full of sickness, uncertainty and financial problems, you can divert people’s attention to a more beautiful and magical place. Be inspired by birthday great, comedian Jerry Seinfeld: “When someone does a small task beautifully, their whole environment is affected by it.”

Solution next edition

Across

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SCORPIO (Oct 24 – Nov 22)

Metamorphosis is the name of the game, as the Full Supermoon in Scorpio pushes you to rise Phoenix-like from the ashes of a difficult situation. A challenging relationship has the potential to be reborn into a much more positive partnership.

But you must be prepared to release old grudges; let go of the past; forgive and forget. So your motto is from birthday great, writer Harper Lee: “You can’t really get to know a person until you get in their shoes and walk around in them.”

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SAGITTARIUS (Nov 23 – Dec 21)

Innovative ideas and lightning flashes of inspiration make for a thought-provoking week. But there’s a tendency to be a real know-it-all (especially at work) and you’re likely to blurt out the most inappropriate comment to the most inappropriate person. So take your foot out of your mouth and think things through (carefully) before you speak! Heed the wise words of birthday great, writer Harper Lee: “Folks don’t like to have somebody around knowing more than they do.”

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CAPRICORN (Dec 22 – Jan 20)

Can you keep your control-freak tendencies under control this week? If you can, then you’ll astound and amaze others with your can-do Capricorn attitude, your natural personal authority, your networking skills and talent for leadership. You’re ready, willing and able to work hard and help others. Just make sure you are generous and inclusive as you encourage family, friends, colleagues and community members to pull together during the ongoing covid challenge.

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AQUARIUS (Jan 21 – Feb 19)

Copyright Joanne Madeline Moore 2021

Solutions – April 15 edition Sudoku medium No. 289

PISCES (Feb 20 – Mar 20)

You need to be clear and straightforward in the way you communicate with other people this week. Don’t waste precious time pussyfooting around or being ‘creatively elastic’ with the truth. With four planets in earthy Taurus, it’s time to be a more practical Pisces and stick to the facts, especially when it comes to relatives, neighbours and local community matters. By all means escape into a fabulous fantasy world – but make sure you can step back into reality when it’s required!

Solution next edition

Crossword No. 777

The current planetary placements (the Sun, Mercury, Venus and Uranus are visiting your home zone and Saturn is sauntering through your sign) are teaching you to slow down and appreciate the wisdom in your world, the people in your life and the love in your heart. So be inspired by birthday great, singer-songwriter Willie Nelson: “I take it not only a day at a time, but a moment at a time, and keep it at that pace. If you can be happy right now, then you’ll always be happy.”

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CityNews April 22-28, 2021 23

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