Sleep-walking Labor stumbles through JON STANHOPE
When good news takes a tumble CHRIS COLEMAN
Sally forth to break the rules
MICHAEL MOORE
Bermagui goes a little bit Latin HELEN MUSA
JESSIE LLOYD
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By Kathryn Vukovljak
“CITYNEWS” gardening guru Cedric Bryant has unwittingly found a new camellia cultivar growing in his Canberra backyard, which has been formally registered with Camellias Australia.
The cultivar was registered in December 2012 and Cedric chose the name “Priscilla Rose”, in memory of his sister who died of cancer in 2008.
The camellias will be available for sale at the Heritage Nursery in Yarralumla over the Easter weekend, April 15-16, with funds raised going to the Kids with Cancer Foundation.
“It was a chance camellia seedling that popped up in our nursery in Yass in 1988,” he says.
“After moving to Canberra in 1990, we planted it in our garden in Watson and it thrived over the years, with masses of pink flowers first appearing in 2008.”
Cedric says he thought no more about the camellia, until he decided to take the flowers to a Horticultural Society of Canberra meeting to get them identified.
“I showed the flowers to Barry di Salvia, who lived in Narrandera but was a guest speaker at the meeting and expert on camellias,” says Cedric.
“He asked me what it was, and I said I
was expecting him to tell me!”
Barry then came to see the plant in Cedric’s garden and there began a long process of observing and photographing the plant in all seasons.
“We had to ensure that there were at least five plants of the new variety in existence, that had flowered consistently for at least three or four years,” says Cedric.
Cedric says that part of the criteria for registering a new cultivar was that it had some characteristics not available in similar existing cultivars.
“It has a low-growing, spreading weeping habit – the plant is about a metre high and weeps to the ground,” he says.
“The camellia has a long, free flowering from mid-May to late July with rosepink, informal, semi-double flowers, which tend to stay on the bush after they are spent.
“The foliage is dark-green, growing in part shade to more sun.”
Cedric says the origin of the cultivar was possibly a chance seedling of Camellia hiemalis “Shishigashira”, with similarities such as its weeping habit and flower colour, but he says he can’t recall exactly where the original plant came from.
“Further research by the Camellia Society, over a period of more than two years in different seasons, concluded this was a new sasanqua-type camellia,” says Cedric.
“I named it after my sister because it first flowered the year she died, and I’m glad to be able to fundraise for kids with cancer through selling the camellias over Easter.”
Limited numbers of the new camellia will be available at the Heritage Nursery in Yarralumla over Easter (April 15-16). Proceeds from the sale will be donated to the Kids with Cancer Foundation at Westmead Hospital, Sydney.
Since 1993: Volume 23, Number 12
Arts & Entertainment 23-25
Cinema 25
Dining 25
Crossword 27
Gardening 26
Horoscopes 27
Letters 9
News 3-9
Politics 9
Socials 16-17
Sport 7
Cover: Musician Jessie Lloyd. Story Page 23.
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Chief Minister Andrew Barr’s pessimistic prediction for a new sports stadium may return to bite him.
A MAJOR trade union has endorsed an anti-corruption commission for the territory. The CFMEU’s ACT branch secretary Dean Hall says scrutiny of the “murky relationship” between property developers and the Liberal party would be a perfect place to begin a probe.
A parliamentary inquiry chaired by Greens leader Shane Rattenbury has released an options paper and called for public submissions.
While the anti-corruption body’s powers are debated, its name needs to be closely examined lest the acronym for the obvious, ICACT, draws ridicule.
A UNIQUE acquisition by the Australian War Memorial has added a feather to its already distinguished cap, but is expected to draw fire from
military museum purchased at auction, exclusive
rights to two images from a series of chilling shots, taken by Associated Press photographer Richard Drew, some of which depict people jumping to their deaths from the World Trade Centre on September 11, 2001.
Known as the “falling man” series, the photos were deemed too graphic for general release in the years since the 9/11 terror attacks but AWM director Brendan Nelson says “failing to recognise their significance is to dishonour the 42 Australians who died in Afghanistan and those diggers who continue to fight terrorism”. The images go on display next month.
CHIEF Minister Andrew Barr’s pessimistic prediction for a new sports stadium may return to bite him. With the Brumbies now seemingly tethered to the capital and rumours circulating of a consortium ready to back a Canberra-based “A” League outfit, Barr’s no-”A”-League-no-Brumbies-nostadium stance is on shaky ground. Though ever the savvy political operator, Barr clearly has a plan B.
A makeover at Bruce, with some minimal moving of goalposts, could provide a practical
and politically satisfying solution. But those with a long memory would know a “coat of paint” at Bruce can be political suicide.
A REAL live princess, Princess Haya Bint Al Hussein, recently dropped in on patients and staff at Canberra’s Centenary Hospital for Women and Children.
The princess, wife of the ruler of Dubai Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, was in Australia to watch her team play the Socceroos in a World Cup
qualifier in Sydney. Enchanting the young patients, staff and families, the princess was clearly impressed with the facility’s “atmosphere and energy” and was keen to develop an ongoing relationship.
STILL on royalty, our newly crowned town crier Joseph McGrail-Bateup has had a royal seal, of sorts, bestowed on him by the Queen.
McGrail-Bateup posted royal correspondence, signed by a minion, on Facebook in
which lady-in-waiting Phillipa writes, HRH “was interested to learn of your appointment as town crier for Canberra and wishes you all the very best”. Just goes to show how far a hyphenated moniker will get one.
THE local arts community is not sure if Minister for Arts Gordon Ramsay is demonstrating his creative side or simply employing his creative accounting talents. Ramsay is boasting the arts community will receive its “single biggest funding increase since self government” but won’t reveal “the precise amount which is subject to Budget consideration”. Artists are demanding a lift in funding of $500,000 in the Budget.
CELEBRATIONS and confusion reigned in the capital with a win for our water and an iconic watering hole mysteriously closing.
The Best Tap Water competition saw our drop narrowly nudge out the Hastings (Port Macquarie) to take the trophy. Judges of the blind test competition said: “Canberra’s water does not have an underlying chemical taste and was almost sweet tasting more like pure water.”
However, the sudden closure of a live music venue in Civic has left a bad taste in the mouths of a few. A notice pinned to the door of the Phoenix Pub in the Sydney Building suggests to some that time may have been called on the East Row pub. The note stated: “Due to unforeseen circumstances the pub is shut until further notice. Hang in there, see you on the other side.”
RACHEL Stephen-Smith, the Minister for Community Services, is to be commended for reversing a decision the ACT government had taken to allow SHOUT (Self Help Organisations United Together) to wither on the vine and ultimately close.
The closure of SHOUT would have had a major negative impact on the capacity of a large number of vital community organisations, which support thousands of vulnerable people in Canberra, to continue to do so.
Politics can be a tough and unforgiving business and, oddly, one of the toughest things to do as a minister is to change a decision, even in the face of community concern about its integrity or merit. It might be assumed that it’s a simple thing to do but the reality is that, in light of how politics is played in Australia, it is not – and Ms Stephen-Smith’s actions should be looked at in this context
To be fair to the minister, it should also be acknowledged that she has not had the portfolio for that long and that she inherited the SHOUT funding fiasco.
On the subject of the Legislative Assembly’s response to the threat to SHOUT’s existence, shadow minister Elizabeth Lee has been a strong and effective advocate for SHOUT. Ms Lee is clearly very intelligent as well as
It has not gone unnoticed that ACTCOSS chose, despite requests to do so, to not publicly support SHOUT in its dark hour of need.
articulate and energetic. Through her engagement with this issue she has been enabled to give a strong hint of her potential to be a very effective and successful politician.
However, at the heart of the SHOUT issue is the way in which the NDIS is being managed and the apparently irresistible opportunity it presents governments to play the blame game, cost shift and delegate or (in the case of SHOUT) abrogate responsibility for maintaining basic community services.
I have no doubt that the ALP and Greens members, in retrospect, must be questioning the political wisdom of facilitating the demise of organisations such as Friends of Brain Injured Children, Bosom Buddies and the ACT Down Syndrome Association. The more important question they should ask is how it ever came to this. What were the administrative arrangements and policy settings that led the government to sleep walk into a scenario that risked the viability and future of dozens of irreplaceable Canberra community organisations?
The minister’s decision has been received with relief by SHOUT. However, the devil is always in the detail and if SHOUT harbours a single major concern about the minister’s announcement it is the lack of detail. SHOUT has nevertheless agreed that it will accept the minister’s personal assurances that SHOUT will be assisted to continue to provide its invaluable services and will work with her in good faith to achieve that outcome.
A further concern is the role the government has indicated it wishes ACTCOSS to play in working with SHOUT to develop a plan for the future.
It has not gone unnoticed that ACTCOSS chose, despite requests to do so, to not publicly support SHOUT in its dark hour of need. SHOUT is a fee-paying member of ACTCOSS and it had every right to expect that ACTCOSS would be its loudest and fiercest supporter.
The mystery behind ACTCOSS’ coyness has the same element as that faced by Sherlock Holmes while investigating the disappearance of the famous racehorse Silver Blaze.
During the investigation Detective Gregory, of Scotland Yard, has the following conversation with Sherlock: Gregory: “Is there any other point which you would wish to draw to my attention?”
Holmes: “To the curious incident of the dog in the night-time.”
Gregory: “The dog did nothing in the night-time”
Holmes: “That was the curious incident”.
Jon Stanhope was Chief Minister from 2001 to 2011 and represented Ginninderra for the Labor Party from 1998. He is the only Chief Minister to have governed with a majority in the Assembly. He is the patron of SHOUT Inc.
LESLIE Henshaw, of Next Hair, Braddon, has been recognised at the Australian Hair Industry Awards as Salon Stylist of the Year. Well-known in the hair industry for his education skills, he has just self-published “The Hair Colour Bible”, which explains and illustrates colour theory and techniques for 20 innovative looks. “Colour is so much more. It’s a great confidence booster for a client, who walks out of the salon with their head held high and feeling like a brand new person,” says Leslie.
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By Kathryn Vukovljak
FASHION designer Yumi
Morrissey, of local label Zilpah Tart, inspired by the bright lights of Canberra, has created a new collection based on national institutions lit up at night.
“So many of the national institutions are permanently lit up after dark, and they look so beautiful and unexpected,” she says.
The collection, called Illuminate, includes patterns made with photos taken at Questacon, the National Film and Sound Archive and the National Museum of Australia.
“My husband and I drove around at night so I could get the images, with our three-year-old asleep in the back!” she says.
There are three fabric prints in the Illuminate collection – the Pathway dress in the National Museum print, which Yumi says is more obviously the museum with the orange loop, the Radiance dress in the coloured light print from the National Film and Sound Archive, and the Pillar dress in lucent blue from the torsional wave at Questacon.
Yumi says the label offers a variety of styles, including a T-shirt style dress and a crossover style in every collection, as well as skirts and scarves.
“None of the patterns are very obviously Canberra and I usually have to point it out to people,” she says.
“Once they see it, they love it and I
like being able to show the beautiful things in Canberra in my designs.”
Yumi says she gets a lot of positive feedback to the dresses and that people say they like the connection to both the place and the designer.
“I’ve heard from politicians that they love wearing the dresses, because it becomes a talking point for them at events,” she says.
“Canberra gets dogged by outsiders but I love it – I was born in Calvary hospital and grew up here.”
Yumi completed her bachelor of design in 2007, when she says fashion design was more of a hobby in the background of her public service job.
“I quit my job after my son Asher was born in 2013, and I wanted to work
on Zilpah Tart full time,” she says.
“It was great, but when I created my first collection I couldn’t quite find the fabric I was after.
“I felt what I used compromised my work and my design aesthetic, and unsurprisingly it didn’t sell well.”
Yumi says that when she was working on her second collection, she had started digital printing and was able to create exactly what she was looking for.
Yumi, who has exhibited at Fashfest, says she tweaks some prints more than others by flipping, repeating the pattern or grey-scaling the background to make the colours pop.
Previous collections have included a sunset print, Civic fountain, autumn foliage, hot air balloons and the wind farm.
“The wind farm print was particularly difficult, and it was hard to make
it look good on a dress, but I made it more abstract with the exposure and filters and it worked,” she says.
“The print was actually bought for the Innovations Hub, which was exciting as I’d never seen it as an artwork but it looked great.
“Some are small prints with different pattern repeats and I enjoy working in photoshop until I create a design I’m happy with.”
Thinking about how the print falls on the body is really important, Yumi says.
“Straight lines and geometric designs can be hard, so I have to consider scale, the width of the print and where the bodice will sit,” she says.
“I love creating the prints and meeting my customers face to face, and they all say they get so many compliments when they wear the dresses.
“The dresses are comfortable, don’t need ironing and are easy care. I was never bothered about comfort until I had my young son and was constantly getting up and down from the floor! Now it’s a really important consideration.”
Zilpah Tart garments are available at zilpahtart.com.au, at Cardif Collective, Level 2, Cusack Centre, 27 Eyre Street, Kingston, and the Handmade Markets.
IF the proposed indoor sports stadium in Civic is built within my commentating lifetime, I will be immensely surprised.
Originally the timeline was set at around 2020 with the indoor facility to replace the ageing Canberra Stadium. That was before a number of financial hurdles such as the ACT government’s funding of the Mr Fluffy program impacted on the ability to raise enough funds to build the facility within that time frame.
Most in the community appeared to accept that reasoning with a general desire to ensure the asbestos issue was resolved before an indoor stadium was even contemplated.
Fair enough, but in the past fortnight another barrier has appeared in the form of the financial viability of the stadium.
Originally the plan for the indoor facility was to have the Brumbies and the Raiders play home games at the ground with businesses located within the stadium and operating all year round, not just on match days.
The stadium would also host concerts and be a venue for other sports on an ad hoc basis. In the wake of the uncertainty over the Brumbies’ future, Chief Minister Andrew Barr has suggested the stadium needed three tenants to make it financially viable, which means we’d need an “A” League
Putting aside the speculation surrounding the Brumbies, the prospect of Canberra securing an ‘A’ League licence in the foreseeable future appears remote.
team to make it worthwhile.
Putting aside the speculation surrounding the Brumbies, the prospect of Canberra securing an “A” League licence in the foreseeable future appears remote.
Does this new development place the whole proposal at risk, even if the Brumbies remain part of Super Rugby?
It would appear so.
Originally it was thought the government needed to attract offshore funding to get the proposal off the ground, but little has been revealed on that front. The cost is around $300 million, but that estimate will blow out the longer the project is delayed.
The main comparison with the proposed Canberra Indoor Stadium is the Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin. Completed in 2011 at a cost of around $NZ224 million in time for the Rugby World Cup, the stadium has a capacity of 30,000 for sporting events and 36,000 for concerts.
It has two tenants, the Highlanders Super Rugby side playing up to 10 games a season, if they make the finals, and the Southern United Football team, which plays in the NZ Championship.
The stadium has also hosted the occasional rugby league game and a rodeo.
If the Brumbies remain in the competition they could also play up to nine games this season if they make the finals, the Raiders play 12 home games at Canberra Stadium this season with the possibility of another game if they make the finals. There will also be a Rugby Union test later this year and the Rugby League test as well as three games in the Rugby League World Cup, two “A” League soccer games and one “W” League semi-final.
That brings the potential number of major sporting events at Canberra Stadium this year to 29, if you count the “A” League game between Adelaide United and the Central Coast Mariners and the “W” League semi-final as one event. Add Keith Urban to the mix and there is plenty of activity at the stadium.
There appears to be enough sporting content to make the new indoor stadium viable from a sporting event
point of view. What is needed to make it financially viable, I would have thought, is the ability to attract major concerts and events, such as trade fairs, to the stadium as well as having businesses use the facility 365 days of the year.
Businesses associated with sport would be a natural fit, as would bars and restaurants. The stadium would also have the ability to generate life into that area of Civic.
Another way of adding to the viability would be to entice Canberra United to play “W” League home games at the stadium.
With uncertainty over the AIS Arena, the indoor stadium could fill that potential void with concerts, gala balls and one-off sporting events.
I concede the last thing Canberra needs is a white-elephant sports stadium, but if the Brumbies survive, there’s no reason for the proposed stadium not to go ahead.
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AUTHOR of the perennially popular book “Canberra Secrets” Marg Wade has a new project “to satisfy the insatiable coffee desires of locals and visitors”. She is hosting monthly, three-hour Café Culture Walking Tours around Civic starting on April 7 and 8. “These eclectic walks include a coffee cupping session or a sensory scent experience, along with coffee tastings and delicious treats, all while learning about the coffee process, discovering a variety of Canberra’s popular and lesser-known cafes past and present, and other fascinating café and local establishment facts,” she says. The tour includes a light lunch. Bookings tocanberrasecrets.com.au
CANBERRA’S Bean!Roasters by Cosmorex has won Champion Australian Roaster for the second year running in the 2017 Australian International Coffee Awards (AICA). Cosmorex also won Champion Espresso for its Panama Red Bourbon.
Napier Close, Deakin ACT 2600 www.personaleyes.com.au
You are invited to participate and challenge yourself in the first ever Batemans Bay Paddle Challenge on the beautiful Clyde River.
• 26km Bridge Plaza Open & Masters Marathon
• Half marathon • Youth race • Family paddle events
• Great cash prizes are on offer.
Check-in is on Friday, May 5 with pop up food stalls, music and bonfire. Make a weekend of it on the unspoilt South Coast –limited places.
I WRITE this week’s missive with a strange mix of feelings after a week with a real juxtaposition of many things radio broadcasting and the media is all about.
I’ve been involved in emergency broadcasting many times during my career, so I know what my colleagues across the media were going through as they either headed north to bring stories of Cyclone Debbie and the subsequent flooding further south to you. And again most of them did a great job.
Sure, there were a few headline-seekers who just had to head outside into the tempest or wade into the floodwaters, often at the same time saying: “Authorities say you should stay indoors…”
More locally, the team at 2CC was on board for the Cancer Support Group Eden Monaro’s own Convoy for Cancer Families. And it was amazing – having talked about the event for months – to hear the dollars rolling in during the lead truck auction and then to ride in the Convoy itself was a great experience.
There was more excitement when, after multiple interviews on my radio show (and it must be said, some other media outlets), the ACT government decided it would, somewhat belatedly, come to the party for the wonderful people at SHOUT (Self Help Organisations United Together) with funding. Having spoken to so many people about the work SHOUT does and knowing it wouldn’t qualify under the National Disability Insurance Scheme, it was very much a warm feeling to know that the sustained pressure had seemingly made a difference.
But in amongst those moments that had made me happy to be a member of the media, as last week drew to a close, there was a moment of sadness. On my “Canberra Live” program last Thursday, we’d been following the progress of Belgian cyclist Kristof Allegaert who was the lead rider in the remarkable bicycle race from Fremantle to Sydney.
It’s always difficult to find the right way to approach a story when it turns from a celebration to a genuine tragedy.
He came through Canberra while the program was on air, and he had opened up a sizeable lead over his closest rival, Britain’s Mike Hall. The sadness came the next morning, when the news came through that Hall had lost his life in an accident south of Royalla.
It’s always difficult to find the right way to approach a story when it turns from a celebration to a genuine tragedy; a set of circumstances that give pause as you think back over what you’ve said the previous day. When a story has been lighthearted and you’ve had a bit of fun with it, when things go wrong, you wonder if you actually said something at the time that was okay, but in hindsight might be regarded as out of line. When that happens, it can be very difficult to continue coverage in the right vein. That wasn’t the case this time, but I can recall several times it’s happened, to colleagues and to me, in the past. “Awkward” doesn’t go far enough in those circumstances.
My apologies if this week’s words have come across as a little self-indulgent, but I’m often asked what my job’s like and I feel these events highlight the roller-coaster ride we’re on in the media when we’re bringing stories to you.
Chris Coleman presents “Canberra Live”, 3pm-6pm weekdays on 2CC.
TIM Bavinton, in his article “Responsibility to make schools safer” (CN, March 30), says “(A) school should be (a) welcoming, safe and inclusive place for all students, families and staff”. Quite so. They are not made safer by a poorly conceived class program “All of us” (now on the Student Wellbeing Hub website), which broadcasts websites to students with direct links to sex sites and activist sites. A link in the Student Wellbeing Hub to ACON, which provided a list of “sex-on-premises venues”, was exposed in October, months after the initial exposure of many links in “All of us” in February 2016, in the Federal Parliament, by George Christensen. This is not a duty of care.
Further, schools are not made safer by promoting, through this program, a toilet and change room policy for the transgendered students and teachers, based purely on their preference. Having biological males in female toilets and change rooms, and vice versa, launches schools into new territory, and potentially sets up students and teachers for abusive situations. It may not be the first preference of the trans people, but they could be accommodated by separate facilities, and that would also respect the rights of straight people.
Tim Bavinton acknowledges that there may be genuine concerns, but he thinks they are out of proportion to the real issues. This reminds me that some years back, an acceptable response of a parent to a child complaining that someone had inappropriately touched them, was to dismiss them saying they were blowing it up out of proportion.
No, Tim, there are deeper issues at stake here. By placing the rights of LGBT students above straight students, you are voiding fundamental principles of democracy. The “Safe” Schools Coalition program sets schools on a potentially dangerous course.
Arthur Connor via email
SENATOR Zed Seselja stood smiling behind the Prime Minister at a press conference because it was held in Canberra and Zed represents the Liberal Party in Canberra, not because of some hidden motive as columnist Mike Welsh would imply (Seven Days, CN, March 9).
PM Malcolm Turnbull would have done well to listen to Tony Abbott rather than blaming him for recent poor polling.
Abbott was simply reflecting what former Liberal voters have been telling their parliamentary representatives. Some MPs have been listening and have banded together, not to be “Deplorable” and reinstate Abbott, but in order to voice what their constituents have been telling them as to why they are no longer voting Liberal. This dissatisfaction is spilling over to all Liberals, even in state elections. Conservative issues aside, many traditional Liberal voters are also disaffected financially. Pensioners feel betrayed. They are branded as the cause of Australia’s economic problems.
However, it now costs $500,000 to enter nursing homes which have become user pay. Because some try to hang on to $500,000 in case one partner has to go into a nursing home, they are now punished at a rate of 7 per cent. It is impossible to obtain 7 per cent interest on their $500,000 in Australia’s current economic environment.
Contractors are also concerned at the rising retirement age. Their work involves physical work, which leads to arthritis and poor bone structure that causes a lot of pain when they work. They find it too difficult to work to 67 years of age.
Many people believe hard work builds businesses, not tax cuts as Turnbull would have Australians believe, and older people resent the fact they have to suffer while businesses laugh all the way to the bank.
Rewa Bate, Coombs
SIX-year-old Yousra is the same age as the war in Syria. All she has known is war and, when my colleagues met her, she was playing hopscotch among the bombed-out buildings of Aleppo.
War cannot kill the imagination of a child. But it’s depriving millions of children like Yousra of a childhood.
This past week marks an unfortunate anniversary whereby the people of Syria have now endured an armed conflict that’s lasted longer than World War II. Imagine what it’s like for Yousra and her friends to live through 2190 days of war.
All kids deserve a childhood and a chance for a bright future. We can all do something to make that possible, whether it’s giving to the Syria appeal or just being kind to those who have fled the war. Syria is now everyone’s crisis and every one of us can help. Find out how at redcross.org.au
Peter Walton, Australian Red Cross
WHEN the new secretary of the Australian Council of Trade Unions, Sally McManus, defended breaking laws if they were “unfair”, she was shot down by the Turnbull government and the Prime Minister in particular.
On face value, having a community leader encouraging others to break the law seems reprehensible. However, respect for the rule of law is not quite so straightforward.
The thinking of Mr Turnbull, a lawyer himself, is reinforced by the International Bar Association that argues: “The Rule of Law is the foundation of a civilised society. It establishes a transparent process accessible and equal to all. It ensures adherence to principles that both liberate and protect”.
This provides a pretty strong argument for the government to corner the unions.
After all, the government established the Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption specifically to find where the trade unions have been operating outside of the law and in a manner that undermined their membership.
It was a thinly veiled attack on the trade union movement with the clear purpose of undermining their power and support for the Labor Party.
When McManus was roundly attacked by the Prime Minister, he revelled in telling Parliament that “she has said you only have to obey the rule of law if you like it. That is the law for unions. Imagine where we would be if that was the law for everyone. People would only pay tax if they liked it; they would only obey the speed limit if they liked”.
A DIGITAL print of former ABC news presenter Richard Morecroft, now a well-known landscape photographer, with his partner, the painter Alison Mackay, has won the Portrait Gallery’s National Photographic Portrait Prize 2017. It was taken by Sydney portrait photographer Gary Grealy.
BELL Shakespeare is hosting “Power Play”, a networking breakfast including a panel discussion featuring Kate Mulvany, currently performing the lead role in Bell Shakespeare’s “Richard 3” and Roseanne Brand, partner at PwC consulting (Canberra). At Hotel Hotel, 7.30am, Wednesday, April 12. Tickets are $45 via eventbrite.com.au
NGUNAWAL elder Wally Bell will speak about keeping alive cultural and spiritual elements when dealing with a very scientific approach to archaeology on his country at a free lecture organised by the Canberra Archaeological Society and the Friends of the Museum, 6pm-8pm on Wednesday, April 19. Bookings to friendscaslectures.eventbrite.com.au
Peaceful, non-violent and deliberate civil disobedience has an important part to play in advanced democracies.
If only the rule of law was as black and white as the Prime Minister and the International Bar Association would have us believe.
It seems McManus had in mind unfair laws that penalise those who are most vulnerable. She was supported by the ACTU President Ged Kearney who pointed out how restrictive right-to-strike laws were recently flouted by lowly paid childcare workers to emphasise the nature of their pay claim. There are many, much better examples of bad laws that have been and, with the wisdom of hindsight, should have been defied.
On May 1, 1997, Tasmania became the final Australian jurisdiction to repeal its antihomosexuality laws, passing the Tasmanian Legislative Council by one vote. Throughout Australia such laws had been defied by many loving couples as antiquated, inappropriate and unfair. International jurist and then High Court judge Michael Kirby revealed in his autobiography that he was one of the people who, for love, contravened this law.
Former Greens Senator Bob Brown not only flouted the same law but has argued recently of the importance of resisting other unfair and inappropriate laws. In his environmental campaign to prevent the
destruction by damming of the Franklin River, he and about another 1500 people were arrested and 500 of them jailed.
Writing in the “Saturday Paper”, Brown says: “Implying that civil disobedience against bad laws has no place at all takes our country closer to autocracy than most citizens want to go… making a stand against what a citizen perceives as a bad law is an equal prerogative across the spectrum of a democratic society”.
Peaceful, non-violent and deliberate civil disobedience has an important part to play in advanced democracies.
The rule of law does play a key role in a civilised society. However, citizens not only have a right but also a responsibility to challenge laws that are unjust or unfair. As Brown points out such defiance of unfair laws “has a history of curbing the power of the powerful”.
Michael Moore was an independent member of the ACT Legislative Assembly (1989 to 2001).
GUNGAHLIN is an Aboriginal word meaning “little rocky hill”.
Originally, it was part of the 1957 plan for future development in the ACT and in 1991 it was launched as Canberra’s fourth “town”. At the time, the population was just 389 people. Now, home to more than 66,000 residents, the Gungahlin region offers natural beauty, plenty of open space and new-style houses as well as thriving business precincts and shopping areas.
PROVIDING a relaxing environment for 15 years in Nicholls and four years in Crace Central, Sibu Beauty continues to be a place to unwind.
Sibu Beauty’s experienced therapists will pamper clients with facial treatments, body treatments, massages (Swedish and Hot Stone), pedicures, manicures, Bio Sculpture gel nails, Shellac, waxing, eyelash and eyebrow tinting, make-up, Russian volume eyelash extensions, spray tanning and ear piercing.
Owner Amanda Rutledge says as winter approaches, it’s the perfect time to rejuvenate the skin with a deep-cleansing, anti-ageing facial treatment such as a BioSurface Peel or Microhydrabrasion.
“By removing the top level of the skin, these facial treatments help with fine lines, wrinkles and pigmentation,” she says.
“By deeply exfoliating and flushing the skin of debris and oil, your skin will be the cleanest it’s ever been.” Sibu Beauty, at Nicholls, 6241 4115 and Crace, at 6162 0397 or visit sibubeauty.com.au
PAUL Whyte Automotive is a local, family owned and run business that has been operating since 1985.
Principal Paul Whyte says he stands by the highest standards by road testing and checking vehicles personally once the work has been completed.
He says that for two generations Paul Whyte Automotive has been offering its customers the highest level of honesty, reliability and quality of work.
Since combining existing workshops at Mobil Giralang and Mobil Melba 10 years ago, the company has been able to expand its expertise by attracting quality technicians to a modern, fast-paced, friendly environment.
Supported by the latest automotive technology, its mechanics help to get customers’ vehicles back on the road as soon as possible. Across the road is Goodyear Auto Care, run by Paul’s son, Matt.
“We are experts in tyres as well as any of your mechanical servicing needs,” says Matt.
Most of the tyres they fit bear one of two trusted names – Goodyear or Dunlop – but they also stock leading 4x4 brand Cooper and, Matt says, whatever a customer wants, he tries to get for them.
Along with tyre fitting, Goodyear Auto Care does all mechanical work including brakes and suspension, registration checks, wheel balancing and steering alignment, log book servicing, batteries and even windscreen repairs.
Paul Whyte Auto, 3-4 O’Brien Place, Gungahlin. Call 6241 4047 or go to paulwhyteauto.com.au Goodyear Auto Care, 1 O’Brien Place, Gungahlin. Call 6255 4955 or go to goodyearautocare.com.au
• Dermalogica facials
• Microhydrabrasion
• Pure Fiji body treatments
• Swedish and hot stone massage
• Manicures and pedicures
• Bio Sculpture Gel nails
• Waxing and tinting
• Professional makeup
• Eyelash extensions
• Spray tanning
• Ear piercing
OPENED by politicians Katy Gallagher and Andrew Barr in 2014, Gungahlin Leisure Centre is a $28.7 million modern facility designed with the needs of local families in mind.
It features a 50-metre pool and a 25-metre pool that includes a children’s play area.
The centre, through YMCA or “the Y”, offers a range of health and aquatic programs to cater for diverse ages, interests and abilities of the Gungahlin community and wider region.
Centre manager, Nicole Edney says: “The Y is built on the belief that every community should have access to spaces where they can connect and be healthy.
“We pride ourselves on our ability to transform recreation facilities into community hubs; places where families can come together and escape the stresses of work and home to reconnect.
“Our programs tackle head-on issues of isolation and disconnection.”
YMCA PrYme Movers is just one of the
community programs the Y will have on offer at the centre.
The exercise program is aimed at mature adults, but is far from being just another group-fitness class.
PrYme offers a social network for participants to enjoy regular outings together and encourages participation and belonging.
Other services at Gungahlin Leisure Centre include swimming lessons, personal training, a café, group fitness classes, small group training, recreational swimming, squad training and school programs.
“Our vision for the centre is to be a place where children can learn life skills in the pool, where older adults can enjoy active lifestyles, young people can connect and a place where a family can be together,” Nicole says.
Gungahlin Leisure Centre. 71 The Valley Avenue. Call 6241 1132, email gungahlin@ymcansw.org.au or visit ymcansw.org.au/gungahlin
• repairing, resizing and re-casing services
• add extra feather and down to your quilts, pillows or sleeping bags.
THE new-to-Canberra workout class Orangetheory ticks all the boxes for a fun, results-oriented workout – and even gets you burning calories once it’s all over and you’re safely back on the sofa, says Orangetheory studio manager Pauline Blackman.
“You can work to your own fitness level – there could be elite athletes next to complete beginners in the class, because everyone’s goal is to complete the class in the way that’s best for them.”
Brought to Australia by master franchisee Richard Peel, who also brought in Anytime Fitness, Orangetheory has more than 500 studios worldwide.
“It’s a new brand here, although it’s very popular in the states and there are successful studios in Sydney, Adelaide and Brisbane so far,” Pauline says.
“You get the benefits of an experienced per-
sonal trainer with the energy of a group workout to motivate you along. The music is fun, and the lights are dim and orange, which calms you.”
A combination of cardio and weights, using treadmills, rowing machines, suspension unit systems and free weights in a 60-minute class, Pauline describes the workout as high-intensity, low-impact interval training.
“I’ve done so many workouts in the past 10 years, but I wish I’d had access to this sooner! You very quickly see results. It’s difficult but you always have options and variations.”
Pauline invites the public to the grand opening on April 20.
Orangetheory Fitness. 10/10 Gribble Street, Gungahlin. Call 6210 5010 or email gungahlin. orangetheoryfitness.com
THERMA Quilts is a family-run business that specialises in making and servicing feather and down products from quilts to pillows, cushions and anything made from feather and down.
Using quality textiles, the seamstresses at Therma Quilts hand-make every item suited to the customers needs and provide a top-up service when quilts and pillows show signs of wear or loss of warmth and fluffiness.
“Servicing of feather and down products is essential for keeping them in optimal condition for comfort,” says owner Jennifer Kusa.
“With time and usage, body proteins and lipids (natural oils and perspiration) are absorbed on to quilt casings and into the feather and down inside.
“Over time, this build-up dampens the down, which causes it to lose its thermal resistance. However, regular servicing of your quilts would ensure that your down is fresh, fluffy and keeps you nice and warm during winter.
“In addition, if your quilt is not warm enough or too warm, we are able to adjust it to your requirements.”
With its eco-friendly cleaning process, Therma Quilts services feather and down products including sleeping bags and down clothing as well as other textiles such as silk, polyester, cotton and wool quilt underlays.
Therma Quilts now has a new range of fine Egyptian cotton fabrics all made in Germany. The Egyptian cottons are as light as 76 grams per square metre and the lightness combined with warmth makes for a luxuriously comfortable quilt.
“Whether you’re wanting to rejuvenate your quilt, customise it or buy a new custom-made one we can look after you,” Jennifer says.
Therma Quilts, 10-12 Kemble Court. Call 6241 6859 or visit thermaquilts.com.au
WITH Anzac Day coming up on April 25 the owner of Siren Bar
Daniel Gaul says it’s a great family-friendly option for locals and outsiders.
“We’re not a big club, we’re a friendly option for Anzac Day,” Daniel says.
“We’ve supported Legacy for the last six years, raising money with the two-up and taking donations at the bar.”
Siren Bar will open at 6am for a $15 “Gunfire” breakfast followed by two-up at midday.
The kitchen will stay open all day and Daniel says that any Diggers wearing their medals will receive a free nip of rum.
Aside from Anzac Day, people can visit Siren Bar’s big sunny deck on any occasion and choose from an extensive breakfast, lunch and dinner menu, kids menu, as well as plenty of snacks, cocktails and barrista-made tea and coffee.
Daniel emphasises that one of Siren Bar’s important traits is being family orientated.
“We donate a lot around local schools, sporting clubs (Gungahlin Jets) and work very close with Gungahlin College training people up in the hospitality section,” he says.
“We do a lot with Autism Australia and employ a 21-year-old, who is a pleasure to have on board.”
Siren Bar, corner of Anthony Rolfe Avenue and Gozzard Street, Gungahlin. Visit sirenbar.com.au or call 6162 0377.
DUE to high demand, Universal Medical Imaging has recently expanded to two new locations, one in Gungahlin and another in Braddon.
“We have convenient parking on site with introduced bulk bill, CT scan and X-ray services,” says the Universal Medical Imaging general manager, Jeffrey Wheeler.
Jeffrey says Universal Medical Imaging is owned and operated by local specialists with the primary aim of improving access to diagnostic imaging in ACT.
Universal Medical Imaging is pleased to welcome a
new specialist to the team, Dr Aakash Mahajan, whose expertise is in head and neck imaging.
“In addition to imaging services we also provide a range of interventional procedures, including biopsy and injections for spinal pain,” Jeffrey says.
“The radiologists at UMI are highly qualified and have specific areas of expertise including prostate, breast, musculoskeletal and sports injuries, bowel, cardiac, and oncology.”
Visit umic.com.au or call 6126 5000.
WITH more than 10 years of combined fitness experience, Andrew Lemmon and Ryan La Rance will open Ascend Strength and Fitness on April 8.
“During the open day we have free entry, all day to nonmembers and big discounts on 12-month memberships,” Andrew says.
“There will also be free classes throughout the day, supplement giveaways and door prizes.”
And Andrew says it’s family friendly, with an area where kids can be dropped off and cared for.
The three-level building is dedicated to separate spaces starting from the top level that focuses on strength and free weights, the second is dedicated to cardio and stretching, and the third has group-training sessions.
“We’re really friendly and form good relationships between our staff and the members,” Andrew says.
“We have a good idea about what’s popular in a gym and what people like to see.
“Our aim is to make members happy and proud.”
Ascend Strength and Fitness, 81 Gozzard Street. Call 6242 5807 or email info@ascendfitness.com.au
Andrew Lemmon…“We have a good idea about what’s popular in a gym and what people like to see.
The Runners Shop owner Nick Walshe.
AFTER 25 successful years in Phillip, The Runners Shop expanded to Gungahlin in 2015 and located upstairs on Hibberson Street, next to Anytime Fitness.
Owner Nick Walshe says that the Runners Shop prides itself on having the best range of shoes in Canberra, catering for runners, walkers and joggers of all ages and abilities.
“Our staff are all runners or triathletes, providing first-hand knowledge and passion,” says Nick.
Nick says that having properly fitted running shoes is very important to prevent risk of injures.
“Poor-fitting shoes can cause blisters and bruises,” he says.
“Running shoes should be replaced after 800 kilometres of use. It is important to replace shoes once they are worn and the cushioning is exhausted,” he says.
The Runners Shop, Level 1, 46-50 Hibberson Street, Gungahlin. Call 6241 7054.
• Extensive range of shoes for Runners, Joggers, Walkers and Gym enthusiasts of all ages
• Brands include Asics, Brooks, Nike, New Balance, Mizuno, Saucony, Hoka and On
• Great range of technical running apparel which breathes (wicks moisture) all year round
• Extensive range of nutrition products from Endura, GU, Hammer, Huma & Tailwind
• Come in and speak to our staff of Runners, Triathletes and Orienteers with a passion and a first-hand knowledge of our entire product range!
Entrance between the Central Café & Gloria Jeans Café Hibberson St, Gungahlin 6241 7054
Or visit our ‘long running store’ in Dundas Court Phillip 6285 3508
At the Independence and National Day of Bangladesh, Albert Hall
Sunday
16 April – 8:45am, 10:30am & 6pm
Easter Sunday Sunrise Service
16 April – 7am at Diddams Close www.mosaicbaptist.org.au
Palm Sunday, 9th April
St Aidan’s 9am
Wesley 9am with children’s Palm Sunday pageant
Wesley 10.30am service (special music)
Meditations on the Cross (with art and music)
Monday, 10th April -
Wednesday, 12th April
Wesley 7pm service
Maundy Thursday, 13th April
Wesley 7pm Service
Good Friday, 14th April
Wesley 9.30am Parish Service
Easter Sunday, 16th April
St Aidan’s 9am
Wesley 9am & 10.30am
WESLEY UNITING CHURCH
22 National Crt, Forrest ST AIDAN’S CHURCH
Brockman St, Narrabundah
For more information visit wesleycanberra.org.au
EASTER is the most important and oldest festival of the Christian Church, celebrating the resurrection of Christ and held between March 21 and April 25, that is on the first Sunday after the first full moon, following the northern spring equinox. This year, the Easter long weekend falls on April 14-17, and it is a wonderful time to enjoy a four-day weekend at home or on holiday with family and friends.
LITTLE Sprout in Phillip is a great spot to look for a chocolate-free gift alternative says its owner Brooke Kearns.
“Little Sprout has plenty of fantastic ideas for kid-friendly gifts that won’t end in an Easter Sunday sugar-crash,” she says.
Little Sprout’s five top gift suggestions include an Easterthemed book, Easter bunny erasers, soft toys, puzzles and a wooden pull-back bunny.
Brooke says some of the popular books are “Spot’s Easter Surprise”, “The Velveteen Rabbit”
DURING the lead up to Easter and following Easter, Hughes Baptist Church welcomes everyone to re-engage with the purpose of Jesus’ death and resurrection.
Dave Cusack, from Hughes Baptist Church, says on Good Friday and Easter Saturday everyone is invited to the Stations of the Cross, a series of self-guided art installations set up throughout the Church building between 7pm and 10.30pm.
On Easter Sunday, Hughes Baptist Church encourages people to celebrate the amazing truth of the resurrection at its 9.30am and 6pm services.
Dave says during this time it’s important to remember that God is just, loving and merciful when
and “Rabbits Don’t Lay Eggs!”
“These Easter products are perfect for a family treasure hunt – just leave some sneaky clues around the house or backyard that lead to an Easter basket full of lovely, chocolate-free gifts,” she says.
“The kids will find that the fun is in the treasure hunt and they will be left with meaningful memories and gifts that will last much longer than chocolate.”
Little Sprout Phillip, 47 Colbee Court, Phillip, 6282 3684. Facebook page @LittleSproutReadPlayLearn
dealing with the problem of personal sin.
Following Easter, Dave, who is also a study leader of “Christianity Explored”, invites anyone to come along to the seven-week investigative study into the identity of Jesus, starting on April 20 from 6.30pm to 9pm.
“We hope to help people clearly stipulate the identity of Jesus for themselves and make an informed decision on who is Jesus from what the Bible tells us about his life, teachings, death and his resurrection,” Dave says.
Hughes Baptist Church, 34 Groom Street, Hughes. Call 6282 1301 or visit hughesbaptist.org
ST Paul’s Anglican Church in Manuka has been part of the community since the early 20th century.
The rector of St Paul’s Manuka, Father Brian Douglas, says Easter time brings people hope.
“Leading up to Easter during the season of Lent, we use the colour purple during this sombre time,” he says.
“On Easter Sunday we use the colour white to symbolise joy and happiness.
“We celebrate Christ’s resurrection from the dead and the hope that it gives people.”
St Paul’s has a number of Easter services including three on Easter Sunday as well as the service of the new light on Easter Eve.
Father Douglas says the church will be in darkness to symbolise Christ’s death and a fire will be lit outside and the congregation will light candles to symbolise new life.
The 10am Easter Sunday service will see 400 people attending, and Father Douglas says that everybody is welcome to come along and receive communion.
St Paul’s Anglican Church, corner of Canberra Avenue and Captain Cook Crescent, Griffith. More at stpaulsmanuka.org.au
Warm welcome for an ‘amazing’ time
EASTER is a huge deal for the community at Fusion City Church according to its senior pastor Matt McGaw.
“It is a time of reflection at what the death of Jesus means to us, as well as a celebration of the promise and hope that his resurrection brings,” Matt says.
On Good Friday the church is hosting an interactive, one-hour service centred around the message of the cross, “love that conquers all”.
Then, on Easter Sunday there will be a family celebration service with something for everyone.
“Whether you attend church regularly or this is your first time, we’re sure you’ll have an amazing time and you will be warmly welcomed,” Matt says.
“We have an Easter egg hunt and Easter hat competition for the kids as well as a jumping castle, door prizes and more.”
“At Fusion we aim to help people know and enjoy God, discover their purpose, and then make a difference in the world just as Jesus did,” he says.
“We do this all in a contemporary manner, through creative use of multimedia, music, inspiring messages and much more, but you’ll have to come along to see for yourself.”
Fusion City Church. Sunday services at Palmerston Primary School. LifeCENTRE, 85 Hoskins Street, Mitchell. Call 6156 2497, email admin@fusioncitychurch.com.au or visit fusioncitychurch.com.au
In darkness there’s hope
ALL Saints Anglican Church Ainslie is on a journey towards new hope in the lead up to Easter.
“We take the journey that Jesus took into darkness and then through to new life and hope,” says the reverend Lynda McMinn.
The journey continues until Easter Sunday where there will be a lighting of the new fire at 6.30am, which will involve people coming into the darkness of the church with candles in hand.
This will be followed by breakfast and the Easter vigil at 9.30am.
All Saints Anglican Church Ainslie. 9/15 Cowper Street. Call 6248 7420 or visit allsaintsainslie.org.au
Big Baptist church welcomes all
MOSAIC Baptist Church, located in Page and Gungahlin, are contemporary churches where people are welcome to drop by to any of the services, especially at Easter, says Pastor Jude Hatfield.
“We’re the largest Baptist church in the region with two campuses and five congregations,” she says.
“During the lead up to Easter we’ve got eight services plus a special prayer opportunity, a 7am sunrise service at Diddams Close.
“On Thursday, Friday and Saturday we have an immersive prayer experience, ‘walking the way of the cross’.”
Mosaic Baptist Church. 18 Dallachy Street, Page, or Unit 7/160 Lysaght Street, Mitchell. Call 6254 6565 or visit mosaicbaptist.org.au
Maundy Thursday – 13th April
6.30pm • High Mass with foot washing
Good Friday – 14th April
9.30am • Good Friday Liturgy
2.30pm • Stations of the Cross
Easter Sunday – 16th April
6.30am • First Mass of Easter Day & Lighting of the New Fire
9.30am • Solemn High Mass
9-15 Cowper Street, Ainslie
Bible reading for Easter
THE Christian Science Church in Barton will celebrate the resurrection of Jesus with an Easter-themed Bible reading at its Easter Sunday service at 10am.
Before Easter, a Wednesday evening Testimony Meeting will also have readings and discussions on the Easter topic.
Christian Science is Bible-based, making clear a system of spiritual healing.
To help Christian Scientists better understand spirituality, Mary Baker Eddy’s book “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures” is studied together with the Bible.
The Church is a “lay church” with no hierarchy and all around the world the same readings are read at weekly services and testimony meetings.
The Christian Science Church also runs Sunday school at the same time as the Sunday service.
Christian Science Church, corner of Macquarie and Bligh Streets, Barton. More at christiansciencecanberra.com
THE reverend Paul Black, rector at St John’s Anglican Church in Reid, says that when you come to St John’s you come to the “original Canberra”.
“St John’s is a little English village church, consecrated in 1845,” he says.
“In a world where tragic events occur, people are in pain and there’s not much hope, the Easter message says that there is hope.
“Through the resurrection of
Jesus people can be given hope beyond the grave and quality of life in the present.”
St John’s will hold five services on Easter Sunday. Its 9.30am service will be followed by a traditional Easter egg hunt for children, in the churchyard grounds.
St John’s Anglican Church, corner of Constitution Avenue and Anzac Park West, Reid. More at stjohnscanberra.org
THE Easter weekend represents the highlight of the Christian liturgical year at Wesley Uniting Church.
Preparations include a weekly gathering of groups who take part in Lenten studies.
“During Holy Week we have meditative services (using art and music) from Monday to Wednesday night,” says reverend Dr Ockert Meyer. “On Maundy Thursday we share around the Passion story and
on Good Friday the whole Parish comes together to remember that redemption comes from the depths of dereliction.
“All of this leads us to Easter Sunday: the joyous celebration of the source of our hope: the living, resurrected Christ.”
Wesley Uniting Church. National Circuit, Forrest. Call 6295 3680 or visit wesleycanberra.org.au
Good Friday Service at 6pm, April 14th
Easter Sunday Service at 10am, April 16th
At our Easter Sunday Service, there will be an Easter egg hunt and Easter hat competition for the kids, a jumping castle, door prizes and more!
Venue: Palmerston Primary School P: 02 6156 2497 www.fusioncitychurch.com.au
St Paul’s Anglican Church
Cnr Canberra Ave & Captain Cook Cres, Manuka
HOLY WEEK
Monday, April 10 – Wednesday, April 12
7pm Eucharist
Wednesday, April 12
10am Eucharist
Maundy Thursday, April 13 (with incense)
7pm Eucharist – with washing of feet and vigil (until 9pm)
Good Friday, April 14
9am Good Friday Liturgy – with Proclamation of the Cross and Holy Communion from the Reserved Sacrament
Easter Eve, April 15 (with incense)
7.30pm Eucharist – Lighting of the New Fire. Lighting of the Paschal Candle and renewal of Baptismal vows
Easter Day, Sunday, April 16
7am Eucharist – The Book of Common Prayer
8am Eucharist
10am Sung Eucharist
St David’s Anglican Church
Fortitude Street, Red Hill
Maundy Thursday, April 13
10am Eucharist
Good Friday, April 14
8.30am Good Friday Liturgy
Easter Day, Sunday, April 16
8.30am Eucharist
ST JOHN’S ANGLICAN CHURCH
Maundy Thursday
7.30 pm Foot Washing and Eucharist of the Last Supper
Good Friday
8 am Good Friday Liturgy
10 am Contemporary Liturgy
Easter Day
6 am Lighting of New Fire and Eucharist
8 am Sung Eucharist
9.30 am Family Eucharist
11.15 am Choral Eucharist 1662 Prayer Book
6 pm stjohns@6
6248 8399
www.stjohnscanberra.org
45 Constitution Ave, Reid
SCHOOL holidays are here again. And since it’s the last break before winter, “CityNews” is featuring a bunch of outdoor (and indoor) activities to keep the kids (and bigger kids) busy over the weeks off.
IN the 1970s, Babbacombe, a district in England, was replicated and brought to Canberra.
The tiny town sits inside Cockington Green Gardens along with a delightful and fascinating display of meticulously crafted miniature buildings set within beautifully landscaped gardens.
“I don’t believe there is anything as big or extensive in Australia,” says the executive assistant Debbie Sarah.
Debbie contributes to the four generations of Sarahs, who have kept Cockington Green Gardens a family orientated business for many decades.
Debbie says they cater for all ages, from kids to seniors.
“There’s hands-on displays where children can press buttons”, she says.
“Kids especially enjoy the steam train ride.”
There’s also a colourful display of gardens, which are often compared to famous gardens around the world.
Cockington Green Gardens, 11 Gold Creek Road, Nicholls. Call 6230 2273 or visit cockingtongreen.com.au
T (02) 6977 1088
E info@aviationmuseum.com.au
1 Tom Moon Ave Temora NSW 2666 www.aviationmuseum.com.au
flying history come alive.
Our Aircraft Showcase delivers a full day of entertainment for all generations, including: flying displays demonstrating the aircraft’s capabilities; informative commentary and music; interviews with pilots and veterans; children’s activities and playground; engineering workshop tour; pilot meet and greet.
AIRCRAFT at Temora Aviation Museum doesn’t just sit around collecting dust, it also regularly comes to life.
General manager Peter Harper says: “What makes us different from most museums is that we’re an operational one.”
The aircraft showcase is on every first and third Saturday of each month.
“Our experience is quite unique,” Peter says. “Kids and adults can come along in the morning to a Q&A session with a veteran or a pilot.
“If it’s a veteran, they’ll talk about their experiences during the war.”
According to Peter, it’s the perfect opportunity for anyone interested in aviation to get up close to the aircraft.
“Not many institutions let people go so close to the aircraft and talk to people who fly them,” he says.
“It’s accompanied by commentary, history and a great learning experience.
“After, we invite everyone to come in and talk to our engineers and pilots.”
Temora Aviation Museum. 1 Tom Moon Avenue, Temora. Call 6977 1088, email info@aviationmuseum.com.au or visit aviationmuseum.com.au
GET ready to hop on board the Dinosaur Train as it prepares to come to Canberra, out of the US, for the first time.
Join Buddy with his friends, in the Australian premiere of “Dinosaur Train”, as they ride the train and embark on “A Rainforest Adventure”.
See Don, Shiny, Tiny, Mr Conductor, Tank and King, as they sing and dance their way through the deep canopies of tropical trees whilst exploring and discovering all the beautiful plants, animals and different levels of the ecosystem.
Dinosaur Train, a co-production between The Jim Henson Company and Sparky Animation, is set in a whimsically realistic, prehistoric world of
jungles, swamps, active volcanoes and oceans, aimed at kids aged three to six. It allows kids to apply scientific thinking as they discover new types of dinosaur species, compare and contrast dinosaurs to today’s creatures and embrace the living sciences of palaeontology and natural science.
Based on input from palaeontologists, science educators and early childhood education experts, “Dinosaur Train” promotes critical thinking skills for pre-schoolers based on an engaging and creative curriculum.
“A Rainforest Adventure”. Canberra Theatre Centre. 10am, 1pm and 4pm on July 4 and 5. Tickets via canberratheatrecentre.com.au
https://canberratheatrecentre.com.au/
OPEN every day over Easter and also Anzac Day, visitors have more of a choice to get up close and personal with a range of birds at the Canberra Walk-in Aviary.
The aviary is a 1000sqm, planted, walk-in enclosure that has about 550 birds from about 60 different species.
“The aviary is great fun for all ages,” says owner Mick Logan.
“You have the chance to get up close and personal with a range of birds.
“While not all birds will interact with you, you get the chance to observe, up close,
species of birds that otherwise would be hard to see in the wild.
“We give you a small plate of food and a tub of mealworms and you can wander around and feed the birds.”
And for those keen on photography Mick says that photos are more than welcome.
“Providing the weather is fine you can have a great time feeding the birds or just observing our feathered friends,” he says.
Call 6230 2044 or visit canberrawalkinaviary.com.au
THE National Dinosaur Museum is adding to the theme of Easter over the holidays with its newest edition, a baby dinosaur nest.
Education manager Phil Hore says it’s going to be an eggcellent time at the museum with three things happening over the holidays.
“At 12pm, everyday, we’ll give all the kids their own dinosaur egg to paint,” he says.
Guided tours will run at 11am, 2pm and 3pm, talking about eggs, babies and the biggest egg in the world, an elephant bird egg.
“Think about the biggest watermelon you’ve ever seen,” Phil says.
The museum suggests visitors do the 11am tour and then stick around for the midday egg painting.
And on top of all these egg-citing activities are egg hunts that run throughout the holidays.
If eggs don’t excite, Phil says the museum has converted part of its shop into a mineral gallery of gemstones, minerals and fossils, where visitors can come in, without entry fees, and have a look or buy some to add to their collections.
The National Dinosaur Museum, 6 Gold Creek Road, Gold Creek. Call 6230 2655 or visit nationaldinosaurmuseum.com.au
By Helen Musa
WHEN Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander musician Jessie Lloyd arrived at the National Library of Australia to take up her 2017 Folk Fellowship Award, she hardly knew where or how to look.
“I’m not an academic,” she tells “CityNews” of having to confront the library’s extensive oral history collection to look for original songs from Christian missions – “the mish” – written between 1900 and 1999. Luckily there were plenty of experienced people at the library to give her a hand and she says: “It’s been awesome for me in getting first-hand assistance from the NLA and other researchers.”
In fact, as library staff have pointed out to us, Lloyd had also been the recipient of the State Library of Victoria’s Creative Fellowship Award last year, but had found herself somewhat at sea there.
Not for long. The founder and CEO of organisations such as Songlines Aboriginal Music in Melbourne and South West Aboriginal Entertainment in Perth is nothing if not motivated. Lloyd studied at Melbourne Business School in 2015 and says: “I love business, it’s really fun developing strategies… most artists like to have a producer or a manager, but I like to do it myself.”
Canberrans will have a chance to see Lloyd at the National Folk Festival this year, where she will talk about her studies and, with a small band, perform selections from her CD, “The Songs Back Home”, which focuses on music from Christian missions, state-run settlements and native camps where Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were relocated.
For those of a secular frame of mind, Lloyd says most of her mission songs are not religious and she’s noticed a strong difference between her mission songs and African-American spirituals, saying: “There’s so much optimism and hope and resilience here, and a lot of humour”.
She has also identified around 40-50 “mission songs” from all around Australia about day-today life that deal with love, heartbreak, food, travelling, seafaring and working on luggers and stock routes.
“100 years is a lot of time to cover, but rediscovering them has been really cool,” Lloyd says.
A favourite song is set at the Moree baths, made notorious during Charlie Perkins’ 1965 freedom ride.
Before the library fellowship Lloyd respectfully consulted senior song men and song women as she travelled all around the country.
Once deep in the NLA’s oral history collection, she found that white Australia has its song men and song women, too, in the form of the library’s designated interviewers. Many of them, she says approvingly, are musicians themselves.
It turned out that there were few commercial recordings before the 1980s, so her only option was to listen to endless hours of recorded interviews in which the oral historian would often ask: “Would you sing that for us?” thus providing invaluable documentation of that song.
She’s already tried her material out on an audience in Sydney, an experience she describes as “amazing… people were curious and they were connecting to the music”.
One audience member who originally came from Palm Island and had lived in Sydney for 30 years recognised some of the songs and pointed
out some style differences.
“There is an older way of singing,” she discovered.
It’s the same with the words.
“In what they call Torres Strait Creole, there are lots of words we don’t use anymore and the old Queensland way of pronouncing the word ‘watery’ would be “watry,” not ‘wa-ter-ry’.”
Lloyd is from North Queensland but the songs are not just from that region but from every state except SA, ironically one of the 2017 Festival’s focus states this year, but she’ll get to them.
The National Folk Festival 2017, Exhibition Park, April 13-17. Jessie Lloyd and her band appear at The Lyric, 6pm on Friday, April 14, with the main concert at the Budawang Pavilion, 1.30pm on Sunday, April 16. Lloyd will present the results of her mission songs research in the Trocadero at 11.20am on Saturday, April 15. Bookings to folkfestival.org.au or tickets at the gate.
By Helen Musa
“THE 2 of Us” might sound like an obvious title for a show involving two singers singing together, but it works for singing stars Marina Prior and David Hobson, who will be here shortly with a show bearing that very name.
“We won’t necessarily be singing ‘Just the Two of Us’,” Prior says of the famous 1980s Bill Withers song.
“But on the other hand, you never know… basically, it is just the two of us doing shows together as we have been for 30 years.
Prior and Hobson need no introduction to lovers of musical theatre around Australia. She was a glorious Christine in early productions of “Phantom of the Opera” and his brilliant, light tenor made Hobson the most romantic Rodolfo to stalk the stages of Opera Australia in living memory.
“Hello Dolly” and so fits in concerts “before, after and in between”. In August she’ll be performing in a production of Noel Coward’s play “Hay Fever” and has, in recent years, played in “straight” theatre shows such as “Jumpers” for the Sydney Theatre Company and “Noises Off” for the Melbourne Theatre Company. Hobson, primarily an operatic singer, chips in with the correct technical description of how their contrasting voices work.
Prior.
Prior still lives in Melbourne but she fits her personal life into her busy schedule, saying: “It’s what I do”. She’s in a coming production of
“Our timbres are compatible,” he says.
“It’s a very rich thing, we fit together very well,” Prior adds.
“Sometimes we play to 400, sometimes we play to 2000, but we still do the same thing and there’s a lot of chatting. They’ll be performing the “Brindisi” drinking song from “La Traviata”, “Music of the Night” from “Phantom”, a bit of “Les Mis”, pieces by Hobson from “My Fair Lady” and “La Boheme” and some Celtic music.
“Heart-driven songs that are quite gut wrenching,” they chorus in perfect harmony.
“The 2 of Us”, Canberra Theatre Centre, April 22 only, bookings to canberratheatrecentre.com.au or 6275 2700.
DIRECT from London’s West End, as they say in showbiz, “The World of Musicals” brings the big show songs from “Les Miserables”, “The Lion King”, ‘Sister Act”, “We Will Rock You”, “Dirty Dancing”, “Mamma Mia”, “Jersey Boys”, “Cabaret” and “Wicked” as well as solos and duets to the Canberra Theatre, Monday, April 10. Bookings to canberratheatrecentre.com.au or 6275 2700.
BOOKS become movies at the National Film and Sound Archive’s Arc cinema during the April school holidays with the two-week “Book Heroes on Screen” program (April 11-21). It includes “Mary Poppins”, “The Jungle Book” and even “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay”. Bookings to nfsa.gov.au
GOOD news from the Canberra Comedy Festival of a record-breaking 13,500 punters attending shows across its recent week-long fifth event, with 80 per cent of the shows completely selling out.
“REEL Inspiración” is the theme for the coming 20th anniversary Spanish Film Festival,
at Palace Electric Cinemas, April 19-May 7 with 39 films. Watch out for “The Queen of Spain” starring Penélope Cruz as a ‘50s Hollywood film star returning to Spain.
GLASS-blowing virtuoso Tom Rowney and experimenter in wood Zeljko Markov have a joint exhibition curated by Jane Cush running at Canberra Glassworks, Wentworth Avenue,
Kingston, until May 28.
THE 2017 Annual Legacy Concert will be held in the Canberra Convention Centre at 2pm, Sunday, April 9, featuring performances by the RMC band as well as local and interstate artists. Tickets are free for widows, junior legatees, dependants, their carers and legatees and their families and $10 for the general public. Tickets from Legacy House, Geils Court, Deakin, or on the day at the door.
POETRY at the House will have poets Jan Owen, from Aldinga, SA, Subhash Jaireth, from Canberra, and Peter Lach-Newinsky, from the Southern Highlands, reading their work in the Fellows Bar of University House, 7.30pm on Wednesday, April 12. Bookings to gpage40@ bigpond.net.au
ADHOC Baroque will perform the unpublished “Stabat Mater”, set in 1756, by Giovanni Brunetti, Pisa’s leading musician of the day. At St Paul’s, Manuka, 3pm, on Sunday, April 9. Adhoc will be asking for an exit donation but seats can be guaranteed by free booking to trybooking.com
By Helen Musa
THE town of Bermagui on the south coast of NSW normally conjures up images of peaceful seaside activities, fish and chips and seagulls, but all this is about to change as the hot winds of Latin American music blow into Barragga Bay over Easter.
It’s the brainchild of accordionist and musical director of the Four Winds Festival James Crabb who, with former Canberra music entrepreneur Frank Madrid, has put together a program called “Latin Spirit” to run over the Easter weekend, with Monica Trapaga as MC.
Scottish-born Crabb, who now lives in Australia, is known as an international expert in Latin American music and is determined to make this “in between” festival as elegant and exciting as the main biennial Four Winds Festival, with a program of Latin music and dance.
“I thought this way more local people would like to come along and have a wonderful musical experience,” he says.
“I come from a folk music background and of work in all kinds of musical genres – to me, music is music.”
He wants to develop what he calls “high-quality music” by creating events that, through dance, visual arts and music, tie in with the natural surroundings of the area.
Crabb is adamant he is not in competition with the National Folk
Festival, saying: “We are very aware of our colleagues in Canberra and we are all trying to work in harmony.
“This is a small festival focusing on several musical styles.”
The first style is the Tango Nuevo made famous by Astor Piazzolla and and composer Tomás Gubitsch.
“There isn’t a major work, but we do present some of the really iconic works of Piazzolla’s ensemble like ‘Milonga Del Angel’,” he says of his crack team Tango Jam 2, which includes Canberra-trained guitarist Aleksandr Tsiboulski.
Then there’ll be tango songs learnt at his grandfather’s knee by Opera Australia’s leading baritone José Carbó, born in Argentina but trained in this country.
A mingling of flamenco and other musical cultures will be seen with Rasa Duende, a Hindustani-Flamenco music collaboration between Bobby Singh on tabla, Adrian McNeil on sarod and Damian Wright on flamenco guitar and Bandaluzia, led by Australian guitarist Damian Wright and featuring flamenco dancers Jessica Statham and Johnny Tedesco.
Crabb wants to incorporate dance into a festival, which has hitherto been better known for pure music. In the lead-up to Easter there are tango classes and down at the Bermagui hall they’re setting up a tango-inspired café with DJs sourced by Madrid and “an ambience where anyone who is brave enough can get up and dance…”
“I might even try myself,” Crabb says.
Four Winds “Latin Spirit,” Bermagui NSW, April 15-16, program details and bookings to fourwinds.com.au
“Ghost in the Shell” (M)
THE look of director Rupert Sanders’ futurist sci-fi actioner-thriller, based on a comic book by Masamune Shirow adapted by Jamie Moss, may well evoke memories of “Blade Runner” (1982) among older fans of those genres.
Shirow’s story proposes that, having installed the brain of a young woman killed in a car crash into a cyborg (a being with organic and biomechatronic body parts), the government intends to send her to rid the world of terrorists. Scarlett Johansson plays Major, seen more often than not wearing a secondskin-like garment giving an impression of nudity. Major personifies moral virtues, physical courage and emotional strength. She’ll need those qualities as she and side-kick Batou (Danish actor Pilou Asbæk) go after cyborg terrorists.
I like how Major’s boss Aramaki (Takeshi Kitano) eventually shows how to kill a cyborg. The Colt .45 revolver, the gun that won the West, still has a place in future battles against evil.
The film gives Major a reason to question the ethical issue of acquiring the necessary body parts. Dr Ouelet (Juliette Binoche) confesses that Major is the first of 99 attempts to succeed in connecting a brain to a machine that actually works.
Providing a denouement justifying the whole thing in the name of entertainment, meet Cutter (Peter Ferdinando), the irritant in this film’s good-versus-evil escapist drama. Many films have told that story. Where this ranks among them, I neither know nor care. If I wasn’t reviewing it, I wouldn’t have chosen to see it. But I don’t regret having done so.
At all cinemas
FROM Danish filmmaker Hannes Holm’s adaptation of Fredrik Backman’s novel comes a warm-hearted story offering love, grief, consolation, generosity of spirit and plenty of reason for filmgoers to laugh.
Living alone since the death from cancer of his beloved and delectably lovely teacher wife Sonja (Ida Engvoll) six months earlier, Ove (Rolf Lassgärd) regularly visits her grave and promises to join her soon. He lives in a gated community where, since a stroke disabled management committee chairman Rune, he makes and administers local rules such as parking of bicycles. He has few friends.
Things change with the arrival of new neighbours. The husband Patrick lives in the shadow of a redoubtable Iraq-born wife Parvaneh (Bahar Pars)
By Wendy Johnson
I HOPE my personal trainer and mates at the gym aren’t reading this. They might have forgiven me if I had indulged in the chocolate protein ball, but I didn’t.
Oh, no, I had to give the chocolate cake a go, having been told it is the signature dessert.
It happened on a visit to San Churro Chocolateria, which isn’t even a word in my dictionary, but you can see where this review is going.
San Churro is for those who believe, as the Spanish do, that life is for living and that living must absolutely include indulging in decadent, calorie-loaded, addictive, sweet things (not all day, every day, of course).
By Dougal Macdonald
whose friendliness and warmth aren’t fazed by Ove’s grumpiness. A delightful partnership grows between them despite Ove’s initial lack of interest.
Much of the film’s comedy comes from his pursuit of a personal agenda. While Ove is at heart a simple soul, his commitment to his promise is unshakeable.
There’s much else about this film to delight filmgoers and claim their compassion. Sweden’s nomination for Best Foreign Language Film at this year’s Oscars, its underlying sentimentality doesn’t cloy our enthusiasm for its strong thread of humane goodness.
At Palace Electric
“Land of Mine” (MA)
THIS is a film about World War II, which ended in Europe several months before it (the film) begins. Germany’s Wehrmacht laid more than 1.5 million land mines along the western shore of Denmark, where they expected the Allied invasion to come ashore. One must gasp with amazement at the thought of the carnage that would have resulted and the possible restructuring of subsequent world history.
Sgt Carl Rasmussen arrives to lay out a zone of beach along which he will command a detachment of German soldiers assigned to lift and defuse 45,000 live mines buried beneath its sand. Rasmussen has served in Britain’s Parachute Regiment. His Danish patriotism is strong. He, like the Danish population broadly, loathes the German people generally and their army in particular.
What Rasmussen’s CO gives him is 14 boy soldiers, mostly in their teens, all traumatised by their experiences and dismayed by the Nazi lies about the war’s purpose.
The film has powerful tensions. Young men must first learn how to perform a task of extreme risk. Rasmussen has a responsibility to make absolutely certain that the beach becomes totally safe.
From these fundamental ingredients, writer/director Martin Zandvliet has crafted a film that radiates verity, scares us every time a mine explodes and explores a number of moral and emotional issues, most notably, the responsibility of a victor to deal honourably with the vanquished.
And in a cracking performance, Roland Møller playing Rasmussen typifies the backbone of any effective army, the non-commissioned officer carrying out his orders while caring for his troops.
At Palace Electric
So what was my choice? Gulp, here goes: it was the signature San Churro Chocolate Cake. We’re talking a layer of rich chocolate cake, then a layer of creamy chocolate mousse, then another layer of rich chocolate cake, then a thick layer of caramel fudge, yet another layer of rich chocolate cake and a dusting of chocolate on top (all for $8.95 a slice).
Did I mention there was chocolate?
If you believe chocolate is pure heaven then you might be tempted by the Chocolate Volcano with its gooey chocolate lava centre ($12.95), the moist and dense Death by Chocolate mud cake packed with fudge filling ($8.95) or the Toblerone Cheesecake ($8.95).
If you can’t handle a megadose of chocolate, other desserts include gluten-free carrot cake with cream cheese frosting ($7.95) and lemon curd tart covered with swirls of toasted meringue ($7.95).
I must now tell the truth. I’ve been to San Churro twice. I first popped in for a golden churro
(Spanish doughnut) with a caramel filling ($4.95). They’re made to order and, trust me, they’re much more manageable than the cake I had unless, of course, you have three of them with a pot of melted chocolate. And I dare you to try it with a cup of traditional hot chocolate. It was a marathon effort to try to get through my San Churro Chocolate Cake. I didn’t win the race, but losing was sweet in its own way. My personal trainer would be proud that I failed.
San Churro, 8 Bradley Street, Woden. Open seven days.
I HAVE had a stream of inquiries on how to stop suckers from the everpopular Mop-Top Robinias and the simple answer is: you never will!
It grows faster than it can be killed with glyphosate. The Mop-Top is a particular variety of Robinia grafted on to the common Robinia acacia, no relation
to acacias except the similarity to the leaves. Unlike the main trunk and top, the suckers have wicked thorns that can puncture a thong, making it an unsuitable plant where children play. Generally, it’s accepted that it will only sucker if the roots are disturbed, which is nonsense as this picture illustrates: two Mop-Tops in a totally grassed area with a forest of suckers where children play! I would never recommend these trees.
AS gardeners, I believe we have a responsibility to our neighbours as well as ourselves, preferably to keep on friendly terms. If you have neighbours who simply neglect their garden, particularly the front and nature strip, it can affect the value of your home.
It is the householder’s responsibility to keep trees clear by at least 1.5 metres from power lines at all times. In reality, this needs to be at least two metres as most trees in one season can grow back that distance.
All line clearing must be carried out by arborists approved by ActewAGL.
In the early days of the free issue of trees and shrubs, the information given by the Yarralumla Nursery was totally inadequate. Most gardeners had no idea how large shrubs, let alone trees, would grow.
In new suburbs with underground power, small, green, electric pillar boxes are located along the street. Two examples are shown here, one clear and the other surrounded in foliage. The boxes must be kept clear at all times for maintenance.
Note the row of holes near the top for air circulation. If the inside overheats the electric system can fail, possibly knocking out the street power. Although gardeners may want to disguise them, it is vitally important not to plant close to these boxes.
HOW old are magazines in your local waiting rooms? I thought I had broken the record with “The Australian Gardener” dated 1998 in a doctor’s rooms. But I broke my own record at Calvary Hospital recently with “Your Garden” dated 1994, just 23 years old! Neither magazine exists any more.
The 1994 edition provided information for “small eucalypts for the backyard, bringing
tremendous benefits to a garden”! They included E. cinerea (which grows to more than 10 metres), E. pulverulenta (to 10 metres), Leucoxylon rosea (also to 10 metres). They’re all rather too large for today’s gardens in Canberra, let alone the 270-400-square-metre blocks.
There again, the new number plates confirm it is the “Bush Capital”. As numerous readers have pointed out to me, Flemington Road is a good example!
In one of those magazines, readers’ letters suggested methods of stopping my favourite songbird, the blackbird, digging for worms. One suggestion was tying balloons on sticks along the path. The other reader horrified me, placing a row of mice traps along the path; they said they killed up to half a dozen blackbirds by breaking their necks!
• No excuses, the soil is soft after the rain to plant the last of the bulbs.
• Liliums, Hippeastrums and Sprekelia bulbs can all be planted.
• This is the week to divide root-bound herbs. Repot using premium potting mix mixed with 1/3 washed river sand. Pot up the balance for spring fetes or use them to fill gaps in the garden.
Joanne Madeline Moore
Your week in the stars – April 10-16,
ARIES (Mar 21 – Apr 20)
The pace picks up as the Sun and Uranus connect in Aries and turbo-charge your fiery energy. Plus Tuesday’s Full Moon also revs up your relationship zone. Activities with a fast tempo suit – from travel and sport to social media and entrepreneurial projects. With one big proviso… be careful what you blurt out. With Mercury and Venus both retrograde, words have the ability to wound. If you don’t self-edit, you could end up with a messy misunderstanding on your hands.
TAURUS (Apr 21 – May 20)
With communication planet Mercury now moving backwards through your sign, you’ll have to be careful how you give and receive information. If in doubt, don’t hesitate to double-check. Plus avoid starting major ventures or signing important contracts until after May 3. Instead, be patient and focus your attention on revising, researching or reworking current projects. A cherished dream also needs to be revisited and revamped, as Venus reverses through your hopes and wishes zone.
GEMINI (May 21 – June 21)
Tuesday’s Full Moon stimulates your friendship zones, so those around you can look forward to some surprises, amusing antics or manic moments from you and your merry band of mates. But keep in mind that Mercury (your power planet) is now in retrograde motion until May 3. So make sure you back-up all your computer files; allow plenty of time to get to appointments or catch flights; and doublecheck everything as you carefully revise, reschedule and re-do.
CANCER (June 22 – July 22)
Looking after loved ones isn’t easy at the moment, as you struggle to juggle your personal and professional lives. Tuesday’s Full Moon falls in your home zone, so be on domestic drama alert and realise that stress levels will be running high – and self-control running low. Plus with Mercury now retrograde – pursuing your dreams won’t be a direct journey. Plenty of patience and persistence (and Crab side-stepping) are required before you taste the sweet fruits of success.
LEO (July 23 – Aug 22)
With Uranus and the Full Moon firing up your tempestuous nature, you’re amped up and ready to perform as you to let your hair down and overdo just about everything! But don’t let overconfidence (and over-exuberance) trip you up this week Cats. Your head’s full of ambitious dreams and spectacular schemes, but they’ll only work if you can persuade other people to contribute to Team Leo. You’ll find creative collaboration will take you a lot further than working as a solo operator.
VIRGO (Aug 23 – Sept 22)
Boredom is a big no-no at the moment for active and vibrant Virgos, so make sure adventure and excitement feature in your plans for the week. Under the influence of Tuesday’s Full Moon, an intimate relationship could suddenly veer off in a totally unexpected direction. And with your ruler Mercury now retrograde, expect some annoying hitches and hiccups over the next three weeks. The best way to handle it? Be patient and don’t take minor mix-ups too seriously.
LIBRA (Sept 23 – Oct 23)
A loved one, close friend, business partner or professional rival could stun you by making a surprise move. So make sure you’re prepared with a few fast moves of your own! Is your love life stuck on auto-pilot? Uranus encourages you to blast away the cobwebs and look at things from a fresh angle. Singles – are you fed up with dating disasters? The planets urge you to look for love in unlikely places. But romance is unlikely to blossom until after Venus goes direct (on Saturday).
SCORPIO (Oct 24 – Nov 21)
Some stubborn Scorpios can too easily get stuck in a stultifying daily regime. This week it’s time to ricochet out of your usual routine and do something completely different. Variety is the spice of life, as you experiment with exciting new activities – and welcome sudden detours and disruptions. But the more you try to control others, the more they are likely to resist. So, if you want to avoid ongoing problems and power struggles, then learn to graciously let go and move on.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov 22 – Dec 21)
This week’s fiery Full Moon stars are fabulous for romance, friendships, hobbies, sport, entertainment, creative endeavours and group projects. With your sparky Sagittarian mojo and momentum running on high speed, you’re ready to rock and roll! But Mercury and Venus are both retrograde for most of the week. So you need to (occasionally) take your foot out of your mouth and communicate with more care and consideration, especially at home and work.
CAPRICORN (Dec 22 – Jan 19)
When it comes to your domestic life, a dash of disruption may be just what the doctor ordered! So it’s a good week to shake things up on the home front as you redesign, redecorate, renovate or entertain unexpected guests. But with Mercury retrograde, be very clear when you’re communicating with family and friends. What they say and what you hear may be two different things. So keep them up-to-date with what you are thinking and doing, otherwise misunderstandings are likely.
AQUARIUS (Jan 20 – Feb 18)
This week’s electric planetary aspects help you communicate your innovative ideas with extra pizazz, as you connect with like-minded people via joint ventures with influential and/or international contacts. And make sure you leverage the power of social media to get your message out in exciting and inventive ways. But remember there’s a fine line between being rebellious and just plain reckless. If you are too hasty, then you could find yourself in a heap of hot water!
PISCES (Feb 19 – Mar 20)
Are you going on a holiday or business trip? With Mercury reversing through your travel zone, expect some chaos and confusion. So double-check your itinerary, make allowances for delays, cancellations and other last minute changes. You also need to look at your financial situation with fresh eyes. You can’t fix entrenched problems with old solutions! As Albert Einstein (a fellow Piscean) said, “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
Copyright Joanne Madeline Moore 2017
‘There’s no such thing as a free lunch or a free hearing test’ – By Dr Vass
4 Which planet is sixth in order from the sun? (6)
7 What is a quarter of a circle known as? (8)
8 What are burdens, or responsibilities? (6)
9 Which AFLteam won the 2000 premiership? (8)
11 Which term implies the use of too many words? (7)
13 What is another word for a halo? (7)
15 Name a metal urn, used for heating the water for making tea, etc. (7)
17 To drive a car backwards, is to do what? (7)
20 Which education follows secondary education? (8)
23 Which NT national park is owned by the Australian Aborigines? (6)
24 What are involuntary responses to stimuli? (8)
25 What was the former name (until 1933), of Alice Springs? (6)
Down
1 What are club membership subscriptions called? (4)
2 To stick fast, is to do what? (6)
3 Shakespeare is known as the what? (4)
4 Which unit of mass in the imperial system equals 14 pounds? (5)
5 To be clumsy or awkward, is to be all what? (6)
6 What are narrow ridges of rocks or sand? (5)
9 What is another name for a rubber? (6)
10 To supervise, is to do what? (7)
12 The erg is the unit of what? (6)
14 In which US state is Las Vegas situated? (6)
16 What was the given name of the orphan, trained as a pickpocket by Fagin? (6)
18 To pass a bill into law, is to do what? (5)
19 Name one of Australia’s most prolific explorers, Charles ...(5)
21 What is a more or less rigid floating platform? (4)
22 What are masses of fish eggs called? (4)
A question that is becoming more common in my practice is ‘do I offer free hearing tests’ my answer is always the same ‘No’ and I never will. Like the saying goes ‘there’s no such thing as a free lunch’ everything has its price, if you are being offered a free hearing test I think you need to ask yourself one important question ‘why is it free?’
Usually it is a sales pitch, an attempt to get customers into a clinic to try and sell them hearing aids or a way of capturing personal information to add to a company database. The more recent trend of offering patients gimmicks such as; ‘make a booking today for a free hearing test and go into a draw to win a prize’ is even more alarming.
As a Doctor of Audiology I find this approach demeaning to those who work hard to keep the hearing industry professional. When seeking help for a medical problem do you really need to go in the draw for a Christmas turkey?
I have been in the industry for over 37 years and I take my profession seriously. I am passionate about the hearing industry and I believe that the knowledge and advice that I share with my patients is invaluable. My philosophy is simple – My patients and their wellbeing come first. I welcome anyone to come in and have a chat if they have noticed a change in their hearing range or they are unhappy with their current hearing devices.
8-9th April 2017 9am – 4pm Follow the signs from Stockdill Drive, Holt
Sales registrations
Information sessions at 10am & 2pm
Children’s activities
Live Entertainment
Sausage Sizzle And more!
Be first to make life legendary at the Ginninderry Launch. Register for the first sales release in the new suburb of Strathnairn, hear talks from the Ginninderry creators and enjoy a host of other activities at The Link – Ginninderry’s brand new community space – for a real glimpse of what life will be like in a place that is setting international benchmarks for living.