Tales of a Singular City - Subiaco since the 1970s

367 Pages·2006·10.81 MB·English

by  Spillman, Ken

TTaalleess ooff
aa ssiinngguullaarr cciittyy
SSuubbiiaaccoo ssiinnccee tthhee 11997700ss
Ken Spillman
TTaalleess ooff aa Ssiinngguullaarr cCitiyty
SSuubbiiaaccoo ssiinnccee tthhee 11997700ss
Tales of
a singular city
Subiaco since the 1970s
Ken Spillman
2006
First published in 2006 by
City of Subiaco
241 Rokeby Road Subiaco
Western Australia 6008
Telephone [phone]
Facsimile 08 9237 9200
Email [email protected]
Website www.subiaco.wa.gov.au
This book is copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research,
criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part may be reproduced by any
process without written permission. Enquiries should be made to the publisher.
© City of Subiaco 2006
Spillman, Ken, 1959-
Tales of a singular city: Subiaco since the 1970s
Includes Index.
ISBN 0 9590016 6 2
Consultant Project Manager: Creating Communities Australia Pty Ltd, Jolimont, Western Australia 6014
Design by Sandy Fordham, key2design, Perth, Western Australia 6000
Printed and bound by Craft Print International Ltd, Subiaco, Western Australia 6008
Contents
About the author viii
Dedication and acknowledgements ix
1. ‘Not as young as I used to be’: the lament of old Subi town 1
Oh? Subiaco? By Liane Davies 5
2. Letting the people decide: the ‘Dadour Bill’ 11
A sense of being part of it By Clyde Goddard 16
Saturday in Subi, 1980 By Diane Beckingham 19
3. The public life of Miss Parker 21
4. ‘Subiaco sees it differently’: the fine art of parking management 25
5. The ballad of Ted Slinger 31
Light and colour By Keren McCullagh 39
6. Winds of change 41
Team effort: the mayoral election of 1978 By Pauline Diggins 50
7. Winnie Vincent: the Bagot Road battler 53
8. Magic formula: the rise and rise of the Witch’s Cauldron 67
9. Protecting the ‘latchkey children’ 71
10. Without fear or favour: the Post arrives 77
Cooperative community By Jenny Gregory 83
11. Subiaco rocks: the making of a suburban music legend 85
Cider at Fanny’s By Anne Yates 89
12. The fight for character 91
Weekends at the Pavilion By Birgitta McIntosh 95
Jolimont bijou By Dawn Campbell Kelly 102
Unexpected visitors By Ted Slinger 107
v
13. Frightening the locals: the house inspections of 1979 109
Memories of Shenton Park By Josephine Wright 113
14. ‘An act of vandalism’: the closure of the Perth-Fremantle railway 115
15. To rewire a city: Subiaco’s embrace of underground power supplies 125
Daglish delights By Marion Gathercole 133
16. Needle over Rosalie’s pines 135
Innovation and fun By George Seddon 141
Marvellous Maris 144
Selfless sisters 147
17. Makeover time: a new look for old Subi 149
On the up and up 151
Almost a pleasure? 155
Getting one’s bearings: Subiaco’s coat of arms 162
18. ‘More than just roads’: community focus in the Diggins era 165
Hail fellow, well met By Keren McCullagh 169
Bucking a modern trend 173
Lazy days at Crawley By Carol Poole 175
19. It’s about the kids: the birth of Subicare 177
20. Starting from scratch: early days at the Shenton Park
Community Centre 187
More than a playgroup By Anne Yates 191
21. A certain sense of fashion: the story of Tatters 193
Bravo, Italiano! 197
22. Malleable green: the changing face of Market Square 199
23. ‘In the cool’: the powerful aroma of café culture 207
Mediterranean climate 210
24. Prelude to metamorphosis: conceiving an ‘urban village’ 213
25. Staying current: the Hiddlestone family’s electrical business 227
Oobie, doobie… Come on Subi! 231
26. Contested ground: the argy-bargy annals of Subiaco Oval 233
vi
27. Corner chameleon: hospitality at ‘the Subi’ 247
Pedestrian pleasures By Marion Gathercole 248
Answer to a prayer By Margaret Gunn 251
28. Subterranean movement and the creation of Subi Centro 253
Planning neighbourliness 262
Farewell to the Hay Street subway By Dawn Campbell Kelly 265
29. ‘Hub of the community’: the nurture of Subiaco’s library 267
For the love of writing By Jessica Edelman 274
Benchmark Subi By Wendy Eardley 278
30. Waste not, want not: from paper recycling to sustainable urban living 281
31. ‘Profoundly worthwhile’: Subiaco’s institute for child health research 289
New urbanism, Centro style 295
32. The passion of Tony Costa 297
33. White elephant, glittering jewel: the chequered career of a difficult child 303
Tailor-made for Subi 308
34. Shaping a future ‘where people want to be’ 311
Perfect blend 317
Reconciliation exemplar 327
35. A sense of community 331
A place of elegance By Hongmei Fan 335
Sources for supplementary items 337
Notes to chapters 338
Index 351
vii
About the author
K
Ken Spillman’s first book was Identity
Prized: A History of Subiaco (1985).
Since then he has written another
fifteen histories covering such diverse
subjects as mining, finance, football,
dance, surf lifesaving, and the shires
of Mundaring and Victoria Plains.
Ken is also the author of an
acclaimed work of fiction, Blue, and
co-author of the popular Serventy
Kids series of novels for children.
He has edited or co-edited five
collections of writing, including The Greatest Game and Fathers
in Writing, and his other published work includes poetry, short
stories, criticism, travel writing, and scripts.
Ken’s novel for teenage readers, Love is a UFO, is scheduled to
appear early in 2007.
viii
Dedication and acknowledgements
T
Tales of a singular city is dedicated with thanks to Susan Marie, who
bravely assigned me to write a new book about Subiaco, and then bestowed the
gift of creative freedom.
For the smooth running of the project, I am grateful to the perceptive and efficient project
management team at Creating Communities Australia – in particular Carole Lambert and Donna
Shepherd. Carole and Donna took charge of a valuable community consultation process, which
informed decisions about the book’s style and content.
Bret Christian gave invaluable assistance by facilitating access to the photographic archive at
Post Newspapers, and by providing the workspace I required to make the most of it.
My thanks to Bret, Judy Ewing, George Williams and other Post people for their hospitality.
I also wish to acknowledge the contribution of Bill Grayson, a genuine booklover whose
thoughts and advice were appreciated throughout.
For the supply of information, reminiscences, photographs and various other forms of
assistance, I am also grateful to Bob Abrahams, Janice Alach, Lynette Allen, Elizabeth Anderson,
Addy Arnold, Diane Beckingham, Christobel Bennett, Joan Biddle, Elizabeth Brash, Christine
Broom, Gladys Clark, Steph Clegg, Paul Clements, John Clune, Andy Collins, Tony Costa, Tom
Dadour, Anonymous Dave, Brian Davies, Lee Davies, Liane Davies, Pauline Diggins, Richard
Diggins, June D’Silva, Wendy Eardley, Jessica Edelman, Kit Farrelly, Sandy Fordham, Marree Fox,
David Gathercole, Marion Gathercole, John Gibson, Bob Ginbey, Clyde Goddard, Dora Gordon,
Geoff Gosling, Tanis Gosling, Max Graieg, Jenny Gregory, Mary Gunther, Martin Hanebach,
Colleen Harris, John Hartley, Janine Hawker, Heather Henderson, Neil Henshaw, David Hepburn,
Lyn Hewett, Vern Hiddlestone, Samira Husic, John James, Di Jowett, Eva Judges, Dawn Campbell
Kelly, Anna Liehne, Julie Lomas, Ehsan Massoudi, Anne McAllister, Keren McCullagh, Jim
McGeough, Birgitta McIntosh, Colin McKenzie, Andrew McTaggart, Monica McTaggart, Valerie
Mitchell, Judy Monaghan, Michael Monaghan, Norma Moore, Cheryl Parrott, Dorothy Perret, Ken
Perris, Millie Phillips, Carol Poole, Judith Robinson, Julia Samuel, Joanna Sassoon, Helen Silver,
Paul Silver, Ted Slinger, Claire Smith, George Smith, Robert Smith, Willi Smith, Arthur Spartalis,
Patrick Spaull, Fiona Stanley, Trish Stedman, Annette Symonds, Brian Tanner, Despina Tanner,
Jonathan Thomas, Richard Thomas, Chris Tomlins, Bill Trudgian, Elizabeth Tuetteman, Noëlle
Udall, Dave Warner, Mark Whitten, Josephine Wright and Anne Yates. Sincere thanks to all.
Ken Spillman
December 2006
ix
CHAPTER
01