Tag Archives: Albany

Warning follows post on illegal dumping 21/01/2016

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WORDS AND PICTURE BY GEOFF VIVIAN

This is the kind of local story I love to do, and I will tell you why.

Click on this image to read the story.

Click on this image to read the story.

It is about an everyday citizen trying to do the right thing by his community and his family, despite apathy and opposition.

Mr McPherson liked to cycle the gravel paths around a large bush block near his home with his kids.

These paths had become increasingly blocked by illegally dumped rubbish, the last item being a whole discarded trailer.

Taking this sort of issue straight to the media is an aggressive measure, but he had already tried to contact the landowner and the local City council so I didn’t mind batting for him.

I contacted both of these late in the afternoon, and by next day the landowner had decided to start fortnightly inspections, and the City council to “revisit” the issue.

From The Great Southern Weekender, January 21, 2016.

Lessons learned from fire 14/01/2016

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ALBANY’S chief fire control officer offers a different slant on the events of the past few weeks.

Click on this image to read the story.

Click on this image to read the story.

Residents of the South West town of Yarloop have criticised authorities for not warning them of the catastropic blaze that destroyed their town until it was almost upon them.

He contrasted this with the actions of a few young campers at Two Peoples Bay, near Albany, who alerted authorities within 15 minutes of a similar fire starting, allowing firefighters to start arriving within another 20.

From The Great Southern Weekender, January 14, 2016.

Recognition for deal ‘architect’ 11/6/2015

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Here is a nice local angle on a national story I missed posting last year.

Click on this image to read the story.

Click on this image to read the story.

Albany man Glen Colbung was acknowledged as the architect of a $1.3 billion native title settlement between the Noongar people and the WA Government.

Former South West Aboriginal Land and Sea Council CEO Glen Kelly paid tribute to Mr Colbung at the signing of the deal in Perth last June.

Under the arrangement, the state is to pay $50 million into a Noongar futures fund every year for 12 years.

Six Noongar corporations will then be able to draw on the interest for social and economic programs.

Pressure on City over Rex hangar deal 3/12/2015

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ALBANY’s Mayor said the City had fewer than three months to build a large aircraft hangar if Regional Express Airlines (Rex) was to start operating early morning flights in late February.

Click on this image to read the story.

Click on this image to read the story.

In late November, Albany Mayor Dennis
Wellington and Member for
Albany Peter Watson said the
airline, which was the State Government’s
preferred tenderer for
the Perth to Albany route, was yet
to speak to anyone from Albany.

“I would have thought it would
have been a really good idea to
come and talk to us before we get
too excited about anything,” Mr
Wellington said.

There are various ways of reporting a local government story.

Some like to concentrate on personalities.

I prefer to show how a given issue will affect everyday people’s lives.

The Mayor’s disappointment at the City not being consulted is worth noting, but not the story’s main angle from my point of view.

The Great Southern Weekender, December 3, 2015.

 

 

Expert quashes oil spill drift concerns 29/10/2015

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A scientist says West Australians have no need to worry about new oil exploration wells in the Great Australian Bight.

Click on this image to read the story.

Click on this image to read the story.

A company wishes to explore for oil, and there have been fears a potential oil spill from the wells would drift westwards to Albany and beyond.

Oil spills expert Monique Gagnon says the heavy crude oil the explorers are seeking would degrade and sink before it had a chance to reach WA shores.

The Great Southern Weekender, October 29, 2015 p7

Urgent need for new housing, says MLA 14/5/2015

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PICTURE AND TEXT BY GEOFF VIVIAN

Back story: Albany is short of housing for its most vulnerable citizens, including the elderly.

X14ALB_003P

From the Great Southern Weekender May 14 2015, p3.

The state government demolished an old block of flats on this site about a decade ago, while Labor was in power, and apparently it took some time for the City to publish its new precinct plan for the area.

I was concerned I was giving the local member a free kick til I double checked, and realised Council adopted that precinct plan 18 months ago.

The present government gave him the free kick, I just did the reporting. 

Meanwhile the region has more than 120 people on the emergency housing waiting list, and the state government is yet to commit to building anything on this land, which it owns.

The new state budget includes $560 million to house vulnerable people this year.

From the Great Southern Weekender May 14 2015, p3.

Developer revives plan for Frenchman Bay 19/3/2015

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TEXT AND PICTURE BY GEOFF VIVIAN

From The Weekender, March 19 2015, p7. Click on this image to read the story.

Click on this image to read the story.

I love to do development stories because most local papers neglect this important area.

What is done with our physical environment affects us all once it is built, and I think it needs to be in the news beforehand.

The former caravan park featured a popular little shop on a beach 21 kilometres from Albany’s town centre.

It was all demolished in the last decade to make way for a resort that never eventuated.

[From The Great Southern Weekender, March 19 2015, p7.]

Firefighting pics from Albany WA

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Weekender picture 2015 03 26 X26ALB_007P

PICTURES BY GEOFF VIVIAN

These pics are not of an out of control bushfire, just a controlled burn in an Albany suburb pleasantly close to nature.

From The Great Southern Weekender March 26 2015

 

Photo by Geoff Vivian (c) The Great Southern Weekender

Photo by Geoff Vivian (c) The Great Southern Weekender

Photo by Geoff Vivian (c) The Great Southern Weekender

Photo by Geoff Vivian (c) The Great Southern Weekender

The texture of making July 1995

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The Western Review

Text by GEOFF VIVIAN

This is a 1995 review of a show by Jon  Denaro at Margaret River Galleries.

He has since held regular exhibitions and undertaken public art commissions on both sides of Australia.

Many of these are collaborations with his partner Bec Juniper.

From The Western Review July 1995.

IN HER ARRANGEMENT Paintings by SHAARON DU BIGNON May 2000

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TEXT BY GEOFF VIVIAN

from Artseen May 2000

I have just found something I wrote in 2000, as part of a review of an exhibition by Albany artist Shaaron du Bignon:

“… much post-modern art becomes the willing tool of the mighty. To give one example, Rupert Murdoch was able to set up his Sky-TV channels using almost unlimited free material from MTV video makers. The fact that they borrowed heavily on performance art, itself a derivative of Dada, is rarely mentioned. Dada was all about deconstructing authority. Its grand daughter, MTV, has become an unwitting and foolish accessory to unmitigated power.”

I must have been an opinionated art critic! To read more go to Judith McGrath’s Artseen or click below.

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