‘THE CHASER’S’ CHARLES FIRTH AIMS TO ‘LIFT THE TONE’ OF THE WRITERS’ FESTIVAL
MICHAEL MOORE
Census whingers get their way
NICHOLE OVERALL
Sea tragedy that shook Queanbeyan
CHRIS COLEMAN
Living the dream as the ride heads south
CEDRIC BRYANT
Lavender’s love affair never ends
ANNA SNOEKSTRA’S DEBUT NOVEL ATTRACTS SERIOUS ATTENTION
By Kathryn Vukovljak
AN online store selling ethically produced yarn has been set up by knitters and mother/ daughter team Lee Scott and Stephanie Hamilton.
Lee, who teaches knitting classes at CIT, says she and Stephanie started Alt Yarn to source ethically produced yarn to sell in Australia.
“Stephanie and I have always had an interest in sustainability and building communities through educating women,” she says.
“We were finding it hard to find ethical, sustainable yarn that wasn’t made in a country with poor employment methods.
“We care about climate change and our carbon footprint, and with yarn it was hard to find out the chain of production.”
Lee says that she and Stephanie have done the research to ensure their products are sourced from ethical, eco-friendly and fair suppliers.
“A fair wage is so important and so we try to support local initiatives that empower women in remote regions of Tibet, Afghanistan and Uruguay,” she says.
Brands stocked by Alt Yarn include From The Mountain, which is a cashmere from Afghanistan and The Rocking Yak, a Tibetan yak down. They also have a range of NZ yarns, Misti Alpaca from Peru and yarn from Manos del Uruguay, a brand group of co-ops that provide jobs for women in Uruguay.
Lee says she taught Stephanie how to knit, just as she learned from her grandmother years ago.
“My mum and aunt also had a good tradition in
crafting, and did sample knitting for Villawool in their late teens,” she says.
“I think all mums teach knitting to their children, or would do if they knew how. Now that knitting has become popular again it’s great and it’s less traditional now, people are making crazy stuff and sharing on social media.”
National operations manager at Museums Australia, Lee says knitting for her is calming, like a repetitive mindful meditation that clears the mind.
“It’s also useful – it makes things, it’s not just lei-
sure, it’s productive. And I love working with luscious products making beautiful things,” she says.
With an interest in advanced knitting, Lee says she would like to one day hold specialty knitting classes.
“I like to push myself to try new things and techniques, and try to analyse how the stitches are made. I do a bit of design work too, and I love teaching it to others,” she says.
More information craftfair.com.au/wp/Canberra/ or altyarn.com
Cover: Author Anna Snoekstra. Story Page 7.
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THE Tara Costigan Foundation’s Tara’s Angels program will be the beneficiary of the Rotary Club of Canberra City’s Springtime Antiques and Collectables Fair, Albert Hall, on August 19-21. The fair, featuring 23 antique dealers from around Australia, opens at 6pm on the Friday and runs through until 4pm on Sunday. Entry is $8 (concession, $5 and accompanied children under 14, free).
Registrations have opened for teams to race at the 16th Dragons Abreast Canberra Regatta to be held on Lake Burley Griffin on October 8. No experience is needed as training is provided and organisers are promising participants will have “a ball” paddling to support breast cancer survivors. The event is run under the auspices of Dragon Boat ACT. More information at dragonsabreast. com.au and emails to daregatta2014@gmail.com
TICKETS for Fashfest, Canberra’s annual fashion event, are on sale through fashfest.com.au. Held at the Convention Centre between September 29 and October 1, the three nights feature six distinct shows of fashion from more than 40 designers by 140 models.
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Lib Leader Jeremy Hanson turned up the heat on the Barr-Rattenbury government with his promise to use the money they would spend on light rail for a new $395 million hospital.
WHO’D have thought it was so difficult?
The government has been collecting Census data since 1911 with barely a glitch. But in the whiz-bang world of cyberspace, suddenly it was a shemozzle. And worse, everyone blamed his or her favourite bogeyman… which is perfectly understandable for banter around the water cooler, but not on our own ABC and certainly not from Canberra bureau chief Greg Jennett who, without any attribution (much less evidence), blamed “the Chinese”.
It was not what we’ve come to expect from the likeable and thoroughly professional Jennett. In fact, according to the experts, it was the work of
home-grown privacy activists.
HE’S not alone in his anti-Chinese attitudes. Treasurer Scott Morrison vetoed the sale by his fellow Liberals in the NSW government of the state’s electricity poles and wires to a Chinese company on grounds of “national security”. Fearing, no doubt, that they would, um, well, who knows?
ON the other hand, Chinese swim fans undoubtedly choked the social networks of Aussie swimmer, Mack Horton who branded his rival Sun Yang a drug cheat before besting him in the 400 metres. And our Olympic officials, quite properly, backed him to the hilt.
STILL on the Olympics, it’s been a joy to watch our swimmers’ behaviour this time around. In London the team was dominated by a bunch of thugs. Today’s team is filled with thoughtful uni students with another string to their professional bows, a really
heart-warming development.
BY contrast, the revelations by “The Guardian” in leaked documents showing the scale of abuse and trauma inflicted on children in detention on Nauru were chilling.
They included seven reports of sexual assault of children, 59 of assault on children, 30 of self-harm involving children and 159 of threatened self-harm involving children.
PM Malcolm Turnbull simply repeated his mantra that their continued detention is vital to stop a new wave of boat people.
Honestly, Malcolm, is that really the Australian way?
CLOSER to home, Lib Leader Jeremy
Hanson turned up the heat on the BarrRattenbury government with his promise to use the money they would spend on light rail for a new $395 million hospital.
“This is a flagship election commitment to make our health system the envy of the nation,” he said.
In response, CM Andrew Barr promised daily, low-cost flights between Canberra and Melbourne that would inject $17 million and 100 jobs into the community.
STILL on election promises, Barr seems determined to back the renovation of Manuka Oval and surrounds despite protests from the heritage activists.
A community panel will make recommendations and the GWS proposal will remain in the mix.
“The masterplan will include parking and how the oval could be better connected with Manuka, Kingston, the Foreshore and Telopea Park,” he said. “Any development will need to be high quality and sympathetic with its surroundings.”
FINALLY, a surprise highlight of the Olympics was undoubtedly the Rugby Sevens.
Our girls were brilliant and deserved their gold. But nothing could compare with those Fijians who made a meal of the Brits in the men’s final. In fact, their warrior fans looked to be firing up the pots for a feast on the leftovers!
robert@robertmacklin.com
As the luxury passenger ship entered the harbour, a nautical miscalculation combined with a fearsome gale drove it against the cliffs near sheer rock-face of The Gap.
A MARITIME disaster of epic proportions, a book of poems washed up on shore and a sea-faring ghost story...
No, not a remake of the “Titanic” movie, but the story of the sinking of the “Dunbar”, wrecked off Sydney Heads in 1857 and still the single most dramatic civilian tragedy in Queanbeyan’s past.
August 20, 159 years ago, a dark and stormy night, was one of the worst on record for Sydney at the time.
In the all-encompassing gloom, as the luxury passenger ship entered the harbour, a nautical miscalculation combined with a fearsome gale drove it against the cliffs near sheer rock-face of The Gap.
The “Dunbar”, one of the largest – and finest – vessels of its era, was approaching the end of an otherwise uneventful 81-day journey from England, the manifest detailing 63 passengers and 59 crew, though figures vary, up to a total of 136.
Every man, woman and child on board perished that night, save one; able seaman James Johnson somehow clung to the rocks when flung upon them by the fierce seas.
In the light of the next morning, shocked Sydneysiders were greeted with detritus from the wreck – and corpses too, some mutilated by sharks: “the trunk of a female… the legs of a male… [a] bleached arm and extended hand”, even a woman tightly clutching a baby, all detailed in the accounts that proliferated shortly after the tragedy, so intense was the level of public interest.
One of the beached items was a book of poetry published in England by the Methodist missionary John Gale, who had arrived here three years earlier and who would earn repute as founder of “The Queanbeyan Age” and the “Father of Canberra” for lobbying to see the capital sited
in these parts. It’s believed this tome made its way back to Gale’s personal library.
Far less poetic though was that, while the loss of life for the still-fledgling colony was generally staggering (the Maritime Heritage Research Centre of NSW likens it to “six fully laden jumbo jets crashing into Botany Bay”), for the Queanbeyan district it was proportionally even more personal.
Two passengers were prominent locals: Thomas Hyacinth Macquoid, owner of Tuggeranong Homestead and son of the third Sheriff of NSW, and grazier William Severn.
For a town with a population of only around 500, as Queanbeyan had at that point, this would have been distressing enough, but the knock of death was even louder.
Abraham Meyers was a Queanbeyan businessman who was returning home on board the “Dunbar” after a visit to the mother country. With Abraham was his wife, Julia, their six children and two servants – their deaths marking one of the largest singular losses of the disaster.
Abraham’s was one of the few bodies ever recovered and he, along with other “remains” as the official inscription declares, was interred in the Dunbar Tomb at the Camperdown Cemetery.
And the ghost story? Well, it’s not the one based around the quaint cottage in Queanbeyan named for the “Dunbar” (located in Macquoid Street, no less) but rather concerns another passenger whose body was recovered
“The Dunbar” from the “Illustrated London News”, 1853. The Gap, the “Dunbar’s” wreck site.
and buried in a separate grave.
As the yarn goes, a ghostly grey figure is alleged to visit the final resting place of Capt John Steane, of the Royal Navy. The suggestion – and as with all the best legends, the historical evidence is hazy – is that it’s Mrs Hannah Watson, wife of the former harbour master of Port Jackson in which the ill-fated “Dunbar” was attempting to find respite from the storm that night.
Mrs Watson is buried across the way from Capt Steane and died only a matter of days before him. It’s purported she was linked to him in life, and now according to some, in death.
Nichole Overall is a Queanbeyanbased journalist, author and local historian.
ANU PhD student Hesah Aljarallah is looking for overweight people with sleep problems to volunteer for her study into the role of body temperature changes in explaining the sleep problems experienced by overweight people. The research has ethical approval of the ACT Human Research Ethics Committee and the ANU. Expressions of interest to hesah.aljarallah@anu.edu.au or call 0420 656132.
TONY Williams will entertain members of the Tuggeranong Evening VIEW Club as they celebrate the club’s 39th anniversary at the Viking Town Centre Club, Greenway, 6.30pm. on Wednesday, August 24. The cost of dinner is $26 and includes birthday cake. RSVP to tuggrerven@gmail.com or 6291 7716. Interested ladies and visitors are welcome.
DAVID Shaw, of the National Zoo and Aquarium, is the guest speaker at the next lunch meeting of the Weston Creek VIEW Club, at the Southern Cross Club, Woden, 11.30am-2.30pm, on Tuesday, September 6. Interested ladies and visitors are welcome. RSVP to 6154 7741 by Thursday, September 1.
THE annual Thai Food & Cultural Festival will be held at the Royal Thai embassy, 11 Empire Circuit, Yarralumla, 10.30am-5pm, on Sunday, September 11. It features Thai food, traditional dances and arts. Thai silk and handicrafts will be on sale. There will be a performance by Tachaya, winner of 14 gold medals from the World Championships of Performing Arts 2016.
FREYLA FERGUSON talks to a young Canberraborn author whose debut novel has been scripted for Universal Pictures
EVEN as a 10-year-old, Canberraborn author Anna Snoekstra’s desire to become a professional writer was as clear to her then as it is today.
“I was recently in Canberra helping mum go through some old boxes in the shed and found my autobiography that I wrote as a 10-year-old,” says Snoekstra, who grew up in Farrer.
“I wrote I was going to be a teacher and once I retired I would be a full-time writer – I was always quite realistic about wanting it.”
Now 28, Snoekstra’s debut novel is about to be released. The film rights to her psychological thriller, “Only Daughter” were sold to Universal Pictures and Working Title films. Its script has just been completed by respected screenwriter Erin Cressida Wilson – who also wrote the scripts for “Secretary” –starring Maggie Gyllenhaal – and the more recent film “The Girl on the Train”, based on the novel written by Paula Hawkins.
After reading “Only Daughter”, it’s easy to visualise the story on the big screen.
Set in Canberra, the book follows the disappearance of 16-year-old Rebecca Winter and 11 years later, the imposter who claims to be the missing teen.
It’s the fruition of years of hard work for Snoekstra, who moved to Melbourne as a 17-year-old to attend the University of Melbourne to study Creative Writing and Cinema followed by a post-graduate degree in screenwriting at RMIT.
“When I was 17 years old I thought I could do what I wanted to do and didn’t think about serious job prospects down the line,” she says.
“After I did my post grad in screenwriting, I started applying for all sorts of things and was not getting anywhere.”
Snoekstra found herself working in a cinema at night and spending
her days working on her writing.
“Every time I got rejected it made me more motivated about sending my writing out,” she says.
She says when the idea behind “Only Daughter” started forming, it never came into her head that it would never reach the page.
“It was definitely a light-bulb moment,” she says. “One night I couldn’t sleep. I had this vague idea and by the morning I had the story idea and the characters...
“It kept being in my head and I wasn’t getting anywhere with finding a job so I just decided to write it.”
Snoekstra said Canberra was the “perfect fit” for the setting for her chilling story.
“During the day, Canberra has this beautiful, safe, suburban feel,” she says. “At nighttime you can see how far apart everything really is, the lighting is not so great. You could be walking across a big oval and it will be totally empty.”
She says that Wilson’s film script has set the story in Arizona in the US.
Anna has been to LA twice since the rights of her novel were sold to Universal Pictures, meeting up with executives from some of the biggest film studios in the world, including Universal Pictures, Sony, Fox and Chernin Entertainment, who just wanted to learn more about her.
“It was kind of this weird mixture of very intimidating and also so surreal it was funny,” she says.
“It just got to this point where I walked into Universal and they have this massive Universal Pictures in this big gold lettering and every film that I’ve loved – their pictures are on the wall because they’ve made it – you just almost have to laugh because it’s just next level.
“Publishing happens so, so slowly, and film stuff just happens insanely quickly. So when the film agent called me and said he was interested, within two weeks, he’d
done the deal.”
Since signing her book deal, Snoekstra has continued to write, already penning her next novel “Dolls” set for release next year as well as dabbling in young adult fiction and picture books.
She’ll also be a guest co-producer on a new podcast called “Dead and Buried” – an exploration of historical true crimes in Melbourne.
She’s now focused on the book release of “Only Daughter” and looks forward to coming back to Canberra for the Canberra Writers Festival, where she’ll be launching the book to her home town.
RECENTLY, I spent a day sitting in the public gallery at the ACT Legislative Assembly to observe proceedings. Apart from the usual formalised rhetoric one expects in this type of political arena, I was taken aback and, frankly, quite shocked at the amount of immature bickering, name-calling and general non-productive banter that occurred between members.
The Speaker had to correct and give warnings multiple times for behavioral infractions. At other times, the Assembly descended into something that resembled a shouting match, as some members strived to outdo one another.
When the Chief Minister, of all people, started to accuse the Leader of the Opposition of being an “immoral person”, quite irrelevant and off-topic, I was convinced that this highly paid group of officialdom was little better than a pack of bickering brats in the playground. And they are the ones responsible for setting public policy and maintaining community standards. God help us all!
David Braybrooke, Point Piper, NSW
I QUOTE from a press report of August 1: “Announcements were made at the Greens’ election campaign last Sunday when Greens Leader Shane Rattenbury confirmed the glaring conflicts in key policy areas, particularly light rail, meant that there was almost no chance the party would consider forming government with the Liberals”.
As also reported on the same day and quoting Mr. Rattenbury again:
“It’s going to be amazing when it actually comes out, all this stuff has happened, which is so exciting and amazing but at the same time [“Only Daughter”] hasn’t actually been out there for the public to read and that’s what actually really counts – what people think about it,” she says.
Anna Snoekstra (visit annasnoekstra.com) will launch “Only Daughter” at the National Museum of Australia during the Canberra Writers Festival on Saturday, August 27 at 10am. Visit canberrawritersfestival.com.au/
“Changes to the freedom of information laws were one of the agreements in the power-sharing deal I signed with the then Chief Minister Katy Gallagher after the 2012 election and remains one of the few items still outstanding. I will now look for Liberal support, but the Liberals have not made up their minds yet...” It appears Mr Rattenbury is willing to have a bet each way, but only to his advantage. I do hope that he makes his allegiances clear well before the forthcoming election.
Cedric Bryant, Watson
AS an elderly, frail lady, I am sure I speak for many in being infuriated by columnist John Griffiths’ rant (“Why are old people so damn rude?”, CN, August 4). Nobody in my life aged under 65 behaves as he suggests. From my experience, people admire and treat me with respect. I appreciate the kind actions of so many people; enabling me to pursue an active and fulfilling life, and still try to make a contribution to the community. Back off, please, Mr Griffiths!
Wendy Huddleston (Mrs), Bruce
The chief statistician’s decision to close the ABS Census website on the night was a good call under the circumstances. It showed courage. He should be commended rather than pilloried.
HISTORY will be kind regarding the 2016 Census. It was so easy to knock the census effort, but chief statistician David Kalisch made the right call.
Following the crisis, completing the census was not difficult but the whingers are in full swing.
The knockers employed the wisdom of hindsight from the minute the Census site went down. Facebook was crowded: “predictable”; “should have left it to the experts”; “hopeless public servants”.
The Prime Minister’s frustration was palpable and understandable. If only every household in Australia had just sat down on the evening of Tuesday, August 9 and completed their form without interruption.
The knockers took aim at privacy. A few of the cross-bench senators made great mileage of being prepared to sacrifice a recurring $180 fine to make the point. Great politics. The best political lines have an element of truth. Pollies can, and do, ask for privacy on the electoral role and some other personal protections. The electoral commission has the information but protects it. The ABS has promised the same.
Malcolm Turnbull’s announcement of an inquiry was accompanied by a declaration that “heads will roll”. Sounds like a witch hunt rather than an inquiry! Perhaps he should be
looking in a mirror. A really open inquiry would examine the role of elected government in setting the groundwork.
Peter Martin, writing in the “Sydney Morning Herald”, has done a masterful exposé on the impact of cuts by consecutive governments. Small government, efficiency dividends, public service freezes; why would anyone think that these would not have an impact on outcomes at some time?
In a major way, the chickens have come home to roost. To have any credibility, the “Heads-WillRoll” inquiry will need to look at the impact of the cuts to the ABS and apply the lesson across the public service. It will need to examine the way the tender was let, the use of the private sector and particularly the role played by IBM who was paid nearly $10 million to build the system.
Chief statistician Kalisch closed the ABS Census website on the night. It was a good call under the circumstances. It showed courage. He should be commended rather than pilloried. Whether the website was being attacked or overloaded will eventually be determined. However, as the person at the helm, he took the decision to protect the credibility
of the Australian Census, to leave no-one in doubt that the priority was privacy. It was a promise he had personally made to the Australian community in the days leading to census night – and he backed it up in the crisis.
A couple of days were lost. Those of us who live and work in Canberra all know a few public servants who fit the clichéd “shiny bum”. But we also know how the vast, vast majority of public servants commit themselves to doing the best job they possibly can within the restrictions of being a public servant.
They constantly have the spectre of double-checking by auditors, the parameters set by their political masters, cuts to their budgets and the limitations
of public service practice. These should also be elements of any inquiry.
The wags had so much fun with the census night failure. Social media was flooded. Australians are good at laughing at themselves. However, we are also good at finding scapegoats. We can and should do better next time. Let’s hope for an open inquiry on how to achieve better outcomes rather than simply looking to lay blame.
Michael Moore was an independent member of the ACT Legisla tive Assembly (1989 to 2001)
IT happens every four years, thousands of the world’s greatest athletes move into my television set.
It also happens every four years that they inspire me to attempt an improvement in my always-average physical shape.
This year, the planets aligned for me to take on cycling in a more serious way. What could go wrong? I have a new bike bought a matter of months ago* that I’ve been riding about five kilometres to work most days, and I have great memories of tackling Canberra’s cycleways on a series of dodgy, secondhand bikes as a teenager.
So mere moments after the parade of nations at the Olympic Opening Ceremony had begun, I was out of the house and in the saddle. With a sports drink in the bottle-holder, I had a mental path plotted from Gungahlin to Weston Creek that meant minimal on-road riding – and lots of it.
Now, here’s a free plug: Canberra’s cycle paths are awesome. You don’t
have to be lycra-clad to use them, in most places you can journey at your own speed without fear of obstructing other path users, you won’t be continually checking over your right shoulder for cars or trucks and, in some places, you’ll find magnificent views that you can easily stop to appreciate. So if, like me, you haven’t used them in decades, give them another go.
Of course, like many good things, there’s a catch. The return journey.
The first half of my ride passed uneventfully, indeed easily. I’d been able to coast quite a bit of the way and my bike’s oh-so-clever trip computer told me I’d ridden 30 kilometres. The first time I’d ridden that far in one hit on a bike in decades. I had a coffee at Cooleman Court and a good look through some of the other shops there before heading home.
As the ride to Weston had taken me over Commonwealth Avenue
Bridge and along the southern shores of Lake Burley Griffin, for variety I decided to head home over Scrivener Dam, past the zoo and along Lady Denman Drive to Civic. Sure, it was a little bit longer that way, but what the heck, it was a nice day and I had plenty of battery power left on my electric bike. Or so I thought.
Here’s the rub (the more attentive reader may have seen this coming), using an electric-assist bike to ride a predominantly downhill path means you won’t use much of the battery; but when the return journey is largely uphill, you almost get to see the available power on the battery meter fall precipitously.
So, having passed the 50-kilometre mark, I started thinking about which street I could take to shorten my journey. All to no avail. With five kilometres to go, the battery gauge hit zero and I had to take on that last, almost entirely uphill,
But are we so very surprised?
By John Griffiths
Do... or do not. There is no try.”
GIVEN the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ historic oppression of Australia’s Jedi community, going so far as to threaten fines for followers of the path who dare to express their beliefs in the census, there was some irony in that organisation’s miserable failure to fulfill its core duties last week. Serious-looking men in very good suits have appeared before cameras and told a whole series of half-truths and obfuscations.
Many of those men have even tried to pretend a major failure has not occurred. But the Prime Minister wasn’t willing to go along with the farce so it’s safe now to call it out for what it was.
It’s a sad time for the country, for Canberra and for the public service.
We used to be a commonwealth that had serious, competent bureaucrats, capable of conducting things such as a census with at least the appearance of professionalism.
It might have been expensive, but there was a lot to be said for handing out forms and collecting them all back in.
There’s a lot of redundancy and resilience in the old-fashioned way of doing things. The best part is that even if a part of the system fails, if someone loses their form, if a census collector has a flat car battery or a family emergency, the failure occurs on a small scale and can be rectified.
But when you’ve set up your census as a huge series of online forms and the server can’t handle the load of the whole country sitting down after dinner on a Tuesday night to do their duty to the nation, then there’s nowhere to run or hide. There is only failure.
In hindsight it’s amazing that anyone thought this was going to work well.
A $270 million census process gave a piddly $9.7 million to IBM to run the online process that was supposed to take 65 per cent of the forms.
leg under my own power. Not a lot of fun when on legs that have already done three hours of pedalling, but throw in a couple of extra kilograms of battery and it’s hell on earth.
Oh well, at least I have four years to plan my next fitness fascination. Although there’s a Winter Olympics in 2018. I wonder where I can get a luge from...
*My previous column’s confession of not being able to contain myself at charity auctions and spending nearly $3000 was for the purchase of a shiny, new electricassist bike.
While I accept that collecting the census from a drover’s dog out the back of Boggabri is going to be more expensive than fetching them in Ainslie, it still seems more than passing strange that less than five per cent of the money went on 65 per cent of the census.
However, there is some good that can come out of this national humiliation.
The first is this should be a national wake-up call that endless cuts to the public service will, eventually, destroy the government’s ability to performs the tasks it sets itself.
The second is a timely reminder that just because reassuring people in expensive suits from major corporations can blather convincingly in a sales meeting doesn’t mean they can, or will, deliver their promises.
More importantly there is another area of public life where there’s a push on for a snazzy technical solution to replace good old pencil and paper. That area is in the electoral system.
We might, in a close election, have to wait a few days for a result. The not knowing might cause Malcolm Turnbull a sleepless night on his silk sheets in his pink Point Piper mansion.
But the system as we have it now is resistant to failure and tampering.
If the census debacle spares us handing our electoral process to the lowest-bidding IT multinational for a generation it will have served no small public good.
SUCH is the lot of local member; shadow assistant treasurer Andrew Leigh, pictured, will be at the opening of a budget hairdressing salon at Majura Park next month. The excitable crimpers wrongly describe the member for Fenner as the “member for Fraser”, the name of his north Canberra electorate that lapsed at last month’s election. Who’s to blame? The chain’s Sydneybased marketing when upbraided for this slight blamed “Minister” Leigh’s website. And lo, there it was... Andrew’s welcoming note as the member for Fraser and a click away, at “About Our Electorate”, is a long and illustrated history of the now defunct seat of Fraser.
TOO much information, bemoans a breakfastradio snout after ABC 666’s morning host Genevieve Jacobs’ digestive revelation to breakfast host Phil Clark during their usual 7.35am chit-chat (on Monday, July 25). Discussing the results of a new health survey on eating red meat, Ms Jacobs confessed that a high-quality Wagyu beef steak she
once consumed took her “several days to process”. Yep, from dinner plate to S-bend, several days.
“Just the information you need to hear over your breakfast muesli,” our snout snorted.
KILLJOY chiropractor Kathy Knight , of Chifley, wags a warning finger at those obsessed by the phenomenally popular reality game “Pokémon Go” in her latest patient newsletter.
“Walking with your head down and staring at your phone may be good for catching Pokémon, but it’s terrible for your spine!” she says.
It causes the condition called “text neck”.
Why? When a 5.5kg head is tilted forward, it “causes a ton of strain on your neck – just a 15-degree tilt causes its weight to double,” says Kathy. “To combat text neck, raise your device to eye level to allow for better support of your head.”
ANOTHER in our series of Great Potholes of Canberra. This week we visit the off ramp from Gungahlin Drive as it turns right on to Belconnen Way. Marvel at the way the gravelly repavementing masterfully fails to join up with the established surface and the hapless patching of some of the consequent potholes. Apart from the safety issue of drivers sliding dangerously towards the lights, does no one from City Services check the quality of this, presumably, sub-contracted work?
If you have a pet pothole that’s being neglected by the bureaucracy, email a photo or its location to cc@citynews.com.au
WHAT were the statistical chances… ACT numberplates 727 and 747 innocently parked beside each other? Our sharp-eyed inner-south snout snapped the duo and surrendered the photo to CC via an email titled “Seen at the airport”. We reckon the location’s too good to be true, but a good get wherever it was taken.
COLUMNIST John Griffiths managed to raise the ire of many polite, mature readers with his recent, gentle gerontophobic tickle titled “Why are old people so damn rude?”
While he continues to take a pasting from letter writers, CC couldn’t resist this marvellous riposte from reader Mr M McGregor, of Curtin, who writes:
Why are 43-year-olds so damn grumpy?
So many possibilities, John:
• Missed the cut-off date for the “Grumpy” column?
• Writer’s block – nothing more useful to write about?
• Had another run-in with your 66-year-old mother-in-law (who calls you “boy”)?
• Suffering from yet another “mid-life” crisis?
• Couldn’t find any Pokémon critters, while the oldies are GOing so well?
• Told to do something controversial to promote letters to the editor (and give Colliss Parrett a run for his money)?
• Rude comment from an oldie on the bus when you wouldn’t give up your “reserved for the infirm” seat? Yes, John, we can fully understand your problem. Seek help.
INDIA’S Independence Day, observed annually on August 15, commemorates the nation’s independence from the UK on that day in 1947.
India attained independence following an independence movement noted for largely non-violent resistance and civil disobedience
led by the Indian National Congress.
On August 15, 1947, Jawaharlal Nehru, who had become the first Prime Minister of India that day, raised the Indian national flag above the Lahore Gate of the Red Fort in Delhi.
On each subsequent Independence Day, the Prime Minister has raised the flag and given a speech.
INDIA’S high commissioner to Australia is Navdeep Suri, who joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1983 and has served in India’s diplomatic missions in Cairo, Damascus, Washington, Dar es Salaam and London and as India’s Consul General in Johannesburg.
He has also headed the West Africa and Public Diplomacy divisions at the Ministry of External Affairs.
He was India’s Ambassador to Egypt before coming to Australia.
His innovative use of social media in public diplomacy has received extensive recognition and two prestigious awards.
Mr. Suri also speaks Arabic and French, has a masters degree in economics and has written on India’s Africa policy, on public diplomacy and on the IT outsourcing industry.
His English translations of his grandfather Nanak Singh’s classic Punjabi novels have been published by Penguin as “The Watchmaker” and by Harper Collins as “A Life Incomplete”.
Mr. Suri is accompanied by his wife Mani who has a degree in economics and is now an accomplished graphic designer and potter. They have two daughters, a journalist and an avid environmentalist. Navdeep Suri.
Ajay Kumar Principal m 0401 536 362
INDIAN Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed his nation from the ramparts of Red Fort in Delhi to commemorate the 70th year of independence.
The Prime Minister hoisted the Indian flag at the Red Fort post before dignitaries from across the world, professionals and school students.
He paid homage to Mahatma Gandhi, Sardar Patel, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and countless people who sacrificed their lives so that Swarajya could be attained. He said that 125 crore (1.250 billion) Indians had now resolved to complete the journey from Swarajya to “Suraj.” He said the achievement of Suraj would require sacrifice, hard work, discipline, dedication and courage, and added that every institution from Panchayat to Parliament must work unitedly towards this goal.
He defined various attributes of Suraj, such as Sensitivity, Responsibility, Accountability, Transparency, Efficiency and Good Governance. He illustrated each of these attributes through examples of the working of the Union government, in areas such as online registration in major hospitals, promptness of income tax refunds, speeding up the process of passport delivery, faster company registrations and ending interviews for Group C and Group D positions in the government.
The Prime Minister mentioned how the speed of delivery in vital areas of governance had increased, giving examples such as rural roads construction, renewable energy generation capacity, laying of transmission lines and cooking-gas connections.
He spoke of the scale on which work had been accomplished in certain areas, such as opening of 21 crore (210 million) bank accounts under the Jan Dhan Yojana, construction of two crore (20 million) toilets in rural areas and electrification of 10,000 unelectrified villages in a short span of time.
On the subject of LED bulbs, the Prime Minister said their price had been brought down substantially to make them more accessible to the common man. He said that the widespread use of LED bulbs would result in huge saving of electricity.
He thanked the farmers for ensuring sufficient foodgrain production despite two successive droughts, saying the area under pulses cultivation has increased substantially this year.
He explained the integrated approach that the government had taken towards the agriculture sector, which included focus on soil health cards, irrigation, solar pumps, seeds, fertilisers and crop insurance.
The focus of the government had been to build a national identity. He said the government aimed to Reform; Perform; Transform and that the the government was more attentive to substance, rather than symbolism; integrated development rather than isolated development; and empowerment rather than entitlement.
The Prime Minister said the government had taken a holistic, integrated approach towards welfare of women, which included elements such as Beti-Bachao, Beti Padhao, Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana, and Ujjwala Yojana, to ensure the physical, educational and financial well-being of women.
In a strong message for social cohesion (Samaajik Ekta), the Prime Minister said every Indian must abide by the message of peace, oneness and brotherhood, given by great saints, philosophers and thinkers, such as Ramanujacharya, Mahatma Gandhi, and Babasaheb Ambedkar.
The Prime Minister strongly condemned those who attempted to glorify terrorists as martyrs. He said the world would appreciate India’s humanitarian approach and uniform condemnation of all terrorist activities.
The Prime Minister called upon the people to work with a common resolve to take the nation forward.
Photos by ANDREW FINCH
Visit Helen at her stand at the Hellenic Club for Hearing Awareness Week
… And go into the draw to WIN a Hamperesque hamper.
“Helping Canberra’s hearing community for 22 years”
Locally owned and operated.
Do you suffer from hearing loss?
Want to learn more about managing your hearing loss?
Join us at the ACT Deafness Resource Centre Hearing Awareness Expo.
WITH one in six Australians affected by hearing loss – an estimated 3.5 million people – hearing loss is on the rise, according to organisers of Hearing Awareness Week.
The number of Australians who are hearing impaired or deaf is increasing because of long-term exposure to excessive noise in the workplace, the environment and a result of an ageing population.
Hearing loss is projected to increase to one in every four Australians by 2050.
Hearing Awareness Week will include a range of promotional activities held across the country, including “silent” sports events, public exhibitions on hearing technologies, and hearing safety training by employers to alert people to the issues.
In Canberra, the DRC Hearing Awareness Week Expo is being held at the Hellenic Club, Woden on Wednesday, August 24, from 10am.
Keynote speakers at the event include Minister for Veterans and Seniors Dr Chris Bourke; Peter Cobel, of ACT Fire and Rescue; Kristen Sutcliffe and pianist Sally Greenaway, of Canberra Symphony Orchestra, and Dr William Vass, of The Hearing Clinic.
Community organisations and
Hearing Awareness Week gives us the opportunity to bring together the Hearing Industry under one roof. This allows you to conveniently check and discuss how service providers and equipment manufacturers can directly assist you with your hearing loss. Australian Hearing will be in attendance on the day, to provide FREE hearing screening tests but you must book first on 6232 3200.
members of the hearing industry will also be available to speak to.
Free hearing tests by Australian Hearing will also be available. Bookings are essential by calling 6232 3200.
Hearing loss in Australia is mainly mild in nature, but one third of people experience a loss that is moderate or severe to profound.
The prevalence of hearing loss rises from 1 per cent for people aged younger than 15 years to three in every four people over 70.
Hearing Awareness Week (August 25-31) aims to highlight the issues faced by people with hearing loss as the organiser, the Deafness Forum of Australia, continues to campaign for greater recognition for the issue.
“One of the main consequences of hearing loss is a reduced capacity to communicate,” they say.
“This can have a big impact on a person’s life chances through the reduced opportunity to get a good education, to gain competitive skills and employment. It can also put quite a strain on relationships.
“Many people cannot afford to buy and maintain their hearing devices. A big challenge is the life-long financial burdens of upgrading your devices and the neverending cost of battery replacements.”
Visit hearingawarenessweek.org.au
Expo’s a good time to explain, says Helen
HELEN King Hearing Solutions, which provides hearing aids to the Canberra region, will be one of the many exhibitors at this year’s DRC Hearing Awareness Week Expo.
“The 2016 Expo draws attention to issues and concerns of the deaf and hearing impaired,” says Helen, an accredited practitioner and qualified audiometrist.
Helen says Hearing Awareness Week is an opportunity to explain to all Australians the risks associated with longterm exposure to excessive noise, often in the workplace.
IT’S opportune during Hearing Awareness Week 2016, to remind all who have some degree of hearing impairment, of the ACT Deafness Resource Centre (DRC), says CEO Pete Halsey.
“If you’re experiencing hearing difficulties and don’t know where to turn, the DRC is where you should head to discuss what next – to help you consider what your options might be,” Pete says.
The DRC has been advising people with hearing impairment, their families, friends and carers as well as employers and exhibitors to the public, since 1986: it is now a registered provider of hearing supports under the NDIS program.
Pete says people can drop in and discuss a range of assistive listening/hearing devices such as adapted telephones, personal FM systems, baby cry alarms, flashing-light doorbells, batteries for hearing-aids and Cochlear implants, cochlear implant spares and shaker-wake alarm clocks and smoke alarms. DRC installs hearing induction loops in the workplace and the home to assist with daily management of hearing loss.
“Sponsored by the John James Foundation, the DRC looks to the hearing health of residents in aged-care facilities by servicing their hearing aids, by cleaning hearing-aid moulds and replacing batteries each visit,” he says.
Visit DRC at Level 1B, in the Grant Cameron Community Centre, 27 Mulley Street, Holder, actdrc.org.au or call 6287 4393 or TTY 6287 4394.
with a passion
AS one of the leaders in the field of hearing health, Dr William Vass treats patients with specialised, patient-centred care at his clinic Dr Vass Hearing. Backed with more than 37 years’ experience in the field, Dr Vass is Canberra’s only independent Doctor of Audiology and only one of 10 Doctors of Audiology in Australia.
“As technology advances, many people with hearing loss benefit from hearing aids and Cochlear implants,” she says.
“These innovations have made a positive difference in the way that people with hearing loss communicate.”
Helen King Hearing Solutions offer two-hour consultations on its range of hearing aids. Helen also offers complimentary hearing-aid trials.
Helen King Hearing Solutions, Unit 1/30, Bougainville Street, Manuka. Visit hkhearingsolutions.com.au or call 6162 4545.
The clinic’s services include diagnostic hearing assessments, hearing aids and fittings, custom hearing protection, swim plugs, hearing-aid repairs and cleaning, assisted-listening devices, diagnostic-hearing tests, batteries and accessories and a drop-in service for minor repairs.
Dr Vass has lectured around the world and in Australia on audiology and hearing loss, and will be one of the keynote speakers at this year’s DRC Hearing Awareness Week Expo.
Dr Vass Hearing Clinic, Suite 14, John James Medical Centre, 175 Strickland Crescent, Deakin. Visit hearingclinic.com.au or call 6282 2717.
By Helen Musa
THERE are few roles sillier and more sought-after in opera than that of the adolescent Cherubino in “The Marriage of Figaro” and Agnes Sarkis is over the moon at getting the part, describing it as a dream role.
It’s quite a coup for the Iranian-born mezzo-soprano to get this featured role in the touring production for Opera Australia by Michael Gow that’s being billed the “Downton Abbey” of opera, coming to the Canberra Theatre soon.
Cherubino is, we agree, the most ridiculous “pants” role of all, in an opera full of thwarted seductions, mistaken identities and upstairsdownstairs intrigue.
He’s the adolescent page to the philandering Count Almaviva. With hormones zipping through his teenage body, Cherubino has a huge crush on the mistreated Countess, so he jumps in and out of disguise, windows and people’s arms until the masterly Figaro and his wily girl Susannah unravel all the threads.
So why is it so usual for mezzos to play roles like Cherubino and the other big one, Octavian in Strauss’ “Der Rosenkavalier”?
Simple, Sarkis tells me, a 16-yearold boy’s voice is not manly and a man can’t play a 16-year-old, but physically, a mezzo soprano can.”
It’s the most nonsensical role in the opera but, as she says, “I’m having such great fun with this… I can’t get enough of him”.
But there’s depth in this character, too, who represents a youthful version of the lecherous Count who
finds that you can’t have your way in everything.
It’s a big career boost for Sarkis, who moved to Sydney in 2009 to further her operatic studies with Barry Ryan at Sydney Conservatorium, later winning the Joan Carden Award. She has since performed in the OA choruses of “Carmen” and “Madama Butterfly” on Sydney Harbour and in “La Bohème” and “Faust” at the Opera House.
Of mixed Armenian and Russian heritage, Sarkis went to Tehran to study engineering, then joined a classical choir, singing under the late maestro Mohammad Nouri. Encouraged by a former Austrian ambassador to Iran, who picked 10 top singers from 60 and told them, “you need to get out”, she sent tapes around the world and got a reply from Sydney.
“Barry Ryan wanted to be my teacher, everything worked out perfectly… Barry helped me a lot.”
In 2018, Sarkis tells me, there’s a new production of “Madama Butterfly” coming up and she’ll give it her best shot to play Cio Cio San’s faithful servant Suzuki, a prime mezzo role.
Meantime she’s having the time of her life.
“It’s amazing touring in Australia, to 39 different towns,” she says “Audiences are very supportive and they all want your autograph… I feel I’m on the right path.”
“The Marriage of Figaro”, Canberra Theatre, August 25-27. Bookings to canberratheatrecentre.com.au or 6275 2700.
By Helen Musa
THERE’S a rumour doing the rounds that “The Chaser’s Australia” is going to win the next Man Booker Prize, says “Chaser” team member Charles Firth.
That literary work is their excuse for appearing at the Canberra Writers Festival in late August.
It’s a bumper edition of their already popular magazine of the same name, and Firth says: “We plan to supplant ‘Wikipedia’, as we give you all the info you need about Australia.
“I hope it will become an official school textbook and an introductory text on citizenship.”
Intended as a “useful guide” to Australian culture, it boasts of featuring “fewer facts than an Andrew Bolt column”. The entire section on Aussie cuisine, for instance, is devoted to chicken salt.
In the culture section, “alcohol”, dealing with the mystique of “the shout” at the pub, they tell you how to ascertain whose shout it is... “you’re not an Australian if you don’t take part in the shout – four drinks minimum”.
And, yes, Firth says, the book does have a perspective on Canberra, and it’s not good.
While all the other states and territories command a fair bit of space, there’s just one page for Canberra, and it claims with joyous inaccuracy that our population is made up of 98 per cent public servants and two per cent visitors.
The show, staged by Firth and his “Chaser” colleague Mark Humphries is “a one-hour roadshow spectacular”.
They start off with their version of “The Lord’s Prayer” that goes: “Our Father, who art in Point Piper, Malcolm be thy name”. Then they look at the second verse of “Advance Australia Fair” that, they assert, any true blue Aussie must NOT know. There’s a quiz at the end.
“We’ll lift the tone of the Writers Festival,” Frith says.
None of the above fazes festival director, Vickii Cotter. The Canberra-born former Hawker College girl, who is also the director of the Noosa Jazz Festival and her own eventmanagement business has deliberately courted controversy in programming the festival, around Power, Politics, Passion – “That’s the
“Chaser” team member Charles Firth… “We plan to supplant ‘Wikipedia’, as we give you all the info you need about Australia.”
catchcry… it gives it a Canberra flavour and identity,” she says.
There will, she says, be three precincts and seven venues, Precinct 1 at the National Museum and the ANU, Precinct 2 at the National Library, the Portrait Gallery and the Museum of Australian Democracy and Precinct 3 in the National Press Club and the Hotel Realm.
Along with prolific local talent, high-profile guests, such as AC Grayling and “Life of Pi” author Yann Martel, play an essential part but getting them can be “a really hard part of establishing a new festival in the first year,” so the key has been a partnership with the Melbourne Writers Festival.
The variety is impressive. Look at these contrasting sessions: a conversation on modern masculinity between novelists Nick Earls and Marion Halligan; speechwriters Paul Ritchie, Michael Cooney and Mark Brandon-Baker; performances of “The Hansard Monologues: Age of Entitlement” by Katie Pollock and Paul Daley; a keynote address by journo Stan Grant and a lecture, “Progress in Troubled Times: Learning from ‘The Age of Genius’.”
“The Chaser’s Australia”, National Press Club, 3pm, Saturday, August 28, part of the Canberra Writers Festival, August 26-28. Bookings to ticketek.com or call 132 849. Full program at canberrawritersfestival.com.au
By Helen Musa
“EVOKING the intoxicating passion of late-night Buenos Aires,” they’re saying, “Tango Fire” heads to town for one performance only. Canberra Theatre Centre, 5pm, Sunday, August 21. Bookings to canberratheatrecentre. com.au or 6275 2700.
US drummer Gregg Bissonette will hold a drum clinic, with an expected crowd of close to 300 people, at The Basement, Belconnen, on August 24, followed by a rock drumming master class at host organisation, the Groove Warehouse on August 25. Bookings to info@ groovewarehouse.com.au
THOSE spirited gals at Feminartsy and the Fearless Initiative are presenting an evening of women in comedy, with stand-up performances from Juliet Moody, Cathy Crowley and Codie Bell. There will be a panel discussion about the status and experiences of, well, women in comedy. Part of the proceeds from the evening will go to supporting survivors of domestic violence. Gorman Arts Centre, main hall, 7pm, Thursday, August 25. Tickets at the door.
SUPA Productions is back on the boards with the musical “Funny Girl”, directed by Jarrad West, with Vanessa De Jager playing the part of Fanny Brice, the role that made Barbra Streisand famous. Hummable songs include “Don’t Rain on My Parade” and “People”. At The Q, Queanbeyan, August 19-September 3. Bookings to theq.ne.au or 6285 6290.
GUITAR duo, siblings Slava and Leonard Grigoryan, are back with their pigeonhole-defying performance of musical styles – classical, jazz, world, scored and improvised at The Street, 7.30pm, Saturday, August 27. Bookings to thestreet.org.au or 6243 1223.
GOOD news that Canberra baritone Don Bemrose plays the co-lead role of the young lover Tarka in the new film opera “Shaped by Trees”, created by Amsterdam-based composer Konstantin Koukias, with libretto by Biasino William Pezzimenti. Bemrose is of Gungarri descent and is considered to be Australia’s foremost male Aboriginal classical opera singer. Details at filmoperashapedbytrees.com
THE Brioso Quartet presents “Russian String Quartets”, music by Shostakovich and Glazunov, at Cooinda Hall, Kangara Waters Retirement Village, 2 Joy Cummings Place, Belconnen, at 2.15pm, Sunday, August 21. Bookings to trybooking.com
THE Tuggeranong Arts Centre’s Classical Twilight Concert Series has Canberra violinist extraordinaire Barbara Jane Gilby in the concert “Romance and Revolution”, 5pm-7pm, Sunday, August 21. “I love the mix of younger and more experienced performers, and not having to trek north of the lake to play,” Gilby says. Bookings to tuggeranongarts.com
Left: Ezequiel Lopez and Camila Alegre in “Tango Fire”.
“Bad
“Bad Moms” (MA)
HAVING thrown her husband out for committing online adultery, Amy (Mila Kunis), whose life since marriage and pregnant at age 20 revolves around an overworked, under-paid job, housekeeping, caring for two children and having not enough sex, decides she’s finished with conformity and wants to have fun.
In a bar, Amy meets Karla (Kathryn Hahn) who sets her on the path toward the good life. Then the pair meet oppressed mother-of-five Kiki (Kristen Bell). This trio forms the foundation for a movie equal to the best of bad American movies, a disconnected satire that tries to lampoon family values and behaviours in middle America.
Alas, the caricatures and situations created by co-writers/directors Jon Lucas and Scott Moore don’t match that worthy objective. Low credibility makes the film less funny ha-ha than it might have been. And by trying unsuccessfully to take its humour seriously (a not impossible task for skilled writers) it fails to be funny peculiar.
It doesn’t totally lack redeeming features. Kathryn Hahn is a blast, playing a visibly spectacular, pan-sexual play-girl. It has occasional one-liners that bite. And its vocabulary goes some distance toward liberating women from the strictures of “nice” without contributing much to plot.
As PTA president Gwendolyn, Christina Applegate is a fine villain, dominating every extracurricular activity on the school’s program, bullying parents, staff and children with sweetly venomous skill. We yearn to see her get a vigorous come-uppance. But no, it comes softly and compassionately. It falls to Amy to bring her down at the meeting to elect a new president with a policy speech that has the substance of marshmallow.
A coda of off-set interviews with the reallife moms of the principal actresses does little to assuage the film’s flabbiness.
At all cinemas
“Down Under” (MA)
AFTER using archive footage to set the scene for his film about the night after the Cronulla riots in December 2003, writer/director Abe Forsythe gets down to business with a fictional aftermath. Two carloads of young men start a one-night war in Sydney’s south-east, Aussies versus Lebs. The home side is defending its perceived exclusive right to the local beaches and women. The visiting side is claiming equal rights that the locals refuse to grant. At half time, the Aussie team visits a take-away to refuel with middle-eastern food.
“Down Under” is billed as a comedy. It’s hard to find much to laugh at when baseball bats are being swung, characters carry guns and knives, racist taunts fill the air and cars are used as weapons.
The acting’s impressive. The staging of a fast-moving narrative lit mainly by street lamps and car headlights is purposefully discomforting. The film’s humour is cynical, mordant, often bitter, pathetic. I left the cinema not having found a convincing reason for making it.
At Dendy
“Truman” (MA)
IN 2013, I gave three stars to “A Gun In Each Hand”, in which Spanish filmmaker Cesc Gay told a story about eight men dealing with identity crises. In “Truman”, Gay again tells about men in crisis, this time in a more focused plot.
Tomas (Javier Cámara) arrives unexpectedly from Canada to visit long-time friend Julian (Ricardo Darin) in Barcelona. Julian has just told his GP that he wants to deal with metastasising carcinoma in his own way, without medical attention or prolongation of life. The film follows the pair for four days, during which they reminisce about places, events and people. They travel to Amsterdam to see Julian’s student son. They meet old friends, including Julian’s ex-wife. Julian’s current wife Paula (Dolores Fonzi) is living apart. One of the film’s most perceptive moments takes place on the day Tomas is leaving to return. Tomas and Paula have spent the previous night together. Julian’s remark is a great, very short, one-liner that says much about all three people.
And why is it called “Truman”? Truman is Julian’s bull-mastiff. Julian’s dilemma is about finding someone suitable to care for him after Julian passes.
At Palace Electric
by Michael Whittaker
Soi Noodle Bar offers an explosion of modern Asian fusion dishes, with generous serves and super reasonable prices.
THE minute I put my foot in the door, I was impressed with the fitout, wowed by the beautiful, massive artwork featuring a gorgeous geisha girl who watches over you when you’re dining.
I’m talking about Soi Noodle Bar in Civic, which offers an explosion of modern Asian fusion dishes, with generous serves and super reasonable prices.
You can design your own Thai dish if you’d like – select from a range of noodles or rice, flavour it (mild, medium or hot), add spices or herbs (and nuts if you’re naughty) and then select a meat, vegetarian, seafood or a combo option ($15 to $19 depending on your choice).
While that sounded like fun, we opted to settle in and select from the delicious sounding dishes featured on the menu – the creation of Soi Noodle Bar’s skilled and very busy chefs who never seem to stop working it in the kitchen.
Mini dishes are on the menu, as are mains, noodles, ramen, curries and soups, and even a selection of salads, including soft shell, beef soba noodle, and green apple salad with battered fish ($14 or $15).
Our mini salmon teriyaki buns were divine (three pieces for $15). The salmon was fresh, the garlic mayo not too intense, the pickled
onion delightful and the teriyaki sauce brilliant. The buns were soft, but not chewy, and the plating of these little gems picturesque. Next up was Japanese Gyoza with citrus ponzu sauce (five pieces for $10). These little bundles of joy are fun to eat, especially when dipped into a tasty sauce. They came with mixed seafood and are pretty addictive.
We shared a main noodle dish –Pad Kee Mao. The thick rice noodles were stir-fried with mushrooms, baby corn, pumpkin, bamboo shoots, fresh chilli and fragrant Thai basil ($15). We opted for chicken and loved the kick of chilli (about medium level).
Since we were on a roll, back we went to the mini dish section to try out the Japanese fried chicken wings (just because we could). They
were beautifully cooked, with nice crunch on the outside. However, we should have tried them before the Pad Kee Mao because they ended up tasting a bit bland (no fault of the kitchen).
The décor at Soi Noodle Bar is bright, modern and fresh, with an inviting colour scheme and contemporary and attractive interior design features, including a lovely light wood. At the front is a long bar with stools, perfect if you enjoy dining and people watching at the same time. The décor and fitout is all pretty schmick.
Soi Noodle Bar is an inviting place and we’ll be back soon. Next time I’ll design my own dish. Why not?
Soi Noodle Bar is BYO only (corkage $6 a bottle). Dine in or take away. Shop EG08, Bunda Street. Call 6249 0888.
By Helen Musa
“LOCAL for Local” is the mantra of the new Cream Festival, created when local events solutions company Rockmann & Rush concluded we don’t engage enough of our own local Canberra talent.
All the selected “smoothest, freshest and tastiest” musical acts, whether now international, national or new, are Canberran, as is the artwork. Food and drink will be served up by local start-ups and the T-shirts screen-printed by local Sancho’s Dirty Laundry.
Cream organisers have partnered with the Noffs Foundation and
The Aston Shuffle.
Kulture Break to create opportunities for young people. It’s a day of music, as acts including The Aston Shuffle, (hosts of Triple J’s Friday night shuffle) Citizen Kay, Coda Conduct and Sondrio will perform,
along with up-and-coming acts such as Room and The Gypsy Scholars.
Cream Festival, Westside Acton Park, from noon, Saturday, August 27. Program at creamfestival.com.au
THE popularity of lavender has never waned with the Egyptians, Greeks and Romans, through the Middle Ages and on to the Elizabethans all using lavender for culinary and medicinal attributes – and its fragrance.
To this day lavender, still one of the world’s most popular plants, is used for perfume, mostly as the main base ingredient.
Confusingly, with crosses between different varieties, there are possibly thousands of lavender varieties. In Australia there are more than 300 varieties.
Plant Growers Australia has just announced two new varieties of French lavender for spring, bred at its Victorian nursery where 14 other lavenders have been developed over the last few years.
French lavenders are the earliest to flower in late winter to early spring, so now is a good time to plant them.
They are followed by the vast range of English lavenders flowering in summer and autumn, thus providing flowers for six months of the year.
PGA’s Lavandula pendunculata “Ghostly Princess” is its full title. The name aptly describes this lavender, especially when seen in flower through an early morning mist.
Lavandula stoechas “Winter Lace” is the second PGA release with the traditional rich purple/
violet flowers. It is a tight, compact lavender also flowering late winter into spring.
There is some confusion as to the ideal time to pick lavender flowers for making pot-pourri, lavender bags to keep out insect pests such as silver fish in clothes or having under the pillow for relief of headaches.
Often the flowers are picked when they are dry on the long stalks at the end of the season, by which time most of the fragrance has gone and even the bees have abandoned them.
The ideal time is just as the flowers are about to open when the fragrance is at its peak. But for anyone wanting to also enjoy the flowers, I suggest not only a combination of French and English lavenders, but plant several groups of each. Keep one group for the flowers and the other for cutting just as they come into flower. This offers the best of both worlds. Naturally, picking the flowers as they are about to open will take longer to dry.
DAYLIGHT arriving a few minutes earlier every day reminds us the official start of spring is just around the corner on September 1. Astronomically, the spring equinox is the start of spring, which occurs in Canberra on Friday, September
23, at 12.21am. But for most gardeners, October 1 is considered the start of spring.
• Repot neglected house pots.
• Finish pruning hydrangeas, taking out old wood and cutting back to three-four leaf joints from the base of the plant.
• At month’s end, start rejuvenating lawns by coring while the ground is soft, followed by a feed. Paul Howard does this work, call 6231 2920.
• A reminder, no pruning of deciduous trees between September 1 and the end of October when the sap is rising or they will bleed profusely.
• After pruning roses, spray with lime sulphur for scale insects and other pests.
Joanne Madeline Moore
Your week in the stars – Aug 22-28, 2016
ARIES (Mar 21 – Apr 20)
Get set for a frustrating week. Saturn and Neptune both stymy your motivation and energy levels, so you’ll feel like a car trying to move forwards with the handbrake on! You’ll also become confused about a current issue as too many options cloud your judgement. Pace yourself Rams. With patience and perseverance, you’ll eventually get ahead. On the weekend, spend time in the great outdoors having fun with your partner, best mate or favourite four-legged friend.
TAURUS (Apr 21 – May 20)
Don’t dismiss financial matters. The devil is definitely in the detail, so make sure you research, revise and re-do. Your business partner or spouse will appreciate your due diligence. When it comes to a cherished dream, you may suddenly question your goals or mistrust your motives. That’s okay. Some confusion is likely before you can recalibrate your plans. Positive aspects promise a playful weekend, as you connect with children or have fun with your creative inner child.
GEMINI (May 21 – June 21)
The week starts well when you travel, enrol in a new course of study, book a holiday or experience a communication breakthrough with a family member. Mercury and Jupiter also expand your domestic horizons. So – over the next few months you could buy real estate, move house, get a new housemate, or renovate your place to gain more living space. Don’t let a slap-dash approach trip you up though! You’ve got exciting plans but they’ll only work if you can get others onside.
CANCER (June 22 – July 22)
Your daily routine won’t run smoothly this week. Expect annoying delays and frequent disruptions, as Neptune confuses communication and Saturn raises frustration levels to high. The best approach for cranky Crabs is to cool down and re-calibrate. And don’t worry if you are full of niggling self-doubts. The Universe is urging you to confront your fears, question your motives and re-formulate your goals for the future. The more you interact with others, the better the weekend will be.
LEO (July 23 – Aug 22)
The focus is firmly on money matters including cost cutting, fundraising and financial investments. If you can get the balance right between being canny with cash and entrepreneurial with your ideas, then you could really go places. But a relationship with a child, teenager, parent, lover or friend may temporarily go backwards as you place difficult or unrealistic expectations on them. Try to step back and view the current situation from a much wider perspective.
VIRGO (Aug 23 – Sept 22)
With Mercury, Venus and Jupiter linking up in your sign, it’s time to be the vibrant and vivacious Virgo you were born to be. Confidence and positive thinking are the rocket fuel that will take you places. But don’t just focus on facts, figures and the minutiae of daily life. Strive to expand your creative horizons as you do your best to make the world a more beautiful place. Be inspired by birthday great Mother Teresa: “The world is hungry not only for food, but also for beauty.”
LIBRA (Sept 23 – Oct 23)
With four planets moving through your self-sabotage zone (including your power planet Venus) are you your own worst enemy at the moment? Is the only person undermining your efforts actually you? Stop trying to please everyone else and instead, start focusing on what really matters for your future happiness and success. So your motto for the coming week is from birthday great Florence Welch: “You should have high expectations for yourself, and others should come second.”
SCORPIO (Oct 24 – Nov 21)
Your peer group is set to expand as you become involved with a group, club or organisation involving like-minded souls. But Mars and Saturn stir up your financial zone so, if you are wasteful or extravagant, then you’ll pay the price further down the track. Neptune also confuses money matters, especially if your finances are linked with a friend or family member. The weekend is a wonderful time to party with pals, network like a pro, or boost your social media presence big time.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov 22 – Dec 21)
Sagittarius is the sign that rules horses. And this week Saturn tightens the reigns so – just when you want to charge full-steam ahead – you’ll promptly be pulled back into place. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as it teaches you to walk before you can run. Then your ruling planet Jupiter joins up with vivacious Venus, so expect a wonderfully social weekend. But it’s also important to balance fun, flirting and frivolity with some special solo time, where you can relax and reboot.
CAPRICORN (Dec 22 – Jan 19)
This week Saturn (your ruling planet) links up with mighty Mars, so you need to get the ratio right between being patient and being proactive; between showing restraint and taking action. A tricky balance! There’ll also be plenty of situations (and people) that ‘get your goat’ but trying to coerce or control others could lead to confusion, so step back and reassess the situation. And find appropriate ways to expel your frustrated energy via physical activity in the great outdoors.
AQUARIUS (Jan 20 – Feb 18)
Aquarians usually have many adventurous dreams and avant-garde schemes. But make sure you also have the discipline and persistence to make those aspirations an actual reality. If you are involved in a group dynamic this week, then expect challenges and confusion as people have conflicting agendas and head off in totally different directions. At least life won’t be boring! Plus avoid talking about a property sale or joint financial transaction until it’s signed, sealed and delivered.
PISCES (Feb 19 – Mar 20)
Teamwork and networking will get you where you want to go. Look for a special person you can collaborate with, on a project that’s close to your heart. Expect some hiccups and holdups along the way though! And be particularly careful what you ingest this week. With Mars squaring Neptune (on Friday) you’re sensitive constitution is more inclined to food allergies, medication mix-ups or adverse reactions to alcohol. So make sure you are sensible and pace yourself Pisces.
Copyright Joanne Madeline Moore 2016 Daily astrology updates at twitter.com/JoMadelineMoore
Across
1 Name one of the red suits of playing cards.
8 Which metallic element has the symbol Ti?
9 Name the PNG trail in which WWII Australian soldiers successfully thwarted the Japanese invasion.
10 What is a particular grape, especially in the dried form as a raisin?
11 What, in music, is the characteristic quality of sound produced by an instrument or voice?
12 Name a small, semi-aquatic salamander.
13 What is a feeling or outlook of dread, fear, etc?
16 What are short metrical compositions combining words and music?
19 Name the monetary unit of the Republic of South Africa.
21 Which term refers to standards of perfection?
22 What is a concluding part added to a literary work?
23 Name another word for stables or sheds for horses.
24 To once more come into view, is to do what?
25 Which word describes lords entitled to allegiance and service?
Down
2 Name the process by which the surface of the earth is worn away by water, winds, etc.
3 What is an oblique-angled equilateral parallelogram?
4 Name the pollen-bearing organ of a flower.
5 What are taps also known as?
6 Which term describes a made-up story?
7 What are objects superstitiously worn to ward off evil?
13 Which mathematical art uses letters and symbols?
14 Name the Liberal NSW premier from 1988 to 1992, Nicholas ...
15 What, in Australian history, was a mounted police officer called?
17 To perform a surgical task, is to do what?
18 Which racehorse won both the 1966 Melbourne and Caulfield cups?
20 The Australian rock singer, Mark Lizotte is known as what?
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