Category: General News

ON HER 76th birthday, Carol Pettersen picks up a handful of sand and slowly releases it into the fresh water of the pristine lake where her mother was born 100 years ago.

Moments later, in the mid-distance, water swells then fizzes from the lake’s surface – like a dry-ice fountain of diamonds – and disappears as quickly as it rose.

Mrs Pettersen does not know quite what to make of it, but sees it as a sign.

“When we throw sand in, we wait for some message,” she explains.

“And what did we see out there?

“It could have been a spirit.”

She was raised in both the Noongar and Catholic traditions, and says one side of her is spiritual, the other logical.

“Spiritually, that was a sign that’s given me a blessing to be here and sit here,” she says.

“This place is significant to us Noongar people and to me particularly this is like heartland.”

“This is where my existence began because my mother was born here in 1917.”

Mrs Pettersen says Lake Mullocullup has always been a watering place for her people on their 300-plus kilometre trek from Albany to Esperance.

“This lake is not just a bit of water,” she stresses.

“It is a living, mythical creature that looks after the land and moisturises and provides food to all the environment around here.

“For water skiing to be here, not only is it disrespect but it could be like killing this creature.”

For 35 years, until the City of Albany stopped turning a blind eye, skiers skimmed across the lake’s surface, an act city officials this week acknowledged was illegal.

“For me to be able to sit here in reverence in this solitude and this beautiful environment and then suddenly be disturbed by the roar of a motor boat – how would you feel if I came roaring around your church on a motor bike?” Mrs Pettersen asks.

She says Noongar people have a “really good” relationship with modern-day property owners around Mullocullup, who have allowed Noongar people to visit to pay their reverence.

“In the surrounds, on the hill up there, there’s a men’s place, and over here, women’s birthing places were always near water because there was a spirit there,” she says.

She says Noongar people from many families were born at Mullocullup.

“They had to be dusted in a special wood ash, a fine ash like talcum, and I can proudly say I was dusted in that ash,” she adds.

“My mother’s birth blood is over there, and that is my DNA connection to the land.”

Mrs Pettersen, a onetime Albany city councillor, says local Noongars have long objected to the skiing, but their voice has never been heard.

“It’s never been taken seriously enough to consult the Noongar people,” she says before leaving the lake for a light picnic lunch down the road at Cheynes Beach.

Three days later, on Tuesday night at Albany’s council chambers, a motion put by Cr Paul Terry to suspend the city’s push to gazette Mullocullup for skiing is defeated eight councillors to five.

Crs Anthony Moir, Ray Hammond, Bill Hollingworth and Tracy Sleeman vote with Cr Terry.

Cr Hollingworth calls Mullocullup, which lies just a kilometre from the Southern Ocean, a “jewel in the crown of the South Coast”.

Cr Hammond says city councillors did not know what they needed to know in August when they supported the gazettal.

“It’s a mess,” he says of the limbo the city and Mrs Pettersen now find themselves in.

But Deputy Mayor Greg Stocks dubs Cr Terry’s motion “a recession motion in disguise”.

His colleague Rob Sutton adds there is “conjecture on who should be speaking for the Noongars on these things” before both men vote against the motion.

Mayor Dennis Wellington, his former personal assistant Rebecca Stephens, onetime mayor Alison Goode, Sandie Smith, John Shanhun, and Emma Doughty also vote against.

With a hand-picked committee of local Noongar people, the city will now commission consultation Cr Terry says will cost between $6000 and $7000 and be a “waste of time”.

“I say the consultation is a waste of time because on the petition submitted by Carol Pettersen exists six of the 10 members of the new proposed Noongar Consultative Committee, and there are two more signatures of people closely related to two other proposed members of that committee,” he submits.

“So we effectively have eight of the local Noongar families and their Elders already objecting to the gazettal of Lake Mullocullup.”

Mrs Pettersen, who’d earlier made a presentation to the councillors, and whose anti-gazettal petition re-ignited debate over the lake, departs the chambers immediately after the vote.

Outside, in the car park, she vows to fight on.

Image: Carol Pettersen at the lake. Photo: Chris Thomson

FOODBANK Albany and The Weekender are calling on the generosity of Albany residents for this weekend’s annual Can-Do food drive.

Albany copies of today’s Weekender each have inside them one white plastic bag.

This bag is for your kind donations of non-perishable foodstuffs, to be collected by volunteers this Sunday and given to people in Albany who are unable to afford food and groceries.

Donations can include long-life milk, tin spaghetti, pasta and pasta sauces, tin vegetables, cereals, cleaning products and any other non-perishable products.

Simply leave your Can-Do bag of donations in a visible place near your letterbox or front gate by 10am this Sunday, and volunteers will retrieve the bags and present them to Foodbank Albany.

Foodbank Albany branch manager Rod Pfeiffer is grateful for the continuing support of Albany locals in the annual food drive, which has successfully run with The Weekender for nearly a decade.

“The Can-Do drive is a vital part of our lead up to Christmas,” he said.

“Without it, we simply wouldn’t have enough stock before the Christmas season.”

Mr Pfeiffer said the 2016 Can-Do drive collected just over three tonnes, but to meet increasing demand for this year, four to five tonnes of food is needed.

“We’ve seen about an 11 per cent increase of demand from last year, so we greatly appreciate all donations,” he said.

A BAN on beekeeping in the suburbs of Albany will be reviewed, as two Gledhow apiarists hit cafes and food stores to challenge it.

Albany’s Animals Local Law prohibits beekeeping in town sites and residential areas outright, and in special rural areas without city approval.

However, the city has told The Weekender the law will soon be reviewed and lifting the ban could be considered if supported by elected officials.

Kiri Lewis and her partner Daniel Warne are circulating a petition around Albany cafes and food businesses calling on the city to can the ban.

“A lot of other places in Western Australia allow one or two beehives upon approval or application,” Ms Lewis said.

“It’s dumbfounded a lot of people why they can’t actually do it responsibly here.

“We’ve got such a disease-free area and Albany is a prime place to have bees, and yet it’s very restricted.”

The couple’s petition is available for signature at Solomon Merchants, The Health Nut, Paperbark Merchants, Goodlife, Mount Melville Fresh Organics, AVEG, McKails General Store and Southern Stockfeeds.

“So, we’ve spread it around a bit,” Ms Lewis said.

“I find that once people read it, they think it’s a bit ridiculous not even being able to apply for a beekeeping approval.”

She and Mr Warne live on a rural block, and so are allowed to keep bees.

But they plan to sell beekeeping equipment and a continued ban would smother that budding enterprise.

“I feel we should be encouraging people to support the bees, look after the bees, maintain their health and encourage beekeeping’s development instead of saying: ‘No, you can’t have them here, you can’t have them there’,” Ms Lewis said.

The City confirmed public comment would be sought ahead of any changes to the local law.

Image: Kiri Lewis Ellah-Rae Warne and Daniel Warne at their Gledhow property. Photo: Chris Thomson

THE rodeo is coming to town – and it’s all thanks to a couple of cheeky horses that were rescued from certain death.

Albany businessman Tom Kennedy saved Molly and Junior at the eleventh hour and says the love of horses sparked memories of the rodeos he used to attend at Manypeaks as a kid.

From there the idea was born to bring the rodeo back for people in the Great Southern.

The planning is complete and preparation is now well underway for the inaugural Kalgan Stampede in January next year, with earthworks already progressing at the Kalgan River Chalets and Caravan Park site on Nanarup Road, where the event will be held over three days from January 12.

“I used to go to the rodeo in the 70s and 80s as a kid,” Mr Kennedy said.

“I’m hoping that the Kalgan Stampede will continue the tradition of the Manypeaks Rodeo from 30 years ago.

“I started the process around December last year when the caravan park said we could hold the event there.

“They’ve been great with allowing us the space we need for people to camp and to keep their animals.

“We’ve also been working closely with the Australian Bushmen’s Campdraft and Rodeo Association, which is the governing body for rodeo in the country.

“They’ve helped us with the venue and how to actually run the event.

“At the end of the day when everyone rocks up, we really need to look like we know what we’re doing.”

Mr Kennedy admitted that it has been hard to organise such a big event; however, he praised the help many local businesses had been contributing.

“The City of Albany has been great. They really want to bring the Stampede to fruition,” he said.

“I’m hoping to do enough that it will get people to want to come back the next year and be able to make the next year a longer event.

“I want to do something different than the standard rodeo.”

For more information on the Kalgan Stampede, you can visit their website or Facebook page.

THE buzz of excitement, relief and nerves was bouncing between a group of young high school graduates on Saturday as they met at Middleton Beach to work out the finer details of their travelling convoy.

Yes, they were finally free and were about to embark on, for some, their first solo trip away from home without their parents.

Leavers has become a rite of passage for year 12 graduates as a way of unwinding after more than a decade of textbooks and timetables.

Scott Fielding, Jaike Dale, Lily Willock, Tyron Smallwood, Zhane Robertson, Ethan Williams, Tom Edwards and Courtney Hall were no exception to this rule.

The close-knit crew, some having known each other since before they could spell their names, were off to Dunsborough or Bremer Bay for a week of adventuring, partying, and some much-needed chill-out time.

The initial planning of ‘where’ for Leavers was relatively simple, the group agreed, but it was the multitude of rules tied to accommodation that had to be ploughed through before booking.

Camp sites often charge hefty bonds to the young leavers to cover potential damages that can happen after a few wild nights out, as well as prohibit certain activities and items being brought onto the premises.

The group of graduates collectively mulled over their parents’ warnings about binge drinking, safe sex and drink-driving, and all agreed the advice was necessary to make sure everyone had a good time and stayed safe.

Police presence is generally ramped up for Leavers hot-spots, including Dunsborough and Rottnest Island, and for some, this can seem like a dampener on the party mood.

However, this band of school buddies thought it was a good idea for police to hang around, to keep the peace and make sure things didn’t get out of hand.

With their cars loaded with swags, hats, camping chairs and the odd carton, the graduates headed off into the rising sun on Sunday to kick off their week away.

Today marks day four of Leavers, with many kids planning on making the trek home tomorrow or Saturday.

With their brains de-fried from school and their shoulders slack from the lack of stress, these new members of the adult society will soon be ready to conquer the workforce and the world.

Perhaps just give them a few days of recovery first.

A NOONGAR Elder has warned that a five-star resort at Goode Beach would upset a mighty Wagyl she says comes up for air right there.

Local Noongar Elder Lynette Knapp said the project should not proceed as planned at the Lot 660 site that abuts Lake Vancouver, known to generations of her people as Naaranyirrap.

“Naaran is when you cup the water in your hands and you drink it,” she said of the lake’s pre-European name.

“That’s pure, fresh water there.

“You can’t build around it. You can’t clear around it.”

This coming Tuesday, Albany city councillors were scheduled to vote on whether a structure plan for the resort should be endorsed for approval by the WA Planning Commission.

However, as revealed in today’s Weekender, that vote will now not likely occur until February, after proponents took their plans off the table to address concerns raised by the Department of Fire and Emergency Services.

Ms Knapp said it was imperative that developers stopped building around pristine waterways such as Naaranyirrap.

“Aboriginal waterways are not just the swamp that you see there,” she said of the lake.

“It goes underground and comes up.

“It’s being fed with underground passageways, water coming through from somewhere else, and to the east of here, Limeburners Creek is continually running out with water, so it actually pushes right through and there’s a stream to the south-east of here that’s fed by these underground things.”

That stream is the heritage-listed Vancouver Spring, which, like the lake and planned ‘Vancouver Beach Resort’, are named after Captain George Vancouver, who in 1791 was among the first non-Indigenous people to sip from the spring.

“If you’re going to build around the lake, we believe that under the ground there’s a mighty serpent,” Ms Knapp said.

“A mighty Wagyl created all those passageways, and all these swamps are where he comes up to take a breath, and then he goes under and travels to the next air hole.

“It’s important not to build around those swamps because those underground waterways are going to be crushed and made to go dry, and the old spirits won’t be too happy.”

Ms Knapp said her family, and many other Noongar people around Albany, had a 70,000-year connection to the peninsula.

“We depend on that Wagyl to keep our fresh water going,” she said.

“There is an underground world down there.”

And it’s not just the serpent-like Wagyl beneath the ground that Ms Knapp said tourists staying at the lake would need to heed.

“Look out for tiger snakes, they’re everywhere down here,” she warned of the striped serpents that wind around upon the ground at Naaranyirrap.

“They’re our keepers of the wetland system and part of some people’s totems.”

She said a planned access road running along the west side of Naaranyirrap was “not good at all”.

“If they’re going to be building around the lake, they’re just gonna mess it up,” she said.

Ms Knapp’s alternative vision for tourism in the area is a panoramic one that takes in the whole Vancouver Peninsula, on which Naaranyirrap is the only freshwater lake.

“My dream is to have it used for Aboriginal cultural tourism, because at the moment we have over 200 sites that are registered on the place and it’s a place that’s currently open to everything and everybody to drive their vehicles,” she said.

“It could be a Mecca for Aboriginal tourism – lizard traps, gravesites, everything.

“We need to teach people that our culture is worth staying here for and coming out on to country and learning from Elders, or people that know the country where the Elders have passed it down, instead of going to Bali or elsewhere.”

Her plan for the peninsula does not exclude luxury accommodation, which she said would be “awesome” if sensitively built at the former Frenchman Bay Caravan Park.

“That’s the place they need to go,” she said of an idea recently floated by the Frenchman Bay Association (The Weekender, October 19).

“Just leave our bush alone.”

She said that removing the defunct van park’s exotic tree species and rundown infrastructure, returning indigenous plants, and developing the site as a genuine eco-resort, would help restore much of its pre-European splendour.

A submission by Goode Beach resident and eminent University of Western Australia biologist Stephen Hopper said the area might contain a Noongar camp site.

“The recent discovery of a mussel shell midden about 400m north of Lot 660 on the primary dune overlooking King George Sound is indicative of the potential of the site to contain archaeological material of significance,” Professor Hopper, who is working with Ms Knapp and other Elders to document cultural and biological aspects of the peninsula, wrote.

A submission by the Frenchman Bay Association said a thorough archaeological survey of Lot 660 would be essential before any clearing and earthworks were undertaken.

“The Frenchman Bay Association is of the view that the appropriate course of action would be for the Aboriginal community to be involved in the consultation process,” FBA president Tony Kinlay told The Weekender.

Ms Knapp stressed that other Noongar families had stories about the peninsula that differed in parts to hers, but which were equally valid.

PLANS for a five-star resort at Goode Beach, due to be considered by Albany city councillors on Tuesday, have been pulled so the applicant can respond to concerns raised by the Department of Fire and Emergency Services.

The city’s Executive Director Development Services, Paul Camins, confirmed councillors would now not likely get to vote on a draft structure plan for the 51-unit complex until February.

“A submission from DFES was recently received by the city and the proponent,” Mr Camins explained.

“The matters raised in the submission require further consideration.

“The proponents need to look at the matters raised and respond to the City of Albany accordingly.”

The city declined to provide details of DFES’ submission, and efforts by DFES staff to locate the precise source of that agency’s submission drew a blank this week.

The luxury resort – contentious for its proximity to Lake Vancouver, fragile dunes, and the residential subdivision at Goode Beach – is planned for a scrubby plot on La Perouse Court.

The structure plan was set to be considered by Albany councillors on November 28, ahead of referral to the Western Australian Planning Commission.

If the commission eventually approves the plan, detailed development plans will then need to be considered by the Southern Joint Development Assessment Panel.

In further Goode Beach news, The Weekender also reports warnings by a local Noongar Elder that a resort could disturb a mighty Wagyl she says still lives and breathes at Lake Vancouver.

A WALPOLE landowner will be banned from camping more than three nights a month on his 1407sqm block if the recommendation of a shire official is approved by Manjimup councillors tonight.

Perth-based Graham Raper, 56, has owned his block in Boronia Ridge Estate, on Walpole’s western outskirts, for more than a decade.

He has strong family ties through the shire, including a cousin, Manjimup councillor Lyn Daubney, who he has listed as one of 14 potential campers on the property.

“It’s been the Australian way for a long time,” Mr Raper said of building a holiday house in stages.

“It’s not like I go down there and disturb neighbours.

“I basically keep to myself.”

After someone complained to the shire in April that he was camping in his shed on the Howe Street block, Mr Raper applied to camp on the block for periods up to three months in any given year.

He says he camps in a caravan, not his shed as alleged by the complainant, and has a separate ablution block with toilet, shower and hand basin connected to Walpole’s deep sewerage system.

Nevertheless, Shire Principal Environmental Health Officer Evon Smith has recommended Mr Raper’s application be refused.

Mr Smith has told shire councillors the residential block is not suitable for camping, and approving Mr Raper’s application would set an undesirable precedent.

Despite Mr Raper’s submission to the contrary, Mr Smith advises there is no record of the ablution block ever being connected to sewerage.

“I am connected to the deep sewerage system, so his doubts are wrong,” Mr Raper told The Weekender.

“It was installed by Walpole Plumbing, an approved plumber in the area, so I fail to see that.”

He said he was semi-retired at one stage when he spent more time in Walpole, but was now back at work, presently in Port Hedland.

“The camping just gives me the time when I’m down there to be able to make the property fire ready, and tidy the block up and maintain the buildings,” he explained.

He said he would build a house on the block when he got the money.

“At this stage, I only go down a couple of times a year, and most of it’s to get the property ready to put a dwelling on it,” he said.

Under state legislation, a shire may allow landholders to camp on their blocks more than three nights a month, provided the land is not camped on more than three months a year.

And the shire must be satisfied the land is suitable for camping, with specific reference to safety, health and access to services.

A Manjimup shire policy says that using a caravan to camp on land for up to 12 months can be approved, but only while a building approval is current, which is not the case for Mr Raper.

The shire asked owners of neighbouring blocks about their views on his camping plans, and nobody objected.

A 2.5km, $1.2 million missing link in the cycle network from Little Grove to the Albany Town Hall is about to be added to Albany’s expanding chain of cycle paths.

Stage one of the two-stage Mount Elphinstone-to-CBD bike path is out for tender, and senior city engineer Andrew Greenwood said construction is slated to start in January.

“The project will run from Collie Street, just behind the Town Square,” he told The Weekender.

“The path along Frenchman Bay Road is quite a popular tourist recreation path, but at the moment there’s no link through to the city.

“Because of the railway and the road trains on Princess Royal Drive it’s a route that is not popular for cycling, apart from hardened cyclists.”

Stage one of the new bicycle/ pedestrian path will run from Town Square, along the northern side of Grey Street West, to the top of Carlisle Street, a distance of 1.2km.

Budgeted at $590,000, stage one is scheduled for completion in April.

Stage two, which will join the existing Frenchman Bay Road cycle path that stretches to Little Grove, is budgeted to occur next financial year at a similar cost.

The city’s TravelSmart officer, Julie Passmore, said the new route would give commuters and recreational cyclists more options for getting to the city safely.

“It gives the opportunity to be separated from traffic, and for people with children it’s safer, definitely,” she said.

“Surveys that we’ve done have shown cycling is growing in popularity and we’re definitely getting more people arriving to city events by bike.

“We’re seeing a steady growth in people commuting, and a growing positivity about cycling here from visitors as well as residents.”

Contractors interested in tendering for the job had best get on their bikes.

Tenders close at 2pm on November 29.

THE City of Albany has refuted assertions by Torbay residents that they were not told about a prescribed burn that raged out of control and became a serious danger to homes and the heritage-listed Torbay Hall on Thursday.

The blaze was supposed to be a small prescribed burn near Lower Denmark Road, but quickly escaped the burn area.

Emergency services were called to douse the blaze.

The fire ripped through 40 hectares of bushland and stopped 50m short of the hall.

Chair of the Torbay Hall Management Committee Rosemary King said her property was within 1km of where the prescribed burn was arranged.

Ms King said she saw flames jump across Lower Denmark Road, and initiated a chain of phone calls to her neighbours when she saw the fire had raged out of control.

She is part of the city’s text message scheme that is meant to alert residents of any local emergencies.

But she said she did not receive a text message about the prescribed burn, nor about it burning out of control.

Vicki Read, a Torbay local for 15 years, said she also lived within 1km of the burn.

She evacuated her property soon after Ms King rang her with the emergency warning.

“It’s just such a lack of communication,” Ms Read said of the city’s alert process.

“It’s pretty much what we live with.

She said that about 12.30pm she was reassured the burn was okay.

“But I checked again at 1.30pm, and then at 2pm they pulled into my driveway saying the fire was out of control,” she said.

Ms Read said she was disappointed and shaken as a result of what she viewed as the city’s poor communication with Torbay residents.

She said it was lucky she had a bushfire plan that worked very well.

She said the only correspondence she received was a letter two-and-a- half years ago stating a prescribed burn was to be arranged for the bush surrounding the Torbay Hall.

City of Albany Acting Manager City Reserves Jacqui Freeman said nearby residents were informed of the burn.

“The appropriate consultation was undertaken,” she said.

“Residents at the other side of town might not have been notified because they were in a distance further away from the risk zone.

“We do advertising, put it on the Facebook page and we do letterbox drops and door-knocking to those residents who are close by.”

Ms Freeman said because the planned burn was small, consultation only occurred with property owners in the immediate vicinity.

“We’re pretty diligent in letting people know,” she said.

“What we do is we assess conditions, and if they are suitable, we can undertake the burn.”

She said the burn at Lower Denmark Road had been next on the list of priority burns slated to be undertaken in the area.

“We’re burning that area in preparation for burning some smaller patches closer to the townsite to protect the townsite,” she said.