CityNews 221222

Athleticism is all in the speed of a twitch CLIVE WILLIAMS

Kickstart the bucket list and seize the day

RICHARD CALVER

HARRY & MEGHAN

Here’s one show better left unstreamed NICK OVERALL

THE WOKEY BROKEY…

Spin’s what it’s all about! KEEPING UP THE ACT’S last knees-up for the year

Off to see the Wizard…

Little Dorothy and Toto hit the Yellow Brick Road

season is here!

By Belinda STRAHORN

ally craving a donut, then you have in mind why you set that goal and it should keep you going.”

To make the goal easier to reach, Khan recommends breaking it down into smaller steps and following the SMART acronym.

“Use the approach of making your resolution Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time constrained,” she said.

about stopping a behaviour.

“A way to reframe the goal would be: ‘I will be on time for work every day’, so that’s an approach-oriented goal.”

The ancient Babylonians are said to have been the first people to make New Year’s resolutions, some 4000 years ago.

Young musicians silenced by covid

By Helen Musa

ONE of Canberra’s longest-running community music organisations faces a bleak future after having been forced to make drastic changes in the aftermath of covid.

While many of us have made reso lutions in the past, some of which we fulfil, many don’t survive the month of January.

Canberra Head to Health Centre psychologist Aflaha Khan argues that a New Year’s resolution can be a good way to plan for the year ahead.

While Khan, 28, concedes she’s nev er made one herself – relying instead on planning throughout the year – she believes that the new year is the ideal time for people to address the things that need changing in their lives.

“The new year tends to be a temporal milestone that facilitates people to take stock and reflect on the past year, what they have achieved and to look ahead to what they want to achieve in the next year,” she said.

“I think it’s important for all of us to sit back and think a little bit more about the things we have achieved and where we want to go in the future.”

Khan advocates for setting goals that align to one’s personal values.

“If a resolution is meaningful and related to an actual value we have, then it ensures we stay motivated to achieve that goal when things get tough,” she said.

“If your goal is to lose weight you could provide yourself with a reason like ‘this is important for my health’, and in those times when you are re -

“That acronym really helps you think through the specifics of the resolution, which means you may be more likely to plan how you will achieve that goal and recognise when you have achieved it.”

Khan revealed that a recent survey into New Year’s resolutions found that at a one year follow-up, 55 per cent of resolvers considered themselves successful in sustaining their goal.

Health and weight loss were the top two resolutions, followed by diet and personal-growth goals.

The study also showed that people who set approach-oriented goals were more successful than those who set avoidance-oriented goals.

“An approach-oriented goal means you are making a goal about doing something as opposed to not doing something,” Khan said.

“For example, if you are setting a goal like: ‘I want to stop being late for work every day’, that would be an avoidance-oriented goal because it’s

By some accounts, the history of New Year’s resolutions continued in ancient Rome, and New Year’s resolutions were also made in the Middle Ages.

Khan said the greatest challenge facing people fulfilling their resolutions is a desire for short-term gratification, and near instantaneous results.

“These days we are really geared towards short-term gratification, what we can do now and what we can get now,” she said.

“But it’s really those long-term goals that give us a sense of meaning and purpose, rather than that subjective sense of ‘I feel good in the now’, that may not actually last.”

To overcome those pitfalls, she recommends starting small.

“Start small and review your progress often,” said Khan.

“Achieving a small step will help you feel good about yourself, build your confidence and motivate you towards achieving a bigger goal that you may have in mind.”

The Young Music Society, established in 1969 by Judith Clingan, will close its office at the Flynn Community Hub and operate from home offices indefinitely from February.

A skeleton staff of artistic director and general manager Stephen Leek and office administrator Charles Miller will continue to work on a “needs only” basis for future projects and to keep the organisation afloat.

The YMS Concert Band will continue in 2023 only if it is financially viable to do so and fees are expected to rise to cover costs.

Worst of all, after more than 50 years the YMS Instrument Hire Program will close at the end of 2022. The society says most of the YMS instruments are old and “pre-loved”, and the on-going cost of repairs, maintenance or replacement is prohibitive.

There are now other alternate hire options available in every major music store and through many schools and through substantial government investment in this area.

It was decided to sell off most of the instruments, which will be available for sale at the YMS office 10am-to-4pm, January 14 and 21.

Psychologist Aflaha Khan… “Start small and review your progress often.”

Picture parade of dumb stuff you’re paying for

tion to be told “sorry, private lease, nothing

“This is a toxic blight, one that has a negative effect on local homeowners and the potential value of their asset and shows total disrespect of the local community,” he says.

brick courtyard wall, which is part of the listing but agreed to replace it once alerted they were in breach of the 2013 heritage guidelines,” she wrote.

ment lurking behind it.

1. INNER-north snout and “Canberra Matters” columnist Paul Costigan sent through a couple of photos of a sign (this column lurves signs) planted at ground level around O’Connor.

“I had seen it many times as I drove by and wondered who was supposed to read it. I thought maybe it was for the magpies,” he writes.

“On Sunday, curiosity got to me and I parked to have a read.”

Turns out it’s an invitation from the ACT

Bob Cousins photo of a road sign for “Oakeden Street”, Greenway. I looked and looked and had to write back to ask what the point of the photo was. At least I looked, because clearly the responsible officer for nomenclature in the Road Signs Directorate didn’t and waved it through.

“A check on Google maps, a look at EvoEnergy’s address and a look at the new developments in the street indicate that it is actually Oakden Street.” Doh! We’ll watch and see how long it takes them to correct it.

3. HERE’S a cracker from my Yarralumla snout that makes you wonder what came first, the pole or the pavement?

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more than four years. I went and had a look and they’re an eyesore.

Ron chased up the minister’s office for ac-

“This is not something that we should expect in our beautiful city, nor any other for that matter, but where does the solution lie, not with Gentleman Mick it would seem.”

SIMILARLY, emeritus professor Marian offered up this for the “Shame” awards. She says it’s a Housing ACT property at 10 Barnet Close, “which is part of the heritage-listed cluster housing on Swinger

“Last year they demolished the Bowral

“Since then (ie late 2021) no repairs have been done, which is hardly an edifying sight for the town-planning students coming to admire this pioneering cluster housing.”

Ian Meikle is the editor of “CityNews” and can be heard with Rod Henshaw on the “CityNews Sunday Roast” news and interview program, 2CC, 9amnoon. There are more of his columns on citynews.com.au

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Expect to fail, new life grooves take time to carve

By Lily PASS

“EXPECT to fail,” is sport and exercise psychologist Dr Richard Keegan’s advice to anyone setting New Year’s resolutions, but failure shouldn’t be final.

“Failure is not final and catastrophic. It is much healthier to say I failed at my goal today, but I’ve got another chance tomorrow and I can be better, and more informed in my pursuit,” he says.

The most frequent mistake people make when setting their resolutions is becoming too ambitious, which is what makes New Year’s resolutions famous for failing after only a couple of days.

Every year, “being healthier” is a consistent and highly popular New Year’s resolution – including exercising more, and losing weight.

“It could be setting a certain number of visits to the gym per week, or a number of hours in the gym, or sometimes people are looking for a certain level of achievement whether that be weight, body shape or how much they can lift,” says Keegan.

Keegan references a “Discover Happy Habits” article which lists two of the most popular resolutions for 2022

as living healthier, and losing weight, with another study by “A Sports Community” revealing that walking is the most popular way for Australians to get their physical exercise in, closely followed by going to the gym, swimming and running.

“Focus on how you feel, focus on something that isn’t a number, focus on the experience when in pursuit of these goals and you’ll find more success.

“Usually the weightiness of New Year’s resolutions is that people go for something really big, which is all good, but any psychologist would say you need to come down to what is achievable right now, build up from where you’re at and then work your

way up to the goal.”

The rule-of-thumb guide is that new habits can take up to three months to stick.

“You get to the point where you’re not doing it for some external reason, but doing it because that’s who you are and what you do now,” says Keegan.

“That transition from chasing rewards or avoiding unpleasantness through to finding gratification and enjoyment in doing the actual tasks, it’s motivation.”

Keegan says humans are quite complex creatures, and a little change in circumstance can throw all of our well-worn habits into disarray.

“Make small, incremental, toler-

able changes to activity levels, sleep patterns or nutrition,” he says.

“Sleep is undervalued, we don’t know that it’s a problem until it’s broken. On average we sleep eight hours a night because that’s about enough time for our brain – in terms of learning, consolidating memories, shifting neurotransmitters – to recharge almost like a battery.

“The constant question needs to be what changes are you prepared to make that aren’t so big that they won’t stick? So make small, incremental, tolerable changes until you’re getting the outcomes that you need.”

The other thing that makes sticking to resolutions hard, is having to

change a “well-grooved life”.

“People already have a well-grooved life, we’re doing what we do because of circumstances, our job or school, so to go and carve out a new groove for ourselves takes some time,” says Keegan.

“Even if I asked you to do something completely pleasant, steal an hour of your day that you would’ve been doing something else in, and just sit down and relax, even that might be too much of a change to fit around your normal everyday commitments.

“That is what you’re up against, you’re juggling your whole lifestyle and it usually takes a lot of trial and error, and patience, to achieve that big shift most people are pursuing with New Year’s resolutions.”

And, he says, goal setting itself is a skill.

“People need to understand that setting goals once a year for ourselves might not reflect that skilled habit of adjusting, tweaking, adapting and setting more appropriate goals, and changing them in response to sickness or circumstance.

“You might say you’re going to get good at setting little short goals, and that is what is going to steer you towards this bigger journey. Not only are you pursuing that bigger goal but you’re learning to navigate towards it through setting and monitoring these little microscopic goals, day to day and week to week.”

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where you’re at and then work your way up to the goal,” says Dr Keegan.

Lia’s in ‘Clover’ after national songwriting win

By Belinda STRAHORN

SHE might only be 12-years-old, but Lia Maras is on track for a bright future in music.

The Queanbeyan resident, in Year 7 at The Anglican School Googong, discovered her passion for singing and music at just four.

Fast forward about eight years and Lia has been named this year’s song writer of the year by the Australian Children’s Music Foundation (ACMF) for her song “Clover”.

“I am very excited and very grate ful,” she said. “It came as a surprise, and was hard to take in at first.”

Lia, a first-time entrant in the ACMF’s National Songwriting Com petition, saw off competition from 1500 other hopefuls to be crowned 2022 Songwriter of the Year.

She also picked up first prize in the Year 7-8 school grade category.

The annual competition, in its 20th year, is open to school-aged children who are asked to write an original song and submit it for judging.

Lia’s winning song “Clover”, which she sang herself, took her a few days to write and about a month to record.

The song is about the beauty of nature.

no stranger to music having grown up

“My brother and sister both play or have played guitar, saxophone, clariLia, who also plays guitar, has been

“I started writing little Christmas jingles that were very awful, but I just kept writing little tunes until I got to

She said music makes her happy, and that any time was a great time for

“I’m very influenced by music, so If I listen to a song it makes me feel how the song is portrayed,” she said.

“Whenever an idea comes, usually it’s very random. I start writing but I enjoy writing and playing music any-

At the moment Lia uses her laptop to record songs, and harbours the ambition to become a professional

“I definitely want to become a professional songwriter or a musician because I love it, and I want to get out

Nathaniel Maras, Lia’s dad, is proud of his daughter’s achievements.

He said Lia developed a love for mu-

“At four, Lia was given her first acoustic guitar and I remember her arms were so small she could hardly

“She used to get upset that she couldn’t reach to play but I just encouraged her to keep going.

“Wind the clock forward and she’s 12 now and you can’t stop her singing and playing guitar and making music.”

When Nathaniel discovered his daughter had a talent for songwriting, he encouraged her to pursue the craft.

“I told her she had some nice songs and asked her if she heard them on the radio, and she said they were her own creations,” he said.

“So I said why don’t you write them down and record them on the iPad.

“We bought her a microphone that plugs into the iPad so she can record her ideas because later on, you never know, it might turn into something.

“When we saw the competition advertised in the shopping centre, my wife and I encouraged her to give it a go.”

Judges of the competition assessed various aspects of each song, including lyrics, melody, song structure and originality.

Having scooped the pool with two prizes, Lia has won a total of $2500 in prizemoney which will go towards music lessons and a new guitar.

“She’s been pining all year for an electric guitar,” said Nathaniel.

“We have always said just get better then you can get one.

“So, now she’s won the competition, she’s got the guitar.”

Deadly parasites that thrive in undercooked food

Despite being a first-world country, stomach problems are quite common in Australia. For example, roughly 30 per cent of Australians experience Irritable Bowel Syndrome, says Prof SHOKOOFEH SHAMSI .

IN a developed country like Australia, it is not uncommon to think that intestinal parasites are not present.

This is because people subconsciously associate parasites with developing countries, poverty, and poor socio-economic backgrounds, not with modern, developed countries.

The perception of being parasitefree may come from the strict biosecurity controls at our borders, but the truth is that everywhere on earth houses parasites and Australia is no exception.

Studies conducted by my parasitology team at Charles Sturt University show that parasites still bypass Australia’s strict biosecurity borders and make their way into our food supply chain.

Parasitic infections are commonly misdiagnosed in Australia due to a number of factors, such as the emergence of new parasites, the shortage of properly trained parasitologists in the country, and inadequate coverage of the topic in the curriculum in medical schools.

Some parasites are quite small, and many are inside their hosts – ani-

mal or human. These factors make them difficult to see. They are also common in the food we eat. Australians love barbecues and multicultural cuisines, and the risk is high if food is consumed undercooked or raw.

One example of a parasite commonly found in food is Toxoplasma gondii We can easily become infected by this parasite by consuming undercooked or raw meat that often houses it, or contaminated vegetables, or simply from unwashed hands.

This parasite is ranked by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as the fourth most potentially harmful parasite globally.

Many people, including some medical doctors, often link parasite infections with an upset digestive system.

While this is a very common symptom of parasitic infections, this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the many other symptoms parasites can cause, some of which are much more severe.

For example, for a Toxoplasma infection, the person might experience a stroke, congenital illness causing disability and blindness or

Toxoplasma gondii… we can easily become infected by this parasite by consuming undercooked or raw meat that often houses it, or contaminated vegetables, or simply from unwashed hands.

even death.

Alarmingly, Australia’s estimated national prevalence of Toxoplasma in red meat could be as high as 61 per cent. This is not a statistic many families would consider when they’re sitting down for their meat and threevegetable meal at the dinner table.

A national baseline seroprevalence report by Meat and Livestock Australia estimated 16 to 32 per cent of Australian lamb and sheep are

carrying the Toxoplasma parasite. About 30 to 40 per cent of Australians are serologically positive, meaning at some point they have been infected with the parasite.

Unfortunately, however, in Australia it is difficult to assess the risk of Australian lamb and other animals as a potential infection source for humans as there have been no holistic studies on Toxoplasma contamination for many years.

Ways to avoid infection

Adequate cooking and freezing are simple measures to ensure food safety against parasites. For Toxoplasma, refrigeration at one to four degrees centigrade for up to three weeks has been recommended.

However, the cyst form of the parasite may survive minus one to minus eight degrees centigrade for more than a week. Cooking for several minutes at 67C ensures the cyst is no longer viable. The temperature and the duration needed to kill the parasite may vary and depend on the parasite type, the size of the meat and the animal species.

Unfortunately, Australia does not have enough scientists, nor does it invest enough in research on the parasites of humans, wildlife and aquatic animals, including edible species, and this can have significant public health and environmental consequences.

In Australia, it is vital that we take the available information and harness it to affect practical management measures in our rapidly changing world.

Until then, washing hands and properly cooking food can keep you, to a large extent, safe.

Shokoofeh Shamsi is a professor in veterinary parasitology at the Charles Sturt University’s School of Agricultural, Environmental and Veterinary Sciences.

A lot of nonsense is what 2022 was all about

HOPEFULLY, members of our community groups are not reading planning documents but instead are checking on the tomatoes, spending time with friends, or watching the magpies forage through the neighbourhood.

People will be trying hard not to think about the last 12 months and wondering what the hell was that all about.

During 2022 a lot of nonsense streamed from the planning directorate’s Dickson tower and from the less-than-transparent ACT’s Greenslabor disconnected world.

Community councils are polite people who want to work with the government and its agencies to achieve wonderful things for this city. This has been almost impossible in 2022 as wonderful things are not what this ACT government does.

Despite the many submissions, workshops, presentations by well-paid consultants and the feedback via the “Your Say” government portal, the consensus is that ACT government consultations are tokenistic – and that is being polite. Condescending games are what this ACT Greenslabor does – at the expense of residents and the city’s future.

The Barr-Rattenbury, wellentrenched governance model is to surround themselves with less intelligent people so that their mediocre ways remain unchallenged.

They resent community groups or individual residents who offer intelligent or evidence-based comments because to acknowledge such wise words would confirm what everyone knows – that the ACT Greenslabor political leadership is dull – at best.

If people want to stay sane during the coming year, groups need to have serious thoughts about 2023 and how they should deal with housing, planning and development stuff on their own terms – not just reacting to the Greenslabor stuff and nonsense.

A sensible thing could be to ignore all this and get on with your life. That would be a gamble. Given what the planning chief is rolling out as the government’s planning reforms with fewer enforceable rules, what happened in Mawson in 2022 may happen in your suburb on a block near you (Google: City News Darke Street Mawson).

The annoying reality is that if nothing changes, this Greenslabor chief minister and his cohort know that in October, 2024, ACT voters will be forced to choose them yet again. No matter how much residents resent the ACT’s Greens-Labor coalition and how dull they are, there is less appeal for known alternatives.

Wishful-thinking residents will be repeating the same mistake if they think that the 2024 ACT elections will usher in a new engaged and intelli-

gent ACT government. Based on what we know today and that real-world progressive candidates have yet to put their hands up, that desired change of ACT government will not happen.

Most are still unsure what the Canberra Liberals would deliver on suburban planning, tower developments, biodiversity, climate and housing issues.

It is unclear what they would do about the ACT Housing evictions, the take-over of community and parks for housing, and the lack of community and cultural facilities. Little indicates whether they value good architecture and well-designed landscapes.

To be electable, the Canberra Liberals need to take a stand on things based on a suite of progressive policies with commitments to do positive stuff through working with an engaged community. They do not need to keep broadcasting how bad Greenslabor is – everyone knows that.

This is a reality-check that needs to be addressed. Discussions have started on this topic. One suggestion is to change how groups and individuals respond to consultations and feedback requests. Instead of providing responses according to

the leading questions, to what the government decides the topics are, residents should tick off whether any policy announcements or development proposals match their own lists of values and aspirations.

While being polite about it, people need to call out the chief planner for development approvals that do not follow his own rules and guidelines.

Residents should refuse to deal with consultants, politicians and bureaucrats who only want to tick their boxes with annoying presentations that do not address people’s concerns.

Community groups should make a New Year’s resolution to allocate their limited volunteer time to dealing only with those bureaucrats and politicians who show respect for the community sector through transparent actions and who do not utter that stupid spin. Time is precious.

Paul Costigan is a commentator on cultural and urban matters. There are more of his columns at citynews.com.au

Community councils want to work with the government to achieve wonderful things for this city. This has been almost impossible in 2022 as wonderful things are not what this ACT government does.

Time for checking on the tomatoes, enjoy friends, or watch the magpies forage. Photo: Paul Costigan

‘Son, Santa’s real busy, and I’m just standing in’

I noted that Santa’s shoes were desert boots with black laces – oh tragedy! –

Cactus was Santa, too!!

IT was stinking hot and I was in a queue at the back of a truck next to the white elephant stall.

To my five-year-old eyes, being out in the evening, and with half the little town wandering the playground of my school, nothing was so magical. Santa was on the back of the truck and he was obviously real and in town just to see us – cool!

He wasn’t the only cool bloke seen that week either. I had seen my hero, Cactus, the day before. Real name Michael Moran, he was everywhere – he seemed to run the parish, was the local estate agent who found us somewhere to live whenever we “permanently” returned to Australia, was the travel agent, and often shire president. Just like every seven years or so there’d be a fire or flood buggering our banana patch and the district – in which he would lead a response – every few years the surf club or rugby league team would face extinction, and Cactus charged himself with fixing it. All those institutions are thriving today.

On that December day, Cactus had been at our house, accompanied by

the person who actually ran the town, his infinitely patient wife Judy. I knew he must have been coming, on account of mum having been cooking cabbage rolls, something she prepared early in the morning for the six decades she lived in Australia, whenever she wanted to shamelessly corrupt a councillor.

She escaped southern Europe and her beloved family to get away from corruption and crime, but the black cabbage roll economy was exempt from her moral code and she milked it something shocking in order to get her way.

On this occasion Judy and Mike had been helping her understand a concept she’d not seen before – mum and dad were part of a culture that kissed and went to mass on December 25, but exchanged small gifts, usually bread, on the Epiphany, January 6 –

the “twelfth day of Christmas”. Judy had convinced mum that now I was five she should give me a Christmas present like the kids get on TV and I heard the whispers and they sounded pretty exciting!

Cactus, in his ubiquitous desert boots with black laces, was kneeling in front of a large object in the sun room helping dad cover something with paper and ribbons with all the skill of a gorilla doing needlepoint.

Back to the back of the truck at the fete – it got to my turn and Santa sounded a bit gruff but awesome nevertheless. He avoided the big container with all the wrapped presents and got a different flat one and handed it over.

Heaven on a stick! – till the moment

Obviously one thing I’d learned pretty clearly from the recently aired Christmas episodes of “Dr Who” and “Lost in Space” was this was a fiendishly clever alien who was disguised as Mike who was, in turn, disguised as Santa.

I challenged the alien. The unforgettable response is still with me – “Son, you and me are men of the world. Santa’s real busy, and I’m standing in. You can’t upset the other kids or your mum because they wouldn’t understand – they’d think Santa wasn’t real.”

See what he did there? What a man – he brought me into his circle where perhaps a hundred other people in the town, who shared his vision of service, of kindness, with a conspiratorial little white lie.

Years later his kidneys failed, and he underwent dialysis at home – the people loved it, as Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 5am to 10am they could find him and tell him their troubles. He gave far more to his community than Santa ever did. And Judy gave even more – she shared the best

part of her Michael with the whole shire – hers was the greater gift.

That Christmas morning in 1972 I woke to a brand new second hand bike covered in seven kinds of mismatching paper and a card written by someone who could write – Judy.

And the little package from the back of the truck was a Superboy comic stamped on the cover “Coffs Harbour Book Exchange 10 cents no return”. I still have it, with 20,000 others and the passion has led to starting a charity and community and enriching a life.

Christmas reminds me of all the people who give their lives to serve others. And although I’ve tried scrupulous honesty in life, I never told mum about the true identity of Santa. It would have been unkind.

Antonio Di Dio is a local GP, medical leader, and nerd. There is more of his “Kindness” on citynews.com.au

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ANTONIO DI DIO continues his short history of kindness, with a heartwarming story of a wide-eyed kid at Christmas (him) and his hero, a remarkable man called Cactus.

Trust ‘thrilled’ at quality of heritage award winners

THE 2022 National Trust (ACT) Heritage Awards recognise projects in the community that promote heritage issues to the community, create heritage knowledge and advocate for conservation of heritage places and objects.

National Trust (ACT) president Gary Kent said he was delighted to announce the 10 projects that have received a 2022 National Trust Heritage Award.

Three entries received an Outstand ing Contribution Award – Tidbinbilla Heritage Precinct, Lake Burley Griffin Ecological Project and ANU Birch Building Refurbishment.

The other seven received a Significant Award – 8Tracks, Canberra & District Historical Society New Website, Canberra Tracks Augmented Reality Videos, Marion: the other Griffin temporary exhibition, Old Parliament House Hail Damage Restoration, Old Parliament House Interpretation of the Prime Minister’s Suite and Reviving Inner North’s pillar signposts – Phase 1: Reid and Braddon.

Kent said projects recognised as making an outstanding contribution will be awarded a plaque, and those recognised as making a significant contribution will be awarded a certificate.

“These projects are being recognised for their contribution to the conservation of our heritage,” he said.

“The Trust was thrilled with the quality and variety of nominations. They covered

the whole range of cultural, national and indigenous heritage in the ACT.

“The Trust is particularly pleased with the diversity of nominations and that a number of community groups made nominations.

“This reflects the fact that there are so many individuals and community groups in the territory who are passionate about local heritage.”

Nominations covered a range of project types, including educational events and exhibitions, adaptive reuse, and conservation practice.

Reserve.

Tidbinbilla Pioneers Association president Geoff Puleston said since the 2003 bushfires, the Tidbinbilla Pioneers Association and “other bodies” have been working to refurbish the Rock Valley Homestead.

“I am proud to receive the award and hope it will bring focus to the heritage,” said Puleston.

our fellow Canberrans for conserving our cultural and natural heritage,” said Pittock.

“These areas of endangered ecosystems that we are conserving are not legally protected as nature reserves.

“This award is a tribute to our 170 volunteers who have devoted so much time to protecting the heritage of Canberra.”

space,” said Ludwig.

“To know we have enabled and helped create a legacy for students and staff to create and learn for the next 40 or 50 years is a great honour.”

Kent said The Trust called for nominations in August.

National Trust (ACT) president Gary Kent.

The Tidbinbilla Pioneers Association took out an Outstanding Contribution Award for its promotion of the ongoing heritage values of Tidbinbilla Nature

Also taking out an Outstanding Contribution Award, the Lake Burley Griffin Ecological Project – co-ordinated by Friends of Grasslands’ president Prof Jamie Pittock – aims to preserve nationally threatened species and habitats.

“It is an honour to be recognised by

The final Outstanding Contribution winner, ANU Birch Building Refurbishment, tripled the size of the college of engineering and chemistry, overseen by project architect Emma Ludwig.

She says the collaborative efforts of Hassell Studios, the ANU and its colleges, to change 1000sqm Birch Building space made the recognition of the award “the greatest honour”.

“As architects, it is also really special

“Any project that promotes the conservation of, or fosters public knowledge about places, objects and issues that are significant to the heritage of the ACT is encouraged to be nominated in future,” he said.

“The nominations are assessed by an independent panel of three heritage experts.”

The awards were initiated in 2014.

The ACT National Trust began when it separated from NSW in 1976.

2022 NATIONAL TRUST (ACT) HERITAGE AWARDS WINNERS

The National Trust of Australia (ACT) would like to congratulate the following who have received a National Trust 2022 Heritage Award.

Outstanding Contribution

• ANU Birch Building Refurbishment: Hassell, working with Lovell Chen and Hindmarsh Builders

• Lake Burley Griffin Ecological Project: Friends of Grasslands project

• Tidbinbilla Heritage Precinct: Tidbinbilla Pioneers Association inc. and the ACT Parks and Conservation Service

Significant Contribution

• 8Tracks - An introduction to the Canberra Tracks: Richard Snashall

• Canberra & District Historical Society New Website: Canberra & District Historical Society

• Canberra Tracks Augmented Reality Videos: Family History ACT-Canberra Tracks Project Team

• Marion: the other Griffin temporary exhibition: The National Archives of Australia

• Old Parliament House Hail Damage Restoration: Heritage & Collections Team, and Facilities, Capital Projects & Security Team, Museum of Australian Democracy at Old Parliament House, Eric Martin and Associates Architects, Manteena Group Principal Contractor

• Old Parliament House Interpretation of the Prime Minister’s Suite: Interpretation and Content Development Team, Museum of Australian Democracy at Old Parliament House

• Reviving Inner North’s pillar signpostsPhase 1: Reid and Braddon: Reid Residents’ Association Inc, with Principal Contractor Conservation Works Pty Ltd.

About the Awards

The National Trust’s Heritage Awards recognise projects that make a significant contribution to the conservation of the heritage of the ACT. Any project which promotes the conservation of, or fosters public knowledge about places, objects and issues that are significant to the heritage of the ACT is encouraged to be nominated.

Please note that Award winners above are not ranked within their category.

Nominations for the 2023 National Trust Heritage Awards will be sought in mid-2023.

www.nationaltrustact.org.au

The National Trust receives support and funding from the ACT Government

Proud supporters of the 2022 Heritage Awards

An Outstanding Contribution Award to the Tidbinbilla Pioneers Association for its promotion of the ongoing heritage values of Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve.

Outstanding Contribution Award went to the Lake Burley Griffin Ecological Project co-ordinated by the Friends of Grasslands.

ANU Birch Building refurbishment was awarded an Outstanding Contribution Award.

How Labor betrayed Canberra to stay in power

ered in the future.”

IT all began with pork. No, not the leg of cured pork or ham, a favourite at Christmas parties. The pork of this story is that which Minister Steel used to downgrade the upgrading of roads, arguing that federal funds for the roads be used to extend the tram to Commonwealth Park.

He referred to “pork barrelling”, generally defined as “the utilisation of government funds for projects designed to please voters or legislators and win votes”.

Such a commitment of funds in return for a vote occurred in 2012. The population of Gungahlin was growing rapidly and the Red Rapid bus service from Gungahlin to Civic was one of the most profitable bus routes.

Nevertheless, the government commissioned a report on the feasibility of running a light rail service and in April 2012 the company URS submitted its “City to Gungahlin Transit Corridor: Concept Design Report”.

This compared a light rail transit (LRT) system with a bus rapid transit

(BRT) system and the option of keep ing the status quo.

The report stated that the BRT had roughly twice the benefit-cost ratio of light rail, would cost less than half to establish and provide the same stimulus for development as LRT.

Further, the report suggested that the greater part of the existing Red Rapid bus service stopping at the kerb could be maintained as BRT, with the construction of a bus lane in the centre of the road only necessary from the Barton Highway onwards. In addition, BRT provided the advantage of buses able to service the suburbs beyond the end of the line.

The Development Application (DA) for the light rail to Gungahlin admitted “that buses provided a higher overall level of service than the proposed light rail”. This was counterweighed in the DA with “expectations” that the light rail would cope better with peak-time travel. The URS report defeated this argument by noting: “BRT systems around the world often use bespoke higher capacity vehicles that are designed to look and feel more like trams, and this could be consid-

Moreover, adopting BRT meant savings regarding the purchase of new vehicles because, according to the report: “The current Easy Access buses in the ACTION fleet are considered suitable for BRT operation along the Red Rapid route.

“The Easy Access fleet are buses designed to meet the needs of all passengers, including those with reduced mobility. They have low floors and therefore no stairs; extendable ramps, a wide entrance and floor space within the buses are provided for wheelchairs or prams.”

Curiously enough, the government’s internet site promoting the light rail even today, describes these same features of Easy Access as if they were special features restricted to the light rail.

Being “commercial in confidence”, the report was kept secret (now on the internet) and the public was simply told that light rail was the better transit system.

At the 2012 election, Labor needed the vote of the sole Greens MLA to stay in power. The latter demanded a government commitment to the tram

in return for his support.

Thanks to Jon Stanhope’s and Khalid Ahmed’s detailed presentation in “CityNews” of the government’s Budget figures, we now know the cost to the electorate of this political decision.

Thanks to their careful research we found out why the public housing system is in desperate straits with long waiting lists. Public housing was sold and the money plus a federal subsidy was used for the light rail.

Now, again, money to improve roads is siphoned off for the extension of the tram to Commonwealth Park. In addition to the Auditor-General’s report, also that commissioned by the Assembly’s Standing Committee on Public Accounts from Dr Leo Dobes found the business case of this project unconvincing.

The Albanese government promised that projects without a convincing business case would not be funded, and pork barrelling be eliminated. It has failed on both accounts.

Despite the ongoing rapid technological development of e-buses, and the PM’s commitment of funds to

produce them in Australia, the costly and unecological import of trams from Spain continues.

To stay in power, Labor needs the support of the Greens more than ever. This has led to a government where columnist Paul Costigan reflects the sentiments of many writing: “Damning reports but the government just shrugs.”

The Liberals’ reverse course regarding the tram is not a betrayal as Minister Steel calls it. The betrayal of the public happened in 2012. Now the electorate has a chance in 2024 to replace a government that “just shrugs”, misleading the public to enforce a mode of public transport that is slow, outdated, requires an infrastructure producing large amounts of CO2 and, worst of all, leaves the next generation of Canberrans with a crushing debt.

As columnist Ian Meikle reminds us, it’s the fault of the public electing this government. Or could it be due to a highly skilled public relations campaign, at the expense of the electorate, as outlined in the article referenced above?

Historian Beatrice Bodart-Bailey is an honorary professor at the ANU School of Culture, History and Language and an emeritus professor of the Department of Comparative Culture, Otsuma Women’s University, Tokyo.

“The Liberals’ reverse course regarding the tram is not a betrayal as Minister Steel calls it. The betrayal of the public happened in 2012,” writes BEATRICE BODART-BAILEY

The Albanese government promised that projects without a convincing business case would not be funded, and pork barrelling be eliminated. It has failed on both accounts.

Others planned while Weston did the planting

ONE endeavour above all others will be obsessing me in 2023 – a book full of surprises for Canberrans and, I hope, for a wider readership – on the real story of the men (and one woman) who laid the foundations for our National Capital.

The biggest surprise, I suspect, will be the extraordinary contribution of someone who barely figures in Canberra’s official history. The working title sets the scene. We’ve dubbed it, “Charles Weston’s Dream City” – “poet, artist and tree planter” after the phrasing in his obituary by the “Sydney Morning Herald’s” horticultural editor, John Gilmour Lockley.

I say “we” because I am working with Dr John Gray who, in his retirement from the NCDC, completed his Doctor of Environmental Design thesis in 1999, a massive research effort on Weston’s life and work. And while it will be a central element of the narrative, the book will also bring his extraordinary achievement into the wider context of the British Imperial era – and the young Australian Federation in which it took place.

Already, at this early research stage, it includes a cast of extraordinary characters from the worlds of

ture, officialdom, treasure hunters, royalty and even an appalling mountebank (and the woman is, of course, Marion Mahony Griffin, whose brilliant work with her husband Walter might well have been the key to the winning Griffin design).

Charles Weston… provided a “fortress of foliage” for Canberra in the struggle against climate change and his December 3, 1935, obituary in “The Canberra Times”.

Weston, an international arboreal and horticultural virtuoso, according to former NCDC commissioner Malcolm Latham was “the man who breathed life into Griffin’s design for Canberra”.

Lockley, went further: “It was Mr Weston who made Canberra the

dream city she is today. His message to the nation, his melodies, his pictures, he pieced together with limb and leaf.

“Others did the planning and building leaving their finished work for time to discolour and perhaps to spoil. But Mr Weston set the growing beauty of Australian and exotic trees in places where old Mother Earth would guard and guide them.

“This is not the place to tell of how the magnificent work was done. That story can be told another day.”

With a bit of luck – and lots of late nights – that day will come in 2023.

Weston’s remarkable contribution – the experimentation, selection and planting of many millions of trees and shrubs – is virtually missing from Canberra’s public chronicle.

Many think the suburb and district of Weston and Weston Creek respectively were named in his honour. Not so. Even some of the official government publications wrongly identify the “other” Weston who, it turns out, was a NSW Corps soldier and amateur illustrator, said to have published the first rendering of a didgeridoo. That might account

for the oddity of the suburb’s streets being named after Australian artists.

Weston Park is Charles’ only separate memorial. Walter and Marion Griffin provided the framework brilliantly, but it was upon their latticed canvas that Weston drew foliage from all the continents but Antarctica to give life to the Griffin concept.

And though he was no futurist, the astonishing range of species he experimented and selected in his millions of plantings, provided a “fortress of foliage” for Canberra in the struggle against climate change. While Sydney and Melbourne face the loss of up to 90 per cent of their limited range of protective trees, Weston’s “green draperies” will survive the coming arboreal pandemic.

If, for no other, that’s reason aplenty to tell the amazing inside story of a humble, but dedicated hero of our beauteous National Capital.

robert@ robertmacklin. com

ANDREW FREER Principal JO TWIBLE Principal DES MOORE Principal

Lisa, students and ‘offensive’ MLA top the stories

Why Lisa Wilkinson’s Logie speech got her into legal strife

Topping the list for 2022, the website’s most read is the story about the Bruce Lehrmann, Brittany Higgins trial being delayed due to media coverage and social media attention that followed Logie Award-winning journalist Lisa Wilkinson’s acceptance speech.

3

5

HM

at Calwell High

APRIL: Number two on the “CityNews” most read list is a story on Calwell High School being closed by Worksafe, following shocking revelations of student behaviour towards staff that included being sworn at, assaulted and subjected to sexualised behaviour.

collision east of Bungendore

OCTOBER: A 17-year-old male driver died at the scene of a two-vehicle crash on the Kings Highway, east of Bungendore, on October 2. The collision involved the 17-year-old’s Nissan X-Trail, and a Toyota Kruger, driven by a 71-year-old and his 66-year-old wife who suffered fractures.

traders

FEBRUARY: Braddon’s United Retailers & Traders (BURT) accused first-term MLA Johnathan Davis of “making the most offensive statement to business owners in two years of the pandemic”. Davis said it’s not that the government hasn’t been listening. It’s that business hasn’t got what they asked for.

$7m playground opens in Coombs

OCTOBER: A controversial $7.1 million playground in Coombs brings in the most viewed stories in 2022. The playground, named after Australian author Ruth Park, received backlash questioning how well the millions of dollars had been spent.

TOP OF THE COLUMNISTS

of the speed camera vans

And, once again, “Revealed: secrets of the speed camera vans” from July, 2018 continues to be one of the “CityNews” most read stories in 2022. It can’t seem to stop piquing the interests of readers, looking for everything there is to know about white-van speed cameras, but are too afraid to ask.

Ian Meikle – SEVEN DAYS

MAY:

Ian Meikle in “Seven Days”. “Now the lights are long gone, so too the concrete lions that stood either side of

front door. What was it like inside? Who knows? I can’t find anyone who admits to having ever been there.”

Paul Costigan – CANBERRA MATTERS

NOVEMBER :

Welcome to the new Coombs playground.

Michael Moore – POLITICS

FEBRUARY:

Robert Macklin – THE GADFLY

FEBRUARY:

“The Gadfly” columnist Robert Macklin

IT’S been a particularly strong year for our popular news website, citynews.com.au, the first full year of the new-look, news-driven format.

“Lights out as Pretty Woman drops into the dumpster”

“Pretty Woman seemed never to recover from the last covid lockdown and the signature scarlet neon sign went dark,” writes

its

“How muddle-heads messed up a playground”

“On the weekend, immediate and nearby streets are packed with cars crammed into any available space… Then there’s the obvious questionwhere’s the toilets? There aren’t any,” writes “Canberra Matters” columnist Paul Costigan.

“Anti-mandate protesters picked the wrong city”

“Interfering with human rights through sensible regulation has always been a part of history. A range of mandates have been applied across all societies with the intention of protecting the vulnerable,” writes columnist Michael Moore

“Canberra’s cooked, the Barr-becue has to end”

“It’s this pathetic attachment to ‘growth’ as the economic miraclemaker that Barr is using to destroy the quality of life that made living here such a pleasure,” writes

Here are some of the best of PAUL DORIN’s cartoons for 2022.

POLITICS

JUNE: “We have previously written about the astronomical increase in the ACT’s Net Debt from the territory having a $736 million surplus in 2011 to a debt of $4.4 billion in 2021,” writes Jon Stanhope and Khalid Ahmed. “The 2021-22 Budget Review, released in February, forecasts an increase in Net Debt to $9.1 billion by 2024-25”.

Clive Williams – WHIMSY

“To ‘aitch’ or ‘haitch’ and what it tells about you”

FEBRUARY: “Aversion to the way others speak or pronounce words seldom has any linguistic rationale; it is usually an excuse to typecast others as socially inferior,” writes “Whimsy” columnist Clive Williams . “People who say ‘aitch’ for the letter H invariably look down on people who say ‘haitch’.”

Antonio Di Dio – KINDNESS

FEBRUARY: In his latest “Kindness” column, Antonio Di Dio explains the unspoken intricacies of the International Conspiracy of the Ladies. “A strange knock at the door followed by Mrs D framed in the evening sun towering over us. Mum answered the door and told me to run off and help papa while she and Mrs D talked.”

Hugh Selby – LEGAL OPINION

NOVEMBER: “I have never found that one person who is knowledgeable in the law is a better judge of evidence than a dozen fellow citizens working together,” writes retired barrister Hugh Selby. “After the jury was discharged in the Lehrmann trial some key problems in our ACT approach to jury trials are now all too clear.”

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Jon Stanhope and Khalid Ahmed

“Why Canberra can’t repay its borrowed billions”

“How brave Uncle Rocco became a big stupido”

“Avoidable jury problems become all too clear”

THE fabled, wizened wise one comes down from its eerie once a year to sit awhile on the banks of our lake and share its wisdom with those who chance to come by.

On its most recent visit it was joined by a politician and a judge, both well established and secure in their positions. Each of them waited for the wise one to speak – an experience that neither was used to.

The wise one stared at the reflections on the lake, especially at the upside down image of the bridge that spanned it, and after a long silence opened up with: “Silence and secrecy only get you so far. Eventually, something has to fill the void and that something is rumour, some of which becomes accepted as fact.”

The judge whose time on the bench had been enough to learn the benefits of appearing inscrutable said nothing; however, the politician saw the remark not as an observation to be treasured but as an attack. “What secrecy? What silence?”

“I arrived early in the morning mist so I took a trip on the shiny red tram for fun,” said the wise one.

“I wasn’t expecting rails to tie up horses, or water or feed for them, but I was surprised at the lack of any covered storage for push bikes and

there were too few parking spots to entice commuters to leave their cars at the tram stops. The whole enterprise reminded me of the ghostly trains in Japanese anime films – ever so beautiful but practically useless.

“So much criticism of this project, but the only response has been to ignore it. How easily it could be put to rest by publishing the analysis that shows that the financial, social and community benefits outweigh the enormous debt incurred. Imagine that money spent on housing and education.

“Failing to share that report means rumours, gathering strength month by month, that there is no such report, that the project is not even a solid white elephant, but at best a wobbly pink flamingo.”

Some well-disciplined rowing crews pulled past, the cries of the coxes muffled by the noise of the coach’s outboard. On the far side the dragon boats were pushing aside the water. The wise one stared into the dark eddies along the shore and watched as flotsam drifted here and there, directionless: “Darkness begets doubt’,” the wise said.

Across the lake the fountain jet unleashed a spire of climbing beads of water-borne light.

“Trust comes from power that is transparent. Look at that spire. There is always strength in the right

decisions. It was wrong to ignore the selection committee’s recommendations, especially for a job that is so well paid and has such perks.”

The politician shrugged. The judge sat tight lipped.

“The rumours are that that judge is a bit work shy, that the associates write a lot of the decisions.”

The judge uncoiled and recoiled: “There’s nothing wrong with having associates write judgements. They are chosen for their legal knowledge and writing is valuable training. They have heard the evidence, too.”

“Quite right,’’ said the wise one, “but there is a problem with a decision when the associate had been a friend of the complainant and the judgement is, let us say, unbalanced.”

“You can’t prove that. It’s a scandalous rumour.” The judge was visibly agitated. “This kind of remark brings justice into disrepute.’”

“So it does, so it does,” the wise one

replied. “But the rumour was shared by another judicial officer. Rumour rushes to fill awkwardness. And it could have been avoided altogether if the appointment had followed the advice of the selection committee instead of wasting their time.”

A couple walked by, their voices carrying the lightness and mutual trust that romance captures, be it fleeting or life-long or somewhere in between.

“It was a mistake to hold that secret hearing before Christmas in the case we must not name. Who, it must be asked, or what, was to be protected by this secrecy? Here is a case that is a wonderful vehicle to show how well our legal system can serve its community and individuals within it. All set at nought for nothing.”

A family of canoeists paddled through the graceful arch of the water falling from the spire, the laughs of wet children filling the air.

“Be grateful you’re not on the hill. One of those in the former government had a spot of trouble with some protected grasslands. The Information Commissioner found that the documentation should be released. The department refused and is

seeking a review by the AAT, a body now scarred by a surfeit of political appointments made by that former government. Who can have confidence in AAT decisions, especially in a case such as this?

“A new year is a chance to begin anew, to be sufficiently confident that competing arguments are publicly recognised and publicly addressed, rather than hiding behind silence and secrecy to cloak one’s prejudices and insecurities.”

The Carillon struck the quarter hour. “Ah, it’s 9¾. The Eerie Express is about to depart. Each New Year carries our hopes and dreams. Let’s do better in 2023.”

Hugh Selby is a recently retired barrister who enjoyed appearing in criminal jury trials and teaching about them.

It was a mistake to hold that secret hearing before Christmas in the case we must not name. Who, it must be asked, or what, was to be protected by this secrecy?

Athleticism is all in the speed of a twitch, it seems

LOOKING at top sportspeople, as one does, I have wondered how it is that people of the same size can vary so much in

Clearly, some people are physically suited to their sport – shot putters are big and bulky, high jumpers are tall and lanky, long-distance runners are small and thin, and sprinters are stocky and muscular.

There are, of course, exceptions to the rule – ace sprinter Usain Bolt is tall (195cm) and lanky.

Athletic performance it seems is influenced by both genetic and environmental factors.

Many physical traits help determine an individual’s athletic ability, primarily the strength of muscles used for movement (skeletal muscles) and the predominant type of fibres that compose them.

Some people have a large number of fast-twitch muscle fibres that are ideal for sprinting, but are less useful for distance running. Others have slow-twitch muscle fibres that are suited to long-distance running but are not much good for sprinting.

Ethnicity can also be a factor. Generally, black men and women have better genetics for building muscle than white men and women. They also have faster twitch muscle fibres and higher bone

example, and that’s about 80 per cent genetic.

Environmentally, you have an advantage if your parents are physically active, you have access to good coaching, and grow up in a community that is sports-minded – think Australia swimming, NZ rugby and England cricket.

Writer Denis Norden once observed of English cricket: “It’s a funny kind of month, October. For the really keen cricket fan it’s when you discover that

What else makes an athlete better than the rest? Well, height, weight, reach, strength, speed, power, agility, flexibility, mobility, balance, timing, and intelligence are factors – but motivation and mental strength are also key elements.

High-performance athletes are motivated by the desire to be better than their opponents and to continue to improve on their personal best performances. They will be patient and persevere when working on their skills and focus on their goals.

Lifestyle is also important. That includes a good diet and not being stressed out about other issues in life. It also means no smoking, moderate habits and no mind-bending drugs.

Age of course is a factor, too. Most sportspeople retire before they reach 30 years of age. However, all is not lost for us older performers – many marathon runners seem to be at their best between 40 and 50 years of age. Longevity in sport is also possible when skill and experience are as important as athleticism – here footballers Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo come to mind.

To be considered to be the greatest in a sport it seems that a sportsperson must have the following six attributes: outstanding ability, suitability as a role model, peer acclamation, consistency of performance, longevity of performance and the ability to overcome adversity.

I‘ll close with a couple of American football anecdotes:

In the US talented young players often get to college on sports scholarships, but still have to do some academic work. Eugene was seen in the library looking around the shelves and seeming confused. A librarian

went over and asked if she could help. “I have to read a play by Shakespeare,” he said. The librarian replied, “I can help you with that – which one?”. Eugene thought hard for a few moments and answered, “William”.

Randy took his friend Robin to Robin’s first American football game. (note how I’m avoiding gender bias). They had great seats right behind their team’s bench. After the game, Randy asked Robin about the experience.

“Oh, I really liked it,” Robin replied, “especially the tight pants and all the big muscles, but I just couldn’t understand why they were killing each other over 25 cents.”

Dumbfounded, Randy asked, “What do you mean?”

“Well, they flipped a quarter at the start and one team must have got it because for the rest of the game, all they kept screaming was, ‘Get the quarter back! Get the quarter back!’

I’m like, Hello-o-o?

It’s only 25 cents!”

Clive Williams is a Canberra columnist.

Some people have a large number of fasttwitch muscle fibres that are ideal for sprinting, but others have slowtwitch muscle fibres that are suited to long-distance running.

Keep dancing like nobody’s watching, my girl!

PARENTING my six-year-old daughter, every day I am reminded of the old adage: Sing like no one is listening.

Love like you’ve never been hurt. Dance like nobody’s watching, and live like it’s heaven on earth.

There’s something so beautiful about the lack of self consciousness that little ones possess, and how precious that stage in life is before they inevitably and appropriately grow up, understand and be aware far more of themselves and others than they did.

“Embarrassing” takes place in their vocabularies and rolling eyes at embarrassing family members becomes a regular thing as well as shrugging off holding hands and wiping my kisses off their cheeks.

I’ve seen this play out with my eldest, my son, who is turning nine next month. Whereas his six-year-old sister, the much-famed “boss baby” of our family still has that natural, carefree kid energy where she can one moment be singing at the top of her lungs (much to her brother’s embarrassment).

A trip to the supermarket becomes a floor-is-lava game – “don’t step on the white floor tiles, whatever you do!”. Instead of putting pyjamas on after her shower, I find her on her

bedroom floor, putting her ballet shoes on in the nude – “they are my sleeptime shoes, mummy,” she says. Wearing cat ears to school?… totally cool.

I recently attended a special school assembly in which my daughter was awarded a prize for her creative writing.

I was mortified when the boss baby entered the assembly hall wearing…

hot pants. School colours, thankfully but nevertheless, they weren’t what she had worn to school that morning. I pictured her cheekily changing out of her leggings and into the boyshort-style bike pants that frankly looked more like undies than shorts. No doubt the boss thought she was the bees knees when she was doing handstands and cartwheels in her short shorts at recess!

When she stood in front of the school to receive her award, I heard some murmurs from the back of the hall, the year sixers definitely had a giggle at her outfit. I tried to stay in the moment, but every fibre of my being was thinking: “I can’t believe she’s not wearing any pants!”. I of course messaged my husband: “At Assembly. Our daughter is wearing hot pants. She must have changed at school. LOL”.

I’m thankful that the school didn’t make an issue about it. We dealt with it at home, emphasising the importance that we stick to the school uniform.

Stories for her 21st? Absolutely. And it makes it easier knowing this

gorgeous, out-there little girl is reflecting the confidence, creativity and imagination that we, as adults, could only wish we had bottled at her age and saved for all the crises of confidence we would later face.

Perhaps she’ll be one of those people whose little flame burns a little more brightly. I hope so! We all have them in our lives – perhaps we are them, the quirky folks in our lives, the people who follow their funny passions, wear tie-dyed shirts because it makes them happy, refuse to worry about being cool and make life more fun and colourful for those around them. I wonder if I had stopped worrying so much about what people thought of me, how much happier and confident I would have been throughout my life.

Keep dancing like nobody’s watching, my girl!

Keep dancing like nobody’s watching...”Perhaps she’ll be one of those people whose little flame burns a little more brightly.”

I was mortified when the boss baby entered the assembly hall wearing… hot pants. School colours, thankfully but nevertheless, they weren’t what she had worn to school that morning.

Tram can bring the bridge only bad vibrations

SO the ACT government is going ahead with the tramway construction by blocking roads on the northern side of the lake.

No doubt it is proceeding with the philosophy that “by the time we have reached the bridge nobody can stop us”.

They have announced that they are going to “strengthen the bridge”, whatever that means. The implication is that they are going to build the tram bridge resting on the road bridge, in the intervening space.

As I have said in previous letters, this is madness. It is not the strength of the road bridges that is the issue. The issue is the vibration caused by the tram.

Nobody builds train bridges out of concrete for one simple reason. The vibration causes cracks. Water gets into the cracks, and corrodes the metal reinforcement.

In the case of these road bridges, they are kept up by two thick cables, one on each side of the roadway. One cable for each bridge is under the inner guard rail. The concrete lip beside the cable was built to prevent corrosion. If the cable corrodes it can, and will, collapse suddenly.

No amount of “strengthening” can prevent this. When will this collapse? Fast, when corrosion starts. The new high-tech concrete bridge at Genoa, admittedly a road bridge, collapsed after about 10 years due to corrosion.

Saying that “We shall take care that this does not happen” is equally silly as saying: “We are the government. We shall take care of you”. Corrosion is a critically important design problem. No government or political party, left or right, can prevent the consequences of these foolish actions.

On a separate issue, this bridge is likely to cost around a billion dollars. That is the cost of a new, much needed hospital in Tuggeranong. Plenty of land by the lake or by the river.

Tim Walshaw, Watson

Light rail to Tharwa, Hall and Hume?

ALL of Canberra can already travel by a combination of bus and light rail.

The ACT Greens are promoting “Light rail for all of Canberra”.

Do they propose to provide light rail connections to Hall, Tharwa, Hume, Banks and the Oaks Estate?

Leon Arundell, Downer

Build Greenway Stadium now!

I READ that a consortium of peak-ish organisations was proposing a “PPP” (Public Private Partnership) for the delivery of a semi-underground (read, ludicrously expensive, constricted and damp) new Canberra City stadium, or one at Bruce (with likely prolonged downtime), both involving a nifty-shifty land deal.

PPP’s are on the nose because they invariably favour the private-sector partners, leaving the government with massive debts. Reportedly, the compromised National Museum, the new ACT Courts and the enlarged Cotter Dam prove that.

The most enlightened, and totally feasible, location for a new, highly affordable, rectangular-style, all-weather stadium, is on the west side of Athllon Drive, North Greenway (named after the famous colonial architect) – a stunning “destination” attraction, on a large, vacant, already purpose-zoned, decentralised (as is Perth’s new one) site. It’d be in a quintessentially Canberra lake and mountain setting, on the planned tram line, incorporating heritage items, and environmentally sustainable design elements; while offering beneficial synergies with existing and new sporting, accommodation, and parking facilities, all adjacent to Tuggeranong Town Centre.

Build Greenway Stadium now, via responsible and economical delivery methods, commissioned designs, competitive tendering and safe hard-money contracts. Naming rights contenders will be lining up.

Jack Kershaw, Kambah

Perplexed by Julie’s argument

I’M a tad perplexed about Julie Tongs’ article (“Damning prison report not for the faint hearted”, CN December 8) in which she laments the high incarceration rate of aboriginals in the ACT’s leading, worldclass, rehabilitative prison (we know it’s of world-leading class because the gummint which built it and operates it told us so, like everything else they do!).

Julie goes on to accuse everyone in the ACT of being complicit in the unfortunate circumstances suffered by Aborigines. So all of us are responsible for so many of the ACT’s indigenous citizens being in jail, Julie?

There’s a simple way so many of our aboriginal citizens could stay out of jail:

don’t commit crime or bring yourself to the notice of the police and courts. Staying out of jail would leave them free to pursue the university courses and other lawful pursuits they might like to pursue, uninterrupted by spells in the cells. They’d have my best wishes and I’m sure everyone else’s to be able to lead productive, fulfilling careers and peaceful lives.

Meantime, Julie, I don’t feel the slightest jot of guilt or remorse for any unspecified crime I doubt that I’ve committed that would send an indigenous person to jail. Like most others, I have enough on my plate to deal with at any one time. I reckon the great majority of the ACT’s citizens would feel the same.

In pushing the “Guilt Narrative” on to all of us you do yourself, the ACT’s aboriginal citizens, all of us and the unspecified, suspect Voice campaign no favours.

Ray Atkin, Ngunnawal

More planning transparency needed

THE recent public transport difficulties experienced during the Spilt Milk festival at EPIC raise key questions about the workings of the new ACT planning reform package and its strong urban infill focus.

Will the transport minister also be running fleets of buses parallel with light rail down Northbourne Avenue when many thousands of new residents start moving soon to tracts of northern Gateway corridor land between Dickson and EPIC?

And even more so when much of the large tract of racecourse land is built upon? As this long strip of concentrated, non-gentle urbanism rapidly gathers steam, the ACT government still fails to provide estimates and evidence of how Stage 1 light rail will be a readily accessible, safe and reliable means of transport for those already living downstream of these new densification locations, and for the large number of bus passengers from elsewhere who need to access light rail at the Dickson Interchange rail stop.

Concurrently, thousands more will also end up living further south of the Dickson Interchange, on Northbourne Avenue and in many more parts of adjacent suburbs that are now slated for additional residential intensification in the reform documentation for the inner north.

Major planning reform and assessment processes require the timely provision of well-co-ordinated, transparent information and updates about public transport demand, supply issues and outlooks in relation to all key urban renewal areas as they change radically over the next 5, 10, 15 and 20 years.

Both the ACT planning and transport ministers should provide clarity and reassurance soon about how the new ACT planning legislation and its attendant development processes will update and inform communities about “big picture” mobility and active travel impacts, proposed transport solutions and timeframes for action.

The government’s recent expansion of e-scooter access does little to meet the overall mobility needs of the great majority of Canberrans.

Sue Dyer, Downer

Sorry, Rus, it’s me again…

I’M sorry to disappoint Russell Wenholz (Letters, CN December 1), but here I am again!

On November 10, I wrote to “City News” about the mutilated trees along my Deakin street: they had been cut in half to clear (by 4 metres rather than the regulated 2.5 metres).

One old oak tree was pushed over across the road by strong winds during a storm in January. The sawn-off stump still remains in plain view and is now growing vigorously.

About 50 metres up the street, near the gym, a young eucalypt has had its northern half removed: the clearance from the power lines is about five metres. Now I’m wondering when this lopsided tree will fall on a parked car during another storm while the soil is saturated and soft.

The photograph was taken at the intersection of Hopetoun Circuit and Macgregor Street (only 100 metres from where I live). The tree on the northern side of Macgregor Street has been dead for several years; the half-dead tree opposite has been dying from the top down for several years.

So much for maintenance, let alone keeping Canberra the showcase-beautiful “Bush Capital”.

Dr Douglas Mackenzie, Deakin

Sorry, Russ, it’s me, too…

RUSSELL Wenholz bemoans the poor standard of CN letters to the editor writers in CN1/12, suggesting we are all the same old serial writers pushing the same old barrows. News flash, Russell, “CityNews” is an English-language publication, which possibly contributes to the confusion.

Furthermore, we are blessed to have a very solid Ian Meikle vetting our letters before they proceed to publication. Step out into the sunlight.

John

Lawrence via email

Editor’s note: The “very solid” Ian Meikle agrees!

Or thopaedics ACT will be closed from 3pm on Friday 23 December 2022 and reopen at 9am on Monday 9 January 2023.

To ensure optimum care of any post-operative patients, we will run a nurse-led clinic, by appointment only, on Thursday 29 December 2022 and Thursday 5 January 2023.

Dr M. Saqib Zafar

dose of dorin

CHRISTMAS GIFT GUIDE The ultimate

Clock’s ticking, but not too late to grab the right gift

FROM ‘60s musicals to handmade glass art, European sweets to Italian art classes, “CityNews” presents the ultimate Christmas gift guide for lastminute gifts.

Lots of European sweets and treats

FOR 25 years, European-trained and Dutch-born pastry chef Wim den Hartog has been sharing his talent in the ACT hospitality business.

His most recent venture is L’Orange Patisserie offering cakes, pastries and desserts, says owner and wife of Wim, Misty Annabel.

Wim’s love for pastries began at age 13.

He was “spell-bound” by crème anglaise working at a Michelin-star, French bistro, says Misty. She describes Wim’s passion for pastries as “his first love”.

Wim says: “I was working in a French bistro that had a separate pastry room where a woman worked, making chocolate and vanilla mousse.

“I was fascinated with the white and dark swirls and how it all folded together. I was absolutely entranced. That’s where it started.”

Working right up until Christmas Eve, the shop is offering the Christmas staples with mince pies, gingerbread houses, occasion cakes and croquembouche.

“The gingerbread houses are made with special Dutch spices and can be bought cheaper in bundles,” says Misty.

Occasion cakes and croquembouche are available to order for the festive season.

“We have a wide range of European sweets and

CHRISTMAS GIFT The ultimate

Bedding built to suit every body

THE Australian Bedding Company is a family-owned business that has operated for 25 years, says office manager Stephen Dinn.

“We have more than 35 beds and bedroom suites on display in our showroom,” he says.

“We truly offer ‘old fashioned service’ where your personal needs are catered for.

“We match your beds and furniture to your requirements. Our highly trained sales staff have time to spend with you and really find out what you want.”

Stephen says the company sources a high percentage of Australian-made products.

“We have our own delivery drivers, so quick delivery of stock items can be achieved by staff, not contractors,” he says.

“Being a long-running, family-owned business up against the big boys and franchises, we pride ourselves on being the leader in customer service.

“People can compare prices easily online and we are competitive on price, but we won’t be beaten on service.

“We are able to have bedroom furniture

tailor made to suit bespoke requirements of size, shape and colour (painted or stained).”

Stephen says the Australian Bedding Company also has a large commercial division that adds to its buying power.

“We supply accommodation, bedding and furniture all over Australia, to universities, federal and local government agencies, numerous hotels, motels, B&Bs, hostels, backpackers and more.”

The Australian Bedding Company, 2/78 Hoskins Street, Mitchell. Call 6262 3260, or visit australianbeddingcompany.com.au

‘Unique’ handmade works of art

CANBERRA Glassworks

Gallery Shop is offering “unique handmade works of art,” says manager Nathasha Chabelnik.

“Each piece is made by an Australian artist, most of whom live in Canberra and work at Canberra Glassworks.

“The shop has a range of design items, which can be used as tableware or as home decor,” she says.

This includes vases, platters, and pendant lights.

“Glass art lovers can find wall art, glass sculptures and glass installations,” says Natasha.

There is a wealth of choice for every budget at the shop.

Natasha highlights the work of Keith Rowe, specifically his bushfire series as a particular favourite.

“Everyone gravitates to the intricate details and warm tones,” she says.

“There is a real impression in Keith Rowe’s works of something made from the heart.”

Canberra Glassworks, 11 Wentworth Avenue, Kingston. Call 6260 7005, or visit canberraglassworks.com

Store for kids all ready for summer

WITH the Christmas season among us, owner Jen Takiari has been busy getting Lellow Kids ready for summer.

The family favourite store is full of new summer clothing and footwear, says Jen, just in time for some Christmas shopping.

“Toys, gifts and stocking fillers are arriving for Christmas,” she says.

“There is so much clothing & footwear for the warmer weather, too!”

Jen says she’s also proud that many of the brands stocked in store come from Australian businesses.

“Some of the brands we stock are unique to us; you’ll only find them here in Lellow,” she says.

Jen also offers professional shoe fittings “to ensure little feet are getting the best shoes for their development”.

“We’ve got so many gift ideas,” says Jen. “From clothing and footwear to baby essentials, developmental toys, books, games and so much more for newborns up to eight-year-olds.

“A lot of people shop here for Christmas gifts because we’ve got something that’s that little bit extra special.”

Lellow Kids, 63/30 Lonsdale Street, Braddon. Call 6247 3679 or visit lellowkids.com

Come fly with me, let’s fly down to… anywhere, really

JET Flight Simulator Canberra has the perfect Christmas gift for anyone who’s ever wanted to fly, says owner Trevor Vickers.

“Visitors get to operate a full-size replica of a Boeing 737-800 cockpit and can choose from 24,000 airports around the world to fly in or out of,” he says.

“There’ll be an instructor who’s there to point out what all the buttons and levers do and when to use them, but it’ll be you that’s doing the flying.

“Sometimes people want to fly over where they’ve been on holiday; others want to do things like fly under the Sydney Harbour Bridge – it’s all possible.”

He encourages people to try the new VR Paraglider which combines a real paraglider harness and controls linked to world-class professional training software.

“Participants can practise catching

thermals, soar over coastal dunes, or improve their accuracy at spot landings,” says Trevor.

Visitors have the opportunity for a more fast-paced, virtual reality experience called “ICAROS” which he describes as a “completely different way to fly”.

“The way it works is that you lie on a frame and shift your body weight to steer in the virtual world,” says Trevor.

“The sensation is more like flying with a wingsuit or like you’re Superman.”

Whether it’s flying a 737, soaring through a virtual world, or both, Trevor says there’s multiple booking options and gift certificates.

Jet Flight Simulator Canberra, 4 Montford Crescent, Lyneham. Visit jetflightsimulatorcanberra.com.au or call 0438 834026.

High Flying Fun for

Keith Rowe’s “Bush Fire” series.

Luxurious but affordable bath products

KIRKWOOD Body and Bath makes handmade, luxury body and bath products and soy candles at a sensible price, says owner Cecile Whatman.

“Our products are made as purely as possible and are completely free of any harsh chemicals,” she says.

Cecile says they avoid palm oil, don’t test on animals and have products for hair, feet and everything in between.

“Creating new products is a creative outlet,” she says. “We have doughnut and cupcake bath bombs that look good enough to eat.”

She has been making soap and creams for her family for more than 25 years, but moved into commercial production five years ago.

“When a customer comes back to say they loved the product, or one of the magnesium balms relieved something, that’s very rewarding.

“As a boutique business we get to know our customers.

“It is wonderful,” says Cecile.

In the new Kippax location,“the handmade body and bath products

share space with our patchwork, quilting, sewing and craft products,” she says.

Cecile says the shop also offers classes.

“A class is a great Christmas gift and we have something for everyone.

“The class list for 2023 is out now and classes are filling fast.”

The website never closes, so people are encouraged to order there.

The storefront will be open until December 24 and reopened for normal trade January 3, 2023.

Kirkwood Body and Bath, Shop 23, Kippax Fair, 26 Hardwick Crescent, Holt. Visit kirkwoodbodyandbath.com.au

The ‘authentic’ school of Italian

THE Dante Alighieri Society of Canberra is “a prominent member of the international network of Dante Alighieri Societies dedicated to the promotion of Italian language and culture throughout the world,” says director Dr Franco Papandrea.

“Since its establishment in 1957, it has been the place to go for Canberrans seeking a genuine experience of Italian language and culture,” he says.

The society “prides itself as the authentic school of Italian, offering the widest range and the best quality Italian language courses available locally.”

“The society is also the only place in the region where non-native Italian speakers can sit exams for the internationally-recognised Plida certificate of Italian competency,” says Franco.

offered is continuously expanding.

“In the coming year, the Society will be offering subsidised Italian courses for children attending schools where the language is not offered.”

“In addition to a full range of in-house language courses, the Dante Alighieri Society employs mother-tongue Italian language assistants in support of the teaching of Italian in Canberra primary and secondary schools.”

Franco says “membership of the Society is open to anyone and would make a wonderful Christmas gift for a friend or family member with an interest in Italian language and culture.”

back moods of the ‘60s

THE Queanbeyan Players present “Downtown! The Mod Musical” for its 2023 season.

The “revusical”– revue musical – is an “explosion of 1960s song and colour”, says director Anita Davenport.

After a rough few years, tickets to the show are a “great gift for the hard-to-buy-for mum and grandma to reminisce upon the 1960s,” she says.

A younger audience is also welcome to this “injection of joy and happiness.”

The show follows five women in their 20s initially guided by the invaluable “Shout” magazine – a fictional magazine for teens and young adults.

“Through the letters they send

in to the teen magazine we get to hear their stories as they come of age in the turbulent decade known as the swinging ‘60s,” says Anita.

“Through song and dance, the women become strong, independent and able to stand on their own two feet.”

Songs from the ‘60s include “‘Downtown”, “Shout”, “Georgie Girl” and “These Boots are Made for Walkin’”.

“Downtown! The Mod Musical” is showing at the Belconnen Community Theatre. February 24-March 5.

The Queanbeyan Players, Belconnen Community Theatre, 23 Swanson Circuit. Visit queanbeyanplayers. com/current-show

Dante Alighieri Society of Canberra, Italian Cultural Centre, 80 Franklin

”Downtown! The Mod Musical” rehearsals.

A well-behaved shade lover

ANYONE looking for a well-behaved shade lover, then Brunnera macrophylla might be the right plant for the right spot.

The silver foliage brightens a dark, shady area in the garden and can be planted under shrubs, around ponds or an edged border in the shade.

It likes a rich compost soil and has big, heart-shaped leaves with

spring that resemble forget-me-not flowers. They grow to about 20 centimetres tall and as wide. Over time they will grow into a clump and can be divided in autumn with a sharp spade.

There is a relatively new variety that can tolerate more sun than its counterparts and it is Brunnera “Jack Frost”. It has beautiful venation on the leaf and is a very decorative feature as well.

It is slower to grow than the more evergreen members of the Brunnera family but is frost tolerant and retains its foliage in the winter and is a great shady ground cover when established.

ANOTHER favourite of mine, now flowering in the garden, is nasturtiums. They are a classic cottage plant that come in many bold colours and are easy to grow from seed directly into the garden to fill a sunny

They are cheerful and fast growing, and a good starting plant for introducing

children into growing plants and gardening. In the vegetable patch they’re also known as watercress.

Coming from the brassica family, they like the same growing conditions as cabbages and broccoli – that is good moist drainage and weed-free soil.

The whole plant is edible and high in minerals, vitamin C and oils. They can be eaten raw in salads or made into a pesto if there is an abundance.

The flowers are slightly fragrant and can be used as a cut flower as well. I planted my nasturtiums last year under my citrus trees to attract predatory insects and bees and it worked well. Some seeds were left behind and are self-seeding to do the same job the plants did last year.

They like a good draining soil and the more sunshine the plant gets, the better it will flower. From time to time there has been an issue with cabbage white butterflies. Diapel, an organic spray, can be used on them to get rid of caterpillars (or pick them off the plant and feed to the chooks). Cabbage white caterpillars are attractive to any plant in the brassica family and also can be used as a decoy and a sacrificial plant to keep cabbage white caterpillars away from other brassicas in the vegetable garden.

IT’S the last chance to get summer crops such as tomatoes, capsicums and eggplants into the ground in a sunny spot.

Garlic should be harvested by now and lifted as soon as it can, so the bulbs don’t rot with all the extra rain we’ve had.

Timing is essential for harvesting. When about 50 per cent of the leaves are going brown from the ground up then it’s time to pull and store the garlic.

I grew Monaro purple this year, a hard-neck variety. The flower stems (scapes) were removed about a month ago as the bulbs matured.

Lift bulbs with foliage intact with a fork and shake as much soil from the bulbs and roots as you can to get them to dry as quickly as possible.

Don’t trim the roots or leaves and place in the sun to dry for a few days before storing in an airy spot for about three to five weeks.

THE flower garden will be in a burst of colour for the festive season from all the rain and some natives to choose from that also could be used in a floral wreath or a centrepiece for the festive table are sprigs of bottlebrushes, NSW Christmas bush and kangaroo paws.

jackwar@home.netspeed.com.au

Nasturtiums… easy to grow from seed directly into the garden to fill a sunny space.

Brunnera “Jack Frost”... slower to grow than the more evergreen members of the Brunnera family, but is frost tolerant.

Photos: Jackie Warburton

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Off to see the wizard, but it’s a first for some

By Helen MUSA

WHO is the star of “The Wizard of Oz”? – Dorothy or Toto?

Theoretically, it should be the plucky little girl blown away to the Land of Oz in a tornado and best-known to most of us for Judy Garland’s portrayal in the 1939 film version of Frank Baum’s 1900 novel.

But, bearing in mind the old stage pro scription against performing with children and dogs, it’s an even bet that the cute Cairn terrier, Toto, will get just as much applause when Ickle Pickle Productions revive the musical version of the show at Belconnen Theatre in early January.

Director Justin Watson couldn’t be more pleased. He’s done the show before in 2007, and given the need for a bit of post-covid optimism, he reckons it’s just about the perfect family show.

Ickle Pickle has been around since late 2005 and has done more than 40 produc tions of shows such as “The Little Mermaid”, “Seussical the Musical” and “Beauty and the Beast” involving more than 2000 performers, although the pandemic forced a brief hiatus.

Everybody knows about Dorothy’s journey down the Yellow Brick Road to the Emerald City – or do they?

Watson was alarmed to find out that when his five-year-old daughter Jasmine, who’ll play a Munchkin in the show, turned up to her school dress-up day as Dorothy, classmates were confused because she didn’t look like Dorothy the Dinosaur. He’s

determined to set this right and introduce a beloved show to a new generation.

Although busy with his day job at the National Gallery, he’s found time to assemble a large, cross-sectional cast.

He’s got some star power – Meaghan

Stewart, who just won a Canberra Critics Circle award for playing Eliza Doolittle in “Pygmalion”, for instance, is playing the Cowardly Lion. She initially auditioned for the Wicked Witch of the West, but was disappointed to find that she had no songs – Lion gets two. Experienced Canberra actor Debra Byrne will play the Wicked Witch and that’s a

Watson is particularly proud that he’s got several young Ickle Pickle performers who are now stepping into lead roles.

One such is Dorothy herself, played by Kellee-Rose Hand. She’s been with them for five years and, although she sang in Philo’s “Jersey Boys”, this is her first lead role.

Another one is Jack Morton playing Watson’s favourite character, Scarecrow, who thinks he doesn’t have a brain. Morton’s been with the company since 2015.

Aleesha Boye, who plays the good witch Glinda, is a 12-year veteran of the company.

Samuel Dietz, who plays Tin Man, the one who thinks he doesn’t have a heart (as in the song) has a beautiful singing voice, Watson says, and has played leads.

Kristofer Patston-Gill, who plays the Wizard is a first timer with Ickle Pickle but, with a background in film work, “should bring gravitas to what is a very curious character”.

Making it all happen are choreographer Jodi Hammond, a professional dancer who has been with them since 2017, Jen Hinton of Queanbeyan Players fame, joining them

as musical director for the first time, and theatre identity Ian Croker who is busy concocting a suitably magical set.

Watson is using the adaptation by the Royal Shakespeare Company, known to be the closest stage version to the film, with all the songs you’ll know, such as “Follow the Yellow Brick Road/You’re Off to See the Wizard”, “If I Only Had a Heart” and, of course, “Over the Rainbow”.

“It’s very true to the original, but it’s a 2022 version,” Watson says, so in order to create a positive role model, we’ve updated the text to take out sexist or racist remarks.”

And what about the little star, Toto?

There’s every chance that she (yes, and the original film one was a she, too) will steal the show, and Livvy, a little Cairn terrier like the original film star, is already hard at work three days a week learning to respond to Kellee-Rose Hand as Dorothy. Toto has to run across the stage into her arms and it wouldn’t do if she ran to the wrong person, so Watson has consulted dog trainers and the rest is practice.

And where does Livvy come from? She’s been loaned to Ickle Pickle by the Emerald City Cairn Terriers breeders in Queanbeyan. In 2007 they also loaned a little dog and it tickles Ickle Pickle that they’ve been able to do it again.

“The Wizard of Oz”, Belconnen Theatre, January 6 to 21.

Kellee-Rose Hand as Dorothy with Toto (aka Cairn terrier Livvy).

Five of the best in a strong year for originality

Arts editor HELEN MUSA , selected her five best experiences this year saying: “It’s been a strong year for highly original art in Canberra and that’s what we like, although our artists occasionally tweak a few good ideas from overseas…”

VISUAL ART/ PHOTOGRAPHY

“Voices and Veterans”, National Press Club

MAY-JUNE

PHOTOGRAPHER Mike Armstrong, a veteran of the Australian Army who served in East Timor, Afghanistan, Iraq and also as part of the Tactical Assault Group East, created extraordinary photographic images of veterans swathed in molasses, to give voice to those living with posttraumatic stress.

MUSIC

“Changi Songbook”, The Street Theatre

MAY AND JULY

CHRIS Latham and Neil Pigot invited audiences to watch them record 24 of the songs by Slim De Grey and Ray Tullipan, originally performed by the AIF Changi Concert Party during World War II. The songs, presented by some of Australia’s top musicians and singers, were interspersed with humorous stories and were recorded before a mixed audience of music lovers and representatives of the Japanese community.

AUSTRALIAN THEATRE

“Whitefella Yella Tree”,

Courtyard Studio

SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER

ONE of Canberra’s rising talents, playwright Dylan Van Den Berg’s ability with dialogue goes from strength to strength as he depicts two 15-year-old First Nations boys – somewhere back in history – capturing the banter, their taunts and their loving physical encounters, all the while conveying a strong, contemporary meaning and sense of danger.

THEATRE

“Hand to God”, ACT Hub

AUGUST

FROM the US comes an outrageous script by Robert Askins, set in the American Bible Belt and staged by Jarrad West at the new ACT Hub in Kingston. A mixture of human acting and puppetry, the show included a wicked sex scene between the two puppets, Tyrone and Jolene, easily the funniest moment in Canberra’s theatres this year.

DANCE

“Unravel”, Erindale Theatre

JULY

From Verona via the studios of Suzy Piani and Bonnie Neate’s sophisticated ballet school

The Training Ground came the story of Romeo and Juliet, reinterpreted in contemporary ballet form with a film backing. The performance by Ali Mayes as Juliet, all in red, was so beautiful that it dominated everything else happening on stage.

WINE Kickstart the bucket list

THE notion of establishing and then seeking to fulfil a pre-death wish list was popularised in the 2007 movie “The Bucket List”.

Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson play two terminally ill cancer patients who decide to

abandon the hospital and seek to achieve the things that are on their wish list for life.

It is a movie that reinforces the need to seize the day. That issue has become important to me in 2022 because my best friend of more than 20 years died this year from brain cancer and two other close friends also passed away.

So, even though I had lived in Melbourne for 22 years, I’d never visited the Yarra Valley wineries. My Melbourne friends were telling me that the suburbs are slowly creeping into this wine-growing area, particularly at the western end of the valley, and that the better state of the roads means that it is only an hour from the city of Melbourne. Act now.

With a friend I’ve known for nearly 50 years, I booked a trip to the Yarra Valley through a tour company called Australian Journeys. It was good to have someone else to drive after the intensity of concentration now needed when driving the Hume from Canberra to Melbourne: the road surface has suffered from the 2022 flooding; ruts and roadworks abound.

The tour was for the two of us, being picked up and dropped off in air-conditioned comfort (the temperature got to 33C) and with a two-course lunch at Rochford Wines included, as well as tastings at four wineries, inclusive of a pre-lunch tasting at Rochford. For the day it was $339 a head.

Adam Firmin, the owner and our driver, was a very pleasant, obliging bloke who obviously loved this region and was knowledgeable about its topography and the wineries we visited.

The first stop was Chandon. As they say, no champagne, no gain so we forced ourselves to taste

Feeling a personal need to seize the day, wine writer RICHARD CALVER resolves to sample the Yarra Valley before it’s too late (and suburbia creeps in).

“Clare”. Photo: Mike Armstrong “Changi Songbook”. Photo: Peter Hislop “Whitefella Yella Tree”. Photo: Brett Boardman “Hand to God”. Photo: Eva Schroeder “Unravel”. Photo: Eliza Swiderski

The top eateries in a record year for restaurants

HERE’S dining reviewer

WENDY

JOHNSON’S

top picks for 2022.

“IT was a record year for Canberra restaurants, who valiantly thrived despite the momentus challenges put before them,” she says.

“’The Good Food Guide Awards 2023’ shone the spotlight on nine one-hatted restaurants and one two-hatted restaurant. We’re spoiled for choice.

“Dining in 2022 was as delicious as ever and the top five picks (not in any particular order) are

all winners if you’re making lists of where to treat yourself next year.”

CANTEEN

Newbie Canteen (Dairy Flat Road) is making noods very happy indeed. Noodles are handmade onsite daily and Canteen pays full respect to Japanese Tori style ramen with exceptional flavour. Also, fun, tasty Japanese sandos and special rice bowls. Check out the fries with special sauce and do not go past the super sexy crème caramel. Dessert of the year for us.

EIGHTYSIX SOUTHSIDE

Eightysix Southside (Woden) has been smashing it since day one, and with good

reason – service, food presentation, food taste, wine list and décor all form an exciting package. Dishes explode with flavour, are served with pride and are sensational for sharing. The corn and taleggio tortellini was one of the best we’d ever had. We loved the lemon tart and decadent salted chocolate and caramel tart.

Both XO and Rebel Rebel have won Chef’s Hats this year and it’s no wonder.

XO

XO (Narrabundah) is passionate about food and the Adobo dumplings are a work of art and a feast for the eyes. We applauded XO’s Asian Bolognese with a perfectly

cooked 60-degree egg. We fell in love with the Char Siu, created with a marvellously marbled pork neck. And who would have thought the humble iceberg lettuce could be transformed into such an exciting salad? XO’s is with a Yuzu vinaigrette, dried mix seasoning and egg yolk.

REBEL REBEL

Salads are also celebrated at Rebel Rebel (New Acton). A standout is the Fiore di Burrata, with radicchio, plump grapes and crunchy walnuts. Rebel Rebel dares to be different and do not be shy about trying the Wagyu tongue, with sweet red peppers that add a burst of colour and flavour. The tongue is exceptional and an exciting dish. Pop by

for a drink and something light or a full meal.

TWO BLIND MICE

Another top for 2022 is Two Blind Mice (Curtin shops). Super chilled suburban cool. New creations, all-time faves and European twists make for an exciting menu. Even the fish and chips are created with a difference. The spiced half chicken was sensational, with sweet peppery kohlrabi and celeriac rémoulade.

And although this is a top five list, I can’t resist a quick mention of high tea at The Marion (Regatta Point). Spectacular fit-out and amazing views. And Onzieme in Kingston is an absolute-must visit for innovation and food dedicaction.

available to the public for tasting) it was not wasted (and neither were we – lots of rehydration is the key).

This wine had a youthful bouquet and was complex although well integrated. It had a toasty finish but clean, with a hint of citrus, and was our pick of the range offered.

Joe Foo, the Chandon Wine Experience manager, was a very welcoming host, leading us through the tastings in an unhurried, knowledgeable manner, despite the growing press of people who came flooding into the light and airy tasting area.

This likeable man told of how he’d started in the industry as an event manager at St Hubert’s (which

loss of both my mother and father. It brought me closer to them and I have to give family even more time.

“My partner has two kids and spending time with her and the kids will be a bigger priority for me because my loss has shown the value that family has above all. I want to experience, you know, happiness with my family.”

And that brings me back to “The Bucket List”. In the movie, the Morgan Freeman char acter mentions two questions asked of the dead by the gods at the entrance to heaven: Have you found joy in your life? Has your life brought joy to others?

Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman in the 2007 movie “The Bucket List”.

Hot daddy ramen… Canteen. Corn and taleggio tortellini… Eightysix Southside.

Adobo dumplings… XO. Fiore di Burrata… Rebel Rebel. Spiced half chicken… Two Blind Mice.

Harry & Meghan, one show better left unstreamed

“SNOOZEFEST’’, “pity party”, “hypocritical attention grab”, “narcissistic wallow”.

Yes, I can only be referring to the shemozzle of schadenfreude that is the “Harry & Meghan” Netflix documentary.

With all six episodes of the $US100 million “tell-all” now released, the world has had the chance to digest what the Sussexes say is their side of the story.

Well digest, or throw it back up again.

“Vomit inducing” has been quite the popular means of describing the series.

Critics have had a field day with this one.

“So sickening I almost brought up my breakfast,” said “The Guardian”.

“The Sussexes surprise us yet again, with just how narrow their vision of their fame is, how pinched and unimaginative their presence on the world stage has become,” wrote a reviewer for “Variety”.

And that’s just the light stuff. The reviews from audiences unbounded by editorial guidelines have been all the more raucous as a quick Twitter search of “Harry and Meghan” will reveal.

For latecomers, or those who couldn’t really care, the series saw the couple recount what led to their controversial departure from the royal family, or as some have amusingly dubbed it, “Megxit”.

Interviews and never-before-seen footage were stitched together over a tedious six hours where the couple plead their case to the world.

If they were hoping to salvage their reputation, it seems they’ve only damaged it more.

extreme and hate-filled to a documentary ever.

there wasn’t actually a whole lot of new royal dirt to get their hands on.

For weeks leading up to the release of the show, monarch watchers salivated over rumours that the “global event”, as Netflix called it, would “blow up” the royal family. It turns out there wasn’t all that much new goss to spill.

It was a glossy, one-sided, six-hour whinge fest about the public scrutiny the couple has faced. We’ve heard it all before.

If “Harry & Meghan” does reveal something,

matter how much people have voiced their disdain, it hasn’t stopped them from staying glued to their screens.

The doco raced to the top of Netflix’s most popular content and smashed viewing records. On its first day alone it pulled in nearly two and a half million households.

That’s almost double the debut episode of the newest season of “The Crown”, Netflix’s popular drama series that chronicles the life of Queen Elizabeth II.

With every passing day, thousands of

hitting back at the reception to the show to Prince William getting cranky over the use of unapproved footage, the “entertainment” here has extended well beyond what’s in the documentary itself.

Ironically, while the couple repeatedly condemn the tabloids in the series, it seems

they’ve dropped a giant piece of bait right into the middle of the media-feeding frenzy. Their desire for a “quieter life”, to put it in their words, seems rather absurd after giving the world one of the most contentious shows of all time.

But, hey, if a “quieter life” is what the Duke and Duchess want, perhaps that’s what should be given to them.

The relationship between the couple and much of the public who have rejected the documentary is almost paradoxical.

The hate that gets piled on them for fiascos like this is part of the reason the documentary exists in the first place.

It was Harry and Meghan’s hope to clear their name with this production, to exonerate themselves in the public eye by talking about the hate they endure every day.

As we’ve seen, it’s well and truly backfired. Personally, I can’t help but feel that if people really want to send a message, the simple solution here would be to just not watch any more.

I realise the irony in adding yet another article to the pile of commentary about the doco out there already, and the fact that this column is usually one reserved for recommending TV shows, but in the end “Harry & Meghan” is just one show better left unstreamed.

THE BEST OF 2022 / movie reviews

Dougal’s best read reviews

Here are the year’s top-read, five movie reviews as posted on citynews.com.au of 2022. DOUGAL MACDONALD is the reviewer.

2

Drover’s Wife” MAY 7 Five stars for “The Drover’s Wife”: “I hope movie lovers will flock to see this film. When naming the year’s best Aussie film next comes around, I reckon that it has to be in with a very good chance,” says DOUGAL MACDONALD.

“Gangubai Kathiawadi” FEBRUARY 25 DOUGAL MACDONALD reviews a film that’s “historical, a drama, a comedy, a musical and a morality tale. Most of all, it’s a message-fun movie that triumphs over the chatter of its Indian language.”

Harry and Meghan performing on Netflix... a glossy, one-sided, six-hour whinge fest about the public scrutiny the couple has faced. We’ve heard it all before.

ARIES (Mar 21 – Apr 20)

Mars is retrograde, which can drain your energy and dampen your enthusiasm. But you can still be a bold and bubbly Ram. With the Sun, Mercury, Venus and Pluto powering through your reputation zone, you’ll be in a sociable and playful mood on New Year’s Eve. So prepare for some late-night funky moves on the dancefloor! With Jupiter jumping through your sign, your mantra is from birthday writer Henry Miller: “Do anything, but let it produce joy.”

TAURUS (Apr 21 – May 21)

This week Venus (your patron planet) links up with sociable Mercury, so boisterous Bulls are in the mood to party like a pro on Saturday night. 2023 is the year to let go of the past and move onto greener and more productive pastures as the Sun, Mercury, Venus and Pluto all activate your adventure zone. So get off your beautiful bovine behind and start planning an exciting escape, a heavenly holiday or an ambitious business trip for some time soon.

GEMINI (May 22 – June 21)

Gregarious Geminis are keen to party on New Year’s Eve as you celebrate with family, friends and/or colleagues. But Mars is still reversing through your sign, which can amplify your negative traits. So do your best to keep your restless, impatient, scatterbrained side under control. Your motto for the moment is from singer, songwriter and poet Patti Smith (who was born on December 30, 1946): “If you feel good about who you are inside, it will radiate.”

CANCER (June 22 – July 23)

New Year’s Eve looks lively and sociable as the Sun, Mercury, Venus and Pluto visit your relationship zone. Catching up with family and friends will put a spring in your step and a smile on your dial. In 2023 the planets will restructure, broaden and deepen your relationships with loved ones. So your mantra is from singer, songwriter and poet Patti Smith (who turns 76 on Friday): “Make your interactions with people transformational, not just transactional.”

LEO (July 24 – Aug 23)

Expect New Year’s Eve to be emotional, as you reminisce about 2022. So pace yourself and don’t drink too much. On Sunday, Venus and Pluto pair up (in earthy Capricorn) which will stabilise your fiery energy, as you tackle an ambitious project that requires plenty of concentration. 2023 is a terrific year to tap into your entrepreneurial side and turn an abstract, innovative idea into a practical, productive venture. Fortune favours the bold and the brave!

VIRGO (Aug 24 – Sept 23)

With Mercury (your patron planet) and vivacious Venus visiting your entertainment zone, you’re in the mood to celebrate. So shimmy into your best party dress, shake out your dancing shoes and turn the music up extra loud! With hard work and commitment, your love-life will gradually go from strength to strength in 2023. Singles – the best months to meet your soulmate are February and October, when your earthy Virgo charisma attracts admirers from near and far.

LIBRA (Sept 24 – Oct 23)

On Wednesday your ruler Venus connects with Neptune, which is wonderful for romantic liaisons, creative projects and imaginative reveries. With four planets in your domestic zone, home is where the heart is on Saturday night. Some lively Librans will host a large New Year’s Eve party, while others enjoy a quiet night at home with a small group of friends. In 2023, good fortune comes via your partner, a business associate or an overseas connection.

SCORPIO (Oct 24 – Nov 22)

On Saturday night the Sun, Mercury, Venus and Pluto activate your communication zone. So you’re ready to chat up a storm, as you have fun with family and friends on New Year’s Eve. There’s so much to catch up on. On Sunday, your power planet Pluto hooks up with Venus. So expect a dramatic start to 2023 as you communicate intensely, feel deeply and love passionately. Don’t let secrets, suspicions or jealousy mar an otherwise wonderful weekend.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov 23 – Dec 21)

With sociable Jupiter energising your entertainment zone, you’re in the mood for bright lights, loud music, party food and plenty of dancing on New Year’s Eve. But Mars is reversing through your relationship zone, so you’re also inclined to make insensitive remarks to over-sensitive loved ones. Watch what you say, Sagittarius! Writer Rudyard Kipling (who was born on December 30, 1865) reminds us: “Words are the most powerful drug used by mankind.”

CAPRICORN (Dec 22 – Jan 20)

This New Year’s Eve should be a light-hearted and enjoyable night but resist the urge to criticise a loved one or close friend. Make it a priority to start 2023 in a positive frame of mind. With the Sun, Mercury, Venus and Pluto all powering through Capricorn, your charisma, creativity and true grit are shining for all to see. In the words of film icon Marlene Dietrich (who was born on December 27, 1901): “Courage and grace are a formidable mixture.”

AQUARIUS (Jan 21 – Feb 19)

New Year’s Eve looks quiet as the Sun, Mercury, Venus and Pluto all snooze in your privacy zone. So a low-key night with a few close friends would suit you best. It’s a good time to reflect on the lessons you’ve learned over the past year – and plan the transformative changes you want to make in the coming year. New friendships, creative projects and social networking are highlighted, as you meet interesting and influential people in your local community.

PISCES (Feb 20 – Mar 20)

Wednesday’s wonderful Venus/Neptune hook-up highlights your Piscean compassion, creativity, sensitivity and spirituality. You could get a bit teary on New Year’s Eve, as you look back over the highs and lows of the closing year. Then Venus and Pluto pair up in your peer group zone on Sunday. So your motto for New Year’s Day is from movie star (and this week’s birthday great) Marlene Dietrich: “It’s the friends you can call up at 4am that matter.”

Copyright Joanne Madeline Moore 2022

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12 What is information not previously known? (4)

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Solution next edition Down

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