Melbourne Observer. 120502A. May 2, 2012. Part A. Pages 1-25, Pages 44-50

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■ You can win a free double pass to Naked Boys Singing next week at The Malthouse. Entry forms are on Page 51 of this week’s Melbourne Observer ... but you need to hurry!

OBSERVER SNAPPER MYSTERY Page 3

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■ Kate Ceberano will star alongside Lisa McCune, Teddy Tahu Rhodes and Eddie Perfect in South Pacific which will open at The Princess Theatre on September 13. Inset: Kevin Trask with Lisa McCune at the Plaza Ballroom launch on Monday. More details on Page 6.

GRAHAM IN WAX

■ More than 10,000 visitors have flocked to the new Madame Tussaud’s exhibition in Sydne which includes a wax model of Melbourne TV legend Graham Kennedy.

VICTORIA’S INDEPENDENT WEEKLY NEWSPAPER

Page 2 - Melbourne Observer - Wednesday, May 2, 2012

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Melbourne Observer

W hen you lose someone you love you don’ don’tt need someone telling you how it is is..

You need ggenuine enuine empathy and sup port. support. ement details Y ou need clear arrang arrangement details..

You need things done the way you want.

Most of all you need to ffeel eel included - lik amily. likee a ffamily.

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Because that’ hat we do that’ss w what do..

T ender Moments - Tender Care

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Melbourne Observer - Wednesday, May 2, 2012 - Page 3

Breaking News

HOLLYWOOD HUNTS OBSERVER SNAPPER

■ A Hollywood film producer wonders whether Melbourne Observer photographer, Alan Hirons, captured in Cambodia in the 1970s, could still be alive.

Andrew Ehrich of Mythic Films is producing a documentary, Lost Brothers, which centres around journalists and newsmen who went missing during the rise of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia.

Melbourne-born Hirons, then 24, was a freelance photographer, travelling south in a Peugeot car on Route 1 in the Cambodian countryside, and ambushed by Khmer Rouge forces.

Hirons was with freelance UPI photographer Terry Reynolds and Cambodian lensman Chhim Sarath. Their camera equipment and personal gear was left in the car, about 22 kms south-east of Phnom Penh.

● Alan Hirons, Melbourne Observer photographer, went missing

Avenue Q at Elwood

● Emma Newman and Jem Splitter, and the Bad Idea Bears, are in JYM Theatre Company’s production of Avenue Q, being presented from May 5 – 19 at the Phoenix Theatre, Elwood.

Photo: Des McMillan ■ JYM Theatre Company presents Avenue Q from May 5-19 at the Phoenix Theatre, 101 Glenhuntly Rd., Elwood. The show is directed by award-winning Pip Mushin.

They may look familiar, but these neighbours have quite an irreverent take on the joys and struggles in making it on your own. Singing puppets and their human counterparts tackle life's most vexing issues - including love, sex, money, race and how to tell your roommate he's gay.

The place is New York City, and the street is Avenue Q, the only address you can afford when you're fresh out of college, or out of a job, or just trying to find your way in life.

For booking details: www.jymtheatre.com - Cheryl Threadgold

‘UNJUSTIFIABLE RISK’

■ A 52-year-old Gippsland man’s indecent assault convictions at Geelong, have seen him twice refused an application to obtain a ‘Working With Children’ permit.

Judge Chris O’Neill, sitting as Vice-President of the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal, refused the man’s application to the Department of Justice.

VCAT heard that the man had pleaded guilty in 1995 to eight counts of committing an indecent act with a child under 16.

The man, then 34 and 35, had met the 13year-old victim at a pet shop run by his wife.

Character evidence was given by the owner

of a Gippsland hotel where the man had worked, a youth and welfare worker from a District Health Service, employers and a psychologist.

“Any person convicted or found guiltyas an adult of a serious sex offence committed against a child or of a child pornography offence will also automtically receive a negative notice,” Judge O’Neill commented.

The Gippsland man, in his fourth marriage, has five children, and said his “mind was very mixed up” at the time of the offence.

“I am not satisfied that the giving of a notice would not pose an unjustifiable risk to the safety of children,” Judge O’Neill said.

It is believed that Hirons covered the Vietnam War for the Observer in late 1970, when the newspaper was owned by political activist Gordon Barton.

Hirons returned to home town Melbourne in March 1972, visiting his widowed mother Pauline Hirons, promising to write every week.

It is understood that he was on freelance assignment for the Observer in 1972, then published by Maxwell Newton.

Observer staffers from the era believe that Hirons may have started his career at the newspaper by taking Saturday night photos at the trots at the Showgrounds.

The documentary seeks to establish whether Hirons died, became a prisoner-of-war, or suffered a different fate. It asks why Hirons’s name disappeared from records. More on P12

‘I can cure anything’ ■ Blackburn-based Chinese medicine practitioner Reza Ghaffurian is alleged to have told a woman patient: “I can cure anything”.

Ghaffurian has been found to have engaged in professional misconduct and unprofessional conduct.

VCAT has heard that Debra Gillick, former Registrar of the Chinese Medicine Registration Board, posed as a patient, is gather evidence against Ghaffurian.

Ghaffurian had quoted $6000 for six injections of animal stem cells.

The full report is on Page 5 of this week’s Observer.

REPAIRS MUST BE COMPLETED ■ Off-road camper trailer repairs to a unit owned

by Paul Henry Franklin must be completed by E & Z Trading Co Pty Ltd of Campbellfield within 30 days of receiving the trailer, VCAT Deputy President Ian Lulham has ordered.

The company must also pay $100 to Mr Frankloin to cover his petrol costs in taking the $6601 trailer to the E & Z premises, and collecting the trailer.

Repairs include fixing Velcro, repairing a broken zip, replacing bolts, protecting wiring, adding a restraint, fitting nuts, making edges safe, and fitting grommets.

It’s All About You!

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Observer In This 68-Page Edition

News: ‘Unprofessional conduct’ ............. Page 5 Melbourne People: In the picture ........... Page 6 Melb. Confidential: Camelot loses $2.6m.. Page 9 Di Rolle: I love my job ....................... Page 10 Pictorial: Australia Day opening night ... Page 11 Long Shots: The Editor’s column .......... Page 15 Life And Style: Welcome back Yvonne ... Page 18 Outback Legend: Nick Le Souef writes .. Page 16 Observer Readers Club: Birthdays, more . Page 18 Melbourne Trader: Free reader ads ....... Page 27 Victoria Pictorial: Nostalgic photos ...... Page 42 Movies, DVDs Independent Theatre TV, Radio News Giant Crossword

Observer Showbiz

Latest News Flashes Around Victoria

Hung by seat of pants ■ A drunken Ballarat teenager, 19, had to be rescued by firefrighters when he was left hanging by the back of his pants on a fence at the weekend.

On bail over drug claim ■ Warrnambool man Andrew Brentnall, 26, has been bailed after being charged with trafficking amphetamine.

Deception charges ■ Two people face deception-related charges relating to the Access Mildura disability employment service.

Mike McColl Jones

Top 5 THE TOP 5 REASONS THE ‘HOFF’ WENT HOME EARLY 5. Peter Slipper promised him an upgrade 4. 'Akka' asked him for a date 3. He saw the photo of Tania Zaetta nude 2. He signed on thinking 'The Yellow Brick Road' was a part in 'The Wizard of Oz' 1. Someone made him watch the show

Page 4 - Melbourne Observer - Wednesday, May 2, 2012

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Mark Richardson ♥

Straight from the heart

E-Mail: mark@localmedia.com.au

FOREVER SHINE: PERSONAL TRIBUTE Heroic Porch Thoughts ■ In the lead-up to ANZAC Day, on my front porch, I discovered Australian singersongwriter and renowned storyteller Mick Thomas's Gallipoli Rosemary song from his latest album - The Last of The Tourists via a music video release on YouTube.

It is a song he explains was inspired when one of his friends gave him a Rosemary bush she called Gallipoli Rosemary.

The bush originated from a clipping that her great grandfather ripped out from a bush on the fields in Gallipoli and brought back to Australia.

Mick sings, "Gallipoli Rosemary, growing in the winter's sunshine, out by my backdoor, looking over me and mine …you grew from a cutting from a bush that grew, from a cutting from a bush that grew, from a bush that drowned in a living hell …"

The song's bio sheet fur-

● Walter Wallace Richardson ther quotes Mick: "It's about what connects you to the past and generations of cuttings and generations of men." This immediately pulled at my heart-strings and thought of our children knowing little about the lives of two of their great grandfathers, who served in the Second World War. Our grandfathers both returned home safe, one surviving the Malaya battlefields and the other in New Guinea, who along side their comrades, afforded us the fortunate lives we all have today.

On ANZAC Day, my fiancée, Lyndall Tennant and I wanted to link two of our much-loved grandfathers with their youngest great grand son - Jack Andrew Richardson (nine months young) by showing him their photos and placed some of their War Medal Ribbons in his hands.

Futuristically, through 'Jack's first ANZAC Day' photos, we trust he will come to understand and appreciate the connection to his great ● Stanley Victor Heath

grandfathers and the significance behind the oddly shaped, bright and colourful items he held, which are best described as: "Pieces of coloured ribbon that represent something money cannot buy, they are badges of a hero, a man who put his personal safety and comfort aside to serve his country in its time of need and are a token of the nations gratitude awarded regardless of a mans rank or fortune or standing in society, be he prince or pauper." "…Oh hang in there buddy…" - Mick Thomas Jack's Paternal Great Grandfather At 22 years of age, my grandfather's life changed. At Caulfield, Walter Wallace Richardson (aka 'Snow') enlisted into the Australian Infantry Forces on June 17, 1940.

Given the service number VX 24634, Gunner Richardson completed his Army training at Caulfield, Dandenong, Mt Martha and Darley near Bacchus Marsh.

The 2/29th Battalion

● Charles Ernest Richardson formed at the Bonegilla camp in Wodonga. My grandfather was posted to this camp for the first seven months of 1941 and then posted to Bathurst NSW, for war training, before being sent to Malaya for Active Service Duties on July 30 1941.

After a few short months in Singapore, my grandfather requested transfer to the 4th Anti Tank Regiment to be close to his only and elder brother, Charles Ernest Richardson.

On February 16 1942, both Richardson brothers were captured by the Japanese, my grandfather being sent to prison camp at Changi, whilst my great uncle Charles was sent to the Burma Railway.

Sadly Charles died on 'Death Railway' in May 1944, as a Prisoner Of War. 'Charlie' was aged 33. On September 5, 1945, after the Japanese surrender, my grandfather was released from Changi prison. ● Jack Andrew Richardson ● Turn To Page 26

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Melbourne Observer - Wednesday, May 2, 2012 - Page 5

Breaking News

Financial Planning

‘UNPROFESSIONAL CONDUCT’ Brothers In Arms

Briefs

with Jon and Andrew Rancie of Rancie McLean Financial Planning Level 4, 420 Collins Street, Melbourne Vic 3000 Phone: 9671 4990

Barassi

● Ron Barassi ■ This week’s newspapers have had headlines over Ron Barassi’s admission on 60 Minutes that he has short term memory difficulties.

The footy star’s problems have been an open secret in Melbourne, and the legend has even discussed them previously with Neil Mitchell on 3AW.

Cuts at 7

■ Newsroom budget cuts of 10 per cent have been orrdered at the Seven Network.

■ Chinese medicine practitioner Reza Ghaffurian has been found to have engaged in rpofessional misconduct and unprofessional conduct.

A patient complained to the Chinese Medicine Registration Board of Victoria about treatment provided

by Mr Gahffurian, who offered to treat with stem cell injections from sheep and cattle.

Ian Proctor, Senior Member at the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal, heard that Ghaffurian offered to also treat the seriously ill patient with bottles of herbs that had no labelling.

Ghaffurian is alleged to have told the patient that he was a general medical practitoner and surgeon, trained in Italy, who had chosen to work in alternative medicine. His registration was suspended last year Ghaffurian continues to offer ‘health’ treatment to the public from the Energy Medicine Clinic, VCAT was advised.

The Chinese Medicine Registration Board alleged Chaffurian: ■ provided excessive, unnecessary, icompetent or clinically unjustified treatment, ■ made misleading representations and/or caused unreasonable expectation of beneficial treatment, ■ failed to obtain informed consent from the patient, ■ failed to make and keep adequate recors, ■ breached the Board’s guidelines, ■ did not comply with infection control guidelines, ■ failed to issue receipts, ■ made inaccurate and/or false representations, ■ advertised, creating unreasonable expectations, ■ used testimonials in his advertising.

VCAT heard that the Board engaged an investigator to pose as a patient, as part of its probe. Ghaffurian reportedly told the patient that he “could cure anything”.

Penalty has yet to be determined.

Dollar Cost Averaging Does It Work?

● Peter Flaherty is Bandido motor cycle club member Lard in the new Network 10 series, Brothers In Arms.

■ The new six-hour mini-series, Brothers In Arms, a Screentime Production, will broadcast on Network Ten this month.

On Friday, September 2, 1984, two motor-cycle clubs, the Bandidos and the Comancheros, went to war at a public swap meet. After a brief but violent battle, later known as the ‘Milperra Massacre’, seven people had been shot dead, including a young, innocent bystander and some 40 other club members needed hospitalisation.

Brothers In Arms is the story of how that day came to pass. Bandido club member Lard is played

by Melbourne’s Peter Flaherty.

One of Australia’s leading character actors, Peter’s many stage and screen credits include the recent ABC TV series Australia On Trial.

Peter will be joined by a cast of 17 fellow actors portraying bikies from the two clubs, plus Susie Porter, Maeve Dermody and Phillipa Coulthard.

Based on the book by Sandra Harvey and Lindsay Simpson, the series is directed and co-produced

by Peter Andrikidis, with music by Mark Lizotte.

BRING BACK THE SHOWGIRL

Expands ■ Malmsbur y Youth Justice Centre will get 45 extra beds following a $54.5M State Government commitment.

Melbourne Observations with Matt Bissett-Johnson

■ Bring Back the Showgirl commences a national tour in early May and plays in Melbourne on May 11 at the Thornbury Theatre.

Bring Back the Showgirl infuses the art of the traditional showgirl with the beauty of the newwave big burlesque into one glittery, glamorous and sexy show. ‘ Showcasing awardwinning Australian performers, Bring Back the Showgirl is reminiscent of the tradition of old Hollywood and Parisian clubs.

Producer and current Miss Burlesque World, Cassandra Jane, started performing in 1999 and soon rose to become one of the most prominent showgirls in Australia.

Bring Back the Showgirl started off as a fundraiser in 2011 to raise funds to help Cassandra Jane make her 13-year dream of winning the Miss Nude Australia pageant come true. Which, incidentally she did.

Melbourne: May 11 at 8pm Thornbury Theatre Albury: May 18 at the Albury Entertainment Centre Tickets: From $35-$55 bringbacktheshowgirl.com/ tickets/ - Cheryl Threadgold

Valuable lessons can sometimes be lost due to emotional responses created from short-term volatility and disruption. It can be so frustrating!

One of the most straightforward strategies that can be utilised to assist client portfolios in times of high frustration and volatility is that of dollar cost averaging.

Dollar cost averaging is an investment strategy that can be used with any investment. Dollar cost averaging involves investing equal monetary amounts regularly over specific time periods (such as $100 monthly) in a particular investment or portfolio.

By doing so, more shares are purchased when prices are low and fewer shares are purchased when prices are high. The point of this is to lower the total average cost per share of the investment, giving the investor a lower overall cost for the shares purchased over time.

The really interesting thing with dollar cost averaging actually works better in volatile markets rather than those that gradually increase.

As investors we all prefer markets like those from 2003 to early 2008 when despite the odd “market correction” along the way the overall direction was pointing up.

Since the start of 2008 and the global financial crisis volatility has been ever present. 1% to 2% swings on a regular basis have coursed a significant amount of stress but interestingly enough some of us have become a little conditioned to it!

That’s a discussion for another time.

An example of a dollar cost averaging strategy is where $100 is invested over five time periods.

The market price of the investment begins at $10, falls to $7.50, falls further to $5.50 before bouncing back to $11 before settling back at $10. In other words the market over the five investment periods has ended where it started.

The bad news about dollar cost averaging is that some times you will be buying into a market at high prices although you will also be buying in at low points, which is where you essentially make your money.

In this case, at the end of the period by dollar cost averaging the investment portfolio was worth $606. Keep in mind, $500 was invested and the market ended where it started.

If you had invested the same amount in a market that rose steadily from $10 in $1 increments to $14, you would have had a portfolio worth close to $591.

The average cost of the dollar cost averaged portfolio was $8.25 compared to $11.83 for the gradually increasing market.

What we quickly learn here is less about the end portfolio value and more about overcoming our natural behaviour. We generally feel good about investing when markets are trending up steadily.

Markets that are volatile unsettle us and create doubt about the wisdom of investing and have us second-guess our decisions.

A disciplined investment approach like dollar cost averaging helps overcome that natural behavioural that wants us to try and time the market, which is fraught with danger.

As always, if you would like to review your personal financial situation we would be happy to meet with you initially, at our expense.

Jon & Andrew Rancie are Authorised Representatives of Australian Financial Services (AFSL: No. 297239) Note: In this article we have not considered your personal situation nor your goals or objectives. You should not base your future investment decisions on the content of this article. Before you invest your hard earned money you should consult a Financial Adviser and have your situation reviewed, clarified and agree to a strategy for investing for the future.

Page 6 - Melbourne Observer - Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Gorgi judges

● Gorgi Coghlan

■ TV personality - and former Year 12 Science and Biology teacher Gorgi Coghlan is promoting Australia’s only independent teaching awards program that offers parents, students and school communities the opportunity to formally thank their hardworking, inspirational teachers, principals and directors.

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People Melbourne

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Jesus Christ Superstar

Fax: 1-800 231 312

‘Australia Day’first night PHOTO: ASH LONG

● From left: John Paul Young, Michael Caton, Tommy Dysart and Joe Dicker ■ Actor Tommy Dysart, a good friend of the Melbourne Observer, tells us that he and wife Joanie Brockenshire have been invited to the reunion of the original cast of Jesus Christ Superstar, to be held in Sydney on Saturday (May 5).

“Joannie and I were knocked out when we just recently received an invitation to the anniversary celebration of the opening night of JCS which was at the Capitol Theatre in Sydney 40 years ago. A pregnant wee Joannie choreographed the tap dance routine in the show and her young Scottish husband played one of the High Priests,” says Tommy, who was the original Herod in the production.

On show ■ Cassandra Scott at RMIT tells us the First Site Gallery, 33 Swanston St, is hosting two new exhibitions.

On Friday (May 4), there will be a floor talk in the Get Real exhibition being staged by Aubrey ThomasHayes, Bernadette Francis and Ashlea Chong.

Sophie MoorhouseMorris and Jia Jia Ji Chen are staging the Flocculate exhibition an exercise in “tactile creation”.

The First Site Gallery is in the basementr of Storey Hall.

The venue is important for emerging artists, designers and creative practitioners.

It showcases a diverse array of work from students across a range of disciplines. www.link.rmit.edu. au/first_site.html also on Facebook and Twitter

● Geoff Morrell and Jonathan Biggins at the opening night of Australia Day ■ The Playhouse Theatre was packed for the first night of the MTC production of Australia Day. The Observer’s Julie Houghton reviews the show on Page 30. Cast inclides Morrell, Valerie Bader, Keang Chan, David James, Peter Kowitz and Allyson White. It is directed by Richard Cottrell, with lighting by Niklas Pijanti, and sound design by David Franklin. Other production crew include Assistant Director Gary Abrahams, short film maker Josh Burns, stage manager Whitney McNamara assisted by Pippa Wright and Katie Hankin. Set and costime designer is Richard Roberts. More opening night photos on Page 11.

South Pacific breezes in

● Teddy Tahu Rhodes, Lisa McCune and Eddie Perfect. Photo: Kevin Trask ■ The stellar cast for the new production of the Rogers and Hammerstein's stage musical South Pacific was announced on Mondayat the Plaza Showroom in Collins St. The cast includes Lisa McCune as Nellie Forbush, Teddy Tahu Rhodes as Emile De Becque, Eddie Perfect as Luther Billis, and Kate Ceberano as Bloody Mary. The season opens at the Princess Theatre on September 13. This production of South Pacific is produced by Opera Australia in association with John Frost and Bob Boyett. Tickets are available via Ticketmaster, 1-300 111 011

Muriel’sWedding

● Simone Turnbull and Natasha Stipanov ■ A Margaret River (WA) wedding on Friday was celebrated for Simone Turnbull (left) and Luc Colombies. Crown Melbourne Media Relations Manager Natasha Stipanow (right) was MC. Both girls - wearing J’Aton - rejoice in the nickname Muriel.

■ Eleanor Howlett advises that Improv Theatresports will be held every Sunday in May and June at The Space in Prahran.

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Melbourne Observer - Wednesday, May 2, 2012 - Page 7

p +61 7 5492 666 free ph 1800 068 798 e info@norfolks.com.au www.norfolks.com.au 32 Queen of Colonies Parade, Moffat Beach, Caloundra, Qld

Page 8 - Melbourne Observer - Wednesday, May 2, 2012

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Melbourne Observer - Wednesday, May 2, 2012 - Page 9

Confidential Melbourne

Talk is cheap, gossip is priceless

TURNAROUND AFTER BUM RAP

Rumour Mill

Whispers

Dissolved

Hear It Here First

Bitch Melbourne’s Secrets

This won’t take long ... did it?

● John Blackman ■ It is the shortest walkout in Melbourne media history.

Late last week, 3AW Nightline Producer Simon Owens announced: “Yes, we can confirm John Blackman is leaving our program.

“It was certainly not something we nor he wanted but John has his own personal reasons for leaving.

“We hope to work with him again in the near future.”

Fast forward a few days, Blackers is back in his Thursday guest spot on 3AW, after an absence of, well, nil weeks.

Blackman tells the Observer:“Result of a misunderstanding on my part. All good nothing to report.”

Sounds like there is a sensational little story brewing under the surface here.

ABC apologises to Ita’s ex-husband ■ ABC-TV will broadcast a full apology to the ex-husnand of Ita Buttrose on Sunday.

Alisdair Macdonald sued the ABC after Paper Giants portrayed him as deserting Buttrose.

The Paper Giants DVD has been withdrawn from sale, and settlement has been reached.

● Ita Buttrose

Can’t read small print ■ At age 30, with no sexuyal experience, ‘John’ (not his real name), went to the Bourke St Mall, and saw a show being performed.

A tall young lady, 16, approached and stood very close to him. Due to his complete inexperience, he misinterpreted her proximity as a sign of interest.

He touched her buttock outside her pants. This was observed. He was arrested and interviewed.

‘John’ described the whole affair as being the lowest point in his life. He was charged with indecent assauylt, but no conviction was recorded. He was ordered to obey directions of psychologist Jeffrey Cummins.

‘John’ is a lecturer at a tertiary institution, and was last year informed that his employer now required a Working With Children’s certificate.

Because of the Court appearance 16 years ago, ‘John’ was unable to provide the certificate, and he was suspended without pay by his employer.

VCAT Acting President Judge John Bowman has just ordered that the Working With Children certificate be issued.

Judge Bowman heard that the man has behaved well in the past 16 years, although the man had faced Court on charges for careless driving, failing to stop after an accident, and assault of his wife.

“I consider it highly unlikely that (‘John’) would pose a future threat to a child,” Judge Bowman said.

■ Businesses are reprotedly withholding payments, and planning to take the Yellow Pages to Consumer Affairs over its new ‘mini’-size books. The firms say they were unaware their ads would be scaled back.

In strife

Westpac withdraws ■ Unsolicited messages to Westpac customers about credit card increases have been withdrawn after ASIC action. New 2012 laws prevent unsolicited e-mail invitations.

The Voice re-signed at 9 ■ The Nine Network has announced new series of its three top-rating programs The Voice, The Block and Celebrity Apprentice. The Voice has been consistently attracting more than two million viewers.

CAMELOT LOSES $2.47 MILLION, DIRECTOR BANNED FOR 6 YEARS

■ Australian Securities and Investments Commission action has resulted in Neil William King, formerly of Brighton, being removed from the financial services industry for six years.

In proceedings brought by ASIC against Camelot Derivatives Pty Ltd (in liquidation) and King, the Federal Court last week found that: ■ King and Camelot made representations to the public, including at investment seminars, about high returns earned by Camelot clients trading in options; ■ 50 Camelot clients lost over $2.47 million while paying commissions of over $2.45 million; and ■ 16 Camelot clients lost $982,432 while paying commissions over $1.03 million.

Based on these find-

● Neil King ings, the Court made orders: ■ that Camelot had engaged in options trading when it knew, or ought reasonably to have known, that it was furthering its interests in earning commissions and not acting in the interests of its clients; ■ that King had caused Camelot to make misleading or deceptive statements, including about profits earned by Camelot clients, in contravention of the Corporations Act and Australian Securities and

■ Maffra accounting partners Gerald Adams and Brett Pund have ceased their partnership, and each will now operate their own separate firms.

Investments Commission Act ; ■ that Camelot had failed to do all things necessary to ensure the financial services it provided were provided efficiently, honestly and fairly in contravention of the Corporations Act; ■ that King had aided and abetted, and was knowingly concerned in, the contraventions by Camelot; and restraining King from providing any financial services for a period of six years.

King consented to the orders.

The Court also extended the asset preservation orders against King until June 30 to allow former Camelot clients time to consider taking legal action in response to the declarations and orders in the proceedings.

The Court also ordered

that the asset preservation orders be varied to allow a payment of $375,000 to Camelot by another company controlled by King namely, Camelot Capital Pty Limited.

Camelot promoted itself through website, publications and seminars as a specialised derivatives dealer that allowed investors to participate in the lucrative options trading marketplace with minimum effort and in the knowledge that a professional option trader was assisting them to manage all aspects of their trading.

Camelot claimed that by using its time-tested risk management method, superior returns could be earned in a high risk market.

Camelot's AFS licence was cancelled last year following Camelot going into voluntary liquidation.

E-Mail: Editor@MelbourneObserver.com.au

■ TPG advertised on its website that consumers who subscribed to a broadband bundle plan would receive 500 free minutes of VoIP calls.

The offer was subject to terms which meant that a consumer would only receive the 500 minutes of free calls if each and every call made had a minimum duration of 10 minutes.

One of the ads also did not disclose that the call must terminate in Sydney, Melbour ne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Canberra or Perth.

Deceptive

● Ben Polis ■ Electricity broker Energy Watch and former CEO Ben Polis face penalties after a Court this week found advertising had been false, misleading and deceptive.The parties are due to return to the Federal Court on May 25 to discuss penalties.

Page 10 - Melbourne Observer - Wednesday, May 2, 2012

I’ve become invisible

■ I was having a drink at the Trades Hall final weekend of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival with one of the comedians John Robertson after his show.

It was the second last night of the Festival and it had been a great run: a lot of laughs, a lot of friends seen even though we only see each other once a year at the Festival.

The camaraderie once made is never lost.

It’s a special club I belong to when working on the Comedy Festival.

From the head of publicity,Tatia Sloley, to the comedians one and all – there are always hi fives and lots of hugs and kisses – to the doorman at the Melbourne Town Hall whose face lights up every night talking to the crowds in the queues who eagerly await to be directed up the red carpet to the various shows.

It is so brilliantly orchestrated and choreographed by the Melbourne International Festival organisers.

Anyway back to the drink at the Trades Hall ... I was having cider with John Robertson. I have never drunk cider before and had been drinking lemonade most of the evening when a woman who had been in the audience of John’s show asked me a question as I walked past her and her table with my cider pouring over the edge of two very full glasses, one large for John and one small for me: “Are you John’s mother?” she asked!

I was horrified for about two seconds then laughed, one of the loudest laughs during the Festival and went and told my charge and he roared.

Was it a compliment in fact?

And yes it was.

Age is such a strange thing, where once upon a time I could stand at a bar and have men offer to buy me drinks I have to now wave the money at the barman these days as sometimes I swear I am invisible!

Naked Boys Singing ■ When an invitation arrived on my desk to a show called Naked Boys Singing, I thought should I go to this?

After all I am old enough to be a comedians Mum! On further investigation I decided it looked rather intriguin., I discovered that the long running Off Broadway hit show comes to Melbourne for 11 performances only from Friday (May 4) at Beckett Theatre, The Malthouse.

This all-Australian production will include eight all singing, all dancing, all gorgeous, all Australian, and unashamedly, all naked boys - Tim Carney, Glenn Ferguson, Nicholas Gentile, Joshua Harrison, Chris McGovern, Mitchell Roberts, Elijah Rohner and Tye Shepherd.

This hilarious musical revue kicks down the taboo of the male body. You might blush at first, but then be thoroughly entertained with a collection of toe-tappin’ songs including Gratuitous Nudity; The Bliss of a Bris, which turns the religious act into a spirited romp of genital fear; Fight The Urge which takes the audience into the high school locker room where an errant erection could spell doom; Perky Little Porn Star; The Naked Maid and the laughable lyrics about how-to tenderiseyour-meat in Jack’s Song.

Naked Boys Singing recently ended its 12year Off-Broadway run after 3,069 performances and entertaining packed theatres filled with mums, husbands, bachelorettes, gays, girls and boyfriends. This new production is revamped and re-imagined for its Australian season.

“The lyrics are genuinely clever, many of the numbers prove laugh-out-loud funny in surprisingly sophisticated ways” - Daily News New York. “A Glorious Celebration” – New York Observer | “Clever! ... Amusing! ... The evening is all good fun!" - Village Voice www.nakedboyssinging.com.au Director / Producer: Jonathan Worsley Choreographer: Adam Williams Musical Director: Sheena Crouch Beckett Theatre, The Malthouse, 113 Sturt St, Southbank. Friday May 4 to Saturday, May 12. Tues-Thurs 8:00pm, Fri & Sat 7:00 & 9:15pm I must just take a look! It looks great! And I can never resist a ... night at the ...

Malthouse!

www.MelbourneObserver.com.au

To

Di

I love my job!

Di Rolle is heard most Mondays with Andrew McLaren on 3AW, just after the 1am quiz.

For NEIL DIAMOND MARRIES KATIE

■ I was very happy to hear that Neil Diamond got married for the third time.

The sweetest and most generous of men, Neil married his manager Katie McNeil in front of family and close friends in a small wedding in Los Angeles on Saturday, April 21.

Neil loves Twittering and it was on Twitter that he announced his engagement in September last year.

He also advised fans of his wedding the same way.

“Katie and I got married last night, we wish you all could’ve been there. It was magical!” he posted on Twitter.

This is the third marriage for Neil Diamond and the first for his manager Katie, 42 In 1963, Diamond wed his childhood high school sweetheart Jaye Posner, with whom he has two daughters, Marjorie and Elyn.

The couple divorced in 1969, and in December of the same year, Diamond married Marcia Murphey, a production assistant.

He has two sons, Jesse and Micah, from that marriage.

Diamond and Murphey divorced in 1995.

It was one of the biggest divorces settlements in American history.

The legendary singer admitted about Katie that he was completely love-struck.

On December 30 Diamond tweeted, “What a year! R&R Hall of Fame, Kennedy Centre Honour, Billboard Icon Award, a Grammy nomination , and best of all the hand of the girl of my dreams!”

Last year Diamond was a recitation of a

with leading Melbourne publicist DI ROLLE

● Neil Diamond and new wife Katie McNeil Kennedy Honour for catch his plane to time to plan and pack his contribution to Perth, and me to my my winter woollies American culture plane to Newcastle, we and head up there through the arts and promised to catch up from Juine 8-11. was inducted into the on his return to It’s the 8th Rock and Rolle Hall of Melbourne later this Woodend WinterArts year. fame .

Festival this year.

A special moment.

Known for hits More details can be such as Sweet Carofound on www. line, and Love On Yhe woodendwinterarts Rocks, Neil Diamond festival.org.au will kick off a summer ■ Another special Jacqueline Ogeil is tour of the US on June moment is each year the Artistic Director of 1.

I read and hear the Festival, having He is a great guy when about Woodend created it in 2004, and and deserves every Winterthe Arts Festival. is Director of the bahappiness.

It’s a wonderful ex- roque ensemble perience and each Accademia Arcadia year I promise myself (finalist for 2007 ARIA award in Classical to go back.

■ It was wonderful to This year it’s being Music).

Jacqueline is also a bump into an old mate held Queen’s BirthSir Bob Geldof at the day Weekend so no harpsichordist, organist , forte pianist, Melbourne Airport excuses. when I was travelling I have enough time scholar and teacher. up to the NSW Coast to visit my Mum. Sir Bob and I go back a long way and I have the dearest of memories of times spent with Paula, his first wife, and their children who are now grown up.

Bob proudly told me his daughter Peaches had made him a grandfather.

I am very fond of him and cherish times spent with him, Paula and his girls in years gone by in Australia, London and New York.

As he went off to ● Sir Bob Geldof

It’s special

Sir Bob

I mention Jacqueline because she is also performing in Corelli, Vivaldi and Bach at the Melbourne Recital Centreon Friday, May 25 at 6pm in the Salon.

I cannot recommend this performance more highly, this program brings together two players internationally acclaimed for their virtuosity, individuality and spontaneity.

Visiting Italian Baroque violin virtuoso Davide Monti, is joined by Jacqueline in three major Baroque works (I told you it would be good!)

The works are: Corelli’s La Follia, Vivaldi’s Sonata in D and Bach’s Sonata no.

3 in E. For Davide ‘the score is a canvas, in which each performance and interpretation is different and in a constant changing state’ he said.

Friday, May 25 , 6pm SalonTickets $35 ($25 concession) Davide Monte appears in association with the Woodend Winter Arts Festival.

Selfinflicted wounds ■ I have what they call in the services self-inflicted wounds.

A very bad cold from standing in the rain and the cold wind at the Shrine at the Dawn Service in what turned out to be the coldest ANZAC Day. The cold in my bones will not go away, despite countless hot chocolates, hot water bottles, vast quantities of water and more hot tea than I have drunk in years.

The chill and the cold will not go away.

So I am folding my tent like the Arabs in Wordsworth’s beautiful poem and silently stealing away to my bed.

I would do it all over again. It was a wonderful service, I will never forget it.

I did it for my Dad. He served in WWII in Darwin and New Guinea in the Royal Australian Air Force.

I will take a thermos next year!

Win free tickets to Naked Boys Singing - see P51

www.MelbourneObserver.com.au

Melbourne Observer - Wednesday, May 2, 2012 - Page 11

Melbourne People

Melbourne Theatre Company ‘Australia Day’ Opening Night The Playhouse

● Mac Gillies with Genevieve Picot

● Donna Demaio and Alan Pearsall of 3AW

● Matt Andrews with Lauren Hunter

● Adelaide Smith with Kate Coghlan

● Coral Drouyn with Terry Norris. Coral is the daughter of the late Terry O’Neill (Time For Terry, HSV-7)

● Beth Anderson with Olivia Baldrocco

● Melbourne Thjeatre Company front-of-house: Yun Perez, Debora McInnes and Rosie Shepherson-Cullen

● Louisa Smith with Elaine Smith

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Page 12 - Melbourne Observer - Wednesday, May 2, 2012 Melbourne

Observer

The Best Columnists

GANG SHOW MEMORIES Brothers in Arms

The link between Freemasonry and military men is undeniable. And on the back of the recent ANZAC Day ceremonies, the conversation started again.

While the exact reasons for being a member of both organisations are varied - maybe it's the uniform or sense of belonging to a brotherhood there is an interesting connection worth exploring.

Freemasons Victoria Grand Master, Bob Jones and Past Grand Master Major General Frank Poke attended the Dawn Service at the Shrine of Remembrance to pay their respects and to lay a wreath on behalf of all Victorian Freemasons.

"Such a service, as you can imagine, is always a very moving occasion," says the Grand Master.

"Not only is it a time to remember those men and of course, Freemasons, who gave their lives so courageously, but it should also be a time of reflection and to take stock of our own lives," says Bob. "We should ask ourselves whether we are the best version of ourselves and whether we are behaving in a way that contributes to the betterment of society or not. Most of the young men that went to the battlefields and put their lives on the line had little choice; we have a choice in how we treat our fellow man. This should be in the back of our heads all the time."

There is evidence to suggest that the first senior military figures to become Freemasons were General Sir Alexander Hamilton and the Quarter Master General - General Sir Robert Moray.

They were received into the Edinburgh Lodge No. 1 Scottish Constitution in 1641 and although they were Scottish soldiers, this took place on English soil at Newcastle upon Tyne.

Closer to home, Victorian Freemasons with a military background include a large number of past Victorian Grand Masters, but most recently Maj Gen Frank Poke AO, RFD, ED and Maj John Connell, AM. Other prominent Freemasons with a military background include Sir Weary Dunlop and the very colourful Bruce Ruxton, former Victorian RSL President.

The Army Lodge in Melbourne opened in 1929 with many of the foundation members in active service during World War I, several landing with the Australian troops at Gallipoli.

Included in the foundation membership were several who were already, or were to become, well known leaders of the Australian Army.

These included Lt Gen Sir John Lavarack, then a colonel, but destined to become CGS and later Governor of Queensland, Lt Gen Sir John Northcott, then a major, who would also become CGS and later Governor of New South Wales, and Maj Gen H.E. ‘Pompey’ Elliott, a legend among 1st AIF soldiers, and later a Senator for Victoria.

The Lodge grew steadily, successfully surviving the Great Depression of the 1930s and the uncertainty of the WWII years. It shared in the popularity of Freemasonry immediately post-war and its decline in membership in the 1980s and 1990s.

To find out more about Freemasonry, how to become a member, or attend upcoming public events, please visit www.freemasonsvic.net.au or 'Like' our Facebook page, www.facebook.com/ freemasonsvic for the most up to date information.

People Whatever happened to Alan Hirons?

Our Doors are Open!

● The late Bruce Ruxton and his wife, Jill

Melbourne

■ Somewhere between the ages of eight and 11, your scribe was costumed as a female go-go dancer, complete with mini skirt, and women’s make-up.

We were directed to dance to the March Of The Mods.

I am reliably told that photos may still exist.

That was life in the 1960s as a Wolf Cub at the 4th Preston Scouts.

I think there are strict laws these days preventing Scout leaders dressing young boys as young girls! \ But I am told that no young Cub was injured in the production of the annual theatre production in the Joffre St church hall (which is now a Syrian Orthodox Church).

● Gang Show Scouts and Guides are this month celebrating its 60th anniversary

Long Shots

editor@ melbourneobserver.com.au

60 years on

● Wayne Motton ■ To me, something a bit more ‘fair dinkum’ is the annual Gang Show staged

by Scouts and Guides.

Good friend Wayne Motton advises that a gala dinner is being held on Saturday, May 26, at The Centre, Ivanhoe.

Tickets are $125 each for the black tie affair.

The night celebrates the annual theatre production written and performed by 150 Scouts and Girl Guides from all over Victoria, The Gang Show this year will be at the Besen Performing Arts Centre Burwood.

It started in 1952 at the Union Theatre at Melbourne University, and has evolved from a revue style show to an original and professionally staged production.

A hectic and energetic 16-week rehearsal sched-

with Ash Long, Editor “For the cause that lacks assistance, ‘Gainst the wrongs that need resistance For the future in the distance, And the good that we can do”

ule, including two full weekend rehearsals, ensures that the 150 on stage and the 100 volunteers behind the scenes, know their lines and places, sets are constructed and 2000 different costumes are prepared to deliver a memorable and high qual-

ity theatrical experience.

Tickets are available online at www.gang show.org/tickets Season: June 22, 23, 24, 27, 28, 29, 30 Venue: The Besen Performing Arts Centre, 87-89 Station Street, Burwood.

Observer Treasury Thought For The Week ■ “A pessimist is a person who has had to listen to too many optimists.”

- Don Marquis

Observer Curmudgeon ■ “once the people begin to reason, all is lost.”

- Voltaire

Text For The Week ■ “Don’t befriend angry people or associate with hottempered people, or you will learn to be like them and endanger your soul."

- Proverbs 22:24–25

● Alan Hirons ■ If Alan Hirons is living today, he is aged 64. Born in Melbourne on November 26, 1947, the Melbourne Observer freelance photographer went missing in Cambodia exactly 40 years ago this week, on April 26, 1972.

Hirons was working as a freelance photographer for the Observer in late 1970, and returned tehre in April 1972 with the idea of writing his own book on the Vietnam War. He had been home in Melbourne briefly, promising his widowed mother Pauline that he would write weekly. She received just one postcard.

Hirons, along with UPI freelance photographer Terry Reynolds, and Cambodian stringer Chhim Sarath, were ambushed by Khmer Rouge forces, when their Peugeot car reached a roadblock, 22 miles south-east of Phnom Penh, in the Prey Veng Province of Cambodia, in April 1972.

They were just 44 miles west of the eastern border between Cambodia and South Vietnam. Villagers say the trio were led away at gunpoint by the Khmer, but the mystery remains what happened after that.

Reynolds was reported as being a prisoner-ofwar in June 1972, but there was no mention of Hirons.

A month earlier, a Viet Cong (VC) rallier stated that he saw two Caucasians in a communist prison camp. The physical descriptions of the men matc hed Reynolds and Hirons.

Some 22 international journalists and reporters disappeared during that war, with some confirmed as prisoners-of-war.

Los Angeles-based film producer Andrew Ehrich, ponders whether Hirons could still be alive.

He is assembling a documentary, Lost Brothers, and wants to learn of the fate of the three men. The documentary wants to accurately portray the individuals who went missing.

“For most of them, their countries have essentially given up on discovering their fates. For us, this attitude is unacceptable,” Ehrich says.

Brisbane-based photo-journalist Tim Page will work on the documentary, and investigate the fate of his friends, Sean Flynn and Dana Stone, who were captured in April 1970.

In 2010, Page told Mark Dodd of The Australian that he believed the remains of Flynn, Stone, and possibly Hirons and Reynolds were in a cemetery in eastern Cambodia. Those remains were disturbed in 2010.

Many questions arise. In August 1972, Hirons and Reynolds were seen as prisoners-of-war, northeast of Phnom Penh. In February 1973, an officer released by the Viet Cong reported that Hirons and Reynolds were alive. US newsman Walter Cronkite noted the sighting of unnamed journalists in the area in 1974.

The Prisoner-of-War Network says there are “thousands of reports” that prisoners are still held in South-East Asia. Those reports “convince many experts that hundreds of Americans are still alive in South-East Asia”.

“Whether the newsmen ambushed in Cambodia on April 26, 1972, are among them is unkown. Whatever their identities or nationality, they deserve the basic right of freedom.”

Free reader ads are available in the Melbourne Trader section of the ‘Melbourne Observer’

www.MelbourneObserver.com.au

Melbourne Observer - Wednesday, May 2, 2012 - Page 13

Page 14 - Melbourne Observer - Wednesday, May 2, 2012

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Melbourne Observer - Wednesday, May 2, 2012 - Page 15

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Melbourne

Observer Life & Style

WHAT A TANGLED WEB THEY WEAVE ■ Who would have thought that after my column of a couple of weeks ago telling you of our spider home invasion that an itty-bitty spider would knock me sideways for a couple of weeks?

It would have been bad enough if I had seen the critter sink his fangs into my leg, at least I could have brushed him off.

I was blissfully unaware that a spider was lurking with intent under my desk as I typed away on the computer The first I knew was the most excruciating pain pulsating in my head and I was forced to stop what I was doing.

I went into the house and took a couple of painkillers and lay down on the bed.

I wasn’t fully conscious for three days.

Stirring when my husband shook me awake and telling me he was taking me to doctor I was then violently ill. So ill in fact that I sat in the car with a plastic bucket and nothing would stop me retching.

Yvonne’s Column

Screening for spiders

Baffled the doctor ■ The doctor gave me an injection to stop me throwing up, and I lay down on a bed in the surgery.

The injection seemed to stop the retching but my symptoms baffled the doctor.

Then came the endless trips to pathology.

Nothing seemed to add up and the doctor thought it was a viral infection. At this stage I felt so ill I was prepared to exit the gene pool.

Imagine my surprise when I went to scratch my leg and I saw a round bruise with a hard white lump in the center featuring two fang holes.

I’m sure the doctor didn’t believe that it was a spider bite when I told him, but when I presented my leg for inspection he agreed, that a spider had indeed bitten me.

Not being able to describe the spider made identifying the critter difficult. Nor could we find evidence under the desk.

It’s in the bag ■ Apparently some people are more likely to react to the venom of a spider with symptoms that are quite alarming. Unfortunately I am one of those people, and I have to grin and accept it.

Judging from the fang marks on my leg the culprit had to be huge. Then again, my step mother-in-law could have returned to earth as a spider and decided to take revenge.

Only joking, although I still wonder.

Melbourne

Observer

the public toilets seem to be locked.

Ask your pharmacy if they stock them, and if not, get them to order them. I can’t imagine any family with youngsters being without a Chuckies vomit bag.

I’ve got one in the car, the bathroom, the bedroom and one in my handbag.

Fortunately my pharmacy stocks them so I’m spreading the word. However, Frontline Innovations have an excellent delivery service.

Chuckies come in packs of three. You can find out more via its own website: www.frontlineinnovations.com You can phone for more information on 9555 5313

with Yvonne Lawrence yvonne.lawrence@bigpond.com

■ My husband has screened my office for spiders, but because of its location, any spider would find it very inviting.

Our studio is in the back garden. I have one half for my office and my husband has the other half for his activities. Strangely, the two of us work quite happily without a word being spoken.Fortunately we both like the same kind of music so whoever puts on the CD it’s okay. It’s a great arrangement, and idyllic for a working studio, but deadly when it comes to spiders that wander in from the garden that surrounds it.

I’m still off -olour and the bruise hasn’t gone, but at least I can laugh about it now. In fact, a money spider cruised down on his web from the rafter to see what I was writing and I actually redirected him to the other side of the desk.

It’s an ill wind that does nobody any good. I discovered a hospital-grade vomit bag called Chuckies that are ideal for homes, cars and families.

I’d never heard of Chuckies, but the doctor gave me one when I was at my worst. I wish I’d had one when my husband was driving me to the doctor.

Imagine having someone beside you with a bucket on his or her lap retching in the car as you are rushing through traffic.

■ Thank you to those who wrote to me to see how I My husband deserves a medal. was progressing and to tell me their experiences with spider bites. Wasn’t I fortunate that it wasn’t a whitetail spider that had a go at me?

I debated whether I would tell you about my experi■ These Chuckies are so inexpensive, a few pence ence because it was more than ‘being in the wars again’, really, and can also be used to collect urine, and in fact the size of the opening for your mouth would easily but as I talk to you as friends in my column, I wanted to warn you to take care when you are in your home or in hold a nappy until you got home.

When I phoned the company to find out where I the garden.

Make sure you rug up in this chilly weather and could buy them I discovered that it was an Australian paramedic who designed them because he found that a don’t forget to have your flu shot. It’s very important if kidney dish was not suitable when tending patients in you are a senior.

- Yvonne the back of an ambulance.

Because they can be used to collect urine I thought Contact: editor@melbourneobserver.com.au they would be ideal for males when the urge takes Melbourne Observer. them when they are away from home now that most of P.O. Box 1278, Research, 3095

Take care in your home

Wouldn’t be without one

Showbiz Extra

SYD, FRIENDS MAKE MUSIC ■ Violinist Syd Guthrie initially planned to record some solo numbers to send to a long-time school friend in Inverness, Scotland.

Then he and vocalist wife Norma met guitarist Detmer Droege, pianist Guenn Norman and sound engineers John McIntyre and Hein Arumisore at their local Probus Club.

The group got together to have fun sharing their talents and the result is a CD titled Syd and Friends Making Music, featuring popular standards and Stéphane Grappelli style music.

The CD was launched last week at a musical afternoon at Norma and Syd’s home.

Syd and Friends Making Music is available for $15. Call 9569 6165.

● Above left: Syd Guthrie (left), Norma Guthrie, Cheryl Threadgold and Kevin Trask at the CD launch of Syd and Friends Making Music. ● Top right: Syd Guthrie, Lindsay Norman, Guenn Norman, Detmer Droege, (front left) Norma Guthrie and Hein Arumisore . ● Bottom right: Syd Guthrie (left), Norma Guthrie (vocal), Guenn Norman (piano) and Detmer Droege (guitar)

What’s On Henry IV ■ The Australian Shakespeare Company presents Henry IV Part 1, a play full of ‘bloody noses and cracked crowns’ at the historic Athenaeum Theatre from May 16-26.

It is the second play in Shakespeare’s teratology, dealing with the successive reigns of Richard II, Henry IV (two plays), and Henry V. Henry IV, Part 1 depicts a span of history that begins with Hotspur's battle at Homildon against the Douglas late in 1402 and ends with the defeat of the rebels at Shrewsbury in 1403.

Henry IV Part 1 introduces some of Shakespeare’s finest characters – King Henry, Hotspur and the inimitable Sir John Falstaff.

Directed by Glenn Elston, this modern adaptation is set in a filmicstyle and uses live cameras, visuals and AV. Performers include Nick Backstrom, Pat Bath, Peter Barry, Syd Brisbane, Mike Cahil, Kevin Hopkins, Carla Kissane, David Lamb, Simon Mallory, Roscoe Mathers, Claire Nicholls, Tony Rive and Charlie Sturgen.

Where: Athenaeum Theatre, 188 Collins St, Melbourne.

When: May 16 – May 19 at 7pm, May 21-May 22 at 6.30pm, May 23 at 12.00pm matinee May 23-May 25 at 7pm. May 26 at 2pm and 8pm.

Book: Visit ticketek.com.au or phone 1300 795 012 or 9650 1500 www.shakespeare australia.com.au

● Ross Williams

Page 16 - Melbourne Observer - Wednesday, May 2, 2012

■ Peter Adams is probably best remembered for his role as Detective Jeff Johnson (known as ‘JJ’) in the popular Australian television series Cop Shop.

I never met Peter but I admired his work.

He did ring me in 1995 to ask if I would audition for a play he was directing at The Athenaeum Theatre in Lilydale - I couldn't do the play and had to decline, but I would have loved to have worked with such an experienced actor.

Peter John Adams was born in Karanarunui, New Zealand in 1938 and came to Australia in 1960 and spent three years ‘on the road’ with the NZ Players Touring Repertory Company.

His first television role in Australia was the lead role in a television movie titled Flowering Cherry.

He was a guest star in many television series such as Skippy, Riptide, The Great Barrier Reef, Homicide, Number 96, Division Four, A Country Practice, Neighbours and Prisoner.

Peter began work on Cop Shop in 1977 and became a very popular character in the television series. He won Logie awards for Best Lead Actor in a series in 1980 and a Silver Logie for Most Popular Actor in 1981.

But his first love was the stage. His stage credits included Lock Up Your Daughters, Sweet Charity and The Removalists.

In 1984 he played Oscar opposite American actor Tony Randall as Felix in a Sydney stage production of The Odd Couple.

www.MelbourneObserver.com.au

His last television role was in a tele-movie titled Gargantua.

Peter Adams passed away from cancer at the age of 61 in 1999.

Peter had been married twice and had two daughters.

His second wife was the actress Kirsty Child.

Chris Ryan from 3AW remembers the wonderful Sunday meals that Peter and Kirsty used to host at their home.

Peter's last stage directing project was the initial production of The Carer starring Bud Tingwell.

Joanna Lockwood, who played his wife in Cop Shop, said Peter was "a dream to work with" and that he had nurtured her own acting career.

Joanna had kept in close contact with Peter since Cop Shop's demise in the early 1980s, as had the whole cast.

- Kevin Trask

Whatever Happened To ...

Peter Adams

By Kevin Trask of 3AW and 96.5 Inner FM Tony Randall was Felix in the popular television series.

Peter was cast as Nathan Detroit in a memorable production of Guys and Dolls in 1985 which also featured Ricky May as Nicely-Nicely Johnson.

This was one of my favourite productions of Guys and Dolls and played to packed houses at Her Majesty's Theatre - it also starred Nancye Hayes, Anthony Warlow, John McTernan and Wayne Scott Kermond - just to mention a few.

I enjoyed his Sunday lunchtime radio program on 3AW where he interviewed some wonderful guests.

He also performed in radio plays for ABC radio.

● Peter Adams

The Time Tunnel - with Bruce & PhilSundays at 8.30pm on 3AW That's Entertainment - 96.5FM Sundays at 12 Noon 96.5FM is streaming on the internet. To listen, go to www.innerfm.org.au and follow the prompts.

SUGAR, WHAT WILL THEY THINK OF NEXT?

■ A few years ago when I resided in Alice Springs I encouraged my mate Keith McGowan to pay me a visit.

He'd never been in the Outback, or even off-road.

Now, down the track, he's got his own 4WD and spends half his life there!

He'd also visit me in Coober Pedy, and I'd suggest special spots for him to visit, especially Mintabie and Andamooka opal fields.

He hasn't yet, but interestingly they're both about to go through some dramatic changes.

The former may be about to host the first revolution in Australia since the Eureka Stockade! And for the same reason - bureaucracy.

The residents of Mintabie are about to be banned from drinking in their own homes!

How un-Australian is that - never in Australia's history!

And the local store will be banned from selling soft drinks and sugary food.

They will be permitted to drink only at the local pub, but if they want a Coke or a jar of peanut butter, it's a 66km round trip to Marla.

They've been caught up in the bureaucratic indigenous regulations of the APY Lands, on which the town stands.

I've known opal miners all my life, and many, especially some highly strung Eastern European chaps, have the temperament and volatility of Peter Lalor and his mates of yesteryear!

■ And then there's Andamooka, my first foray into the ‘Opal Outback', a quaint town whose people and opal I love.

It's also experiencing its own quiet revolution, in this case the possibility of more bureaucracy.

Nearby Olympic Dam is about to become the largest open cut mine in the world.

Now, another nearby town, Roxby Downs, with its typical mining-field booming house prices and rents, is home to most workers.

So Andamooka is about to explode with myriads more citizens.

Even though it experienced a miniboom a few years ago from a Roxby flow-on, it's still basically a sleepy little Outback opal mining town.

There are barely any rules and regulations - certainly not as far as dwelling construction and town plan-

The Outback Legend

with Nick Le Souef Lightning Ridge Opals 175 Flinders Lane, Melbourne Phone 9654 4444 www.opals.net.au ning go. Any old shed or humpy or underground dwelling is permissible.

But soon, with the inevitable influx, bureaucracy may need to rear its head. This will stick in the craw of the fiercely independent miners.

Throughout Australia there are Tidy Towns everywhere - if there was a prize for ‘The Town Which Most Resembled a Tip’, Andamooka would win hands down!

A cardinal rule on every opal field: never throw anything away!

Bureaucrats won't like that!

■ I read with interest the prayerroom plan! This reminded me of my brief brush with Islam in Alice Springs.

Some years previously I had become friendly with a cricketer, Javed Miandad.

So when the Pakistani team visited Alice to play an exhibition match against a Territory 11, I naturally contacted him.

We duly met at his hotel, and as I was the host, asked him what he'd like to do.

I didn't expect a pub crawl!

So Javed and Wasi and Eric, the

team's masseur, and I roamed the streets and hostelries of Alice, blearily ending up in the Casino.

They played the next day, so we met up again after the game.

I knocked on his door, and he was attiring himself for another night on the town. Suddenly he checked his watch, and quickly figured out where East was.

So out rolled the mat onto the floor, and he proceeded to prostrate and pray.

It was his everyday event, so he didn't care that I was there. However, I was agog at this turn of events, and didn't quite know where to look.

So while Javed performed his incantational duties, I settled down to the Golden Girls on the telly!

■ A couple of unwanted Alice issues: A teenage driver was last week pulled over in Hartley St. She was not only just 14 and obviously unlicensed, but was driving an uninsured and unregistered vehicle.

And her blood alcohol reading? .178! The mind boggles!

Then my old mate Samih, who runs a taxi service in town, has publicly emerged with a complaint about a phenomenon which has been worsening over the years - kids throwing rocks at passing cars.

Samih's taxis are continually being pelted, as are many other local cars, with resultant damage and personal injury.

So he is threatening to take his cabs off the road before midnight unless the council does ‘something’. It' hard to think of a solution.

Then a trio of teenage girls, two 13 and one 16, went on a rampage through the Mall, throwing bricks through windows.

They smashed into four shops and a parked car, stealing some money from tills, but it was mainly just wanton damage.

As one shopkeeper noted, my beloved picturesque Alice is "getting out of hand again".

■ Last year another mate of Keith McGowan's, John Howie, of the musical Howie Brothers, asked Keith and Angie along on a trip to the Outback.

John, apart from singing songs, also runs musical tours all over the world, it seems. This one is up through the Centre to Alice, then on the Ghan to the Top End.

● Coober Pedy diggings There are about 40 people all up; I suspect mostly Keith's ex-listeners.

Keith has also asked me to partici-

ate in proceedings, and show the travellers around Coober Pedy.

So another jaunt along the Western Highway, a day or so in Adelaide, then a right turn to the Stuart Highway.

As I've previously noted, when I reach Ballarat I'm in the country - Port Augusta, I'm in the bush!

I haven't been up for a while, but I look forward to the perpetually changing spectacle along the way.

With the recent rains I'm sure that the Centre will be aswarm with wildflowers - always a stirring and awesome sight.

Hopefully it'll still be warm enough to entice a few old reptilian friends out of their nooks and crannies also!

Whilst it will but a brief visit, I will enjoy seeing a few old mining mates, and the opportunity to introduce some Melburnians to the eccentricities of subterranean living!

- Nick Le Souef ‘The Outback Legend’

From The Outer

Melbourne

Observer

kojak@ mmnet.com.au

With John Pasquarelli

■ The police shootings in Kings Cross have the usual suspects foaming at the mouth yet again.

Police reacted to a potentially murderous situation that threatened pedestrians and there is plenty of footage on You-Tube provided by the new technology.

Police of course are under the spotlight with allegations that some of the offenders were Aborigines and that undue police violence was used.

Violence in our streets is now rampant but our Police over the years have been indoctrinated by their PC masters and we all pay the price.

So what if the offenders were Aboriginal - the ones I could see on the You-Tube images looked pretty pale to me - oops!

Punks are punks irrespective of their age and ethnicity and 'kids' can be brutal killers too but their names and images are protected by the do-gooders who currently engineer our society.

Every so often our MPs burble on about harsher penalties but the violence rumbles on.

Hoons have their cars impounded every so often but are soon back on the road treating us and the cops like dills.

Here in Castlemaine cyclists use the footpaths in the town despite complaints to Police. A few bikes and cars sent off to Sims Metal might stop the rot?

- John Pasquarelli: kojak@mmnet.com.au

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Melbourne Observer - Wednesday, May 2, 2012 - Page 17

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Observer Readers’ Club THe Way We Were

Melbourne Photo Flashback

IN PRINT: Read the Melbourne Observer every week.

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100 Years Ago - Werribee Shire Banner. Thursday, May 2, 1912

● The Colosseum. Chapel St, Prahran. 1910

Life’s Lessons

Reader Recipes

■ I have learnt that there is good and bad in all .

■ Spotted in Newport. “Practice makes perfect. But nobody is perfect ... so why practice?”

■ Choco. derogatory term for Army Reservists, aimed at meaning the soldier would melt in the field of battle.

Wise advice

Trivia Challenge ■ What did the WWI 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th Infantry Battalion share in common?

Your Stars with Christina La Cross Aries (Mar 21 - Apr 20) New faces link to intriguing offers. Don't be tempted to jump in with both feet. There will be far more to what is said than you first think. So make sure you get all the facts.

Taurus (Apr 21 - May 21) You have not been known for your patience, have you Taurus? The question you want answered can't yet be asked, but leave it to time and you'll soon see that what you want can be yours.

Gemini (May 22 - June 21) Stop putting on a front. Be yourself. It's the only way you'll get to see if any relationships really stand a chance of success. A face you know well proves why they're still in your life.

Cancer (June 22 - July 23) If you haven't done the work expected of you then ask for more time. Don't however pretend to have done what you haven't or you'll make them doubt what you've done before now too.

Leo (July 24 - Aug 23) The Moon places you in the spotlight and so you find yourself having to answer more questions than you would like and being offered more than you'd like to take on or talk about.

Virgo (Aug 24 - Sept 23) Your element of earth is making it hard for you to act impulsively. The pressure is on though, as a close one runs out of patience. Isn't this a sure sign that you both work in different ways?

Libra (Sept 24 - Oct 23) Projects you couldn't find the energy to complete last week should now be able to be tied up with ease. You're more focused and more aware. You also realise what you want from love, at last.

Scorpio (Oct 24 - Nov 22) You don't mean to tell tales but you can't seem to keep anyone's secrets in, even your own!Try to realise which secrets are not the sharing kind or it could come back on you.

Sagittarius (Nov 23 - Dec 21) Resist falling out with anyone today, as from the current line up you're unlikely to have all of the facts and you could end up feeling red faced and embarrassed when the real information comes to light.

Capricorn (Dec 22 - Jan 20) If your close one really wants a change of course you must talk about it. Should you give up on your dreams though? Of course not! Make sure what is being spoken about is all on equal ground.

Aquarius (Jan 21 - Feb 19) You didn't think you would be able to finish all of the tasks you had set yourself, but let me assure you that you can and will. Leaving time for romance, fun, mischief or all three Aquarius?

Pisces (Feb 20 - March 20) Commitments you make at this time prove to be the lasting kind. That is why it's so important that you don't listen to the idle gossip of jealous faces watching from the wings. It's your time. Enjoy it.

FAX: 1-800 231 312 E-MAIL: editor@ melbourneobserver.com.au

Bumper Sticker

Word Of The Week

Answer: soldiers all recruited from NSW

NO OLD MAIDS IN RUSSIA The idea is still allowed to prevail in Russia that single life is a disgrace to women, for there are no old maids except in the religious orders.

If the parents cannot arrange a marriage for the daughter she makes a journey, and is thus lost to the gossiping community.

Soon reports are circulated of her marriage to a foreign er.. Long absence brings forgetfulness, so that when the story is told of the death of the foreign husband in a strange land there are few who care to inquire further.

Indeed, it is a breach of etiquette to suggest doubts under such circumstances,and the woman finally returns as a broken, hearted widow. \ She has met,the conditlons of the country, and she is no longer a single person in society.

Thus the fiction of "no unmarried women" is preserved li the domain of the Tsar. .

BATH DONT'S Don't take a hot-water bath if nor, vous or neuralgic. Don't bathe your hands and face In nard water, If you can get soft. Don't take any kind of bath directly after a hearty meal. Don't attempt to remove dust from the face with cold water. Don't take a hot or warm bath in a cold room. Don't take a hot bath without a cold, water finish. Don't bathe the face while warm from exertion. Don't use cold water on the face while overheated. Don't use a sponge for the face at any time. Don't remain long in the bath, hot or cold. Don't-neglect the air and sun bath. Don't neglect a daily bath of some kind. Don't take a cold bath when fatigued. Don't believe that you can got rid it wrinkles by filling In the.crevices. with powder. Just before retiring bathe your face with very warm vater - so warm that you wonder how you can stand it-and then with cold vater-so cold or cool that it will be ll aglow from the reaction..

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● Chicken, potato and spinach soup Preparation Time 20 minutes Cooking Time 40 minutes Ingredients (serves 4) 2 tsp olive oil 1 brown onion, halved, finely chopped 3 garlic cloves, crushed 1L (4 cups) chicken stock 2 x 7cm pieces lemon rind, white pith removed Pinch of saffron threads 4 (about 600g) desiree potatoes, peeled, coarsely chopped 2 small (about 400g) single chicken breast fillets, excess fat trimmed, halved lengthways, thinly sliced crossways 1 bunch English spinach, ends trimmed, washed, coarsely chopped Crusty bread, to serve Method Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes or until soft. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, for 1 minute or until aromatic.

Add the stock, lemon rind and saffron and bring to the boil. Reduce heat to low. Add the potato and cook, covered, for 30 minutes or until just tender.

Add the chicken and spinach to the soup and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes or until the chicken is just cooked through. Taste and season with pepper.

Ladle the soup among serving bowls. Serve immediately with crusty bread, if desired.

Keep warm this winter with our selection of casseroles, slow cooker recipes, soup recipes and pasta bakes.

Funny Signs ■ Seen at a Keyan airport. ‘KAA Kenya Airports Authority. Moi International Airport.

Fiore Action. 1. Sound the fire alarm by breaking nearest break glass or shout ‘FIRE! FIRE! FIRE’

Odd Spot ■ A personnel officer mistakenly sent an email advising all 1200 staff they were sacked.

■ “It is understanding that gives us an ability to have peace, When we understand the other fellow’s viewpoint, and he understands ours, then we can sit down and work out our differences.”

- Harry S Truman

Have a laugh ■ The drill sergeant making his morning announcements to a group of newcomers in a training camp, states “Today, gentlemen, I have some good news and some bad news.

“First, the good news. Private Peters will be setting the pace on our training run.”

With this the platoon was overjoyed, as Private Peters was overweight and terribly slow.

But then the drill sergeant finished his statement. “Now for the bad news. Private Peters will be driving a truck.”

Birthdays/Celebrations ■ Wednesday, May 2. Brithday greetings to Observer reader Dawn Morton of Croydon.

■ Thursday, May 3. Happy birthday to Observer reader May Cunningham of Pascoe Vale.

John Ackland, formerly of Ivanhoe, celebrates today. Retired politician Tim Fischer is 66.

■ Friday, May 4. Birthday wishes for Mary Levick of Geringhap, and Alex Telman. Wonderful wishes for online reader Jenny Evans of Townsville. TV presenter Steve Liebmann is 68 today. Model Belinda Green is 60. Tv host Andrew Denton is 52; and Seven Network presenter Kylie Gillies is 43.

■ Saturday, May 5. Mark Davidson is 28 today. Football identity Robert ‘Dipper’ Dipierdmoenico is 54. Footballer Doug Hawkins is 52.

■ Sunday, May 6. Comedienne Gina Riley was born 51 years ago in Melbourne.

■ Monday, May 7. John Michael Swinbank celebrates today. The late Harry ‘Happy’ Hammond was born on this day in 1917; he died aged 80 in 1998.TV presenter Stephen Quartermain is 50. Footballer Dustin Fletcher is 37.

■ Tuesday, May 8. Emma Long is 3 today; mwah! Radio man Dave O’Neil was born in Richmond in 1965.

Cheerios ■ E-mail cheerio@melbourneobserver.com.au

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Melbourne Observer - Wednesday, May 2, 2012 - Page 19

Melbourne Homemaker

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Melbourne Homemaker

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Melbourne Observer - Wednesday, May 2, 2012 - Page 21

Melbourne Homemaker

Page 22 - Melbourne Observer - Wednesday, May 2, 2012 Melbourne

Observer Alarm Australia

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Advertising Feature

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Melbourne Observer - Wednesday, May 2, 2012 - Page 23

Melbourne Homemaker

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Melbourne Homemaker

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Melbourne Observer - Wednesday, May 2, 2012 - Page 25

Melbourne Homemaker

Page 44 - Melbourne Observer - Wednesday, May 2, 2012

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Travel Extra

Melbourne Observer - Wednesday, May 2, 2012 - Page 45

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Travel Extra

Page 46 - Melbourne Observer - Wednesday, May 2, 2012

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Melbourne Observer - Wednesday, May 2, 2012 - Page 47

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Travel Extra

SEAMARK ON FIRST

in the heart of the Sunshine Coast

Conveniently located in cosmopolitan Mooloolaba and close to the Sunshine Coast's award winning tourist attractions, Seamark on First is perfectly positioned to enjoy Mooloolaba's relaxed lifestyle. A perfect holiday destination, ideal for couples and families and of all ages to wind down or visit and experience the abundance of attractions available. Our beautiful beaches, fully patrolled daily, are just a short walk away. Enjoy a stroll along the white sandy shores; sip an Expresso at a beachfront cafes or indulge in one the tempting dining options along the Esplanade. Whether you want relaxation, adventure or excitement, Seamark on First is the perfect place for you.

Seamark On First 29 First Ave, Mooloolaba, Qld 4557 Phone: (07) 5457 8600. Fax: (07) 5457 8699 Contact: Greg and Viv McKay Web: www.seamarkresort.com.au E-Mail: info@seamarkresort.com.au

MAY SPECIALS * 2 bedroom apartments. $150 per night.

Normally $190. * 3 bedroom apartments. $200 per night.

Normallt $250. * 3 bedroom penthouse. $280 per night.

Normally $320.

Based on 5-night booking

Page 48 - Melbourne Observer - Wednesday, May 2, 2012

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Travel Extra

"HIGH SEASON SPECIALS" ( Available 25 June 2012 till 9 October 2012) 2 BEDROOM APARTMENT $220.00 PER NIGHT (7 NIGHT MINIMUM 4 GUESTS) 3 BEDROOM APARTMENT $260.00 PER NIGHT (7 NIGHT MINIMUM 6 GUESTS) 2 BEDROOM APARTMENT $230.00 PER NIGHT (5 NIGHT MINIMUM 4 GUESTS) 3 BEDROOM APARTMENT $280.00 PER NIGHT (5 NIGHT MINIMUM 6 GUESTS) SPACIOUS AND COMFORTABLE 1,2 7 3 BEDROOM APARTMENTS COUPLES, FAMILIES AND WEDDING GROUPS WELCOME FREE AUSTAR TV, HEATED POOL WITH BBQ AREA Your friendly hosts at nautilus holiday apartments, Mick & Sue Whalen will do everything possible to make your holiday in Tropical North Queensland one to remember.

Full tour desk in house Check out our reviews on Tripadvisor.com First 5 to book will receive a bottle of bubbly and free breakfast for all guests at Lure Restaurant on the Port Douglas Marina Mention this ad and you get an additional $5.00 per night off.

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Melbourne Observer - Wednesday, May 2, 2012 - Page 49

Travel Extra

Cook Islands Leading Boutique Hotel Little Polynesian Rarotonga Have you ever been to a place where you feel the wonderful magic of a deep connection and a greater sense of purpose as you make your very first entrance? If so, then you will certainly appreciate regaining that rare and fulfilling sensation as you enter our intimate lodgings . If you have never had this feeling before then paradise awaits to surround your senses and lift your spirit at the Little Polynesian Resort Rarotonga Cook Islands.

Romance: noun: 1. A Relationship Between Two Lovers Imagine if you can, this setting: waves breaking on the horizon, a beautiful beach, a clear evening sky, a bed facing the ocean, a tropical balmy breeze, a smooth beverage of choice, a South Pacific song playing softly in the distance, an intimate yet elegant lodging and paradise just oozing at every turn. You have entered a world of romantic bliss; you have entered the world of Little Polynesian Resort in Rarotonga, the Leading Boutique Hotel of the Cook Islands (World Travel Awards 2008, 2009 & 2010) World Famous In the Cook Islands

For more than 30 years the Little Polynesian has been catering to international guests seeking a richer experience of the true South Pacific. Situated directly on a white sandy beach of world class beauty and nestled within the foliage of palms and lush tropical greens, our intimate lodgings in Rarotonga, Cook Islands traditional architecture and grounds have been designed with one purpose: to integrate harmoniously with nature's beauty and charm. Our multifaceted staff will seek to provide you with whatever accompanying desires you may have, from great food to the various resort amenities or access to many of Rarotonga's surrounding activities.

Time to Begin Your Journey The magic of Little Polynesian and the Cook Islands await you. With only 10 overbeach Ares (bungalows) and four Pia Tiare (garden units), you can rest assured that you are among the most fortunate to enjoy a way of Polynesian life that few can claim to have experienced. Contact us today to reserve your opportunity to let our world enter into your world and make Little Polynesian Resort a permanent place in your heart.

The Little Polynesian Resort Rarotonga, Cook Islands

Phone Direct: 0011 682 24280 Fax: 0011 682 21585

www.littlepolynesian.com littlepoly@beach.co.ck

Page 50 - Melbourne Observer - Wednesday, May 2, 2012

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Places To Go