Canberra CityNews January 31

HOW I BEAT DIABETES

The determined accountant who figured out a way

QUICKSTEP INTO LOVE

Dancing brings couple together

HOT WATERING

Ways to water the summer garden

FACE FACE

Kate Ceberano, the multicultural poster girl the

Beccy to protest parenting cash cuts

AS a single mother struggling to make ends meet for almost a decade, Beccy Walker, of Cook, is used to saying “no.”

“When my two boys have school excursions, or if they want to play a sport outside of school, I just can’t afford it,” she says.

“It’s humiliating telling a school your kids can’t go to an excursion because you don’t have the money.”

Now with Federal Government cuts to parenting payments, the 42-year-old believes single parents like her will be plunged even deeper into poverty.

Under the entitlement changes, most single parents have been shifted onto the Newstart unemployment allowance when their youngest child turns eight, receiving between $60 to $100 a week less.

“I worked it out and with the cuts, I will be living off $125 a fortnight for food, bills, petrol, school fees and incidentals –even a single person without kids can’t live off that,” says

Laura Edwards reports

Beccy, who has two sons aged 10 and 12.

On February 5 she will protest with hundreds of other single parents on the lawns at Parliament House, to push for the Government to reverse its decision.

Run by the single parents action group, rallies will be held in all major cities across the nation.

“Everyone hopes they can make a difference, because there is a lot of anger there, a lot of sadness,” Beccy says.

“I do find it rich that a Prime Minister, who has never had kids and couldn’t know the cost of kids, is making these changes.”

Beccy says she was originally employed as a cleaner when her children were younger but had to quit “when it became too expensive to put them in daycare”.

Now she is working casually in a school canteen, but isn’t sure if she has a job to go back to.

index / contacts

Since 1993: Volume 19, Number 3

Arts&Entertainment 16-17

Arboretum 18-19

Canberra Confidential 12

Cinema 17

Crossword 23

Garden 21

Horoscope 23

Letters 11

News 3-11

Open Garden 3-22

Socials 13-15

Sudoku 23

Cover: Singer Kate Ceberano.

Page 16.

“A lot of people say ‘well why can’t these single parents just find a proper job,” she says.

“I say, try finding 100,000 jobs for these single parents, in school hours, with a decent wage that you can live on.

“Employers aren’t the most family friendly, as soon as they find out you’re a single parent, they don’t want to know you, they’re not interested. It makes it hard because if your kids are sick, you’re the one that has to take time off work, you can’t share it with your partner... you need an employer who’s happy for you to have the time off.”

Beccy says people can often forget single-parent families are families, too.

“We didn’t choose to be single parents, sometimes families break down and it’s not our fault or the children’s, but we’re getting persecuted for that,” she says.

“I think the Government should be doing more to support single parents and getting their kids back on track. We’re turning into a have or have not society and it’s heartbreaking to constantly tell my kids they can’t do things other kids can.”

Phone 6262 9100 Fax 6262 9111 GPO Box 2448, Canberra City 2601

Chief executive officer: Greg Jones 0419 418196, greg@citynews.com.au

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Distribution: Richard Watson, circulation@citynews.com.au

Editor: Ian Meikle, editor@citynews.com.au

Journalists: Laura Edwards, laura@citynews.com.au Libby Hill, libby@citynews.com.au Kathryn Vukovljak, kathryn@citynews.com.au

Arts editor: Helen Musa, 0400 043764 helen@citynews.com.au

Design and photography: Silas Brown, 0412 718086

Graphic designer: Leonie Fox Accounts manager: Bethany Freeman-Chandler accounts@citynews.com.au

Responsibility for election comment is taken by Ian Meikle, Level 1, 143 London Circuit, Canberra.

Pets in crisis

A NEW study is calling for pet owners' views on how they prepare for and might respond in floods, bushfires, cyclones and other natural disasters. Dr Melanie Taylor and Dr Penny Burns from the University of Western Sydney's School of Medicine are leading the study which was prompted by anecdotal evidence of challenges pet owners and emergency service personnel face during disaster preparation, evacuations and recovery. Participate at surveymonkey.com/s/petsand-people-preparednessfor-disasters

Mustang show

THE Mustang Owners Club of Australia, Canberra District, will host the biennial Mustang Car Show on Sunday, February 24 on the West Lawns in front of Old Parliament House with the promise of a static display of 100 classic and modern Mustang motor vehicles and other American cars on show. More information at canberramustangshow. com.au/

How Gail beat diabetes New game shock: people have to talk!

Kingston accountant Gail Freeman tells KATHRYN VUKOVLJAK that she’s living proof that diabetes can be cured with diet and exercise – and more importantly, without medication.

AFTER a routine blood test in March last year, Kingston accountant Gail Freeman was told she was “full-on diabetic”, with a dangerously high bloodglucose level of 20.

“It came as a complete shock, because I had no symptoms and didn’t feel any different from how I’ve always felt,” says Gail.

“I was devastated. It’s a horrible disease and you just don’t want it.”

Gail was prescribed drugs to help, but after three days she felt terrible – spaced out, sleep deprived and shaking.

“By the fourth day I couldn’t take any more,” she says.

“The doctor told me to stop the medication and suggested a sulphur-based drug instead.

“I’m allergic to sulphur so I knew I wouldn’t be able to tolerate it, and I refused to take insulin because I was trying to lose weight.

“In the end the doctor was wringing his hands because he didn’t know what to do with me, and I knew I’d have to find a solution myself.”

Gail met with a diabetes educator and was given a high-carb diet to follow.

“I tried the diet, while regularly monitoring my blood sugar levels, and after a fortnight I could see it wasn’t working because my blood-sugar [level] went up,” says Gail.

After trawling the internet, she found that the name Dr Bernstein kept popping up.

She ordered his book “Dr Bernstein’s Diabetes Solution”,

and his low-carb diet became her guide to live by.

“It turns out I’m highly sensitive to carbs, which is why I have to be so strict and really watch what effect certain foods have on my blood-sugar,” says Gail.

“I found success by being strict at first, monitoring my levels consistently, and experimenting once I was in a safer place.

“I’ve found that for me, exercise is critical, so I do something every day, like Pilates, weights or cardio. I also see a naturopath and have acupuncture regularly.”

Gail says there are certain no-nos on the diet, such as tomatoes, onions and grains.

“It’s hard when you can’t eat

a lot of the food you like,” says Gail.

“But you find a way around it. Now I eat eggs for breakfast; meat, salad, nuts and olives for lunch and something similar, but with less carbs, for dinner.

“I love texture and I find it makes meals more satisfying, so nuts and crunchy veg are my lifesavers.

“I never get hungry but I do get bored – I need variety in my food, so I have to get creative and find ways to make it interesting.”

After just three months, Gail’s blood-sugar levels were down below six. Her endocrinologist was astounded: “She told me I was officially in remission,” says Gail.

Gail still checks her bloodsugar levels four times a day.

“If I didn’t check them so regularly I wouldn’t have found out that I can be a little more flexible at lunchtime, and that has been important for me to know,” she says.

“Everything in the diabetes field seems to be misleading.

“It’s taken me a lot of heartache, plenty of research and a few blind alleys to get where I am, but in the end it was a blessing in disguise that I couldn’t take the drugs. It forced me to work this out myself.

“I’m a very determined person and once I apply myself to something I will see it through.

“Providing I eat this way for the rest of my life, I’m cured.”

AS she sat in a restaurant surrounded by diners far more interested in their iphones than each other, Elizabeth Gray decided to find a way for people to talk again.

“I realised people don’t seem to have proper, in-person conversations anymore, which I think is really sad,” she says.

Last year the Tuggeranong-based, retired public servant developed a new board game, “Snooper”, which encourages players to communicate and “bridge the gap between what we know and don’t know about each other on a personal and fun level”.

“I wanted people, kids in particular, to have a game where they could actually interact, but still have fun,” Elizabeth says.

The rules of “Snooper” are simple and there’s no winner – each player simply chooses a card with a question to answer.

The questions range from light hearted – favourite colours, music, food – to the serious, such as organ donation, bullying or relationships.

“While most questions are fun, there are questions there that parents just can’t normally ask their kids,” Elizabeth says.

“There are questions specifically for younger or older kids, as well as for adults. With organ donation in particular, it’s an important question to ask someone, but people are far too busy to bring it up sometimes.

“I think the idea was to get kids to know more about parents – to make them aware that their parents had the same issues they do – but

Laura Edwards reports

it’s also a way for parents to know about their children without seeming like they’re prying.”

As well as questions, cards can include affirmations or activities – “one might say do a dance and get others to join in,” says Elizabeth.

So far, the game has received a “great response”.

“I hope more people will benefit from it, because it is sad a lot of games are now just played online, where there’s not an interactive experience,” Elizabeth says.

“We always played board games when I was growing up, and with my children.

“When you play a board game it’s fun, it’s laughter, you take the mickey out of each other. When people play these games electronically, there is no interaction with people. There’s not the same fun and laughter, and I hope to bring that back.”

“Snooper Game”, $45, available from snoopergame. com.au.

Dancing duo’s quickstep into love

IT’S a love story, like something out of a movie. Teenage boy takes up dance classes as a “great way to meet chicks”, gets partnered with a beautiful young girl and the pair fall in love.

Vaughan and Alison Liddicoat are well on the way to their happily ever after having recently turned professional ballroom dancers as well as getting married.

The owners of The International Dance Studio Canberra (formerly Penny de Kauwe School of Dance), recently spent two years living, training and competing in London.

During that time they got engaged and took part in the reality TV show “Dancing with the Stars”.

“We were fortunate, because of the grade we’re at, to be able to work with the top coaches over there. They took us under their wing and taught us how to do things because it’s a pretty cruel world of dancing out there,” Vaughan says.

They returned to Canberra to take over the dance school, get married and are now “waltzing through life together”, according to Vaughan.

“We have been through much together, but recently turned professional and are now in the top 120 in the world,” says Vaughan.

Libby Hill reports

The pair were put together to dance by their teacher Penny de Kauwe who founded her School of Dance and ran it for 32 years.

“She trained in England and ran the dancing world in Australia at one point, so Canberra has been pretty lucky,” Alison says.

The couple feels like 11 years of dancing together has prepared them well for married life.

“If you can dance together competitively, I think you can probably achieve anything,” Alison says.

“We had a great relationship and a bond that was built through dancing,” Vaughan agrees.

The pair were selected as one of two couples to represent Australia in the World Professional 10 Dance Championships in Canada in October.

“It’s very prestigious for this to happen,” says Vaughan.

They continue to travel overseas regularly for competitions, while running the dance school.

They will also host a Centenary of Canberra event at Albert Hall on Saturday, March 9, which will be a night dedicated to the Roaring Twenties for dancers and non-dancers.

More information at www.theroaring20.com

Doctor who thrives on the edge

HE’S a Cambridge-educated doctor who could probably take his pick of top medical jobs anywhere in the world, but Dr Tuck Meng Soo chooses to spend his days working with Canberra’s disadvantaged minorities.

“Medicine is a helping profession and I think doctors who are working just for the financial rewards eventually find it a bit unfulfilling,” he says.

His special interest in helping people on the “edges of society” sees him treat Canberra’s refugees, gay, lesbian and transgender people, those with drug and alcohol dependency and HIV and AIDS sufferers.

Born in Malaysia, his parents encouraged him to apply for a scholarship to Oakham public school in England and after that he attended Cambridge University.

“In Malaysia, a lot of Chinese parents send their children abroad to study... (but) I certainly wasn’t expecting to go to Cambridge initially,” he says.

He studied medicine at Cambridge and then at Kings’ College Hospital, London.

He migrated to Australia in 1989 with his parents and brother who settled in Sydney. Due to being

Libby Hill reports

internationally trained, Dr Soo wasn’t able to practice in NSW, but was welcomed to the ACT, where he started working at the hospital. In 1996, he started as a GP at Civic’s Interchange General Practice where he worked with its founder, the late Dr Peter Rowland, a pioneer in the treatment of AIDS and his career was undoubtedly shaped by his mentorship.

“As an outwardly gay man in the 1980s, he felt that there was still a lot of gay people who didn’t feel comfortable about disclosing their sexuality to their GP, so he started a clinic where gay and lesbian people could attend and know that they could get non-discriminatory medical care,” Dr Soo says.

“I think he then thought there were other disadvantaged minorities that also have problems getting medical care, so we started seeing all the odds and sods in Canberra.”

By the time Dr Soo joined the clinic, its doctors were treating sex workers for regular check-ups (“in the days when you actually needed a certificate from a doctor to say that you were clean and could be a sexworker”), gays, lesbians, transgenders, people with drug and alcohol

problems and refugees.

Dr Soo became a partner in the practice six months after joining and in 2002 became its principal. He says the years of working at the practice have helped shape his empathy for the underdog.

Dr Soo and some of the team from the Interchange General Practice have just opened the Airport General Practice at Majura Park. Dr Soo will work at the new practice initially to make sure it is running smoothly, but will continue to see his patients at the Interchange General Practice.

Top books borrowed

THE most popular books borrowed from ACT public libraries in 2012 are: 1. “Speechless: a year in my father’s business”, by James Button; 2. “The Secret Keeper”, Kate Morton; 3. “15 Minute Meals”, Jamie Oliver; 4. “The Fifty Shades Trilogy”, E L James; 5. “Worse Things Happen at Sea: Tales of Life, Love, Family and the Everyday Beauty in Between”, William McInnes and Sarah Watt, and 6. “Gone Girl”, Gillian Flynn.

The most requested DVDs were: “The Hunger Games”; “Midnight in Paris”; “Red Dog”; “Downton Abbey: Series One”, and The Adjustment Bureau.

Dance night away

“DANCE Party”, where guests are asked to dress in white, is the theme of this year’s Canberra Star Ball at the Hotel Realm, Barton, on Friday, March 15. All funds go to the Starlight Children’s Foundation and the Captain Starlight program at the Canberra Hospital. Tables are available for $1900 for 10 guests or $190 for individual tickets. Bookings to loren.sahely@starlight.org.au or (03) 9468 2038.

Walk the talk

THOUSANDS of Canberrans are expected to join in the Gift of Life’s annual DonateLife Walk around Lake Burley Griffin, from 7am, on Wednesday, February 27. The walk supports awareness of organ and tissue donation and is a key community event in Canberra during national DonateLife Week, which runs from February 24 to March 3. Register at giftoflife.asn.au

Qwire comes out for an anniversary bow

Canberra’s gay and lesbian singing group Qwire celebrate its 20th anniversary this year, reports LIBBY HILL

WHEN Stein Alia first joined gay and lesbian singing group Qwire it was a group of 10 people who met in a lounge room and sang songs.

Now it’s a dynamic group of more than 80 people who are planning a jam-packed year of performances to celebrate the group’s 20th birthday.

Stein, who is the Qwire convenor, says the biggest change over the past two decades has been in attitudes.

She recalls a photo that was taken at a Qwire performance on World AIDS Day where many people were wearing sunglasses because they didn’t want to be recognised.

“The members have a lot more confidence about being out in public now. People were a lot more nervous about being in a gay and lesbian choir in public. It was a bit scary for them, I think,” she says.

Stein says the Canberra community is very positive about Qwire, which is invited to perform at a range of events from school fetes and the National Folk Festival, to “prestigious” functions at Parliament House and the National Gallery.

Last year, one of the big gigs was opening the MusicACT Music Awards (MAMAs) and this year they will perform at the centenary celebrations on Canberra Day on the symphony stage outside Old Parliament House.

Under the direction of Ken Teoh, Qwire is a non-auditioned choir that rehearses for a couple of hours each week.

Qwire convenor Stein Alia... “We’re a very social group... We’re all about singing the music we love and enjoying ourselves on stage. We want the audience to enjoy themselves as much as we do.”

They sing everything from classical to pop tunes and in the past year, have belted out hits from Meatloaf, Kylie Minogue and Lady Gaga.

Stein says members range in age from early 20s to early 70s.

“We’re a very social group... We’re all about singing the music we love and enjoying ourselves on stage. We want the audience to enjoy themselves as much as we do,” she says.

Italian

festival pass winners

Seeing joy in others is Tony’s reward

TONY Jurd says he often sits down and wonders whether he “dips a finger into too many pies.”

The father of three and a former president of the Rotary Club of Canberra South has never quite managed to retire and, at 67, shows no signs of slowing down.

After selling the cable and satellite installation business he owned for the last 20 years, self-confessed “tech-head” Tony now spends his time helping people from all kinds of backgrounds.

For the last 12 years, he has been volunteering at the Goulburn Correctional Centre and the Alexander Maconochie Centre, working in spiritual ministry to support prisoners and give them “the awareness that they have other choices in life”.

While he originally had some reservations about working in prisons, Tony says “there’s never been a moment that’s scary”.

“The whole process in society is interesting... what gets people off the rails,” he says.

“Some prisoners appear to be bad eggs and some have made the wrong choice or had a lousy upbringing, the stories go on and on. I can understand why the judge says what he does though.”

Tony also volunteers once a week at the Technical Aid to the Disabled ACT, creating or modifying equipment for people with a disability or for the elderly, and at Questacon, helping with any technical requests in the science area.

And for the last 10 years, he has been spending about two to four months annually volunteering at the Don Bosco Technical Boarding School in East Timor, teaching his skills to students to help give them strong foundations for work in the mechanical, electrical and electronics fields.

Thanks largely to the efforts of Tony, the school – which is located in Fatumaca about three hours east of Dili – has now become the first in the country to operate its own FM radio station.

“I’ve seen normally shy kids get a microphone in their hand in the radio room and become different people,” Tony says.

“I’m just amazed at these kids’ resilience... I’d look at them and see so many smiles on their faces.”

Tony first visited East Timor with his wife Rose, in 1974, as part of an 18-month overseas trip.

Back at their Canberra home in Holder, the couple became active in the local Timorese independence movement and returned to Timor in 2001, after the Indonesians had left.

“We stayed with a family in the mountains in a town called Same and I started teaching some of the young people how to install satellite antennas for TV,” Tony says.

“I was inspired by the triumph of human spirit that I saw and drawn to these people who have overcome adversity.”

On the basis of his work in Timor Leste, the Rotary Club of Canberra South named Tony a Paul Harris Fellow in August 2003 and in November the club awarded him the John Scott Memorial Community Service Award, the first time to a club member.

Ever modest, Tony says it’s simply the joy in helping others that keeps him coming back.

“I get involved in these things because I find inspiration from people who face a far different reality from what I do,” he says.

“I guess I just believe it’s our call to make life better for others, and you don’t have to be long faced and miserable to do it.”

Centenary dismay; old events in new costumes

IF the organisers hoped the Centenary celebrations would create the impression of Canberra as the Capital of Progress, Innovation, Culture and the Arts, I think they will be disappointed.

How on earth can this impression be created when many programmed events are old events dressed in new costumes? In the same way as many programs on our new TV channels are repeats of programs as old as Canberra’s main demographic, the Centenary is taking the old saying “everything old is new again” to new heights.

Although I might be growing long in the tooth, I have fond memories of birthday parties made exciting and entertaining spontaneously. As I grew older and my tastes changed so did parties. But one thing didn’t change: my hope that the

Rethink nature strip rules

I LIVE within walking distance of the businesses and government departments in the Woden town centre. The street in which I live is lined every day with cars belonging to people who work in Woden and want to park for free. This has two effects:

• The street is becoming more dangerous for residents, particularly the children, because it is very hard to distinguish a moving car from all the stationary ones on such a narrow street.

• People visiting the residents, and even the residents themselves, are forced to park on the nature strip, with the possibility of being fined for doing so; this situation is exacerbated by the number of battle-axe blocks with no street frontage at all. Neighbours have brought this to the attention of the ACT Government, which appears to have done nothing.

It seems to me that this situation would be reasonably easy to fix: limit the number of hours on weekdays that a car can park in the street, and enforce it. And allow people to park on the nature strip if they have a properly constructed, paved or gravelled parking area.

Ann Parkinson, Curtin

parties would still be exciting and entertaining.

To digress, having worked for decades in the local tourism industry, which is hoping the Centenary will fill beds and rattle tills, I trawled the Centenary website hoping to see messages that substantiate the industry’s hopes. I was looking for messages designed to stir the latent jingoism in Australians that would encourage them to cancel an already planned overseas visit for a trip to Canberra.

Sad to say, the messages on the website did little to suggest they would encourage such a thought. Bear in mind that prospective tourists, Australian and overseas, will look at the same site. One hopes they don’t reach the same conclusion as me.

In terms of infrastructure and physicality,

Canberra is a young city yet the website seems designed to appeal more to an ageing demographic. And so I ask: where are the ideas from young people that some of an older demographic will think zany? They may be there, but if they are they are not obvious, so why expect young people to visit?

This is not to say the photographs on the website are not useful, but I have to say that during my 16-25 years age span, it was not that I didn’t enjoy some moments of cultural appreciation but, in the main, my mind was focused elsewhere. I suspect that in this regard things are still the same.

Don Allan dca@netspeed.com.au, blog: Allan Takes Aim, web: donallan.wordpress.com

Save our urban forest

CONGRATULATIONS to “CityNews” and Cedric Bryant (The men who turned Canberra green”, CN, January 24) for again raising the matter of saving the oldest trees in the Canberra urban forest, planted during the time from Weston to Pryor.

Visitors to Canberra talk about the variety of trees as being one of their fondest memories. If this is one of the attractions we must proactively look after the “tree asset”. There are too many well-established trees around Canberra that are showing dead or twiggy wood as well as thin, poor-coloured foliage.

Unfortunately, trees do not live forever and decline during old age. Our political leaders are not sufficiently funding the TAMS Urban Forest Renewal Program. Anecdotally, the funding is not keeping up with maintenance requirements, so the trees will never be adequately renewed.

What better memorial to Weston, Bruce, Hobday, Pryor and the many others since them who have been involved in tree planting in Canberra than to ensure these trees are properly looked after for another 100 years.

Paul Scholtens, via email

The joys of being nice to magpies

READING Rebecca Farrell’s letter “Be nice to magpies” (CN, January 17), my wife and I sympathise with her. Living next to the Holt Primary School (now closed), one had to be very careful in dealing with wildlife. The trick is to feed them early in the morning when they will eat anything you give them, all kinds of veggies and meat. We have been feeding them for many, many

years and grandpa and grandma magpie still come around with their offspring. They don’t swoop and we can touch them. Last year’s junior was an outcast, but now he’s looking after this year’s young. My wife and I call him the babysitter who seems to be very happy with his job.

Carlos Smitz, Holt

Say ‘yes’ to faith

WITH the start of the school year, parents have more long-lasting decisions to make beyond the choice of new shoes – decisions that will provide a well-rounded, holistic education and preparation for life.

One option parents in ACT Government schools have is to choose Christian education for their children. Not only will this provide them with an understanding of the Christian faith but they will have an opportunity to “walk in another’s shoes” by learning stories of people of faith throughout history.

This education is mostly provided once a term for an hour, making it easy for parents to say “yes”. Giving permission is simple, by completing the online form at ceis.org.au/yes, which is then forwarded to the school and followed up by the Christian Education in Schools (CEIS) team.

The new website ceis.org.au gives parents all the details of Christian education allowed in ACT Government schools and a list of participating schools.

Dr Kevin Bray, chair, Christian Education in Schools Reference Group

Waste of time and money

I HAVE always considered the Australian Senate an absolute waste of time and money and my thoughts have been strengthened by Treasurer Wayne Swan’s refusal to act on the direction of the Senate into the fire-sale Cubby Farm gift to China. Surely it can’t be just me that thinks this Government is ruling with an iron fist and no concern for the future of our kids and their kids.

Michael Attwell, Dunlop

Canberra Confidential

John jumps a gong

NEWLY-gonged property

developer and Canberra arts czar John Hindmarsh got the biggest laugh of the morning by prefacing his speech to the large gathering at the ACT Order of Australia Association’s Oz Day breakfast at the Yarralumla Yacht Club that “The Canberra Times” had afforded him the fastest promotion through the ranks, having carelessly labelled him in the Big Moment clipping as John Hindmarsh AO, instead of the lesser, but equally lovely post-nominal, AM.

Brush with fame

ONE excited Canberra Raiders fan tweeted this happy snap with the Red Hot Chilli Peppers’ Flea , during the Peppers’ tour of Australia. “Hung out with Flea from Red Hot Chili Peppers t’day gave him a Canberra Raiders jersey he loved it,” the tweetee brags. Whether he’s on board with the Green Machine or not, perennially bare-chested Flea looks happy enough to have been given a shirt, at the very least.

On yer bike

KINGSTON business gets a note in the letterbox to pick up a registered envelope. Call to Australia Post to ask why the postie didn’t just deliver it, the doors were open. Oh, no, ma’am, says the clerk on the line, postmen are not permitted to get off their bikes. That’s right. Which leads CC to wonder the point of registered envelope deliveries that can be delivered only if the recipient happens to be standing beside the letterbox when the bike-bound myrmidon passes by.

The reel war?

CAN you hear the sound of clanking European film festivals? Ticket-clippers Dendy, at Canberra Centre, and newcomer Palace Electric, NewActon, appear to be going head to head with colliding festivals – Dendy’s Windows on Europe, February 7-13 and Palace’s Italian Film Festival, February 5-12.

Flavours to suit

Turning Japanese

WITH Palace Cinema’s opening bringing increased attention to the Nishi Building in NewActon, CC wondered what’s with the Japanese name? Well, the word nishi has two meanings: for the public, it means the direction west (city west, get it?) and tenants might prefer the Buddhist term, that refers to life after death – paradise.

Orange peel ends

CAPITOL Chilled Foods managing director Garry Sykes may be in the market for some more coloured suits following his company’s trumpeted return to local flavoured-milk production with new flavours including Milk Choc and Choc-Malt Honey. Sykes rather famously had three suits tailored in Asia in white, pink and lime to match the company’s flavour range. Brown and honey?

Spelling that makes you go hmmm

1. INVITATION to join the Egyptian ambassador for his National Day knees-up lists the embassy’s address as 1 Darwin Avenue, “Yarralumia”

2. PRESS release from TAMS Minister Shane Rattenbury lists the British TV hit series “Downton Abbey” as the more municipally-centric “Downtown Abbey” as being among the top DVDs borrowed from

the ACT library system last year.

3. In a Canberra Centenary hand-out photo caption from the presentation of Centenary medallions to centenarians at Regatta Point, Chief Minister Katy Gallagher was described as “Katie”

4. Continuing our collection of collective nouns: a trip of goats, a glint of goldfish and a bloat of hippopotamuses.

KAMBAH’S Incredible Orange Peeling Bridge, as if by magic, is being repainted. CC tragics will recall that last week we exposed the wanting paint job in the suburb’s new (pre-October election) golden gateway that dramatically spans busy Drakeford Drive. Now there’s a cherry picker on the job and the central, previously blistering and peeling giant pier has been rubbed back to its grey undercoat clearly with the promise of post-election permanent new coat of paint.

Then. Now.

Compliments of the season... a Christmas flag on Northbourne Avenue.

Merry Christmas anyone?

WORLDS are colliding... while CC bemoans the unforgivable early retail presence of Easter eggs and hot-cross buns, Christmas is still in the air around Civic. How so? While the city’s power poles are mostly festooned with woo-hoo Centenary banners, there is still a veritable multitude of flapping flags around London Circuit, Vernon Circle, Braddon, up Northbourne Avenue, down Constitution Avenue and through City West heralding the long-since thrill of “Christmas in the City”.

At

Australia Celebrates Live concert, lawns of Parliament House

At the ACT Order of Australia Association’s Australia Day breakfast, Southern Cross Yacht Club, Yarralumla

THE FACE AND THE FRINGE OF THIS MONTH’S NATIONAL MULTICULTURAL FESTIVAL

Kate likes to be the face

In this week’s cover story, LAURA EDWARDS speaks to the face of this year’s National Multicultural festival, Kate Ceberano...

“SOMETIMES people cock their heads and look at me like a labrador as if to say, ‘what are you?’” laughs Kate Ceberano.

“I’m a marriage of so many ethnicities, I kind of feel like I’m the face of modern Australia.”

Speaking from her hotel room in Florida, Ceberano is contemplating her exotic looks while in the midst of finishing off her latest album and, she says excitedly, her autobiography.

It seems like an appropriate time to reflect on her life – after all, the pop, jazz and soul diva has been in the industry for almost 30 years now.

Since she first arrived on the music scene in the early 1980s, the Melbourne singer-songwriter has 18 albums under her belt, including the gold and platinum releases “Brave”, “Pash” and “Blue Box”, and has won a Logie, four ARIA and three MO awards.

Ceberano will lend her voice to Canberra’s National Multicultural Festival, which she is the “face” of this year.

“I’m very proud to be the face of the festival, and do a few gigs while I’m there...I’ve heard about the wonderful potpourri of colour, the vibrancy,” she says.

“My father is Filipino, he was raised in Hawaii, and my mother’s side is Swedish and English... and I’ve never felt any less Australian for it. In fact, I feel like the big poster child for the Multicultural Festival!”

Ceberano laments she hasn’t been to Canberra “in ages... it’s disgraceful” – but she’s excited to be catching up on long lost time. Canberra’s thriving art scene, she says, is one to be reckoned with.

“You guys get the very best of the art exhibitions that

come from overseas, and I’m a big fan, I love going to the gallery,” she says.

Never afraid to dip her finger in too many pies, Ceberano admits she has trouble keeping out of the spotlight – “I do tend to get nervous when I stop working,” she laughs.

In recent years she has become the ambassador for underwear maker Berlei, hosted weight-loss show

“Excess Baggage” for Channel 9, appeared on “Dancing with the Stars” and starred in the Australian production of the musical “South Pacific” as Bloody Mary; a role that earned her a Best Supporting Actress nomination at the Sydney Theatre Awards.

Ceberano says setting new goals and trying different things are all part of her secret to career longevity.

“You’ve got to apply yourself...in the arts, you’ve got the idea you can wing it, but it’s got rules like any other business, you’ve got to show up, you’ve got to work, you can’t just be really charismatic and hope it’ll get you there, it’s an industry at the end of the day – one I love,” she says.

So is there room for a second autobiography in another 30 years?

“I think I’ll just keep going and going,” Ceberano says, with a husky laugh.

“I’ll be 80 years old with a walking stick, dancing on stage saying ‘what do you want me to sing? Let’s do this!’”

Ceberano will perform at the opening night of the festival on February 8.

Heights and hopes in arts summit

By Helen Musa

IF you’ve ever tried to tell somebody from Sydney or Melbourne that Canberra is Australia’s arts capital, you’ll know what snorts of derision that inspires.

But to Canberra academic and arts advocate, Dr Jolanta Gallagher, it’s no laughing matter and she intends to put her viewpoint into practice with the national “Arts Quest – Heights and Hopes Summit”, coming up as a Centenary highlight on February 12 at the ANU.

A kind of artistic version of Kevin Rudd’s 2020 Summit, it too aims to help shape a long-term strategy for the nation’s future

and could, in Gallagher’s view, prove to be “a life-changing call” to young, emerging and senior artists, with the potential “to generate a massive change regarding generational dynamics in our communities, locally and nationally”.

With broadcaster Christopher Lawrence chairing and facilitating a Q&A panel made up of luminaries from the arts sector, the idea is to see an interface between the young artists to whom Gallagher, an expert on child development through music, has devoted her life, and established artists.

“Living and Learning Creatively –

Shaping Our Future Together,” is the theme for the one-day event, to be live-streamed via the web and debating the significance of the creative, visual, and performing arts in the context of enhanced living and learning. The event will also open up mentorship opportunities for young artists through “mentorship slips” to be distributed and then collected during the summit.

The results will be made known from a recent National Arts Survey distributed to 3400 arts organisations across the country and is a collaboration between the Australian Talented Youth Project, ANU

Time for ‘culture mashing’

Helen Musa reports

WHAT exactly is a multicultural fringe?

That’s the question that’s been puzzling director P J Williams who, with actor Nick Byrne, has been chosen to produce the controversially resurgent Fringe.

ACT Arts Minister Joy Burch’s election promise of $20,000 towards a resuscitated one-day Fringe Festival, she says, has created “a tremendous buzz” and they have to live up to that.

So what kind of “fringe” arts might reflect Australia’s multiculturalism in a “one-day affair” on the “fringe” of City Walk between Akuna and Allara Streets?

It certainly doesn’t have anything to do with the high-profile, out-of-towners such as Kate Ceberano, Christine Anu and Jay Laga’aia, who’ve been hauled in as the faces of the main festival.

It could have some synergy with the “Windows On Europe” film festival coming to Dendy, February 7-13, or the fabulous Victorian indigenous singer-songwriter Benny Walker, performing at the main Festival on February 8 and 9.

Williams knows that the focus often falls upon more recent immigrant communities, which gets the “Mc”s and “O”s of Canberra complaining that they’re left out.

“It’s not just about ethnicity, but it’s also about culture and cultural diversity,” he explains.

So by day, he and Byrne will have “Parkour” practitioners running, leaping and jumping around. As well, “gene pools” – wading pools with lifeguards in attendance – will transform City Walk into an oasis decorated with fake trees. The same setting will be transformed again at night by The Bean Collective’s giant projections.

There’ll be three stages – the PASH, (Performing Arts Services Hub), the Sour Cherry and the Dance Circle where, after a slap up participatory “Multi-Haka” led by the ACT Maori Performing Arts Inc, we’ll get to see hip-hop dancers Kulture Break, a German-Maltese country singer and local performance poets, including current Australian slam champion C J Bowerbird, Will Small, Omar Musa and Tasnim Hossain.

Williams outlines their thinking: “We wanted to look at second and third-generation children of migrant people that have ‘culture mash’ stories to tell,” he says. “Reciting poetry with an African thumb piano and didgeridoo – that’s a culture mash.”

and many Canberra arts organisations and cultural institutions.

You’ll hear the ideas of Robyn Archer, Peter Garrett, Hugh Mackay, Richard Gill and Les Murray, but it won’t be just talk, with artists such as dancer Liz Lea and sax player John Mackey performing throughout the day.

“Arts Quest – Heights and Hopes”, ANU School of Music, 9am to 3pm, February 12. Register (fees apply) at nationalartssummit2013.eventbrite.com.au

You can still contribute to the survey at surveymonkey.com/s/National_Arts_Survey

The finale act, Orbis Tertius, is the perfect example. A four-piece band that catapulted to fame last year when it won the top prizes at the International Space Time Concerto Competition, is made up of electric bass, violin, microtonal guitar, Turkish Saz and Japanese Taisho Koto. They’re always true to their ethnic musical antecedents, spokesman Warwick Lynch says, but are underscored by a powerful western rock beat.

Electronic musician Shoeb Ahmed, whose Bengali Electronik uses cutting-edge techniques to replicate Indian instruments, will augment his set with two classical Indian dancers and multi-media photo-loops.

“We don’t want to be too narrow in culture,” Williams says. You can say that again.

National Multicultural Festival, Civic, February 8-10. Multicultural Fringe, until midnight, February 9, City Walk South.

arts & entertainment

No secret to full ‘River’

IT’S the first big hit of the Centenary of Canberra and, sorry, it’s already packed out.

Andrew Bovell’s adaptation of Kate Grenville’s prizewinning novel, “The Secret River”, is coming to The Playhouse from February 14 to 17.

Staged by Neil Armfield for the Sydney Theatre Company, it’s been billed as the biggest Australian stage blockbuster since “Cloudstreet”.

Harrowing testament to compassion and courage

“The Impossible” (M)

SPANISH film-maker Juan Antonio Bayona’s film of Maria Belon’s book telling how her family endured on Boxing Day, 2004, is a testament to human compassion and courage.

Ewan McGregor plays Henry married to Maria (Naomi Watts). They have three sons, Simon, 5, Thomas, 7, and Lucas, 11. For my money, the three boys are the film’s principal characters even ahead of Oscar nominee Watts who anchors the plot as a mother whose injuries and determination offer great strength.

We first see Lucas as a domineering, selfish eldest brother. It strikes me that those qualities have been written into the screenplay to heighten their transient nature. Because when Maria is fighting for her life in an overcrowded hospital where teams of Thai nurses and doctors are struggling to impose order on chaos that would have been unimaginable had it not been so real on the day, it is Lucas whose energy and selfless determination becomes the film’s main element. Tom Holland’s performance in the role is already gaining peer recognition in several award nominations.

Dougal Macdonald cinema

“Django Unchained” (MA)

I’D hazard a guess that writer/director/bit player Quentin Tarantino and his actors and crew enjoyed making this vivid actioner that manages to be both alarmingly grim and cleverly comical.

It looks like a Western, but its main dramatic thread winds through the slave States in the South where in 1858, the Civil War and the Emancipation Proclamation are historical events waiting to happen. That choice of period allows Tarentino to wallow in a tub of 21st-century political incorrectness while delivering a plot that white America may wish to forget but, I suspect, black America wants never to be forgotten.

Jamie Foxx plays slave Django who can identify three criminal brothers being pursued by bounty hunter Schultz (Christoph Waltz). Before the plot gets around to putting Schultz in the same area as those miscreants, Tarantino does a neat, if somewhat disjointed, job of bonding Schultz with Django whom he trains to be an efficient gunslinger.

Munchers get first bite of ‘West Side Story’

FREE-Rain Theatre Company’s production of “West Side Story” will preview at Wesley Music Centre’s first 2013 “Lunchtime Live” concert on February 6 from 12.40pm to 1.20pm. It costs just a gold coin to get in, so you’d better be on time for this Bernstein favourite, which runs at The Q, Queanbeyan, February 8-24, bookings to 6285 6290.

ACE sax player, Niels Rosendahl, has written from the University of North Texas, where he’s doing his masters. Last semester he won a hotly-contested “chair” in the Two O’Clock Lab Band, named after the hour of rehearsals. He’s also been performing with the Basically Basie Big Band. “Such a passionate collection of highly talented and accomplished jazz musicians,” he enthuses.

ANOTHER enthusiast, vocal teacher and director Dianna Nixon, of Wild Voices Company, has won a Churchill trip to study “the developing voice”. She’ll

Helen Musa

arts editor

–Helen Musa

With Bangarra Dance theatre’s Stephen Page assisting Armfield and “The Sapphires” siren Ursula Yovich on stage, it follows the story of convict William Thornhill and his encounter with a family of Dharug people on the Hawkesbury River. A tragedy of culture and land – what could be more Australian?

be off later in the year to the Edinburgh Festival, to a voice conference in Prague, then back to London and Glasgow to visit theatre companies.

THE first exhibition at ANCA Gallery for 2013 is “The Angel of History”, a survey of installations made in the Canberra region over the past 20 years by sculptor and ANCA resident, Clare Martin, who plans to turn the gallery at Rosevear Place, Dickson, into “a labyrinth of ideas” from February 6 to 17.

IRISH artist, Aine Crowley, will teach art-making to 20 migrant women and local Canberra women at Belconnen Arts Centre. A mobile “pop-up” created during the project, “Intercultural Hand – Arts & Heart”, will be presented by participants at “You Are Here”, The Front Café and Gallery and the National Folk Festival. Inquiries to nicola.lambert@ belconnenartscentre.com.au

ANOTHER Irish phenomenon, Celtic Thunder, is returning to Canberra, backed by the exciting Celtic Thunder Band, dramatic choreography and dramatic lighting. Their YouTube channel “Thunder Tube” has received more than 28 million views since its inception, so expect a crowd. Royal Theatre, February 5, bookings to www.ticketek.com.au or 132 849.

THE Austrian Australian Choir in Canberra is presenting concerts in Italy, Switzerland and Austria in September and has room for additional musicians, especially strings. Highlights will include performing in St Peters and St Ignacio in Rome and the Wedding Church from “The Sound of Music” in Salzburg. Inquiries to 6251 1616 (evenings) or esjames58@yahoo.com.au

The film inevitably makes powerful emotional demands on its audience. Its supporting cast of Thai villagers toiling to deliver help is memorable, especially the dignified old man who sets the injured Maria on her journey to recovery.

At all cinemas

“Guilt Trip” (M)

IN Anne Fletcher’s road-trip/family movie, Barbra Streisand plays obsessive widowed mother Joyce whose chemist son Andy (Seth Rogen) loves her but has tried to live beyond her influence.

Andy has developed a miracle cleaner made from food ingredients and is about to cross America pitching it to supermarket chains. In a heart-to-heart over the dinner table, Joyce tells him she named him after Andrew whom she didn’t marry. Andy locates Andrew in San Francisco and invites Joyce to accompany him on the drive without telling her his real reason.

“Guilt Trip” spends more energy dealing with Joyce’s volubility than observing America east to west. Andy and Joyce are two-dimensional characters. Neither Streisand nor Rogen needs to sweat in their delivery.

Writer Dan Fogelman fuels their journey with a collection of gags, cliches and predictabilities that depend heavily on Joyce’s inability to respond to Andy’s needs, wishes and concerns. The film uses that parental defect (some might call it a quality) as the story’s main structural member. And it gets to be a bit tedious.

At Hoyts and Limelight

The main action evolves on the plantation owned by Candie (Leonardo di Caprio), a truly evil 19th-century manifestation of the worst brutality of the Roman emperors. Candie exercises total powers over his slaves, including Broomhilda (Kerry Washington), Django’s Germanspeaking wife. Aha, so that’s what the film is about, true love requited after a bloodbath and big explosion! It’s fun. My wife, a delicate soul who prefers to avoid screen violence, laughed a lot. And with good reason. Tarantino may have scattered linguistic and historical anachronisms through his film, but they don’t diminish its entertainment value.

At all cinemas

The Arboretum story starts to

Gardens writer KATHRYN VUKOVLJAK and photographer SILAS BROWN revisit the national Arboretum on the eve of its opening

AFTER more than nine years of planning, planting, tending and navigating trial and error, the National Arboretum will open on February 2.

The National Bonsai and Penjing Collection of Australia has moved into its new home on the 250-hectare Arboretum site from its temporary location in Commonwealth Park, the Village Centre, shop and cafe are up and running, and the temporarily-named Reflection Pavillion is taking bookings for weddings.

“It’s amazing to be open now, but we’re still only at the very beginning of the story for the Arboretum,” says curator Adam Burgess.

“It’s almost surreal that we’re going to be having people coming through the site, after all this time working on the project.”

The Arboretum includes a Himalayan cedar forest and an 80-year-old cork oak plantation, both of which survived the 2001 and 2003 bushfires, but the more recently planted forests are thriving too, says Adam.

“The first forest we planted in 2005, the eucalyptus benthamii, is already looking ‘foresty’ and it’s amazing to see how far it’s come in such a short time,” he says.

“It goes to show that not all the forests will take 50 or 100 years to grow. If you stand in the middle of the eucalyptus benthamii forest now, all you’ll see and hear are the trees. It gives you a good idea of how things will look in a few more years.

“Some of the trees are suffering in the heat at the moment – we’ve had drought, rain, heavy frosts, and now a heatwave, and these

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trees are babies. They’ve been through a lot but they’re doing well, and they’ll improve as the forests mature.

“Some are thinning out, but I see it as a sign they have the energy to push the leaves off, to conserve water and energy. It’s a good sign.”

The opening of the Arboretum is only the beginning of the story, says Adam.

“The children’s playspace won’t be open for another few weeks, but it’ll be pretty cool,” he says. “It’s all about touch and feel and learn – and it’s close to the cafe for the parents!

“The Waterwise garden will show people how to choose the right plants for their garden and how to irrigate.

“We’ve also got what we call the AIM, or Arboretum in Miniature. We have almost every species of tree as a pot plant, with a view to potentially making each one a bonsai.

“After the opening festival, the plan is to focus more on the scientific, educational side of the site, the sustainability and horticultural aspects. We want to get school groups up here, get the community to enjoy these amazing views, the trees, the sculptural architecture and the forests.

“That’s what the Arboretum is there for; and we’re ready. People don’t realise how much is here when they drive past, and then when they come through the gates, it’s just incredible.”

For more information at nationalarboretum.act.gov.au

grow

What’s to see?

The Canberra Discovery Garden IN February 2012, ACTEW launched a new waterwise community education garden that explores Canberra’s climate, soils and geology, and will teach visitors how to achieve a beautiful, sustainable and water efficient garden in any season.

Southern Tablelands

Ecosystems Park

THE Southern Tablelands

Ecosystems Park was formed in 2002 with the aim of establishing a demonstration native garden, conservation and educational resource in the heart of Canberra.

STEP is now established at the National Arboretum Canberra (forest 20). STEP is planning a microcosm of the vegetation typical of the Southern Tablelands region of NSW and ACT, which complements the Arboretum’s mosaic of forest trees that are rare, endangered, or have ethno-botanical or symbolic values.

Visit step.asn.au

Bonsai Pavilion

THE National Bonsai and Penjing Collection of Australia is a collection of some of the finest bonsai and penjing in Australia on permanent display. The Japanese art of bonsai has spread all around the world and is now a familiar site in many countries as well as Australia. The influence of the lesser known Chinese art of penjing is also on show in many of the trees on display at the collection.

The use of Australian native plants as bonsai is a unique asset of this national collection. Nowhere else could you see so many iconic Australian plants in their multitude of forms together with all the more familiar bonsai and penjing subjects.

Playspace

The Arboretum Playspace will be Canberra’s premier play experience providing a connection between children and the forest that is iconic and immersive. Discovery trails, cubby houses, interactive displays and safe and fun toddler experiences will immerse children in this wonderland, while providing an underpinning message of the global conservation principles of the Arboretum.

Forests and views

OVER the 250-hectare Arboretum site, about 40,000 trees can be explored with more than 90 forests already planted. The Arboretum also incorporates the existing stand of 5000 Himalayan Cedars and the 80-year-old cork oak plantation. There are 100 forest species planned and all have been chosen from a strict selection criteria

based on conservation, symbolic or ethno-botanic values, with more than 103 countries represented. Additionally, some forests have been chosen for their seasonal colour and beauty and to provide a habitat for native animals and birds.

The central valley ceremonial gardens and series of terraces will form an important arrival experience leading to the Village Centre where, through the expansive glass, magnificent views of Canberra can be seen. Additionally, views from the lookout at Dairy Farmers Hill provide unrivalled vistas. A picnic and BBQ area in the Himalayan Cedars forest gives visitors another wonderful location to explore and enjoy the forests.

Sculptures

“NEST III” was created by Richard Moffatt in 2007. The artwork is made from welded steel found objects, mostly abandoned farm machinery. The sculpture is mounted on boulders representing the type of rocky outcrop where an eagle would make a nest. The boulders were sourced from the Arboretum where the sculpture is located on Dairy Farmers Hill.

THE “Wide Brown Land” sculpture was created by Tasmanian-based artist team Marcus Tatton, Futago and Chris Viney (2010). The three words used in the artwork come from the second verse of Dorothea Mackellar’s poem “My Country” written about Australia when she was just 19 years old. Inspired by Mackellar’s own handwriting, it is made from corten steel and steel rod and is three metres high and 35 metres long.

garden

The cool way to water

Extreme heat is probably testing gardeners more than gardens, says CEDRIC BRYANT

THE biggest temptation in extreme heat is to over-water plants.

Often they can show signs of stress in the heat of the day and out comes the hose. This is the worst thing you can do with watering at any time between 9am and 6pm.

The best time to water is in the cool of the evening and water the plants, not the soil where there are no plants.

The best method is still drip irrigation of which I am still only watering once a week in our garden using this method. Admittedly, I am leaving the drippers on for slightly longer, usually for one and a half hours instead of one hour.

If you can, turn the drippers on for about ¾ hour to one hour in the morning and repeat the process for a similar time in the evening. This is known as “pulse irrigation” and allows the water to penetrate to the root zone without run-off.

There is absolutely no need to water every day and, indeed, this can actually cause the death of plants. Naturally, plants in containers will need more frequent watering. Under the current water restrictions it is not permissible to use sprinkler systems between 9am and 6pm.

THERE is a wide variety of plants that revel in the heat, with Amaryllis belladonna immediately coming to mind. The foliage is untroubled by animals so the plant is often used to line driveways on country properties.

Its bold, bright, large, pink flowers gave it the common name of “Naked Ladies” and, while often referred to as lilies (due to the flower shape), it is in reality only a distant relative.

THEN there is the much maligned Agapanthus, commonly called “Lily of The Nile”. And yet, like Belladonna, is not a lily at all and is related to Amaryllis and native to South Africa, not Egypt.

The problem is that its seeds are spread very easily and it is suggested they have spread into native bushland, although I have never seen it in plague proportions. However, it is not usually a

problem in urban areas with the plant bringing a bold splash of cool blues and whites on hot days. If the seed heads are cut off immediately after flowering any seeding problem is overcome.

For more suggestions on plants that like the heat, refer to www.cedricbryant.com and scroll down to Cedfacts Garden Information Sheet on “Perennials for Year Round Colour”.

EVERY now and again a book is published that neatly fills the bill for specific information. Yates have done it again with their “Month by Month Gardening” by Judy Horton (HarperCollins softcover, 256pp colour, $29.99).

Horton is the long-time principal horticultural advisor to Yates. Many would have attended her talks at Floriade. This is really fantastic value for money and most gardeners do need constant reminders what to do when in the garden.

Each month is divided into sections of what veggies and flowers to plant, and specific

sections, such as in January, with hints on water usage.

Planting guides are sub-divided into tropical/ sub-tropical, temperate and cold climatic zones. Fertilising, pests and diseases are all covered, naturally using the extensive range of Yates products. This is a great companion book to “Yates Garden Guide”. Judy will be the guest speaker at the Horticultural Society’s March meeting, with details closer to the date.

Arboretum opens

THE National Arboretum opens to the public on Saturday, February 2, which also signals the re-opening of the new home of the National Bonsai and Penjing Collection. The ActewWater Discovery Garden will be open and I will be giving talks and demonstrations during the morning.

There will be no general car parking on site on this day with shuttle buses operating from town centres and some nearby parking areas. However from Sunday, February 3, the Arboretum will be open seven days a week with private car access to be able to explore the site initially from 10am to 4pm.

open garden

Cool, green and shady

OPEN GARDEN

Words: Kathryn Vukovljak

Photos: Silas Brown

It’s a brave soul who opens a garden in February, but Monica and Allan Schmidt’s elegant, established garden is a shady haven that seems to stay cool and green whatever the temperature.

“It’s lovely, driving home from work and seeing the temperature gauge drop when you get on the property,” says Monica.

Woowoolahra will be open as part of Open Gardens Australia, on the weekend of February 9-10. Monica and Allan have lived there for seven years, having chosen the property for the open space that would allow Allan to do agility training for the couple’s four border collies.

“It wasn’t about the garden initially, and we even got a friend who’s a keen gardener to come and have a look at the place for us. We wanted to know, can we do this? They thought we could – and I think we’ve done pretty well!”

A stunning 3.6-hectare property, Woowoolahra has a hectare of beautiful, mature garden rooms divided by rock walls, while a magical cypress woodland leads on to dams peppered with pretty waterlilies.

“My favourite spot is by the dam near the house, looking at the waterlilies,” says Monica. “I love the water, I find it really calming.”

Monica and Allan do 100 per cent of the gardening themselves, and say they thoroughly enjoy it. There’s no veggie patch as yet – “something to aspire to!”, but there’s a section of espaliered fruit trees enclosing a berry garden, says Monica.

“We’re lucky enough to have inherited 23 years of someone else’s hard work, but it has been a steep learning curve and certainly keeps us busy,” she says.

“We have created new areas, removed some trees and established new garden beds.

“We weren’t exactly keen gardeners when we moved here, but we’ve loved every minute of learning. And, scarily, I now know the botanical names of most of the plants!”

Allan and Monica Schmidt’s garden at 5 London Bridge Road, Burra, will be open between 10am and 4.30pm on the weekend of February 9-10. Entry is $6, children under 18 are free. Funds raised will go to Open Gardens Australia, ACT Eden Monaro Cancer Support Group and Burra Community Association.

Also on throughout the open garden weekend will be:

• A café serving lunch, morning and afternoon teas, and cold drinks

• Dog agility demonstrations at 11am each day

• Vintage and antique jewellery will be on display and for sale

• Paintings by local botanical artist Sharon Field will be on display and for sale

Joanne Madeline Moore

your week in the stars / February 4 - 10

ARIES (Mar 21 – Apr 20)

Rams don’t do things by halves! This week you may go overboard on a project or relationship. You’re feeling impatient but remember words can wound, so think twice before you blurt out something that you later regret. Sunday’s New Moon highlights group activities, but can you put your own needs aside and contribute as a valued member of the team?

TAURUS (Apr 21 – May 20)

There’s no denying you’re conscientious and capable – but are you confident enough for big time success? With the New Moon in your professional zone, don’t sell yourself short. Venus boosts your creativity and confidence, while Mercury and Mars help you network and multi-task like a pro. It’s time to be an adaptable Bull. If you resist making changes, you’ll be left behind.

GEMINI (May 21 – June 21)

This week’s stars favour dreaming impossible dreams, taking calculated risks, and learning from the inevitable mistakes that happen along the way. Be inspired by birthday great Jack Lemmon: “Failure won’t hurt you but fear of failure will cripple you.” Sunday’s New Moon stimulates your Gemini gypsy gene, so plan a heavenly holiday for some time soon.

CANCER (June 22 – July 22)

Are you being a cranky Crab? Close relationships are put under the microscope this week (and you’ll feel stressed), but avoid lashing out and saying things in the heat of the moment (especially with women). Sunday’s New Moon signals a fresh start in the areas of sex or money, as you review a joint financial agreement or embark on a passionate new relationship.

LEO (July 23 – Aug 22)

Close relationships could be tricky this week – especially if you say what’s on your mind, and then step back and watch the sparks fly. It’s time for clever Cats to consult, cooperate and compromise. With the New Moon in your relationship zone, the challenge is to share the spotlight with someone else – whether it’s a lover, family member, friend or business partner.

VIRGO (Aug 23 – Sept 22)

It’s a big week for Virgos, as Mercury moves into Pisces and makes many aspects. Creativity and motivation are high – but so is the tendency to criticise others, so try to hold your tongue. With the New Moon activating your health zone, it’s the perfect time to start a new diet and exercise program. Singles – if you’re looking for a partner, you’ll have to be proactive.

LIBRA (Sept 23 – Oct 23)

Venus is visiting your domestic zone (until February 26,) so you’re in the mood to cook, entertain, decorate, renovate or garden, as you make your home a heavenly haven and cocoon of calm, away from the hustle and bustle of the busy world outside. Thursday is your pick of the week, so spend time with a special loved one as you reminisce about the good old days.

SCORPIO (Oct 24 – Nov 21)

It’s time for stressed Scorpios to take a chill pill, as you obsess less and relax more. And have you been having hassles with a frazzled family member? Use your imagination (and plenty of tact) to come up with creative solutions to stubborn old problems. Try to do so before Sunday, when the New Moon lights up your domestic zone and home sweet home is the place to be.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov 22 – Dec 21)

Self-reliant Sagittarians pride themselves on their independence and ability to go it alone. But this week’s New Moon urges you to find fresh ways to connect with those around you - whether at home, at work or in your local community. And with Venus also in your communication zone, it’s the ideal time to enjoy studying, reading, writing and researching.

CAPRICORN (Dec 22 – Jan 19)

On Thursday you’re incredibly focused – but are you concentrating on the right things? Sunday’s New Moon encourages you to take stock of your financial situation and initiate some smart new strategies. Cash-strapped Capricorns – in the current economic climate, there’s no room for being careless with cash. The more thrifty you are, the better your financial future will be.

AQUARIUS (Jan 20 – Feb 18)

This week you’re innovative and interesting – but also restless and rebellious, as you reboot an area of your life that hasn’t been working. Be inspired by Bob Marley (born on February 6): “Just can’t live that negative way … make way for the positive day.” Plus make the most of Venus being in your sign (until February 26) as you flirt up a storm and call in some old favours.

PISCES (Feb 19 – Mar 20)

Fish are such sentimental folk but don’t waste time brooding on the past. This week’s positive stars help heal your hurt feelings so you can be a proactive Piscean and move on. Your imagination and intuition are magnified by Sunday’s New Moon. Aim to channel your energy into creative and spiritual pursuits, otherwise you’ll just feel fragile and confused.

General knowledge crossword No. 393

Across

1 Name the first Australian yacht to challenge for the America’s Cup in 1962

8 The mammoth is the extinct species of which current mammal?

9 What is a small seal, as in a finger ring?

10 Who is the Baroness of Kesteven, Lady Margaret ...?

11 To do something as a favour is to do what?

12 Who, in 1883 discovered silver at Broken Hill, Charles ...?

13 Which orchestral type of jazz music was popular in the 1930s?

16 What are rabbit-like animals?

19 What is the character which an actor presents in a play?

21 Name the subordinate evil spirits at enmity with God

22 Which plant of the mustard family resembles the cauliflower?

23 Name the trunks of human bodies

24 What do we call one who keeps watch during an illegal two-up game?

25 When one changes a clock, one does what to it?

Down

2 Which term describes the spectrum?

3 What is a strained relationship between individuals, groups, etc?

4 What is a communication in writing?

5 Name a commemorative inscription on a tomb

6 What is another term for a teller?

7 Which items of equipment reproduce sound in a three dimensional auditory perspective?

13 What is a sudden check in progress?

14 What is an itemised list of goods purchased, which is sent to a buyer?

15 Which type of nose extends in an unbroken line from the forehead?

17 Name those parts of speech used to modify other parts of speech

18 Name an earlier Liberal Party President and entrepreneur, John ...

20 Who is responsible for the publication of a newspaper, etc?

Solutions