Youth celebrated across region

THE Great Southern will celebrate its young whippersnappers next weekend with three big festivals in Albany, Denmark and Katanning.

Albany’s YouthFest Music Festival will be held at the town square on April 21 and City of Albany Youth Development Officer Lesley Yates said visitors, restricted to ages 12 to 25, can expect a line-up of fantastic local talent and awesome music.

“We want young people to feel like Albany is somewhere they would like to continue to live, work, play and study and that they are valued for their diversity and talents,” she said.

“Youth services and agencies will engage with young people at key locations throughout the event through positive and fun activities.

“It is ultimately a celebration of young people.”

Ms Yates said the event was put together with the help of Albany’s Youth Advisory Council, and that there would be dancing, lawn games, face painting, an InstaBooth, Wi-Fi, phone charging ports and food vendors at the event, opening at 5pm and closing at 9pm.

Katanning’s Great Southern Youth Festival will also be on April 21, at the Katanning Leisure Centre.

From 2pm to 5pm, attendees – restricted to ages 11 to 25 – will be able to enjoy free entry, food stalls, live music, bubble soccer, a dunk tank, a rock climbing wall, sumo suits and sporting activities.

The 4Youth Denmark Fest will keep the party spirit going all weekend, scheduled for April 22 at McLean Oval.

From 11am to 4.30pm, there will be skateboarding clinics, demonstrations and a competition, a silent disco, art workshops, henna and glitter tattoos, Thai massage, bubble soccer, free Wi- Fi and food.

The Denmark event welcomes the whole family, particularly with the concert at 1.30pm featuring talent from Denmark and surrounds.

To find out more about the Great Southern’s youth festival events, check out the respective shire or city websites.

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Mayhem on the move

PLANTAGENET Players will christen their new home next month with a variety show to rival all others from the acting group’s repertoire.

The newly refurbished Plantagenet District Hall is now sparkling with nearly $1 million worth of fix-ups, including retractable tiered seating and state-of-the-art audio-visual equipment.

Plantagenet Players media liaison Kristy Kempton said the first show for the hall, 100% Comedy – Caution: may contain traces of nuts, will feature two hours of skits, musical and dance numbers, short plays and poems.

“Plantagenet Players shows are notoriously cheeky and hilarious,” she said.

“The actors are all volunteers, including The Weekender’s own Andy Dolphin, and almost all content is written in-house.”

Co-producer of 100% Comedy Charmaine Gadenne said the show is guaranteed to tickle the cockles of your funny bones.

“It’s a lively variety show full of humour, wit and a touch of mayhem,” she said.

“We have created some very unique pieces in the usual style of Plantagenet Players that may cause you to laugh so hard, you’ll have tears running down your legs.

“The cast are having a ‘cracking’ good time at rehearsals, adding their own delightful personalities to their characters on stage as they explore our new theatre, whilst the crew have been playing with all the new equipment and creating costumes that will be a treat for the eyes.”

Tickets for the May 11, 12, 18 and 19 shows are on sale now and can be purchased at Mt Barker Scrap Shak.

Tickets cost $17 for adults, $12 for seniors and children, and a light supper is included.

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Mix of creativity on show

A FUSION of colour and acrylic will descend upon Mt Barker’s Art Chatter Gallery when artworks from Albany art students are installed this weekend.

The Mature Mix Art Exhibition will officially open this Saturday at 2pm and continue until May 17 in the Strike Me Pink’s exhibition space.

The art pieces are the result of Vancouver Art Centre’s two Wednesday classes, and tutor Helen Leeder-Carlson said the exhibition comprises acrylic, portraiture, monochrome, seasonal, still life and landscape art.

“We’re a really lively, light-hearted class and I always encourage people to do things and expand their creativity,” she said.

“Having exhibitions like this encourages art students to keep up their art and it gives locals the chance to purchase affordable, original, local art.”

Ms Leeder-Carlson said artwork will be available for between $75 and $150, and the exhibition will be laid out with connecting colours.

The Art Chatter Gallery at Strike Me Pink is located on Langton Road in Mt Barker and is open every day, 10am to 4.30pm.

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Time for clock work

KATANNING’S town memorial clock, built more than 60 years ago, is about to undergo a facelift to restore it to its original condition.

A Shire of Katanning spokesperson confirmed the works were about to commence and are expected to cost about $3000, which would come out of the Shire’s wallet.

The works are due to be completed by mid this year.

The spokesperson said the clock mechanism had been problematic for the past 15 years and in need of a full restoration.

The restoration will include rebuilding the clock mechanism cabinet that has been chewed by termites, cleaning and repairing the mechanism at the base of the tower, cleaning and repairing the clock hand mechanism, repainting and reinstalling the clock face and hands, refurbishing electrical components where required and replacing the lights on the clock face.

The clock was built to commemorate the pioneering women of Katanning, and was unveiled in 1956 by Sister Elizabeth Grover after a year’s contruction.

Sister Grover was the oldest surviving daughter of William Grover, one of the first settlers in the Shire.

According to the Heritage Council of Western Australia, the clock cost the town 1458 pounds, nine shillings and eight pence to build.

A local jeweller and watchmaker, a Mr LFW Quartermaine, won the contract of maintaining and supervising the clock in 1955, for which he was paid 10 pounds a year.

The clock is one of two of its kind in the public realm; the other is located in Parliament House in Perth.

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Drivers reminded on slow-mo law

A CEMENT truck that caught fire while travelling from Mount Barker to Manjimup on Tuesday provided a timely reminder for passing motorists to observe Western Australia’s new slowdown law.

Officer in charge of Cranbrook police station Laurie Seton said the truck, owned by a Mount Barker company, was being driven to the firm’s Manjimup office along Muir Highway.

“The driver became aware of smoke coming from the rear of the truck, and she pulled over, stopped and tried to put the fire out but she wasn’t able to,” Sergeant Seton said.

“So two local bush fire brigades – from Rocky Gully, and Unicup, I think it was – put the fire out.”

Sgt Seton said Cranbrook cop shop received a call about the fire at 6.20am.

He said that while traffic at the scene – about 15km west of Rocky Gully – was sparse, observance by passing motorists of the slow-down law helped ensure a potentially dangerous situation did not escalate.

“The problem with the new slo-mo laws; they’re brilliant laws, but uptake on them has been very slow,” he added.

“Truckies are the best; with them we’ve probably got 60 to 70 per cent take-up on it, but everyone else, not nearly as good.

“We pull vehicles over on Albany Highway, and we’d be lucky if one in 20 slows down.”

Sgt Seton said delays to getting a heavy recovery vehicle to the site from Albany meant the truck was stranded on Muir Highway until about 11am.

He urged motorists seeing stationary emergency vehicles with emergency lights activated on their side of the carriageway to slow down to 40kph.

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‘Farewatch’ gets local support

A PARLIAMENTARY recommendation that a FuelWatch-style website be set up to help consumers compare regional airfares has been accepted by the State Transport Minister and supported by the boss of a major Albany tourism attraction.

This week, Minister for Transport Rita Saffioti said the State either fully supported, or supported in principle, 12 recommendations by the Parliamentary Inquiry into Regional Airfares.

One of the supported recommendations – that the Department of Transport report to Ms Saffioti on the viability of a website to help consumers compare airfares to regional destinations – received the thumbs up from the General Manager of Albany’s Historic Whaling Station Elise van Gorp.

Ms van Gorp, who in August last year made a submission to the inquiry, told The Weekender a ‘Farewatch’ website could provide an easy point for visitors to check airfares to and from Albany at different times.

She said even though only one airline serviced Albany, the website could help tourists compare the cost of flying to Albany with travel costs to competing regional destinations.

“It could assist in promoting Albany as a destination, particularly if the cost of flying here stacked up favourably against other places,” she said.

“It could support visitors’ choices if they want to come to Albany. They might think: ‘Yay! We could go there for the weekend.’

“It might assist in raising their awareness of how easy it could be to arrange a getaway weekend, perhaps, where they hadn’t thought of it before.”

Ms Saffioti said the State would review each recommendation as part of an updated State Aviation Strategy she expected to be released in 2020.

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Phone tower stand-off

A STAND-OFF between the State Government and Telstra over the location of a mobile phone tower at Salmon Holes is delaying implementation of a recent Coroner’s recommendation into improving mobile phone coverage at the treacherous rock fishing spot.

During her recent inquest into the 2015 death of rock fishermen Chunjun Li and Jiaolong Zhang at Salmon Holes, Deputy State Coroner Evelyn Vicker heard the area had emergency telephones, but mobile coverage was erratic.

Ms Vicker recommended that Telstra be asked to install a mobile phone tower at nearby Eclipse Island to service the area around Salmon Holes.

However, on Friday with Federal Communications Minister Mitch Fifield at Albany Town Hall, Federal Member for O’ Connor Rick Wilson said planning issues had complicated the delivery of six phone towers in and around the Great Southern, including one at Salmon Holes.

“There have been some issues with planning, but we are fighting to keep the towers for the promised sites,” he said.

Telstra Area General Manager Boyd Brown told The Weekender the giant telco had received funding under the Federal Mobile Black Spot Program to build a new base station at Salmon Holes.

He said an application to build on a chosen site at Salmon Holes had been refused by a State Government department.

Mr Brown said Eclipse Island would not deliver the best coverage and was not economically viable.

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Heritage list swells by 48

THE spot where Edmund Lockyer claimed the western third of the continent for England, a house owned by Regional Development Minister Alannah MacTiernan and the York Street HQ of the Albany Advertiser are among 48 places set to be inducted into Albany’s heritage hall of fame.

Senior city planner Tom Wenbourne has recommended that the “long overdue” additions to the list be approved when Albany councillors next convene on April 24.

A quirky but profoundly historic addition to the list is the non-descript spot on the road outside 11 Parade Street where in 1827 Major Edmund Lockyer raised the Union Jack to annexe the western third of the continent for Mother England.

CEO of the Albany Historical Society Andrew Eyden said he welcomed formal recognition of the site, for which his group had lobbied for many years.

“It’s been a bit of a disgrace, really,” Mr Eyden said of the spot currently marked by a rough yellow arrow and the word ‘flag’ spray-painted on the street surface.

The heritage survey lists the site as having “exceptional” heritage significance.

Considered to have “considerable” heritage value is the former police inspector’s quarters on Brunswick Road now owned by Ms MacTiernan.

The Victorian Georgian-style building was erected in 1885 and has long been associated with politicians – with one-time Albany councillor Dennis O’Keefe being the original owner and his son-in-law Andrew Cuddihy, who later became mayor, moving in after his wife Emily inherited the house.

Ms MacTiernan was contacted for comment on her stewardship of the historic property.

The heritage survey says the Albany Advertiser’s Federation Free Classical-style building on York Street, that it has occupied since 1897, is also of “considerable” significance as part of a diverse range of structures that form the city’s commercial and civic heart.

City of Albany Executive Director Development Services Paul Camins said property owners and the wider community were invited to suggest places that could be added to the list.

“The addition of 48 new places to the heritage survey is the result of the feedback we received from the community about the buildings and places that are important to them and that reflect Albany’s long and rich history,” he said.

Other notable places on the draft list are Albany Golf Course, Breaksea Island, the Albany Snake Run, remains of the Frenchman Bay Whaling Station, and virtually the whole of Stirling Terrace.

The list offers no statutory protection for the properties but will inform the imminent development of another list under Albany’s planning scheme that does.

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Love of bugs shines through for shutterbug

IT’S HARD to believe Albany shutterbug Michelle Barnes has only been dabbling in photography for five years – her stunning image of a pair of roosting male blue banded bees was judged the best in show for South Coast Natural Resource Management’s recent Capture Nature Photography Competition.

The macro-photography enthusiast said she was thrilled to be awarded the top prize for the competition that celebrates the region’s natural environment.

Ms Barnes’ love of bugs shone through in her image that was captured with a relatively affordable digital SLR camera and 60mm macro lens.

“Blue banded bees are my favourite little bee. I just love bugs and I’ m right into macro photography,” she said.

Although Ms Barnes entered just one image in the competition that featured 147 entries, she remembers the particular shoot when she captured the bees settling in for the night.

“I probably took another 100 photos of them,” she said.

The local nursery worker said she was prompted to enter SCNRM’s competition because of its association with the environment.

“It’s nature and there’s nowhere better than down here,” she said.

SCNRM Regional Landcare Facilitator Sally Forbes said she was blown away by the diversity of subject matter and the quality of entrants.

“It shows the love and passion people have for their environment, the places they live, and the places they choose to visit,” she said.

“The competition plays an important part in the larger Landcare and natural resource management story and what can be found in our environment when you take the time to look.”

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Fair day’s work, unfair pay

RANDOM inspections of businesses in Albany, Denmark and Manjimup by the Fair Work Ombudsman have found more than half to be in breach of fair work laws.

Of 147 businesses probed by the Fair Work Ombudsman in central Albany, Centennial Park, Denmark, Lockyer, Orana and Manjimup, 76, or 52 per cent of them, were in breach.

Among the 106 individual contraventions, 50 businesses were not paying workers correctly, while 40 firms breached record keeping and pay slip requirements.

Back payments totalling $47,379 to 147 workers were extracted from 28 Great Southern and South West enterprises.

Acting Fair Work Ombudsman Kristen Hannah said non-compliant firms were “now on notice”, and her agency would follow up to ensure breaches were rectified.

In one matter, inspectors assessed the wage records of a winery and learned three workers were being paid a flat hourly rate below the mini- mum set under the relevant award.

The winery workers received no additional penalty rates for weekend and public holiday work.

Inspectors calculated they were underpaid a total of $8,750.63.

The winery was slapped with a compliance notice and agreed to back pay the workers in full – the largest amount recovered from a single business in the Ombudsman’s sweep of the south of the State.

Ms Hannah said that there are no excuses for such errors.

“All employers in Australia must be aware of their obligations under Australia’s workplace laws,” she stressed.

“They have a responsibility to ensure they are doing the right thing by their workers.”

Inspection of an architectural firm found there were inconsistencies with its overtime records.

The business offered workers time off in lieu for overtime worked, but had not kept records of overtime accrued.

The firm told inspectors it took an informal approach to overtime records because it was a small business with good relationships between staff and management.

The firm was formally cautioned.

The Ombudsman’s report into the breaches revealed businesses belonging to an industry association had a 67 per cent compliance rate, compared to 41 per cent for those that did not, and also stated that firms with 15 or more workers had a 58 per cent compliance rate, while 45 per cent of smaller businesses were fully compliant.

According to the report, the Albany and Manjimup areas were selected for inspection partly because they had the lowest median incomes in Western Australia.

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