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22 May – 28 May 2012
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Medical graffiti
Legal graffiti: Mikey Newman is turning graffiti into an acceptable artform. Picture: Yanni
By Keith Platt WHILE residents, police and other lawmakers make plans to stamp out graffiti, a Tyabb doctor quietly used his own form of outdoor advertising to find a street artist. The Westernport Medical Centre needed a paint job so Dr Michael Glasby decided to find a painter who knew all about attracting attention. His graffiti-style sign scrawled on the centre was in no way artistic but caught the eye. The words made it obvious the paint job was intentional not vandalism: ‘graffiti artist(s) wanted’. The doctor’s attempt at graffiti was like a flag to Mikey Newman who has made a habit, and a living, from spraying walls with paint. Also known as Mikey XxI (for 21st century), Newman had recently moved to Langwarrin. He admits to “starting out on the wrong side of the law” and now uses his tagging style as a form of signwriting. The advertisement on the wall of the Mornington-Tyabb Rd centre had the desired outcome – Newman applied for the job. Preferring to “let the art speak for itself” he admits to being a “prominent street artist in Brisbane for more than 15 years, as well as being involved in the hip hop music scene”. Legitimate avenues he has found for his art include galleries and a Facebook page. The medical centre sign took three days, although a day was lost to rain. Newman, 36, says Dr Glasby left the lettering style up to him, but wanted the words to reflect sporting and outdoor activities. Quite a few conversations were struck up with passersby while Newman was at work, with some possibly leading to other legal graffiti jobs. This week he is finishing signs on a tattoo parlour at Mentone. To see more of his work, go to artofmikey.com or email 21brisbane@gmail.com
Monarch scrapped By Mike Hast THE ship that carried slab steel to BlueScope’s Western Port mill for almost 40 years is at anchor off India waiting to be scrapped. MV Iron Monarch made its final voyage to Hastings on 4 October after the company closed its Western Port hot strip mill on 19 October. It also closed one of two metal coating plants
on 22 October. The closures cost more than 270 jobs. BlueScope announced in January it would sell Iron Monarch and transport hot-rolled coil steel to Hastings by rail, rather than refit the ship. Iron Monarch left Port Kembla on 17 April, bound for Singapore. Yesterday (Monday), the 180-metre long, 10,584-tonne roll-on roll-off carrier was anchored in the Arabian Sea off Alang,
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whose beaches have become a major worldwide centre for ship breaking. Supertankers, ferries, container ships and other large vessels are beached during high tides, and hundreds of labourers dismantle each ship. It is an ignominious end for the revolutionary ship built by BHP at Whyalla, SA, in 1973. BHP became BlueScope in 2003. Iron Monarch was built to carry
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manufactured steel such as rolled steel, railway lines and structural steel loaded through a huge stern door. She was the first Australian ship to be propelled by a heavy-duty marine gas turbine engine and could do 23 knots. A sister ship, Iron Duke, was built in 1974, but scrapped 12 years later. Writing in the World Ship Society’s Victorian branch newsletter, Captain Mike Carolin said the Iron Monarch
being scrapped was “a classic corporate blunder” as BlueScope spent $17 million overhauling the vessel in Singapore in 2011. He said the company’s decision to bring coiled steel from Port Kembla to Western Port by rail “spelt the death knell for the Iron Monarch, which would have required further modifications”. Continued Page 4
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