Ceaseless exploration on display at Penrith, Bankstown and throughout the region

Blue Mountains artists, David Haines and Joyce Hinterding are engaged in a ceaseless exploration which has no regard for boundaries between arts and sciences. In 2011, they won the Anne Landa award for video and new media arts at the Art Gallery of NSW. The outlands invited visitors to “take control and conduct their own voyage through an immersive digital world of forests, islands, and futuristic interior architecture.” Recently, under the title Energies: Haines & Hinterding, they exhibited at Sydney’s Museum of Contemporary Arts. There, a similar work invited viewers to explore a different mode of control of the spectacular giant images of Geology projected onto a wall. Other works connected with energies beyond the museum, like television signals or radio waves, while some explored the unseen energy of the occult.

Each artist has pursued their own independent research and experimentation, while collaborating on other projects. For almost a decade, David has been exploring aroma – “composing fragrances inspired by plants, the earth and the cosmos” – creating complex chemical formulas. Now he is one of four Sydney based artists including Tully Arnot, Salote Tawale and Genevieve Lown, who are participating in an exhibition Hot House at Penrith Regional Gallery. Inspired in part by the violets in the gallery’s heritage garden, David’s Violet Gas (Phantom Leaves), see photo above, permeates the atmosphere of the exhibition. It’s a playful exhibition with an audioguide giving insights into the artists’ work.

At Bankstown, another kind of exploration is having its third phase of presentation. First, it was Look the Other Way, then it was The Other Way and now it is The Way – the first two co-produced by Sydney Theatre Company and Bankstown Youth Development Service (BYDS). For more than 20 years BYDS’s mission statement and practice have been “To inspire local young artists and to deliver sustainable cultural programs that invigorate the local Bankstown community”. Through many of their projects, they work with local high school students and staff. BYDS director Tim Carroll says, “Produced by BYDS The Way explores the lives of families living in Bankstown. Over one day, follow people whose choices and decisions may have a far greater effect than they could ever have imagined…”

The Way is directed by Stefo Nantsou with the assistance of gifted professional performer and director Aanisa Vylet. Their previous work with local young people has produced rich insights, energetic and polished performances. The Way will be presented at Bankstown Arts Centre from October 1 to 10. For bookings and information click here.

Now in its second week of showings Urban Theatre Project’s new film One Day for Peace continues to be seen at sites around the region. Described as a film about faith and the everyday, One Day for Peace contains interviews with 27 different people who provide a microcosm of the immense diversity of cultures and religious faiths across western Sydney. Included are people of Hindu, Jewish, Sikh, Muslim, Jain, Christian, Baha’i, Buddhist faiths, Aboriginal spirituality and more. Each gives a description of their individual practice, sometimes with touches of humour, sometimes with poignancy and always with honesty.

Outside Parramatta Town Hall last night, a panel led by ABC broadcaster Geraldine Doogue discussed their individual responses to the film and some of the issues raised. Maha Abdo, Dr. John Rees, Professor James Arvanitakis participated with the film’s director Rosie Dennis. Each agreed they felt a sense of quiet optimism and often a wish to know more about the individuals’ lives. Rosie’s primary intention has been to start a widespread conversation about faith, culture and diversity. She wants to encourage people to recognise the nuances of faith and culture within the community and avoid the constant simplistic “them and us” delivered by the media. She mentioned an audience member at Blacktown, who had assumed every man with a beard and headdress was Muslim and had little idea of other religions.

James described students who struggle to find the words needed to articulate thoughts, beliefs, ideas and questions. His academic area is management and he doesn’t consider himself a religious man, but he recognises the need across many fields. For Maha of the Muslim Women’s Association, she agrees and finds encouragement in the demonstration of diverse individual experience. Since 9/11, young Muslims in Australia have been subject to all sorts of abuses and exclusions and little effort to understand their experiences. They can be left with a sense of isolation and disconnection. Nonetheless, in response to a question from Geraldine, she sees glimpses of an Australian Muslim identity emerging, which will be distinct in the way that Indonesian Muslims distinguish themselves from Arabic Muslims.

All acknowledged the role of culture in the interpretation and experience of faith and John emphasised the importance of this understanding in Australia’s growing relationship with its south east Asian neighbours. Even though people can be very critical of the faith and culture in which they may have been brought up, Geraldine considers their impact in giving a sense of identity and being grounded is deeply significant. While the future of the film is not yet clear, there was general agreement that it should be shown widely and especially in schools. Despite the freezing wind, passers by were happy to sit down and watch. Two young men came and sat on either side of me, introducing themselves to me and each other as Faroz and Nabil. The atmosphere was relaxed and friendly, assisted by the provision of free hot drinks and snacks.

There’s still time to catch a full screening at:
Auburn Central, Wednesday 23 Sept, 6:30pm
Blacktown Train Station, Thursday 24 Sept, 6:30pm
Blacktown Train Station, Saturday 26 Sept, 6pm (additional screening)
Canley Vale Heights, Saturday 26 Sept, 6:30pm
Cabramatta Moon Festival, Sunday 27 Sept, 7pm
More info on locations can be found here.

National Trust supports NPRAG in announcing community consultation overlooked in Parramatta heritage planning

 

 

 

NORTH PARRAMATTA RESIDENTS ACTION GROUP (NPRAG) supported by National Trust Australia (NSW) makes the following announcement:

You are invited to attend the FLEET STREET HERITAGE PRECINCT SYMPOSIUM proudly bought to you by the North Parramatta Residents Action Group
This Symposium intends to create an alternative vision and a viable economic model for this oasis of land in the booming heart of Parramatta – the capital of Western Sydney. This diverse 39 hectares of public land which is currently in use by the Cumberland Hospital, also cradles precious convict buildings and historic and contemporary social narratives incorporating Aboriginal and colonial settlement within an extensive and contiguous precinct. This site has the ability to be a world class cultural, educational and active tourist precinct that will provide ongoing benefit for the local community and businesses of Parramatta and beyond.

Come and take part in this symposium drawing experts in Heritage Tourism, Arts & Culture in a community and discuss case studies of successful business models in other areas and take part in workshops so we can formulate BETTER IDEAS, BETTER COMMUNITY and BETTER BUSINESS.

Parramatta Leagues Club
13-15 O’Connell Street
AUDITORIUM
Parramatta, NSW 2150
Australia

Monday, 12 October 2015 from 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM (AEDT)

Register by clicking here.

Cross cultural music, writing and Aboriginal dance uplift and inspire

Last Saturday’s opening night concert of Sydney Sacred Music Festival 2015, at Riverside Theatres, Parramatta, was even more extraordinary than might have been anticipated. In the preceding week, two of the five featured musicians, Uyghur bard, Shohrat Tursun and Sudanese multi-instrumentalist Asim Gorachi were unable to return to Australia in time. Taking their places were Nicholas Ng on the Erhu/Chinese violin and Yolngu vocalist from Arnhem Land, Gambirra Illume. Gambirra is also an exponent of ceremony and could only confirm her presence 24 hours before the concert.

As a tribute to their skills and professionalism the resulting Sacred Exchange was seamless. Each of the musicians gave an individual demonstration of their instruments and explained their origins and roles in diverse religious or cultural ceremony. Australia’s Grand Master of the Japanese shakuhachi, Riley Lee; Mongolian throat singer and horse fiddle player Bukhu Ganburged; and Australia’s leading exponent of the Indian Tabla, Bobby Singh joined Gambirra and Nicholas in an atmosphere of meditation and transcendence. Humorous little insights were often given into the performers’ personal experience of their instruments. Bobby Singh drew laughter after the players combined in an improvised collaboration, when he reflected that this was a Sydney Saturday night. They could have been anywhere in the world, uplifted in harmony, while others were at the football, or drinking beer. On stage, above, are Gambirra, left, Nicholas, Bobby, Buku and Riley.

The festival continues to September 19 and includes Stories of the Sacred tomorrow night, Thursday, September 10, at Parramatta Artists Studios. Writers Walter Mason and Maryam Azam, left, will investigate the everyday revealing those sacred spaces we never usually notice. A concert at Campbelltown Arts Centre on Friday night explores Ancient Rhythms, Future Visions. It’s a collaborative performance featuring the “Godfather of Indian Electronica” DJ Coco Varma with some of Sydney’s finest South Asian performers melding sacred dance and music with Sufi poetry and electronica. At Bankstown Arts Centre on Saturday night Sacred Rituals of Sudan is a multimedia concert that features the sacred ritual and ceremonies of Sudan. The Sudanese Sufi community of Sydney comes together to showcase Sufi traditions in song, dance and video. The night will feature the Sufi Chant group Bashier and the visual art of Ghasan Saaid. Click here for festival details for the next 10 days.

At the opening of the new Barangaroo reserve on Sydney Harbour, on September 6, Wagana Aboriginal Dancers, right, performed with Janawi Dance Clan, NAISDA, Matthew Doyle, Clarence & Tim Bishop, Excelsior, Thomas Kelly, Darren Compton and Koomurri.

For several weeks they have also been developing a new work Gaurii – Crow – using an area of burnt out bushland in the Blue Mountains as their inspiration. Gaurii is part one of Have you ever found a feather and wondered whose it was? The new work in progress is intended for schools and festivals later in the year and throughout 2016. Director Jo Clancy says, “I’ve been working with Jacinta Tobin and 4 dancers Becky Chatfield, David Newton, Nadia Martich and Glory Tuohy-Daniell. Now we hope to get some feed back.”

You are invited to join them for their first public presentation on Saturday, September 19, at 5.30pm, at Kindlehill Performance Space, Lake Street, Wentworth Falls, in the Blue Mountains. Tickets are available at the door for $10 and $5. Call 0409 651 290. The dancers would love to hear your responses and ideas. Photo above by Jamie Murray. This first development is being supported by the Blue Mountains Aboriginal Culture and Resource Centre and funded by the Blue Mountains City of the Arts Trust.

Sydney’s west moves against absurd heritage and arts funding discrimination

It would be an absurdist comedy if the consequences weren’t so serious. Suzette Meade, president of North Parramatta Residents Action Group dubs it a tale of two cities. She also thinks she might become a script writer for ABC TV’s satirical comedy Utopia. It offers such a parallel to local experience of nonsensical political and bureaucratic behaviour.

Last Tuesday, August 25, the state government announced a revitalisation of Sydney’s oldest and most important historic precinct in Macquarie St, including Hyde Park Barracks, above. The convict architect Francis Greenway designed the barracks and some of the buildings in both the Sydney and Parramatta precincts. No mention was made of selling off parts of nearby Hyde Park or The Domain to finance the Sydney changes. This is despite the government’s chosen method to finance conservation of buildings from the same era in North Parramatta, by selling off vast tracts of land around them to allow massive new development.

Last Thursday, August 27, Suzette hosted a media conference on the site of the early colonial Parramatta Female Factory Precinct. Among those represented were NPRAG, the National Trust, Friends of the Parramatta Female Factory, Parramatta Female Factory Precinct: Memory Project, the CFMEU, political parties and various heritage groups.Since early February, when the resident action group was formed, members have been working to persuade the state government to “Press Pause” on its proposal to turn the World Heritage class site into an infill dormitory suburb of 4000 residential apartments in blocks up to 30 storeys high. The group has networked and built a comprehensive community coalition.

Suzette said, “Make no mistake. Despite UrbanGrowth NSW and the state government’s rhetoric, the current proposal is not heritage driven. It is a fast-tracked, poorly and unimaginatively conceived cash grab of public assets to fulfil government housing quotas that are being and can be satisfied in more appropriate locations. Parramatta is the cradle of our modern nation. Since 1788, this extensive and unrivalled site with its more than 70  historic intact buildings, has been witness to exceptional personal stories and social changes that have shaped and informed who we are today.

“Green bans saved the historic Sydney we all love and which international visitors flock to. The Rocks, Victoria Street, Centennial Park, Woolloomooloo, the QVB building for instance would not be here today if it were not for our great national icon and environmental activist, Jack Mundey, protecting these unique places from inappropriate development.”

During the 1970s, Jack, right, was secretary of the Builders Labourers Federation, which introduced “Green Bans” in response to community advocacy when residents were desperately trying to protect their homes and cherished sites from gross redevelopment. Though often against their own need to earn a wage, a “Green Ban” meant that BLF members refused to take any action to demolish or build on a threatened site. Long since retired, Jack was present at the conference with the state secretary, Brian Parker of the Construction, Forestry Mining and Energy Union, which now represents the builders. Brian can be seen to the right of Jack and Suzette to the left, behind Jack.

“How disgraceful it would be that this part of Australia’s history would be destroyed,” Jack said. “The Green Bans in the 70s and 80s stopped so much of Sydney being destroyed. The Green Bans will be reborn in this part of Parramatta and we will win this fight as well.” An earlier Green Ban that the union put on the Female Factory site has now been extended to include the entire precinct, including the 1840s Roman Catholic Orphanage, left, and the children’s hospital Bethel.

Brian Parker reiterated Jack’s concern that communities need green spaces and the chance for future generations to to be educated in their own history. He spoke of the huge scale of coming development, which will have an enormous impact on Parramatta in the next decade and of the vital need to balance this with open space. He said workers would stop the North Parramatta development from going ahead by putting their “bodies on the line”. “The CFMEU is going to show our muscle if they try and bring one bulldozer in here to tear this place apart,” he said. “But we won’t win without the support of all local residents.”

In the meantime, arts and cultural representatives from across western Sydney have been meeting for the last 18 months to instigate collective thinking across the arts in the region. The primary aims of the Western Sydney Arts and Cultural Lobby are to secure equity in arts funding for the half of Sydney’s population living in western Sydney, a place at the table where decisions are made and to communicate the success of arts activity across the region. In a paper just published by the lobby, members say that the funding paradigm needs to change.

“The dynamic art scene of western Sydney has evolved enormously over the past 40 years yet it has been woefully underfunded – A point made clear in an independent report from Deloitte, which found that despite its burgeoning population and booming economy, the region’s art scene has flourished and thrived into a rich and dynamic force but remains well short of its potential as a result of being grossly underfunded.”

The lobby is pressing for the establishment of an infrastructure development fund – $200 million of the $600 million already allocated to arts infrastructure by the state government. After losing a 10 year battle for the Old King’s School in Parramatta, left, among its allocations would be the development of a new cultural precinct to house arts and cultural companies that require permanent accommodation. “The government must deliver on the commitments made in its State Infrastructure Plan to build facilities in western Sydney.” Members want funding doubled to a Western Sydney Cultural Fund over the next four years for artists, programs and cultural organisations, and specific investment in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander arts development. They are currently making submissions to government and opposition parliamentarians.

In North Parramatta, Suzette Meade announced a symposium to be held at Parramatta Leagues Club, on Tuesday, October 13. “To lead the paradigm shift for a better vision, NPRAG will be hosting an event the public didn’t get through UrbanGrowth NSW: the Fleet Street Heritage Precinct Symposium. Speakers from academia, tourism, the arts and successful heritage organisations and towns such as Abbotsford Convent, Port Arthur, and Ballarat, will be invited to share their experiences and brainstorm alternative master plans and funding options for this iconic site.” More detail will be announced later.

PYT supports young people’s lead in finding the sacred in their shared humanity

One dictionary definition of Sacred is “worthy of or regarded with reverence, awe, or respect.” I guess it was that definition that caused me to link UTP’s film One Day of Peace, and Sydney Sacred Music Festival to Powerhouse Youth Theatre’s latest show in my last blog post. I had booked to see Jump First, Ask Later twice last Saturday and I wasn’t disappointed. There is usually so much depth of thought, range of skills and speed of delivery in PYT productions that I need time to absorb it all – well as best I can, anyway.

Jump First, Ask Later was created by six young people from Fairfield who came together through their shared love of movement. Several were members of the parkour group Team 9 Lives, but by the time this project began last year, they had separated to become DMC (Dauntless Movement Crew), with a focus on art and movement. Powerhouse Youth Theatre and Force Majeure co-produced their show, which was directed and choreographed by Byron Perry, supported by AV designer Sean Bacon and sound designer Luke Smiles. Reviews have been full of praise.

The show began with demonstrations of typical training, building strength, precision, timing, tight discipline and concentration – five young men – Joseph Carbone, Johny Do, Patrick Uy, Justin Kilic, Jimmy James Pham – and one girl, Natalie Siri, right. The delivery was frequently tongue-in-cheek. Members teased each other, but even as they seemed to compete, they were there to help each other and improve their skills. Safety consciousness was paramount. Gradually, they began to tell their stories, how they came to be involved, seeing challenges in physical elements just while they were walking in the streets. It’s not showing off. If you are worrying about what others think of you, you are not focused, one said.

As Joseph said, movement has become a way of life for all of them. They feel so good when they challenge themselves, exploring and experimenting and then passing on their skills to other young people. They love Fairfield, know its streets intimately and feel entirely at home there. They were making their way financially through teaching classes, commissioned performances, video and film recordings and bigger visions for the future. When you push yourself, it blocks out everything else. Movement is liberating, they say. They told stories of parents worried that they were just wasting opportunities to continue at university or to find a proper job, but expressed gratitude for their support and encouragement. Perhaps most poignant of all was Justin’s honesty in explaining how training helps him manage anger provoked by fractured family relationships. His “fight duet” with Joseph was a clever and very funny send up of stereotypes.

The crew’s commitment to each other and to the other young people of their  neighbourhood is inspiring. Patrick and Johnny each came to DMC through their love of street dance. Patrick’s Cambodian background and Johnny’s from Vietnam can sometimes mean tension and distrust. Instead, they delivered wryly humorous performances that included a relaxed and highly entertaining exchange of quick hand and arm movements that brought shouts of approval from their audience.

Until they worked together on this show, crew members had never known each other’s stories, they say. That closer knowledge has welded them together as a totally interconnected team based on trust and coordination. For some like Joseph, who began 10 years ago, street movement was an underground activity distrusted by police. As they gained confidence and acceptance, they began engaging and training other young people. This week, lots of school groups have booked to see the performances and be inspired about their own potential. Classes are now expanding to Bankstown and Campbelltown and will shortly begin in Parramatta. Next year, DMC performs Jump First, Ask Later at Sydney Opera House, from where their show will be streamed live to regional schools.

Between performances, I was lucky to run into film director Guido Gonzales, right, and some of his young team. They made the film Riz, which debuted to a capacity audience at this year’s Sydney Film Festival. They were all locals and enthusiastic about Jump First, Ask Later. Guido said, “It’s vitally important that we tell our own stories.” He has noticed a big change since making Riz and beginning work on their next production. Relaxation with a few drinks after work sessions has been common practice. Now some avoid alcohol. Respect for self, each other and the young people they reach is the underlying spirit – liberation and unlimited possibilities. This suggests finding the sacred in our everyday lives.

It’s a sharp contrast to the picture of life in suburban Sydney fostered by lazy media reporting and too many state cultural institutions. In her PhD thesis just published online by UTS, Penny Stannard begins her introduction: In 2011 Hollywood star and Sydney resident Cate Blanchett and her Sydney Theatre Company co-artistic director husband Andrew Upton recounted their suburban youth in the 1980s for the purpose of securing further state and local government investment in Sydney’s harbourside cultural precinct. For them, Sydney suburbs were ‘flat, dry (and) filled with sinister silence’, while ‘town (the city) was the centre’, a ‘magnetic attractor’, a chance to invent and create. Blanchett and Upton insisted passionately that it is ‘vital for the children of the suburbs that capital cities act like capital cities’ and develop metropolitan inner city precincts filled with artists and cultural organisations. But they also stressed that the key to success of such precincts lay in them being located where people live. Blanchett and Upton were unaware of the paradoxical nature of their statement. The majority of Sydneysiders, and indeed Australians, live in the suburbs.

It was enough to win state government budget support, which has again left western Sydney scraping for crumbs. As Guido says, “If we can make a film like Riz in nine days with only $85,000 and have it selected for Sydney Film Festival, imagine what we could do with decent funding!” Jump First, Ask Later plays till Saturday and tickets are selling fast. Click here to buy tickets.

Multi-faith film projects “One Day for Peace” across multiple sites

It was an act of faith that launched Urban Theatre Projects‘ crowd funding campaign for their second documentary film One Day for Peace. They had already won a Western Sydney Arts Initiative grant funded by the Crown Resorts Foundation and Packer Family Foundation, but they needed a further $15,000. They began 22 days of filming, just as they launched their Pozible campaign. As filming finished on July 21, 76 supporters helped them reach their target. It was a great achievement and one warmly acknowledged by Rosie Dennis, UTP’s artistic director and the film’s director.

Just as this blog has grown out of our daily experience of western Sydney as a frontier society where we’re “working out the multicultural project day by day”, Rosie says, “One Day For Peace takes us on a journey across the suburbs of western Sydney to ask: what do you believe? We see everyday ritual combine with reflections on humanity, impermanence and social justice. An epic undertaking, One Day For Peace wrestles with some big (and not so big) questions inside homes, prayer houses and from the back seat of a taxi.

“During the making of One Day For Peace, Urban Theatre Projects collaborated with dozens of people of different faiths, beliefs and cultural backgrounds. The film aims to provide viewers with a deeper understanding about the role of faith as something greater than the individual, and look to the importance of belief in people’s daily lives. The work was also designed to be a compelling counterpoint to the perceived differences between cultures and religions, which are often inflated by the media.”

Exploration of difference, whether it be cultural, religious, art form or experience has long been a theme of arts projects and programs in western Sydney. It allows the opening up of dialogue between groups, the acceptance and understanding of difference and the discovery of commonalities. Just like One Day for Peace, it leads to opportunities for creative collaborations and a sharing of vision and inspiration. This is very much the theme of Sydney Sacred Music Festival, opening September 5, and I’m guessing, PYT’s Jump First, Ask Later, launched today at Fairfield. I’m looking forward to seeing it on Saturday.

One Day for Peace will be screened over two weeks in high pedestrian traffic locations across Western Sydney from 14–27 September, with the video work to be projected onto buildings, screens and in train stations in Auburn, Bankstown, Blacktown, Canley Heights, Liverpool, Mt Druitt and Parramatta. Click here for location details and times.

So many causes for western Sydney celebration – birthdays, festivals and campaign progress

So much to celebrate in a crowded schedule that stretches way beyond the boundaries of western Sydney. The first cab off the rank is La Stupenda – a voice eternal, a concert that is a highlight of the 25th anniversary year of the Joan Sutherland Performing Arts Centre, at Penrith. At the Joan’s official opening in 1990 Joan Sutherland performed her last ever concert recital, accompanied by her husband Richard Bonynge. The tribute concert 25 years later features some of Australia’s leading classical musicians and vocalists, including The Song Company, outstanding Opera Australia singer Amelia Farrugia, celebrated didgeridoo player William Barton and a world premiere performance of a new work by Elena Kats-Chernin. An elegant night of fine music, wine and canapés. Bookings and information.

Perhaps the concert is not quite the first cab. After several years of campaigning, Parramatta Female Factory Friends has notified supporters its petition has reached the requisite 10,000. Those who signed the petition requesting a parliamentary debate about the protection of the Parramatta Female Factory Precinct, are invited to gather outside NSW Parliament House, 11am Thursday, August 20.  The Friends will present the petition to parliament and invite you join them in the presentation. Although not essential, it would be helpful if planning to attend that you rsvp to parramattafemalefactoryfriends@gmail.com with Yes in the subject.

The program for the 2015 Sydney Sacred Music Festival  has just been announced. This year is the fifth consecutive year of the festival, to be conducted at venues throughout Sydney, and running from September 5 to 20. The festival will open with Sacred Exchange, in the Lennox Theatre, Riverside Theatres, Parramatta. Australia’s Grand Master of the Japanese Shakuhachi, Riley Lee will lead the program and will be followed by Mongolian throat singer and horse fiddle player Bukhu Ganburged (pictured left), the golden voice of Uyghur bard, Shohrat Tursun, Sufi violinist Asim Gorashi and Australia’s leading exponent of the Indian tabla, Bobby Singh. The five performers will demonstrate their sacred traditions through solo performances  and discussion and then come together to create a unique interfaith performance, directed by Richard Petkovic.

Three of the performers – Bukhu, Shohrat and Asim – are members of Sydney World Music Chamber Orchestra, which was launched at last year’s festival and has just finished recording its first CD.The 2015 festival includes a sunrise chanting workshop at Bankstown, a Baha’i choral concert at Mona Vale, the high end jazz/Indian music fusion of Sandy Evan’s Kapture in the Blue Mountains, the dance fusion of tango and flamenco in Newtown and the uniting of Sufi Qawwali and electronic dance music at Campbelltown. Click here for program information and bookings.

Sydney Sacred Music Festival is always a richly rewarding experience and gives prominence to some of the extraordinary talent residing in Sydney’s suburbs, especially the west.

Last but not least come the 21st birthday celebrations of Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre. It was officially opened on October 29, 1994, after a period of five years of intense work by Susan Conroy, who became Liverpool Council’s first cultural planner. In fact she was the first cultural planner in Australia to be appointed by a local government. In 1992, she was joined by John Kirkman, who ultimately became the first director of the Powerhouse. In an inspired partnership and under the political leadership of then mayor Mark Latham, they turned the building from an almost derelict space to one of Sydney’s leading contemporary arts centres.

As present director, Kiersten Fishburn says, “In 21 years, we’ve grown and changed but the core of commitment to community and to western Sydney artists that was established by Susan Conroy and John Kirkman, initiating and first directing the centre, remains true.” Above is a photo of past and present staff published on the current front cover of CPAC’s periodical Generator. In the front row, second from left, is Kiersten, with John Kirkman, centre, alongside Susan Conroy.

Artists and community members engaged with programs range from Aboriginal to a great diversity of cultural backgrounds. David Capra is curating a 21st birthday bash for Casula Powerhouse on October 17 and everyone is invited. Party Party Party will be the opening night of 21, an exhibition celebrating the successful careers of 21 highly respected Australian artists who have shown at Casula Powerhouse during its formative years. 21 will continue to November 29. For more CPAC information click here.

The background to many of these stories can be found in my book Passion Purpose Meaning – Arts Activism in Western Sydney. None of these milestones occurred without a struggle, but their success is inspirational. Check the Book page on this blog and use the blog’s search facility for more information.

 

A designated failure becomes a model for arts and heritage success

When Dr Geoff Lee, state member for Parramatta, introduced the first “community consultation” about the future of the North Parramatta heritage precinct in November 2013, he spoke of the opportunity to unleash economic potential. He described the need of a sustainable heritage precinct and the chance to create the best exemplar of cultural tourism. There would be many competing interests involved and it was essential that everyone be prepared to compromise in the interests of a big vision everyone could share. He cited the comparable example of the old Callan Park Psychiatric Hospital site, at Rozelle, as a planning failure. Beginning in 1989, community protests had prevented development proposals from going ahead. Old buildings now lay vacant and deteriorating. He didn’t want that to happen in Parramatta.

During the 1970s and 1980s, changes in mental health care were leading to the closure of institutions, including Callan Park, at Rozelle. The Parramatta Psychiatric Centre didn’t close, but its services changed and it was renamed Cumberland Hospital – now the site of contention about the NSW Government’s North Parramatta urban renewal proposals. The southern campus of Rydalmere Psychiatric Hospital was closed in 1985, and is now the Parramatta campus of the University of Western Sydney. Photographed above is one of the old Callan Park buildings currently in use. It is now the home of Sydney College of the Arts, where a new pictorial history Callan Park: Compassion and Conflict in the Asylum was launched in SCA Galleries last Saturday, before a large and enthusiastic audience.

Historian Roslyn Burge used images, documents and interviews to create a thoughtful insight into the former mental asylum – the patients, residents, staff, the local community, its landscape, and its importance as a place of refuge and confrontation in the past, and today. Callan Park: Compassion and Conflict in the Asylum draws from an exhibition of the same name and is published by Friends of Callan Park. Left, is Sandstone Jungle, Tom Ulman’s winning photograph in the Heritage Festival 2015 ‘Capture Callan Park’ photography competition, staged and exhibited by Leichhardt Council

In the book’s later pages, under the heading of Conflict, the stages of development of community action are outlined. In 1989, the state government’s slowness to disclose any details of its plans led to the formation of Save the Callan Park Action Group. Outraged by government secrecy about plans for a retirement home in 1998, the Friends of Callan Park was formed. It maintained a strong campaign to preserve the parkland for the mentally ill and ensure that the whole site remain in public ownership and under public control. Ten years later, the last patients were unceremoniously bussed out of Callan Park. In 2009, however, the present Minister for Planning (then a member of the Opposition), Rob Stokes, told a protest rally that their demands would be granted and delivered a five point plan supported by the Liberals. Nothing happened until a draft Callan Park Master Plan was presented to the now state government by Leichhardt Council. (Above, locals at North Parramatta protest about government secrecy earlier this year.)

The final entry on the Conflict page reads: 4 June, 2015 – unanimous agreement by NSW Parliament to implement a Trust for Callan Park was received with applause. . . . The decision to appoint a Trust for Callan Park is the first step in establishing a foundation which will set the course for the future appropriate care and management of this exceptional cultural landscape. The Friends of Callan Park has clear priorities and believes that the new model of care proposed in the Callan Park Master Plan 2011 could be a beacon for channelling compassion and conflict in a tranquil landscape that is already a vibrant and established resource enjoyed by the entire community for passive enjoyment, organised sport, dog walking and children’s play.

Anything but an illustration of failure, this success is an inspiration for the Parramatta Female Factory Precinct campaigners. It is a particularly encouraging model for current psychiatric patients at the Cumberland Hospital, who face an uncertain future.

From August 15, you have an opportunity to visit SCA Galleries at Rozelle and see an exhibition co-curated with Campbelltown Arts Centre. The Slackers was a radical group of artists who took their name from the old Surry Hills slacks factory where they worked (photo above). Interdisciplinary and emergent artists, The Slackers operated from 1997 to 2002, including the core group at the heart of the space – Shaun Gladwell, Angelica Mesiti, Emma Price, Sean Cordeiro and Claire Healy, Wade Marynowsky, Alex Davies, Techa Noble, Michael Schiavello, Chris Fox, Melody Willis, Lea Donnan, Simon Cooper and Laura Jordan. Many have since developed successful careers

Under the title Cosmic Love Wonder Lust: The Imperial Slacks Project they have come together in 2015 to revisit this period. At the Rozelle and Campbelltown sites, they are exhibiting works from that earlier time and newly commissioned works responsive to their former practice. Left, Shaun Gladwell‘s Maximus Swept out to Sea (Wattamolla), 2013, single-channel digital video. The exhibitions continue to September 12 at Rozelle and October 18 at Campbelltown and include a forum on artist run spaces, collectives and collectivity as a mode of working. For more details on the program click Sydney College of the Arts and Campbelltown Arts Centre.

PUBLIC STATEMENT in support of Adam Goodes by the Committee of PHA NSW & ACT

Just a few days ago, members of the Professional Historians Association of NSW & ACT (PHA NSW & ACT) were warmly and generously welcomed to country by Sydney Indigenous woman Donna Ingram before we began our annual mid-winter awards and social evening. We were all honoured to be welcomed, and for Donna to have then stayed and shared the evening with us. Left, Donna Ingram with Sydney Swans footballer and former Australian of the Year, Adam Goodes.

This week, the outbreak of public vilification and racism directed at Adam Goodes, now amplified and spread far beyond the grandstands, has shocked us, and caused many members of PHA NSW & ACT to ask whether we really were deserving of that generous welcome.

The objectives in the PHA constitution include “advocating public history perspectives in public debates concerning interpretations of history and the keeping of documentary, environmental and other historical records.” To this end, we have for some time been lobbying NSW Government agencies such as State Records to employ Aboriginal archivists, and the Heritage Council to reinstate its History Advisory Panel. Sadly, we have made little impact and the State has remained indifferent to our submissions.

Our members mostly work as independent public historians. We often work alone, outside academia, managing our own practices and acting collegially in furthering our own professional development. Many of us have been privileged to work with Aboriginal communities and families, on historic sites of great significance to Indigenous peoples, and in places where Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal peoples have shared histories. We appreciate the significant role of sport and sporting cultures in our history, in helping to bring about social cohesion, and in providing opportunities for so many people to improve their lives. We have tried, in our own small ways and in accordance with our own ethical standards, to be supportive of Aboriginal people and communities, to contribute to creating something new for our common future, a future based upon mutual respect.

As historians, we well know the impacts of past social attitudes and government policies – impacts that last across generations, often with terrible ongoing results. But as public historians – working in the public arena on issues of heritage and history – we also believe we have a role to comment on the context of issues that have plagued, and continue to plague, Australian history and society. The recent racist actions and words of some in the ‘debate’ around Adam Goodes have left many of our members appalled and distressed.

On a personal level, some PHA NSW & ACT members have Indigenous friends, colleagues, partners and family. While the distress felt by our members will be nothing compared to the distress being experienced and lived every day now by Indigenous people, families and communities, these members feel strongly about this issue and wish their support for Adam Goodes and all other Indigenous people who experience similar issues to be known.

Thus the committee of PHA NSW & ACT issue this letter of public support.

We support the group of AFL captains who have called for an end to the harassment of Adam Goodes.

We support all the other leaders in civil society and sporting clubs calling for this to stop. Bullying is unacceptable. Racism is unacceptable. The time for reflection will come, but first the abhorrent chorus must stop, and it must stop now.

More than anything else, the PHA NSW & ACT and all of its members, in accordance with our own constitutional objectives, our own code of ethics and indeed our own personal morality and our own diverse understandings of the past, through this statement, extend our collective hand of support and friendship to Adam Goodes, to all Indigenous peoples and indeed to all Australians of good will. We support you, in our own small way, and we want you to know that we stand with you.

On behalf of the Committee,

Bruce Baskerville
Chair, PHA NSW & ACT
2 August 2015

As a graduate member of the Professional Historians Association NSW & ACT, I am thankful that Bruce has spoken on behalf of all members.

Katherine Knight

Despite the setbacks, Parramatta heritage is on a winning streak

The chance that North Parramatta heritage might be rescued from rampant development sponsored by the NSW Government is increasing by the minute. Federal Minister for the Environment Greg Hunt has just announced a two year assessment of the Parramatta Female Factory precinct for National Heritage listing, click here. The campaign to collect 10,000 signatures on a petition to force a debate about the future of North Parramatta in the NSW Parliament is within striking distance of its goal. NPRAG members, Brett Evans and Inara Molinari, right, are collecting signatures today at Parramatta Farmers Market.

• You can sign the petition here
• Scan a copy of your completed petition to NPRAG at infonprag@gmail.com
• Post the original copy (required by Parliament) to the address listed on the petition ASAP

After many years of campaigning by disparate groups, the threat posed by the NSW Government to the nation’s heritage has mobilised all these forces to activate a national and coordinated campaign. It is still gathering momentum. First there was the arrant nonsense of “community consultation” launched in November 2013 by the government’s development arm UrbanGrowth NSW. In only six months the consultations apparently moved from a blank slate to an outline plan for 4,000 new apartments on 31 hectares of land. The only option for those being “consulted” was where to place the proposed new buildings – some up to 30 storeys high. There seemed little relationship to the community’s stated priorities during “consultations” of heritage protection, adaptive reuse for commemorative and creative purposes, and environmental sustainability. Above, Augustus Earle’s depiction of the Parramatta Female Factory c1826.

Then there was the release of the draft master plan on December 19, 2014, just before Christmas, with only three weeks in which to respond. This absurdity only fueled community anger at the impossibility of analysing thousands of pages of proposals. A few dedicated souls did. The only response initially to alarm at the lack of any heritage conservation masterplan seemed to be “Trust me, I’m a politician – of course we will protect the heritage, after we have raised the funds from selling the land.” It didn’t go down well. Use this blog’s search facility (top right hand corner above the blog title), “Parramatta Female Factory”, if you want more information about actions to date.

You don’t have to look any further than another part of the Parramatta local government area for an excellent model of what can happen when a major heritage site is treated respectfully. On the Parramatta campus of the University of Western Sydney, historic buildings are conserved and thoughtful designs allow for adaptation and effective re-use. Right, the Female Orphan School, opened in 1813, and was designed by Governor Macquarie’s wife Elizabeth, with convict architect Francis Greenway. The pair also worked on designs for the Parramatta Female Factory and St John’s Church, Parramatta.

Restoration of the orphan school took more than a decade and reopened in 2013 as the Whitllam Institute and art galleries. Left is the interior of the entrance hall, where a modern staircase follows the outline of much earlier stairs and exposed original wall surfaces reveal something of its previous usage. The Female Orphan School is not to be confused with the Roman Catholic Orphan School in the North Parramatta precinct, which opened in 1844. Church authorities were concerned that children, especially of Irish convict women, were not receiving the church education deemed desirable through the Protestant run Female Orphan School.

There are many neglected buildings in the North Parramatta heritage precinct, which were designed by NSW Government architect Walter Liberty Vernon, including a former laundry, right, hospital wards and admission centre. By contrast, Vernon buildings on the university campus, have been carefully restored. They represented the philosophic change in psychiatric care, when they were part of Rydalmere Hospital for the Insane, 1888 to 1985,

The Vernon Buildings now house the university’s School of Business, left, and a heritage marker notifies the Vernon Building Heritage Walk, with informative graphics and background notes. There are many other similar markers throughout the grounds. The former boiler house and steam laundry were destroyed by fire in the years between vacating the hospital and the establishment of the university campus in 1995. But they are the foundation of a contemporary Boiler House Restaurant and Cafe, below, and remnants of the boiler mechanism provide dramatic sculptures in the grounds.

The university offers many opportunities for the general public, as well as students and staff, to visit the site and familiarise themselves with its history or participate in events. You can find a self-guided Parramatta Campus Heritage Walk by clicking here and further information by exploring the website. The Boiler House restaurant and cafe overlooked the colorful stalls of Student Clubs Week, right, which ended yesterday.

It is just under 18 months since this blog was first published. Last week it passed the milestone of more than 10,000 views. Most have been from Australia, but it has attracted views from many different countries around the world.