Canberra CityNews April 18

Revealed: the radio kings we hardly know

SCOTT Masters and Nigel Johnson, aka Scotty and Nige, say they were “relieved” when they heard they’d taken the prized ratings crown for Canberra’s breakfast radio spot.

“We’re just happy that we didn’t bomb,” says Nige.

“CityNews” met the pair in their Gungahlin studio at 104.7, fresh from their ratings win over ABC rival Ross Solly.

“It is an unpredictable thing, when the future of your job is in the hands of people you’ve never met, but right now it’s the best feeling,” says Nige.

It’s fair to say it’s been a cracking year for the duo so far, not just for their win over Solly. In March, they were voted the third “most liked” thing about Canberra in the “Like Canberra” centenary campaign – no mean feat, when competing with Floriade and Canberra’s scenery.

“I can’t believe the views of the mountains beat us,” jokes Scotty. “But to be the only people in the top 100 was crazy.”

While Newcastle-born Scotty says he was “destined for radio”, starting his career fresh out of year 12 in 1991 as a late-night disc jockey with a Newcastle classic hits station, Canberraborn Nige’s career was a case of being “in the right place at the right time.”

“I was one of those teenagers who

They’re the familiar radio voices thousands of Canberrans love listening to each morning, but how much do we really know about the town’s top-rating breakfast hosts, Scotty and Nige? LAURA EDWARDS asks the questions

always called up the radio station and won competitions,” he says.

“One day, I won some money at 104.7 and they asked me to come in and say over the radio that I’d won. So they put me in the voiceover booth and I blurted it out in one go, nailed it. I got dragged down to the program director’s office and landed a job.”

Both Scotty and Nige started at 104.7 in 1998, separately working as afternoon announcers. They started their breakfast show full time in May, 2007, and say the secret to their success is to be “natural”.

“Audiences are so much more switched on and media-savvy these days, they can smell when a joke is set up,” says Nige.

“We don’t usually tell each other what we’re going to be talking about in advance, he doesn’t hear the jokes before, so that when the listeners are hearing it for the first time, so are we, and the reaction is genuine.”

“We don’t take ourselves all that seriously,” adds Scotty.

“We’ll sometimes make fun of people but not in a nasty, personal

index / contacts

Arts&Entertainment 19-22

Canberra Confidential 14

Cinema 20

Dining 22

Garden 27

Letters 10

News 3-12

Politics 12

Puzzles 26

Socials 18

way. Usually we just make fun of each other, because who wants to be serious on their way to work?”

The boys say they prefer to get their material from their own life experiences, but they admit they like to remain a bit elusive to their listeners.

“We reveal what we want to reveal, at the end of the day we are caricatures of ourselves on the show,” says Scotty.

“Sometimes something will happen at home, but you know you probably shouldn’t use it for the show.”

What they can reveal, is that Scotty juggles his 3am wake up call for the 6am show with his two children, aged 16 and seven.

He plays for a rock band and never needs a drop of caffeine to start his day. The heavily tattooed Newcastle Knights fan just celebrated his 40th birthday with a big party and says mate Nige, two years his junior, was there with a beer in hand.

“We are mates; besides my kids, I spend the most time with Nige,” he says.

Nige, a coffee junkie who has just moved into his new house in Forde,

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

says he’s “given up on dating”, which leaves plenty of spare time for his favourite hobby, playing a “vast amount” of computer games.

“People think we have this glamorous life, but I’m just a guy who lives with his cat,” he says.

The boys say most of their listeners are supportive when they come up to say hi – usually thanking them “for the laugh” on the way to work – but their naysayers aren’t shy about ex-

pressing their opinions, either.

“One man came up to me and goes: ‘Hey mate, how are you?’ And as he shakes my hand he says: ‘I f***ing hate your show’, and walks away,” laughs Scotty.

It doesn’t look like the boys are going anywhere soon, though: “We’ll keep doing this till the ratings plummet,” says Nige.

Scotty and Nige, 104.7, weekdays 6am-9am.

Barking up the wrong tree

I AM not a tree person. I am unimpressed by their personalities, their unadventurous, stay-athome attitudes.

And I especially don’t like listening to people who wax lyrical about the relative merits of different species.

Trees just are. They breathe C02 and provide a home for birds. But they can also be very dangerous in high winds and bushfires.

All of which goes some way to explaining why it’s taken me so long to visit Canberra’s Arboretum in the making, an experience that I remedied last weekend only because we had visitors.

It was a revelation.

While only in its early stages of development, the Arboretum is on the way to becoming a world-class attraction to the capital. The concept is superb, the setting breath-taking, the architecture brilliant and the potential unlimited. Indeed, as we looked out across the vista from the balcony of the visitors’ centre, my visitor (an unabashed tree person) said: “One day it will be a bigger attraction than the War Memorial.”

It was a big call and while I wish it were true I’m afraid that’s never going to happen. And if you doubt it, then just think about the manner in which we celebrate Anzac Day.

For the truth is that April 25 has easily supplanted the official Australia Day of January 26 as our national holiday. And its sacred nature is far more potent even than Easter, the official Christian festival of remembrance.

It is the War Memorial, not Sydney Cove or the nation’s churches that represents Australia’s de facto cathedral of

Robert Macklin comments

nationhood. And that, I fear, is becoming so implanted in the national psyche that it will never change.

This is sad. It’s also dangerous because it ties our sense of self to a symbol of horror. For while it’s true that one of the wars it commemorates – World War II – was a genuine struggle for survival against the dark angels of human nature, the other conflicts do not deserve our grace. The Boer War was a British colonial adventure and we tagged along. World War I was a European obscenity, a crime against humanity that robbed us of a generation and created the conditions that led to the second. Korea was stupid and unnecessary.

Vietnam turned America feral and we tagged along. Iraq was a damned disgrace from beginning to end. And Afghanistan should only ever have been a police action to catch the criminal fanatic Osama bin Laden and his mad mullah mates who perpetrated the attack on the Twin Towers.

Yet we bundle them all together in the tattered flag of patriotism and howl down those who turn away as traitors to the cause of nationhood. And worse, it infects our political discourse. It creates a mindset that makes enemies of foreigners who want to join our number as political refugees. It gives political oxygen to our own dark angels, the Scott Morrisons who whisper their poison in receptive ears.

I, for one, would much rather hear the rustle of leaves from the bright young saplings of our Arboretum.

www.robertmacklin.com

Fashion aid

MISS World Australia Competition aspirant Brook Leslight is hosting a charity fashion extravaganza at the Hotel Realm, 3pm, on Saturday, April 27 in support of the living and educational needs of the Lilla community in the NT. Tickets at $30 are available from mwacanberraevent.eventbrite. com.au

Instant prizes

THE Marketplace Gungahlin has instant prizes up for grabs from 9am on Saturday, April 20, during the shopping centre’s VIP day. There also will be an hourly draw for a $300 Woolworths gift card plus free entertainment including a baby animal farm, walkthrough butterfly house, face painting and balloon modelling. More information at themarketplacegungahlin.com.au

Help for Zambia

A “SONGS from the Heart” concert is being held at the Salvation Army, Antekell Street, Tuggeranong, 2.30pm, on Sunday, April 21, to raise funds to enable Canberran Peter Trick to assist orphans, buy chickens and source hospital equipment and materials for the Chikankata Mission Hospital in Zambia. The concert will feature a former “CityNews” artist of the year, cellist David Pereira, the Canberra Trombone Choir, The Salvation Army band and choirs. There will be a silent auction and afternoon tea. Entry is by gold coin donation.

Planting for fund

JINDII EcoSpa and Woden SEE-Change are again holding a tree planting (Sunday, April 21, 1.30-4.30pm, RSVP via peoplepowerjindii2013.eventbrite.com. au) to raise funds for the Jindii Sustainability Fund. From last year’s fundraising activities and Jindii’s additional commitment, new energy-efficient blinds were bought, which resulted in a 10-degree better performance on hot days for the EcoSpa.

Fun as the Captains come out to play

I REMEMBER the first time I met a Captain Starlight.

An extremely tall man in blackrimmed glasses dressed in purple and silver with some sort of sticky-out headband came to my son’s hospital bedside with balloons, bubbles, and a hilarious story about how he’d forgotten his dad’s birthday (you had to be there).

He made my son laugh and, after weeks of seeing my four-year-old confused and scared, enduring horrible treatments and missing home, there was nothing sweeter.

These magical people can be found in every major paediatric hospital across Australia and what they do is every bit as important as the medical side of things.

Starlight Day on May 3 will mark 25 years of the Starlight Foundation, and “CityNews” met up with Captain Excitable and Captain Neon from the Canberra Hospital to see what they get up to.

Permanently in character as trained superheroes from Planet Starlight with an invisible rocket parked on the roof, the Captains say they’re the antidote to all things hospital for sick kids.

Starlight has a strict policy that the Captains aren’t able to share their real names with media, so as to preserve their “mythical identities” for the chil-

Kathryn Vukovljak reports

dren who look up to them – something

Captain Neon obviously takes very seriously.

“I got my name when I was swimming in a lake through a rainbow, and the neon colours seeped into me, and now I glow in the dark,” she says earnestly.

“I’m a very dramatic person. When I sometimes go undercover as a human, I love to act in plays and perform, and that’s part of what I bring to my role as a Captain.

“I’m also a balloon artist, and I once made a tap-dancing spider. I try to make any balloon-related request and as a result I’m used to lots of pops.”

She says that as a Captain, you’re an entertainer and everyman.

“We just let the kids know we’re the escape from it all and they can come into the playroom on the ward and just forget about everything for a while.”

she says.

“I love seeing the difference it makes; seeing a child smile and not be afraid.”

Captain Neon says she loves getting to know the kids.

“We go to day clinic, too, and it’s great to see kids that you’ve met on the ward and see them feeling better,” she says.

Captain Excitable agrees. “I love see -

ing a child go from being upset and not wanting to talk or be touched to smiling and laughing – it’s hugely rewarding,” she says. “Especially when they don’t want to leave!”

There are four permanent Captains at Canberra Hospital, each with their own special skill set – usually actors, artists, musicians or entertainers.

“We have a meeting in the morning, where we find out who’s on the ward today and who we can and can’t visit,”

says Captain Excitable.

“Then we pop into each room and figure out what they’re into – magic, face painting, balloons, juggling. We do a ward round with little things like bubbles and stickers.

“I don’t know what it is about bubbles, but they seem to solve 99 per cent of all problems!”

More information about Starlight Day at starlight.org.au/WhatsOn/ Pages/StarlightDay2013.aspx

Big farewell to ‘tireless’ Chris Peters

CANBERRA Citizen of the Year and chief executive of the ACT Chamber of Commerce, Chris Peters, was farewelled by hundreds at a public memorial service at Albert Hall. Mr Peters, who was 63, died in February after battling pancreatic cancer.

Speakers at the memorial from business, defence, diplomatic, employment and not-for-profit sectors reflected on Mr Peters’ “tireless” contribution to the ACT community, including Chief Minister Katy Gallagher, who described Mr Peters as “a man who was respected, loved and who will be sorely missed. In every sense, he was a great Canberran”. Mr Peters and his wife Josephine moved to Canberra in 1991.

Described as having a “business card as long as your arm,” he established the Canberra Institute of Technology Vocational College, received an honorary doctorate from the University of Canberra in 2009 and was made a member of the Order of Australia in 2004.

opinion letters

Teacher Ben Waller and his student Alla Semenova.

BEN Waller, an English as a Second Language teacher at the CIT, forwarded “a lovely piece of writing” by one of his students in the Adult Migrant English Program inspired by last month’s Harmony Day. The author, Alla Semenova, is from Russia.

“Her message is very emotive, but refreshing. It would be great to publish such a sincere message of a migrant’s perspective of the ‘harmony’ she sees living in Canberra”. So we did...

Yin, yang and the stuff of fairytales

By Alla Semenova

I WANT to describe my first visit to Canberra in 1995. All the events and adventures of three months living in Australia merged in my soul into one bright, solid, harmonious impression.

My daughter had already lived and worked in Canberra for three years and was very pleased with her life here. However, I could not imagine the standard of living and the typical style of communication and culture in Australia.

My daughter introduced me to her Russian and Australian friends and organised many trips within Canberra and its surrounding areas. It was a miracle to acquaint myself with the flora and fauna of Australia.

I was especially impressed by the friendly interactions of people with animals and birds. The kangaroos, koalas, possums, lizards, parrots and even emus are usually unafraid of people. Wild beasts of the wild forest took food from their hands. It was like a scene from a fairytale.

However, the real surprise came from a new inner perception. In Australia there is a strong yang and a powerful yin.

The yang is represented by an abundance of sunlight, the bright colours of nature and the strength and power of the ocean. Its power is greater than the power of the Black Sea. It seemed that the ocean attracts, questions me and that it warns me, too.

Breathing in the atmosphere of the continent is like swinging on a swing. You absorb the strength (yang) and at the same time you are aware of nature’s fragility (yin).

In the city, I observed the culture of people’s daily lives. I was very interested in the unusual architecture of the houses and roofs with their oriental motifs and decorative and ornamental gardens and the cleanliness of the streets.

There are still plenty of impressions which have preserved a memory in my mind. I’m talking about the party where we were invited with my daughter. Ten or 12 people gathered in a cosy, red-brick house overgrown with creeping roses on the walls. We formed a picturesque group in the living room and on the veranda. We talked about eternal themes such as literature, psychology and the philosophy of human life.

We discussed the human ability to love and to be happy. It was bliss to enjoy the warm, cosy serenity and the smell of roses, the stars overhead and a drop of wine. However, the most meaningful moment was not just a passive atmosphere of goodwill, but the peaceful creativity and mutual understanding among people even on such a remote continent as Australia.

A Russian proverb says: “Communication is the greatest human luxury”. Seventeen years have passed and the warmth of that evening has remained in the depth of my soul as a constant source of energy.

Out-pricing the less fortunate

THE world really is going wrong when a visit to the local op-shop results in a reprimand (however diplomatically phrased) for daring to question the valuation of an item for sale.

I have never, in many years of op-shopping, queried the price of an item, but when there is a known identical item being sold in an online store, at a significantly reduced price, this should be taken into account – particularly when the op-shop procured the item for free. The item in question had been price matched with an almost identical item on ebay. Vinnies price was $65, ebay’s “buy it now” price was $39. When I enquired about negotiating on price for the item in question, I was given all sorts of spin like: “On ebay they can put whatever they want on an item and they have to take into account the additional postage cost for items.” and “We have an obligation to the person who donated the item to get the best-possible price for that which they so generously have given to our organisation” and “ We are also obligated to get the best-possible price for our organisation.”

This last one, I do understand, and I acknowledge the good work done by St Vincent De Paul in our society and also the fact that they have overheads etcetera to cover, too.

When I was younger, op-shops not only raised money for the needy, but they were the shopping centre of choice for the needy, too. Students, single mothers, the unemployed... not so anymore. As a vintage devotee and green, savvy, dedicated op-shopper myself, I have often noticed the pricing discrepancies in different suburbs of Canberra – to say nothing of the Queanbeyan stores, where prices are significantly lower than in the nation’s capital.

It is one thing to actively try to raise money for charity. It is quite another to price the stock out of reach of the less fortunate. Where do these people go to shop now? Greed is not good.

Tracey Smith-Jones, via email

Old stamps?

As my twilight years progress I want to find a hobby to suit my now sedentary situation.

Stamp collecting appears to adequately foot the bill, but there is a need to obtain a regular supply of used stamps.

Australia issues fine stamps and I trust you will publish my letter in the hope that some of your readers and/or companies with unwanted used stamps would consider sending them to me.

Mrs Betty L Burrows, 6 Marney Way, Frinton-on-Sea, Essex, CO13 9NZ, UK

Why Greens want kids to vote

DEAR reader, as a person interested enough in politics to read this column, you have a special responsibility. Since so many of the young people of Canberra who are not enrolled to vote are unlikely to read this article, could you encourage them to enrol?

Greens’ Senate candidate, Simon Sheikh, in a report prepared in the light of the coming election, has revealed the high level of complacency amongst young voters.

The report suggests that up to 600,000 Australians under 25 have not registered to vote. Greens are reliant on young voters as they are less conservative, more idealistic and more likely to support Greens’ principles and policies.

Understanding why young people are not registering to vote provides a tool to assist the Greens to get greater electoral support.

The Greens can see an opportunity for their best chance at an ACT Senate seat yet. The choice is between the left-wing Green candidate and a very conservative Liberal one. Adding fuel to the fire is the debacle around the Liberal preselection, the public divisions in the party, and the lack of trust across Canberra in the endorsed Liberal candidate. The struggle is likely to be closer than at any previous election. Every vote will count.

The release of the Greens report “Review of Youth Voter Enrolment in Australia” by Greens leader, Christine Milne, is unsurprising. What is telling is that it was jointly released with ACT Senate candidate Simon Sheikh. The Greens have let the electorate know just how much they need to have a stronger youth vote.

When I ask the young people around me why

Political veteran and columnist MICHAEL MOORE wonders where have our young voters gone?

there is such a low enrolment in such educated electorates as Fraser and Canberra they point out that with such safe Labor seats their vote is largely redundant.

However, there is the Senate and there is the ACT Assembly. Sheikh points to the report’s findings that only 68.5 per cent of ACT under 25s are registered to vote.

The report identifies that “it has been estimated that over 18,000 residents of Canberra between the ages of 18 and 30 are either not enrolled to vote, or are enrolled in an incorrect electorate”.

Amongst these voters is where the Greens draw their strongest support.

The Greens argument is that Canberra will largely be ignored by the Labor and the Liberal parties because of the safe seats and the only way to make governments pay attention is to have a Greens Senator as part of the team that holds the balance in the upper house.

With the constant cuts to the public service that have been experienced under the Gillard Government and the even greater threats to public service jobs in Canberra under an Abbott government, the Greens have a plausible case to argue.

The case they argue should be even more important to young people. If jobs are slashed in the public service in Canberra, all the support industries suffer. There will be less demand for housing, for builders, for building suppliers, for hardware, for shopping... and the list goes on.

Small businesses in other States might wish to see a change in government – but one of the reasons that we have safe Labor seats in the lower house is that enough people in Canberra understand the impact. It is a message that needs to reach the young, potential voters who are not yet enrolled.

Complacency amongst the young goes beyond Canberra. Seeing Minister Anthony Albanese trying to sell the idea of 40 years to build a fast train link between Brisbane and Melbourne is simply laughable according to my thoughtful young (enrolled) voters.

On delivering capital works, they pointed out, how pathetic all Australian governments are, even compared to the old Soviet Union satellites.

Uzbekistan already has the Afrosiyob very fast train between Tashkent and Samarkand. The 344-kilometre track was built in 2011 with Spanish support. In a single year! The distance between Melbourne and Brisbane by road through Port Macquarie, Newcastle, Sydney, Canberra and Albury is around 2000km or almost six times the very fast train distance in Uzbekistan. Perhaps we should allow six years for construction. Or build six sections of 344 kilometres and match the Uzbeks.

My young advisors suggest that if politicians really want to win young voters, they need to be strong. They need to have the courage of their convictions rather than bending when the pressure comes on. They need to get on with doing what they believe instead of spending endless hours discussing.

Michael Moore was an independent member of the ACT Legislative Assembly (1989 to 2001) and was minister for health.

Here comes that old train again

MARK PARTON traces the meandering, slow history of the Very Fast Train concept

IN the mid-‘80s, I was producing the flagship morning radio program in Adelaide for the late Vincent Smith. In my first week with Vincent, I can remember organising an interview with Dr Paul Wilde, the then-chairman of the CSIRO, to talk about the amazing Very Fast Train project and how it was going to revolutionise transport on the eastern seaboard. It was to cost $2.5 billion and Paul promised that by the year 2000 we’d be riding the VFT between Sydney and Melbourne, along a coastal route.

Studies were done. Estimates were made and, in the end, it was concluded that the VFT was far too expensive. It was shelved.

Dr Wilde emerged again in 1986 as part of a group proposing a new train route. This time it would go inland from Sydney to Melbourne, including a stop in Canberra and, they added, a Sydney-to-Brisbane leg. Feasibility studies were done and governments were lobbied. By the early ‘90s the Hawke Government had rejected the call for massive tax subsidies and the project folded.

Then some years later, Prime Minister John Howard announced the impending arrival of the highspeed rail age in Australia. There was talk of 15,000 jobs and plans for a line that left Sydney through Campbelltown and headed to Canberra via Goulburn in 81 minutes. There was even an announcement about who was going to build it. A joint venture between Altsom and Leighton Holdings would build the thing at a cost of $3.5 billion.

This time, high-speed rail was really going to happen. Somehow it didn’t.

You’d think we’d wasted enough hot air and money on high-speed rail pie in the sky by then, but clearly we hadn’t. A bunch of consultants lined their pockets in 2001 putting together another report. This one cost $2.3 million to prepare and it concluded that the project was too big for government to contemplate.

Then when Kevin Rudd came to power as Prime Minister, along with declaring that climate change was the biggest moral challenge of our time, he also announced that high-speed rail was his Government’s “highest infrastructure priority”.

Five years on, please excuse my lack of enthusiasm at Minister Albanese’s latest announcement of another plan, more studies and more proposed routes.

Mentioning bookmakers in these parts has become politically incorrect, but can I say that if you have to put money on which comes first, high-speed rail or Raiders’ back-to-back NRL premierships, put your money on the green machine. They’re a much better bet than a very fast train.

Mark Parton is the breakfast announcer with 2CC.

Weston Creek Labor Club / charity bowls day

Club rolls out boost for Cancer Council

MORE than 120 people from ACT businesses, large and small, came together for the Weston Creek Labor Club’s first charity bowls day and raised more than $15,000 for the Cancer Council ACT.

The weather was perfect for a day on the greens that started with a buffet lunch and ended with prizes, raffles and a charity auction over big plates of prawns and oysters.

Bowls co-ordinator Ian Whybrow was on hand to give tips on the basics of the game, and was pretty impressed with some of the results.

“The standard of play’s been very good,” he reported, just as the teams were starting their second, hour-long game.

“We’ve got 30 teams here on the three greens. They all paid entry and every cent we’re making today goes towards the Cancer Council.”

Jemma Rossetto, from the charity’s ACT branch, said local events were an important complement to the Cancer Council’s better-known events such as the Relay for Life and Daffodil Day, which were organised on a national basis.

“We do rely quite heavily on the Canberra community raising funds for Cancer Council ACT,” Ms Rossetto said.

“We’ve got lots of businesses and people in the Canberra community who put on their own events or join in and donate funds. They get in contact and we support them, so Ian and the Weston Creek Labor Club have organised all of this themselves.”

Mr Whybrow described the spacious club as “the hidden jewel of the south”, owing to its sparkling amenities and suburban location, tucked away beside a sportsfield in Stirling. It also boasts the ACT’s only synthetic surface, he said, making it the best place in town to

work on your delivery.

The Labor Club group’s chief of operations, Glenn Wallace, confessed he hadn’t spent much time mastering the game himself, but put forward Brett Penyu, the dealer principal of Rolfe Motors, as “quite a good player”.

“This charity day’s been a great success and we’ll definitely plan another one,” Mr Wallace said.

“There’s been a lot of companies involved that aren’t normally associated with the club, so it’s been good to make those connections.”

Deflecting his teammate’s praise, Mr Penyu was generous in his own assessment of the day and the staff of Weston Creek Labor Club, who managed to squeeze a couple of new Volvos in beside the green for the major sponsor.

“It’s been great,” Mr Penyu said. “They’ve really looked after us with this, the turnout’s been brilliant and we’re lucky, it’s a really beautiful day.”

Most of the players were amateurs with a few more experienced members of bowls clubs in the mix, including one team representing Bowls ACT.

“We won both our games, which you’d expect because I’ve got three bowlers with me,” said Ray McInnes, a member of the Bowls ACT Board and expert greens inspector.

Mr McInnes said he was amazed at the number of donations that were made and that from his perspective, the day couldn’t have run any better.

“I rate the event as extremely successful. It was well organised by the Labor Club and, of course, there are numerous sponsors associated with the event,” he said after the games wrapped up.

“It’s very, very nice to mix with people who are non-bowlers, and I was able to offer some candid advice as far as the game is concerned. Of course, for the Cancer Council, it’s very, very important.”

Canberra Confidential

Christine’s karma’s going to get you

THEY say a criminal always returns to the scene of the crime, but whoever robbed southside dressmaker and costume-hire company Christine’s Place would have to be thinking twice about coming back.

Here’s what Christine posted on the shop’s Facebook page after the robbery:

“To the people, who thought, ‘let’s break into Christine’s place, damage the doors and steal all her money’.

It may not happen today or tomorrow or even next month or next year. But karma is [a] bitch. I will, I will get my ‘revenge’. Watch out. It’s not wise to piss off a menapausal [sic], cancer surviving , mother who is a dressmaker and knows how to use scissors, pins, needles and thread.”

Bad dates welcome

THE only good thing about bad dates? They usually have a hilarious story to go with them. A Canberra blogger has had her story published on website “Bad date, great story”, which invites downtrodden souls to share their worst dates with the world. Like most of the writers on the site, the blogger wants to remain anonymous but goes under the acronym “desertdates”. If you have a terrible date to share, submit to baddategreatstory@ gmail.com or gawk at the shameful stories at baddategreatstory.com

It’s okay, right?

“CITYNEWS” understands the teething problems that come with opening a new restaurant, but Kingston Spanish tapas eatery Bodega de Pintxos should know there is a thing as “too attentive”. On a recent night out, “CC” was asked, in the space of two minutes, whether the food was okay four times by four different waiters.

Sign on the Circle

Know something? / confidential@citynews.com.au

Hmmms...

CHIEF Minister Katy Gallagher in announcing the departure of chairman John Mackay from the ACTEW board: “We thank the chairman for his contribution over 15 years with ACTEW.” He was chair only since 2008.

PROPS to the chap at Bellucci’s in Manuka who downed his cutlery, deserted his pasta and sprinted after a man who stole a woman’s handbag from an outside table on Saturday night. He returned it to her, still intact.

REGULAR readers would be familiar with this paper’s continual dismay at the lackadaisical proliferation of signposts and traffic lights around the place being shared with commercial entities for no usefully apparent reason other than spruiking their presence and, apart from the cost of the sign, enjoying perpetual free advertising. Now this blight appears to have cracked the parliamentary triangle with plastic surgeon Tony Tonks succeeding in mounting a sign on the Sydney Avenue traffic light on State Circle (and another on Canberra Avenue) helpfully directing passersby to his surgery.

Here’s to the King!

AS one sharp-eyed reader noticed, the gilded copper expression of Canberra’s Coat of Arms above the entry to the ACT Legislative Assembly includes the words, “For the King, the law and the people”, while other updated versions of the Arms, such as one inside the Assembly, read “For the Queen, the law and the people”.

Curiously the copper piece, by Lenore Bass, was commissioned in 1960 and first mounted on the North Building over the other side of Civic Square in 1963 – more than a decade after the Queen ascended the throne. It was obviously considered very important to include the exact translation of the city’s latin motto,”Pro rege, lege et grege”, even if that meant the artist referring to a king (rege) who had been replaced by a queen (regina) eight years previously.

ON the menu of a well-known, select Yarralumla address where chaps like to meet: “Steamed Desire Wedges”. Alas, they meant the decidedly less-naughty Désirée spuds.

THEN there’s this one from a Civic supermarket window:

“IT is short sighted to fund this funding out of funding for universities,” says ACTCOSS director, Susan Helyar talking about Gonski.

SINGER Frank Ifield was at the National Library the other day. It reminded folk historian Rob Willis of a delightful misprint (long before spell check) on the cover notes of a ‘60s, US vinyl album Ifield oddly shared with The Beatles, which read: “It is with a good deal of pride and pleasure that this copulation has been presented.” Compilation, maybe?

all about bungendore

‘You leave Canberra

BUNGENDORE officially became a town in 1837, a lonely outpost in an area first visited by English explorer Alan Cunningham only 12 years earlier.

By the time the railway came through in 1885, about 700 people called the rural village home and at the turn of the century, it was even put up as a possible candidate to become the national capital.

Luckily for the current residents and visitors who love its rural charm, that didn’t happen.

As soon as you step out of the car in Bungendore, you feel welcome. Walk into any one of its shops, cafes or galleries and you’ll most likely find someone inside with a smile on their face and the time to stop and have a chat. Like Loretta Heskett, who’s lived in the village for five years and opened the Blind Duck Cafe in Village Square on the King’s Highway eight weeks ago.

“It’s God’s country out here,” she says with conviction. “It’s beautiful, you’ve got nice locals and a

nice village. You leave Canberra and it’s like you’re in heaven.”

Loretta says it was a dream come true when she opened the restaurant and cafe, which she named after a limping, half-blind duck she met in Tasmania.

“He had quite a big fetish for scrambled eggs, cheese and onion chips, and beer,” she says. “We named him Nelson.”

The quirky cafe also offers a frightening meateating challenge that has yet to be conquered and an 800mm wide pizza called “The Gigantor”, a contender for Australia’s largest. “If anyone eats it by themselves I’m happy to pay for it,” she says.

Just across Village Square is landscape photographer Paul Kowalski, sitting in his gallery of images next to the panoramic film camera he uses to capture them.

and it’s like you’re in heaven’

He explains that medium-format film gives his shots their stunning colours and also allows giant prints, as it’s 11 times the size of standard 35mm film.

“The outcome is to make people feel as if they could walk into the photo,” he says. His shots reflect the beauty of places that many people from the region would have visited, from the south coast to the Snowy Mountains and the rainforest-covered mountains in between.

The Canberra resident says moving his business to Bungendore about a year ago has been “fantastic”, with strong passing trade supplementing his commercial work. The gallery does all its own framing and seems destined to become a must-see.

Next door is another new business, Estate Realty, which opened in February. Principal Ben Stevenson says he moved to Bungendore four years ago because “it’s still a town that you can walk down the street and say g’day”.

“It’s still got that country mentality that everybody’s a friend,” he says. “I think it’s the people that make a town, and Bungendore has got such a great bunch of like-minded people. The local school’s fantastic, too; it just had everything we need to grow a family and, I think, as far as my property background goes, I’m looking at an area that’s going to give me a good return over a long time. I felt confidence that buying property in this area gave me long-term security.”

Just down Ellenden Street, at number 33, Cheryl Welsh’s legal practice Just Law has scored a coup by this month hiring top conveyancer Robbie Freestone, an expert at smoothing out

the process of buying property.

“She’s well known in the legal world,” says Cheryl. “Since she’s been here, she’s had quite a few people ring, trying to poach her, but she’s not going anywhere. Robbie’s been doing conveyancing for a long time and she really knows what she’s doing. She’s very good and the agents all know her and work well with her.”

With Cheryl’s experience and local knowledge, as well as solicitor Patrick Gettrust on the team, Just Law provides the full range of general legal services.

In the same building is Thymes Thirty Three cafe, which Barbara Brooker took over last May. “I kept the name because I quite liked it,” she says.

“I thought it was quite catchy.”

Barbara takes great pride in her coffee, and the cakes and muffins are all freshly baked daily. She used to do all the cooking herself, but has stepped back from the kitchen recently due to an exciting development.

“I’m 36 weeks pregnant, so I’ve got to slow down and keep out of the heat,” she says.

A resident of nearby Wamboin, Barbara chose Bungendore over Canberra for the slower pace of a small community.

“I like that we have this one central spot that we can invite people to come and spend time

with their family and their friends, sit down together and have that catch-up time, or free time to just hang out with the kids,” she says.

A great time to check out Bungendore is on the third Sunday of the month, when the markets are on at the War Memorial Hall in Molonglo Street. There you can see a range of local arts and crafts all in the one place as well as fresh produce, musical instruments, toys, rugs, second-hand goods and various edible delights. Organisers say the money raised from site fees and voluntary donation buckets goes back into the War Memorial Hall, which is in line for better toilets, electrical work and a “general spruce up” this year.

Back on the King’s Highway (Malbon Street in the town), we find Village Antiques, packed with a horde of handmade treasures.

Owner Judy Patten’s eye for the weird and fascinating – as well as the beautiful – is evident looking around the massive collection. A chair made of animal tusks sits between an old wooden canoe from the US and a 20-seat Kauri Pine table, and porcelain busts mapping out key areas of the skull needed for the old pseudoscience of phrenology are scattered among high-quality antique furniture, art, homewares and decor. Out the front is a giant kewpie doll named Patsy, one of 12 from the Sydney Olympics closing ceremony.

“I have quite a lot of handmade objects in English oak, and there’s a peppering of handmade oriental furniture imported from Beijing,” she says, explaining that Chinese woodworkers use the timber from older objects to build more useful modern ones, such as TV cabinets.

She describes Bungendore as a really pleasant environment to live and work in, which is “almost an outlying Canberra suburb” and very popular as a place to raise children.

“It has a bit of a feel of Australia from 30 or 40 years ago,” she says. “There’s a bit of elbow room out here; there’s more room to breathe.”

scene / around canberra

Seen at ‘Australia Revealed: Decorative Arts from The Australiana Fund’, CMAG

‘The Young Ones’ exhibition, The Front Gallery and Cafe, Lyneham

‘Guys and Dolls’ opening night, Canberra Theatre

arts & entertainment

Opera’s big night of hits

Helen Musa reports

RUSSIAN producer Gennady Polluck and the director of the Moscow Novaya Opera, Valery Raku, have come up with a “new format” designed to defeat the most dyed-inthe-wool opera sceptics.

In a blockbuster show that premiered this month in Adelaide, they’ve combined operatic arias with classical piano recitals and ballet in a seamless production lasting just around two hours.

Polluck, a self-confessed opera maniac who lived in Adelaide for many years before repatriating to Russia in 1999, has long dreamt of bringing Russian opera stars to Australia.

I met up with him at the Adelaide Festival Theatre, still fresh from standing ovations and rave reviews from the night before.

A successful businessman with a background in IT, Polluck is a pragmatist who quickly figured out that bringing a full-scale production of an epic such as Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov might break the budget without pulling Australian audiences in. Also, as he says, “because of the internet, people can’t focus for very long”.

The solution is the catchy concept of “Operamania”, coming to Llewellyn Hall later this month.

There’ll be 10 classical soloists and four classical ballet dancers in full costume and a 44-piece symphony orchestra, all under the baton of star conductor Andrey Lebedev.

The show, Polluck says, will be distinguished from run-of-the-mill nights at the opera by the sheer quality of the artists and the imaginative and often witty staging of the great standard

hits from “The Magic Flute”, “The Barber of Seville”, “Carmen” and so on. From Rigoletto, for instance, we will hear “La donna e mobile”. All the segments will be between two and four minutes long and most of them are to do with love.

Interspersed with the arias will be ballet sequences such as Tchaikovsky’s “The Sleeping Beauty”. As well, pianist Ekaterina Kolpakova will perform well-loved works by Tchaikovsky, Chopin, Liszt and Rachmaninov.

Visually, the show is blended together by having the entire orchestra on stage and projecting artworks adapted by designer Sergei Skornetsky from paintings by early 20th-century artists such as Wassily Kandinsky.

“Operamania,” is hugely high-tech, Polluck says, and hugely expensive too, costing him approximately $10,000 to bring each artist here. That leads him to think that if he ever brings a full Russian opera to Australia – “Prince Igor” perhaps – he would need to use local orchestras and dancers.

But that would be another story.

“Operamania”, Llewellyn Hall, 7.30pm, April 23-24 and 2pm, April 25. Bookings to 1300 795012 or ticketek.com.au

Win tickets to see Operamania at citynews.com.au

Getting to grips with Princess Gwendolyn

HERE’S a test – can you tell the story of the Princess and the Pea? I must confess, I was a bit vague, though I knew there were 20 mattresses involved.

It was the same when writer David Finnigan was asked by “serious theatre” artists, barb barnett and Gillian Schwab, to adapt Hans Christian Andersen’s famous tale for the stage.

“It’s so iconic,” Finnigan says. “It’s one of those cultural things – all people roughly ‘know’ it.”

I rush to my trusty collection of Andersen stories and find that the real title in Danish is actually “The Princess on the Pea”. Finnigan is impressed.

He tells me Andersen was at the top of his game when he wrote the couple of hundred words and imagines he tossed it off in a day.

“The story is so quick and so simple that I thought it would be too hard to adapt,” he says.

Enter barnett and Schwab, bursting with ideas. They’ve been commissioned by The Street’s Caroline Stacey to create a work with the potential to tour regional centres.

They’ve ended up extending the story and answering key questions –where has Princess Gwendolyn come from? What else is going on in the palace? And what kind of princess hangs out in the Wild Western Wood with wolves? Certainly, not the kind

Helen Musa reports

the Queen approves of. In brief, Finnigan asked the question what does being a “real” princess actually mean?

The answer: someone who can see through superficiality, who has an inbuilt sensitivity to bulldust.

Oh, yes, Finnigan has introduced a nasty dragon who “rampages through the countryside snuffling up ash” and set the story in The Museum of Legendary Vegetables, with the Pea becoming the narrator.

Next test question: Name some famous vegetables.

The giant dragon will only be viewed in bits – the snout, for instance, but there are also shadow puppets, cut-out puppets, full-size puppets, rival princesses as large cut-out puppets and, of course, human actors Cathy Petöcz and Josh Wiseman, who play many characters. Finnigan, who’s just finished directing the “You Are Here” festival is a sophisticated artist, so on his own admission this has all been a steep learning curve. It’s helped that he has a young niece in the right age group, 4-10 years old, and a primary school teacher mum to give him some perspective.

As he says: “I’m slightly out of my depth, and enjoying it.”

“PEA!”, The Street Theatre, April 20-27, bookings to 6247 1223 or thestreet.org.au

BEATLE CONCERT WINNERS

WINNERS of the three double passes to see The Beatle Boys at The Playhouse on Saturday, April 20 are: Michael McKenna, Wanniassa; Michael Day, Isaacs and Bill Breen, Bungendore. Thanks to all for the clever and inventive entries.

Fracking, up close and personal arts & entertainment

“Promised Land” (M)

WITH this entertaining message film about two antagonistic land-use issues, the creative combination of Matt Damon (writing and acting) and Gus van Sant (directing) does it again.

Coal seam gas is an alternative source of fossil fuel energy to the planet’s dwindling supply of petroleum. But the fracking extraction process contaminates the water table and its essential role in feeding and watering people.

Damon plays Steve, a front man for Global Energy who, with colleague Sue (Frances McDormand), comes to Millers Falls with well-honed arguments persuading farmers to sell rural land for CSG extraction despite history of family ownership.

Retired scientist Frank (Hal Holbrook), teaching at the local high school for love of pedagogy, confronts Global with proven research data. Environmentalist Dustin (John Krasinski who co-wrote the screenplay) arrives to put the anti-fracking argument. Teacher Alice (Rosemary de Witt) provides a charming diversion between the two men.

Democracy must resolve the dilemma. Edibles or energy? So far, no workable resolution has emerged anywhere.

Generating tensions and conflicts that weave the elements of the issue among local politics and lifestyle in that kind of community, “Promised Land” maintains a firm grip on its message with a comfortable ambience that serves opposing causes equally while rewarding the film-goer with a sense of being true to them both. I liked it. So might you, whatever side of the argument you favour.

At Palace Electric

Dougal Macdonald cinema

“Maxima Mea Culpa: Silence in the House of God” (M)

ALEX Gibney’s angry documentary follows four men seeking action from the Roman Catholic church to punish the priests who abused them as boys at an American school for the deaf.

I’m not going to try to summarise the events the film describes. Or how the Church has dealt with them, except to say that, to paraphrase a well-known number from a film musical: “There’s no interest like self interest”.

The film’s emotion transcends dogma, doctrine or religious fervour. It concentrates on one simple precept – raw, naked, unchallenged influence over the moral comfort of a large proportion of mankind. Apparently, Vatican records show that the bottoms of little boys have besotted priests for 17 centuries.

We have just seen the election of a new Pope. How, I wonder, will he deal with sexuality in the Church’s management of its employees? The film provides a simple rubric to guide him. Will he see it? He and all his employees should.

I am part-way through reading QC Geoffrey Robertson’s “The Case of The Pope”. Its content and style make it not an easy read. Robertson appears in the film.

Paedophilia is a moral issue on which the Vatican has not taken a stance. So far, it’s being dealt with as a men-only activity in organisations that work with young people. There are two sexes. Read between the lines.

At Palace Electric

“Therese Desqueyroux” (M)

THE last film by French writer/director Claude Miller was his adaptation of Francois Mauriac’s novel about Therese, bourgeois with leftist tendencies.

Her family owns a pine-tree estate in southwest France. As an adolescent, her best friend is Annie Desqueyroux whose family also owns a pine plantation.

She marries Annie’s brother Bernard in hope that being a wife and mother will bring fulfilment of her mind’s questing about ideas.

For Bernard, Therese means accretion to his land-holdings and wealth. His family does not think highly of her.

Less than stimulating in any way, he’s a hypochondriac, counting the drops of his medication into a glass of water.

In time, Therese undergoes investigation for forging Bernard’s prescription.

She is confined to her room in the Desqueyroux house. Her child is given into the care of Annie who no longer regards Therese as her best friend.

The Desqueyroux servants treat her with disdain. Through these deprivations, Therese remains stoical, hopeful of breaking away.

Audrey Tautou delivers Therese with restrained acceptance of the deal that she unknowingly signed up for by marrying Bernard. She’s a survivor, her optimism not dashed by adversity.

As her story slowly unfolds, the film invites us to ponder French provincial life between two world wars and, perhaps, give thanks that things have changed since then.

At Palace Electric

Artist Mick puts people in the picture

MICK Ashley’s art shows Canberra as locals really know it – instantly recognisable, yet quirky, images of familiar coffee shops and the cycling subculture.

“For me it’s all about the people, the human spirit,” says the born-and-bred Canberran.

“When I first started making my prints there were lots of nice monument pictures around, but I wanted to capture what people do here.

“Canberra can be a transient place – people are posted here for a time and there’s lots of comings and goings. But when the cafe culture exploded, and we started to get mothers’ groups, cyclists, students, office meetings, all happening at the same place, I wanted to capture that.”

He’s “done” Tilley’s, Lonsdale Street Roasters, The Street Theatre and Gus’s, among others and the list continues to grow, he says.

“I’m never short of inspiration; in fact, I’m more likely to get distracted by another idea,” Mick says. “The hardest thing is staying focused, but I do believe in having as many ideas as possible. Don’t hold on to one idea so hard that you butcher it.”

For his cafe series, Mick takes digital photos then outlines and colours them digitally using coffee-inspired, sepia colours to create a digital lino print. Others are hand-drawn on a Wacom tablet.

“Digital art is hard to put a value on, because the

Kathryn Vukovljak reports

quality in reproduction stays the same,” he says. “I do limited-edition prints so there is a sense of authenticity.”

Mick, 43, says he’d been drawing since he could walk, but art wasn’t encouraged by his parents as something he could make a career out of.

“I spent 20 years in the public service doing what I had to do – now I plan on spending the next 20 doing what I want to do,” he says.

“It wasn’t easy to leave a safe, secure job in the middle of the GFC, but after much discussion with my wife, I took a package and left.”

And his business Leafy Sea Dragon Artwork was born – bearing the name of a favourite quirky sea creature.

“It’s a bit of a random name, but quirky, vibrant and interesting, like my work” he says.

Mick produces greeting cards, tea towels and bookmarks as well as his prints. His latest Centenary series depicts every decade in the last 100 years, mocked up as vintage posters. The last one displays 100 Canberrans, from the Chief Minister to the Action bus driver.

“I like art that captures ordinary things, and when there are people featured it’s infinitely more interesting.”

Mick sells his artworks and products, including prints, greeting cards and tea towels, most weeks at the Old Bus Depot Markets. More information at mickashley.org

Festival gets the merry-go-round

By Helen Musa

LONG-TIME Canberran and former President of the Senate, Margaret Reid, has launched the annual ACT Heritage Festival at the Civic Merry-Go-Round.

The launch also formed a kind of celebration of one of Canberra’s much-loved landmarks and a new and informative sign about the Merry-Go-Round, which has been in the same spot since 1974 when it was bought for the people of Canberra to help liven up the centre of Civic, but which in reality marks its 99th birthday this year.

It was originally built in Melbourne in 1914 and was one of the carnival ride attractions on the St Kilda Foreshore.

This year’s theme for the Heritage Festival, “Community Milestones”, has been inspired by the Centenary of Canberra and, in this special year, the ACT program

highlights Canberra’s colourful history and its more recent achievements.

The National Trust is running more than 10 events until April 28, detailed information can be found at nationaltrust.org.au/act/Heritage-Festival.

arts & entertainment / reviews

Plastered, flattered, still waiting Staying true to Thomas

I’VE never been on wallpaper before. I mean, featured on wallpaper. My photo, that is. And a food review I’ve written. But there I am, plastered on the wall (and ceiling) of good, old Brodburger. With a good, old photo!

The little, red, gypsy caravan that was originally home to Brodburger at Bowen Park by the lake is now on display in front of its new home at the historic Canberra Glassworks. But are the burgers as good in this new location? We road tested them to see.

“Caravan classics” are still available, including regular, deluxe, chicken, veg or fish. You choose your cheese for the beef burgers (blue, brie, Swiss or cheddar) and prices are $13.50 to $17.50

(side of chips $2.50).

The hand-formed beef patties are automatically cooked medium, which is how I love them, although ones for mothers-to-be are well done with egg-free aioli. Kids are happy with baby burgers (around $8.50).

Brodburger is busy, busy, busy and we were told it would be a 30-minute wait (it was slightly longer than that).

My burger was with blue cheese, which added a nice dimension, and I love the buns Brodburger uses – soft and chewy. The quality of beef patties is up there with the best and they’re not too thin or too thick.

Meals come in red plastic containers lined with paper. The only concern with my friend’s cheeseburger was

Brodburger... “quality of beef patties is up there with the best”.

the cheese. It was “light on” and she actually opened the bun to check what was going on.

The fitout is great. Wine barrels line up outside near a bed planted with heaps of herbs and a little lime tree. You can rest your drink on the barrels while waiting for your meal (and you will wait – is Brodburger too popular for its own good for the size of its operations?).

Also outside are long communal tables under bright-red umbrellas. Other than the view (essentially a parking lot), it’s pretty right.

The inside area is glassed in and opens up in summer. On one side is a line of lovely, black bamboo trees.

theatre

“Under Milk Wood”

By Dylan Thomas, directed by Duncan Ley Canberra Repertory, Until April 27.

Reviewed by Simone Penkethman

THIS Dylan Thomas masterpiece is widely regarded as one of the greatest works in English literature.

Director Duncan Ley focuses on the work’s uniqueness firmly in time and place. The result is a highly accessible and extremely enjoyable exploration of Thomas’ amoral and, at times, surreal tale.

It’s noisy, and the heavy-duty playlist on our visit was exceptionally loud. It would have blown the head off of anyone with even a slight hangover! Brodburger is licensed, but the selection is limited. Wines are by Hunter Valley’s Tempus Two, although selections from Wild Oats will soon be available. But are the burgers as good as they were by the lake? I reckon they are.

Brodburger takes phone and email orders. If you’re not keen to wait, I recommend ordering in advance.

Brodburger, Canberra Glassworks, 11 Wentworth Avenue, Kingston. Open Tuesday-Saturday, lunch and dinner, and Sunday lunch. Call 6162 0793.

Originally a play for radio, it paints vivid word pictures and its rhythm ebbs and flows as we experience a day in the fictional, south Wales’ town of Llareggub (read the word backwards).

A beautifully crafted set recreates the mid-20th century Llareggub, where the inhabitants dwell under Milk Wood. Ley adds visual layers of comedy and texture to their interactions, complete with topical references from the 1950s. For example, school teacher, Gossamer Beynon, fantasises about bartender, Sinbad Sailors. She doesn’t care if he’s common, “so long as he’s all cucumber and hooves”. While Gossamer gives voice to this fantasy, she’s reading “Lady Chatterley’s Lover”. The tight ensemble nimbly negotiates the twists and turns of language and effortlessly slips from one role to the next. Graham Robertson, as blind Captain Cat, is wise, mythic and moving. Sian Harrington brings Welsh authenticity and a bright spark to the role of Polly Garter. Duncan Diver, as first voice, leads us with charm and grace from one view to another. If you’ve never seen a Canberra Rep show, see this one; if you’ve never seen “Under Milk Wood”, see this one.

Harpist pulls strings for congress

THE 2013 Harp Festival is coming up at Wesley Music Centre on April 27. Serendipitously, news is to hand that the Harp Centre Australia team, chaired by Canberra area harpist extraordinaire, Alice Giles, has made a successful bid to bring the World Harp Congress to Sydney and Canberra in 2014. Inquiries to 0430 101002 or harpcentre.com.au

“HUTS, Heritage and Homesteads” is an exhibition by Karen Dace and Eleanor Cotterell, at PhotoAccess, that aims to “dispute the view that Canberra lacks history”. They’ve made trips to Tuggeranong and Belconnen, the foothills of Mount Pleasant at Duntroon and the Brindabellas in order to give us a “privileged look” at the ACT’s built heritage. In Huw Davies Gallery at Manuka Arts Centre, until April 28.

A PORTRAIT of mining magnate Gina Rinehart and her daughter Ginia by Victorian artist Warren Lane has won this year’s $7500 Bald Archy prize. An exhibition of the 44 finalists is at the Independent Theatre in North Sydney, until May 5.

GOOD news from North Texas, where ace sax player Niels Rosendahl is doing his masters. For

the 2013-2014 academic year, he’ll be a graduate teaching fellow at the university while performing with the campus’ Two O’Clock Lab Band, the Basically Basie Big Band and on “Late Night @ North Texas”, a sort of David Letterman-style, late-night TV show.

QUEANBEYAN City Council’s in-house musical “I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change”, is coming up at the Q from April 24 to May 5, directed by Stephen Pike and musical director Lucy Bermingham. The show, which we saw done by NIDA in a cut version last week, looks at relationships from the teens through to retirement age. Bookings to 6285 6290.

THE Molonglo Catchment Group and the Artists’ Society of Canberra are celebrating the Canberra Centenary by engaging all of the catchment groups of the ACT in this year’s art exhibition and competition, to be launched at the Gallery, Canberra Grammar School, by Prof Don Bursill on April 22 from 5.30pm to 7pm.

THE Canberra artists’ collective, Random9, will stage an exhibition of works by 16 emerging artists examining Canberra in historical, political and cultural contexts, 100 years on. At Belconnen Arts Centre, until May 5, 10am to 5pm Tuesday-Sunday. Meet the artists, 2pm, Sunday, April 28.

Jack salutes heroes

Stephen Easton reports

WHEN Australia and NZ take pause next Thursday to reflect on antipodean experiences of war, Marist year 11 student Jack Castle-Burns will be among those who have made the pilgrimage to where the Anzac legend began.

Jack knows more than most about Gallipoli, as the ACT’s winner of the Simpson Prize, an essay competition that requires entrants to investigate the origin of the Anzac legend using primary historical sources.

“It’s just such a surreal feeling to think I’ll be going and seeing all those places that I’ve researched and written about,” he says. “And with all those people there, it’s going to be amazing. I’m still in disbelief about the whole thing.”

The two-week trip for the winners includes five days at Gallipoli, four in Istanbul and visits to various historical sites such as the ancient city of Troy.

Not surprisingly, history is Jack’s favourite subject, so the chance to look into the past through sources from the National Archives and Australian War Memorial was itself a fascinating experience.

“It gave me a sense of, I guess, pride to be Australian, but it was a really horrific place and I guess people were just doing the best they could do,” he says of Gallipoli. “I wouldn’t want to have been there in the same circumstances.”

In the thoughtful and engaging piece of writing, he presents a balanced description of the legend as a blend of fact and fiction.

“I found that the Anzac legend was created from all the horrific events that happened and all the death, as well as the media portrayal of that,” says Jack.

Or as he puts it in the essay, the soldiers “narrate a story of a disorganised and horrific campaign with dramatic and often wasteful loss of life... while official reports and newspapers tell of an overwhelming victory.”

The young writer also finds a public more than willing to see their boys as heroes, as a way to lessen the grief of the senseless slaughter, at the same time noting the equally heroic acts of their enemy.

But despite the disconnect between the cheery propaganda of the day and a bungled, drawn-out and ultimately unsuccessful cam-

Prizewinning year 11 student Jack Castle-Burns... “It’s just such a surreal feeling to think I’ll be going and seeing all those places that I’ve researched and written about.”

Photo by Brent McDonald

paign, Jack still found a reality behind the legend and its values – “mateship, sacrifice, larrikinism and bravery” – that he sees surviving to this day. With their backs against the wall, the Anzacs put up a brave fight and supported their mates, much like modern heroes who put their hands up to fight bushfires and other natural disasters.

“Although the media portrayal of it kind of exacerbated the whole Anzac legend effect, I think it’s founded on a lot of truth,” he says. “A lot of the events and the acts that people did were worthy of that recognition.”

Jack’s prize-winning essay is at simpsonprize.org

‘Reunion’

By Andrew Guild

Camaraderie stands high, a sad heart it mends Troubles are forgotten in the company of friends

Events in the past; memories are woken

A shared understanding; words go unspoken

Happiness abounds, not described by this pen So wish us all well until we meet once again

Joanne Madeline Moore

your week in the stars / April 22-28

ARIES (Mar 21 – Apr 20)

Are you living in financial fairy-land? With the lunar eclipse (plus Venus, Mars and Saturn) all stirring up your money zones, you’re in the mood to splash some cash around. But make sure your bank balance is healthy before you start spending up big. You’re in the mood for adventure and romance on the weekend, as you stretch yourself in exciting new directions.

TAURUS (Apr 21 – May 20)

With Mars moving through your sign, it’s time to be bold and beautiful. Confidence is in (and complacency is out), as you go after what you want with passion and pizazz. Single Bulls – you’ll feel flirtatious on Friday, when the lunar eclipse lights up your charm zone. Don’t neglect your family responsibilities though, as a loved one reaches out to you for some sensible advice.

GEMINI (May 21 – June 21)

Communication becomes complex this week, as you dig beneath the surface and get to the bottom of an old emotional issue. With Jupiter jumping through your sign (until June 26), it’s time to be more adventurous as you grab opportunities with both hands. Be inspired by birthday great Shirley MacLaine: “Don’t be afraid to go out on a limb. It’s where all the fruit is.”

CANCER (June 22 – July 22)

Your intuition is switched on big time this week, as you tune into those around you and uncover important information that others miss. But you won’t feel like indulging in Full Moon frivolity on Friday, as serious Saturn pours cold water on spontaneous gestures and displays of affection. Plus relations with a child, teenager or friend will be problematic so tread carefully Crabs.

LEO (July 23 – Aug 22)

It’s time for Cats to be confident, creative and proactive at work. But it’s not a wonderful week to host a fun family reunion or bring up sensitive childhood issues. The lunar eclipse falls in your home zone, so be on domestic drama alert. Confiscate all sharp implements and choose your words wisely, as loved ones are liable to make mountains out of molehills.

VIRGO (Aug 23 – Sept 22)

Versatile Virgos are clever communicators, pedantic perfectionists, and masters at multi-tasking. But your strict schedule is likely to go haywire this week, as the lunar eclipse disrupts your communication, travel and transport zones. So expect car problems, traffic jams, flight delays, missed appointments or confusing conversations to scramble your carefully constructed plans.

LIBRA (Sept 23 – Oct 23)

Have you been shopping up a storm when you should have been saving or paying off debt? If the answer is ‘yes’ then you can expect a financial fiasco this week, as the lunar eclipse and Saturn stir up mischief in your money zone. Your motto for the moment is from Bertrand Russell: “To be without some of the things you want is an indispensable part of happiness.”

SCORPIO (Oct 24 – Nov 21)

Things will be pretty full-on at Casa Scorpio this week as the lunar eclipse (in your sign) increases your magnetism – and your tendency to brooding, obsessive behavior. So you need to find appropriate ways to let off steam, and challenging projects to channel all your intense energy into. Otherwise you’ll just drive loved ones crazy! Resist the urge to be sarcastic on Saturday.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov 22 – Dec 21)

A lunar eclipse doesn’t throw spontaneous Sagittarians! You love the rush of energy it brings, so use it to shine a super bright spotlight on your hidden strengths and private dreams for the future. You’ll hear some startling news this week that may make your ears burn, but think twice before you pass it on. Try extra hard to be discreet with any secrets that come your way.

CAPRICORN (Dec 22 – Jan 19)

Casa Capricorn is a place where routine is revered, and surprises are unwelcome. This week you’ll find that life’s complicated, partnerships are unpredictable and the rules are constantly changing, as unresolved relationship difficulties come back to test you. Maybe it’s time to simplify your life, cull some of your commitments, and finally give a fair-weather friend the flick?

AQUARIUS (Jan 20 – Feb 18)

You’re feeling super restless this week and the danger is you’ll go overboard and throw the baby out with the bathwater. The lunar eclipse imbues you with a sense of urgency but gradual, structured modifications are what’s needed at the moment – especially at work. The period up until May 10 is the ideal time to spruce up your living space and make it more beautiful.

PISCES (Feb 19 – Mar 20)

You’re at your creative, compassionate and charismatic best on Thursday, as super Sun/Neptune aspects see you sparkle and shine. Friday’s full moon eclipse stimulates your fertile imagination – but guard against being a gullible Fish on Sunday, when someone may take advantage of your trusting Piscean nature (and pull the wool over your starry eyes).

Daily astrology updates at www.twitter.com/JoMadelineMoore

Despite frost, keep watering!

ONE vital aspect of winter gardening is not to neglect watering.

When the ground is covered in frost or a thick fog it is natural to think that watering is not necessary. Nothing is further from the truth.

Frost can draw moisture from the soil and, unless we receive regular winter rain, plants will suffer.

The exceptions, to a certain extent, are the deciduous trees and shrubs that are dormant in winter with no rising sap needing moisture.

The first indication of lack of soil moisture is when leaf tips start to brown, indicating insufficient moisture is getting to the extremities of the plant. This is equally applicable in summer. If sufficient moisture is not quickly applied, the whole leaf will turn brown and by that time it is too late.

frosts.

Cedric Bryant gardening

IT is often mentioned in the gardening media that it is okay to place tulip bulbs in the crisper of the fridge until the ground temperatures are low, usually about May. Please ignore this advice.

According to one of Australia’s principal Dutch bulb growers (and if anyone knows about bulb culture, it is the Dutch), tulips – or for that matter any bulbs stored in the crisper – can be affected by ethylene gas put out by fruit, especially bananas, near them.

This can result in poor flowering or even no flowers at all. Then, possibly, the poor old garden centre cops the blame for selling inferior bulbs! Simply store the bulbs in a cool spot until the ground has a couple of frosts.

DURING frosty mornings, due to arrive at any time, I suggest you apply a fine spray of water to camellias and other late autumn and winter-flowering shrubs in the early morning. Do this early in the morning before the sun hits the frost-covered flowers and they get sun scorched. Of course, you will not be able to do this if you forget to put the hose away overnight or the outdoor tap and water pipe does not have any insulation round them to stop them freezing!

APPLY the last feeding of plants for autumn now. I specifically recommend the organic liquid Maxicrop Seaweed Plant Food. Firstly, this will penetrate the soil and get to the roots quicker than chemical granular fertilisers. The latter relies on regular rainfall to dissolve them – though often, of late, storm rain washes the granules away from the plant.

Secondly, seaweed plant food reduces the effect of frost on plants. No further feeding will be necessary until spring with the exception of newly planted trees or shrubs. Water these in with a seaweed solution to encourage new, strong root growth and eliminate any air pockets around the root zone.

OF special mention this week is Iris unguicularis (syn. Iris stylosa), the winter flowering iris. Usually this iris is not grown to its full potential as the flowers and buds are hidden in a mass of thick, grass-like foliage. Or they are attacked by snails or slugs. This is a real toughie with its home ranging from Algeria to Greece. As such, it is happy in full sun, although equally happy in dappled shade. The best way to get the benefit of the flowers is to cut back all foliage to ground level at this time. This is before the buds and flowers start to appear and snails will have little protection. The lavender-mauve blooms have a unique fragrance and are an excellent cut flower, lasting for quite some time. When picking, pull the flowers from their base rather than cutting.

As the mornings chill...

• Cut back summer-flowering clematis which flower on current year’s growth. Cut to the lowest pair of buds about 30cm above ground level.

• Plant berry and currant plants. Plant blackcur-

rants lower in the soil than the level in the pot in which they are grown. This produces more vigorous fruitful stems.

• Prune autumn raspberries, cutting all canes to ground level.