tag:theconversation.com,2011:/fr/topics/fremantle-4411/articlesFremantle – The Conversation2021-11-09T22:13:19Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1714402021-11-09T22:13:19Z2021-11-09T22:13:19ZWhite sharks can easily mistake swimmers or surfers for seals. Our research aims to reduce the risk<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/430964/original/file-20211109-21-fpdq3d.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=9%2C199%2C3010%2C2064&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Great_White_Shark_(14730796397).jpg">Elias Levy/Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-11-07/search-continues-for-shark-bite-victim-port-beach/100601006">presumed death of 57-year-old Paul Millachip</a> in an apparently fatal shark bite incident near Perth on November 6 is a traumatising reminder that while shark bites are rare, they can have tragic consequences. </p>
<p>Despite the understandably huge media attention these incidents generate, there has been little scientific insight into how and why they happen.</p>
<p>Sharks in general, and white sharks in particular, have long been described as “<a href="https://www.news-press.com/story/news/2015/05/14/great-whites-mindless-killing-machines/27313547/">mindless killers</a>” and “<a href="https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/uk-news/new-discovery-makes-man-eating-21484244">man-eaters</a>”.</p>
<p>But our <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsif.2021.0533">recent research</a> confirms that some bites on humans may be the result of mistaken identity, whereby the sharks mistake humans for their natural prey based on visual similarities. </p>
<p>Sharks have an impressive array of senses, but vision is thought to be particularly important for prey detection in white sharks. For example, they can attack seal-shaped decoys at the surface of the water even though these decoys lack other sensory cues such as scent. </p>
<p>The visual world of a white shark varies substantially from that of our own. White sharks are likely colourblind and rely on brightness, essentially experiencing their world in shades of grey. Their eyesight is also much less acute than ours – in fact, it’s probably more akin to the blurry images a human would see underwater without a mask or goggles.</p>
<h2>The mistaken identity theory</h2>
<p>Bites on surfers have often been explained by the fact that, seen from underneath, a paddling surfer looks a lot like a seal. But this presumed similarity has only previously been assessed based on human vision, using underwater photographs to compare their silhouettes. </p>
<p>Recent developments in our understanding of sharks’ vision have now made it possible to examine the mistaken identity theory from the shark’s perspective, using a virtual system that generates “shark’s-eye” images.</p>
<p>In our study, <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsif.2021.0533">published last month</a>, we and our colleagues in Australia, South Africa and the United Kingdom compared video footage of seals and of humans swimming and paddling surfboards, to predict what a young white shark sees when looking up from below. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/431041/original/file-20211109-15-746s0s.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Shark's-eye images of surfer and seal" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/431041/original/file-20211109-15-746s0s.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/431041/original/file-20211109-15-746s0s.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=330&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/431041/original/file-20211109-15-746s0s.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=330&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/431041/original/file-20211109-15-746s0s.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=330&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/431041/original/file-20211109-15-746s0s.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/431041/original/file-20211109-15-746s0s.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/431041/original/file-20211109-15-746s0s.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">‘Shark’s-eye view’ of a paddling surfer and seal, suggesting white sharks may struggle to differentiate the two.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<p>We specifically studied juvenile white sharks – between of 2m and 2.5m in length – because <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2020.00268/full#B6">data</a> from New South Wales <a href="https://www.hindawi.com/journals/jmb/2016/9539010/">suggests</a> they are more common in the surf zone and are disproportionately involved in bites on humans. This might be because juvenile sharks are more likely to make mistakes as they switch to hunting larger prey such as seals.</p>
<p>Our results showed it was impossible for the virtual visual system to distinguish swimming or paddling humans from seals. This suggests both activities pose a risk, and that the <a href="https://www.publish.csiro.au/mf/MF10181">greater occurrence of bites on surfers</a> might be linked to the times and locations of when and where people surf.</p>
<p>Our analysis suggests the “mistaken identity” theory is indeed plausible, from a visual perspective at least. But sharks can also detect prey using other sensory systems, such as smell, sound, touch and detection of electrical fields.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-do-shark-bites-seem-to-be-more-deadly-in-australia-than-elsewhere-85986">Why do shark bites seem to be more deadly in Australia than elsewhere?</a>
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<p>While it seems unlikely every bite on a human by a white shark is a case of mistaken identity, it is certainly a possibility in cases where the human is on the surface and the shark approaches from below.</p>
<p>However, the mistaken identity theory cannot explain all shark bites and other factors, such as curiosity, hunger or aggression are likely to also explains some shark bites.</p>
<h2>Can this knowledge help protect us?</h2>
<p>As summer arrives and COVID restrictions lift, more Australians will head to the beach over the coming months, increasing the chances they might come into close proximity with a shark. Often, people may not even realise a shark is close by. But the past weekend gave us a reminder that shark encounters can also tragically result in serious injury or death. </p>
<p>Understanding why shark bites happen is a good first step towards helping reduce the risk. Our research has inspired the design of non-invasive, vision-based shark mitigation devices that are currently being tested, and which change the shape of the silhouette.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/fatal-shark-attacks-are-at-a-record-high-deterrent-devices-can-help-but-some-may-be-nothing-but-snake-oil-150845">Fatal shark attacks are at a record high. 'Deterrent' devices can help, but some may be nothing but snake oil</a>
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<p>We still have a lot to learn about how sharks experience their world, and therefore what measures will most effectively reduce the risks of a shark bite. There is a plethora of devices being developed or commercially available, but only a few of them have been scientifically tested, and even fewer – such as the devices made by <a href="https://ocean-guardian.com.au/">Ocean Guardian</a> that create an electrical field to ward off sharks – have been <a href="https://peerj.com/articles/5554/">found</a> to genuinely reduce the risk of being bitten.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/171440/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Laura Ryan receives funding from State and Federal government agencies and non-governmental organisations. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Charlie Huveneers receives funding from State and Federal government agencies, private donors, and non-governmental organisations. </span></em></p>The death of 57-year-old Paul Millachip at Fremantle’s Port Beach is a reminder that shark bites, though rare, can be tragic. New research aims to reduce the risk by understanding sharks’ vision.Laura Ryan, Postdoctoral Researcher, Department of Biological Sciences, Macquarie UniversityCharlie Huveneers, Associate professor, Flinders UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1201572019-07-10T04:49:46Z2019-07-10T04:49:46ZWe organised a conference for 570 people without using plastic. Here’s how it went<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/283432/original/file-20190710-44453-1k1dc75.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Delegates at this week's marine science conference in Fremantle take a plastic-free coffee break.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Alicia Sutton/AMSA</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>What did we use before single-use plastics became ingrained in our everyday lives? Before the 1980s, plastic bags were a rarity in our supermarkets. In 2019, excessive plastic use feels not just normal, but necessary to sustain our hectic lifestyles. From takeaway containers and supermarket packaging to cheap, low-quality goods, plastic permeates our daily lives.</p>
<p>However, with every passing year the scale tips further against the immediate convenience of single-use plastics, and towards the extreme inconvenience of piles of waste. The true cost to society and the environment of a “disposal economy” is becoming <a href="https://theconversation.com/eight-million-tonnes-of-plastic-are-going-into-the-ocean-each-year-37521">increasingly stark</a>.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/will-the-discovery-of-another-plastic-trashed-island-finally-spark-meaningful-change-117260">Will the discovery of another plastic-trashed island finally spark meaningful change?</a>
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<p>Finding solutions to eliminate plastic waste in everyday life presents challenges, particularly during large events such as professional conferences. At some time during our careers as academics, scientists, researchers, or industry professionals, we may be part of a conference organising committee. Back in the 1990s, conferences proudly tallied how many coffee cups they used – how times have changed.</p>
<p>As organisers of this week’s <a href="http://amsa19.amsa.asn.au">national conference of the Australian Marine Sciences Association</a>, we took on the challenge to walk the walk rather than just talk the talk – by holding a plastic-free conference for 570 marine science professionals, academics, and students. But how do you cater for so many people while limiting waste and using no plastic at all?</p>
<h2>Turning the tide – be part of the solution</h2>
<p>We started this journey 12 months ago, once we knew the challenge we were facing: a marine conference, themed around the <a href="https://theconversation.com/marine-science-challenges-for-a-growing-blue-economy-22845">blue economy</a>, during July, in the Western Australian port city of Fremantle – the birthplace of the <a href="http://www.plasticfreejuly.org">Plastic Free July</a> movement. </p>
<p>From day 1, we were clear we wanted to eliminate plastic and reduce overall waste – everything from day-to-day rubbish to plastic take-home novelties that feature at so many conferences but inevitably make their way into landfill.</p>
<p>Recycling is only a small part of the solution. We need to “refuse, reduce, and recycle” to really tackle plastic.</p>
<h2>What we did</h2>
<p>We began by selecting a <a href="http://encanta.com.au/">like-minded event organiser</a> to work with us. Then we looked for non-plastic alternatives for obvious conference items. Here’s what we came up with:</p>
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<span class="caption">No plastic here at AMSA 2019.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Angela Rossen</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<li><p>stiff cardboard name badges with no plastic pockets</p></li>
<li><p>bamboo lanyards with metal clips</p></li>
<li><p>100% natural conference tote bags</p></li>
<li><p>no printed envelopes for registration packs, and no printed conference abstracts</p></li>
<li><p>all necessary printing was done on sustainably sourced paper, by a company using a <a href="http://www.thebigpicturefactory.com.au/">solar-powered printer</a></p></li>
<li><p>delegates were asked to bring their own reusable water bottles and coffee cups, or pre-register to buy a reusable coffee cup at the conference</p></li>
<li><p>coffee carts with <a href="http://go2cup.com.au/">returnable cups</a> that can be washed and reused</p></li>
<li><p>water jugs with glassware (or to refill personal water bottles) at the back of each presentation room</p></li>
<li><p>no packaged mints or lollies</p></li>
<li><p>sustainably sourced pencils instead of pens (with sharpening stations provided!)</p></li>
<li><p>plates, silverware and glassware for all meal breaks</p></li>
<li><p>vegetarian catering for tea breaks</p></li>
<li><p>all exhibitors, workshop organisers and additional functions (such as the student night and public lecture) were committed to reducing plastic waste for free giveaway products and catering.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Most importantly, we delivered these changes without increasing the budget or impacting the bottom line.</p>
<h2>What we learned</h2>
<p><strong>Plan early</strong>. Going against the grain can take a bit of work, but there are usually plastic-free options available. Take the extra time and file the solution away for your next event.</p>
<p><strong>Work with everyone</strong>. Create a shared goal with your whole team: event organisers, venue, exhibitors, caterers – more ideas make for better solutions. This creates a ripple effect, not only for the event, but in developing more sustainable practice for other events.</p>
<p><strong>Do a site visit</strong>. Identify potential problems and devise solutions ahead of time. Rebecca Prince-Ruiz, founder and executive director of <a href="https://www.plasticfreejuly.org/">Plastic Free July</a>, visited our conference venue and provided valuable insights.</p>
<p><strong>Don’t assume</strong>. At another marine conference we attended, plastic water bottles were replaced by jugs of water (great!) and polystyrene cups (not so great!). Not all suppliers are knowledgeable about sustainable materials, so make the effort to talk through what plastic-free and zero-waste really mean.</p>
<h2>Removing ‘hidden’ plastics</h2>
<p>No matter how much planning you do, there will always be “hidden plastics” in the supply chain. It is impossible to control every aspect of operation of the conference venue, their suppliers (food, linen services, waste removal), and the other hotels used by delegates (who may provide guests with water bottles, drinks, and personal hygiene products in rooms).</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/climate-change-seeing-the-planet-break-down-is-depressing-heres-how-to-turn-your-pain-into-action-114407">Climate change: seeing the planet break down is depressing – here's how to turn your pain into action</a>
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<p>Early buy-in by all service providers can help reduce this, but remember the goal is to change people’s attitudes towards waste, not to reinvent the entire events industry in one conference.</p>
<p>But if we can do it for 570 people, then everyone can start making <a href="https://theconversation.com/climate-change-seeing-the-planet-break-down-is-depressing-heres-how-to-turn-your-pain-into-action-114407">similar changes</a> at their own home and workplace too.</p>
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<p><em><a href="https://www.amsa.asn.au">AMSA</a> will host its <a href="http://amsa19.amsa.asn.au/amsa-public-lecture/">annual public lecture</a>, sponsored by the <a href="http://www.oceans.uwa.edu.au">UWA Oceans Institute</a>, in Fremantle on Wednesday July 10 at 6.30pm. It addresses the issue of plastic pollution and what can be done about it, both globally and locally.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/120157/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Elizabeth Sinclair receives funding from the Australian Research Council and is a member of the WA branch of the Australian Marine Science Association board.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Charlotte Birkmanis is the Secretary and Student Representative of the Australian Marine Sciences Association of Western Australia.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Robert Pemberton is the vice-chair of the Australian Marine Science Association of Western Australia.</span></em></p>This year’s national conference of the Australian Marine Science Association is a plastic-free zone, as marine scientists aim to reduce the environmental burden of throwaway plastic.Elizabeth Sinclair, Senior Research Fellow, School of Biological Sciences and The UWA Oceans Institute, The University of Western AustraliaDr Charlotte Birkmanis, PhD Candidate, The UWA Oceans Institute and School of Biological Sciences, The University of Western AustraliaRobert Pemberton, Business Support Manager, UWA Oceans Institute, The University of Western AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1161712019-06-18T20:00:06Z2019-06-18T20:00:06ZPlaying games? It’s a serious way to win community backing for change<p>How would you and your neighbours triple the number of households in your street block in order to keep your cherished suburb thriving and do your bit to tackle urban sprawl? You have a number of choices to make. Where do the new homes go? How big should they be? What do you do with the old houses on your street? How do you maintain the leafy, open qualities you all love? How can you build an even better community and help the environment? </p>
<p>To help you do this you can now play a physical “<a href="https://3rdsense.com/2019-our-expertise/2019/3/25/serious-games">serious game</a>” using a range of pieces that help you and your neighbours create your future suburb on a scaled model. So take a game pack, read the guide, look at your new household characters, select your pieces and get cracking. Remember there is no wrong answer, you are here to collectively create your future <em>burb</em>.</p>
<p>This is exactly what the Fremantle community did as part of developing a new small housing policy, <a href="https://mysay.fremantle.wa.gov.au/Freo_Alternative">The Freo Alternative</a>. They played a specially designed game, <a href="https://youtu.be/gOI9gxcWN48">Game of Freo Life</a>. </p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/gOI9gxcWN48?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The Game of Freo Life in action.</span></figcaption>
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<p>It’s one of several physical interactive games/models I have developed over the past few years with the team at the Australian Urban design Research Centre (<a href="https://www.audrc.org/">AUDRC</a>). The aim of these games is to get communities meaningfully participating in the future layout of their local areas. </p>
<h2>How do these games work?</h2>
<p>All of the games use three-dimensional scaled and interactive physical models that reconstruct familiar urban environments. Participants can then change these models and examine the results. </p>
<p>The tactile nature and design of the games allow a wide range of community members to get highly involved in debates and decisions about their built environment. The physical and colourful approach is broadly appealing and fun, promoting a collaborative approach – who doesn’t love a good board game? </p>
<p>Serious games allow people to collectively imagine and help design their urban environments. This leads to a better understanding in the community of the trade-offs necessary in planning urban areas. It also gives policymakers and project managers important information about the values and preferences of locals. </p>
<p>Serious gaming not only provides the means for effective engagement, but also makes this process highly appealing.</p>
<p>The concept of playful participation underpins serious gaming. Engaging in play tends to diminish individual interests and promote social groupings and exchange. It’s also not obligatory – individuals can choose how much they want to get involved. </p>
<p>In addition, if play doesn’t have a set end point it can actively promote experimentation and exploration. </p>
<h2>Planners are seeing the benefits</h2>
<p>Serious gaming isn’t necessarily a new idea, but understanding of its application to community engagement has more recently <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10630732.2015.1102419">developed</a>. </p>
<p>The serious game used in the engagement strategy for The Freo Alternative was recognised with the Planning Minister’s Award at the 2017 Planning Institute of Australia (WA) Awards. It’s a coup for research to contribute so directly to gazetted policy and serious gaming was instrumental in achieving this.</p>
<p>Since then interest in and demand for tactile serious games have flourished. Serious games have been used to tackle challenges as varied as suburban infill, citizen-led housing, main street revitalisation, urban forest strategies, regeneration area master planning, adaptation of seniors housing, industrial area catalysts, and town-centre visioning. (A selection of these projects can be seen <a href="http://www.collaborativeplacedesign.com">here</a>.)</p>
<h2>What sort of games have been developed?</h2>
<p>One of the most recent games, Streets Ahead, reconstructed entire sections of Albany Highway in the inner-Perth suburb of Victoria Park to help explore the potential of the main street environment. This included the use of “golden tickets” for imagining and positioning new enterprises in the historic shopfronts. </p>
<p>The model elements were specifically designed in response to feedback from community members about their perceptions and hopes. The game outcomes formed the basis for a series of urban design recommendations.</p>
<p>While the suburban infill model and its various incarnations, such as <a href="https://collaborativeplacedesign.com/353628916383">Pimp my Suburb</a>, remain the cornerstone of the serious gaming applications, <a href="https://www.audrc.org/engagement">Master my Plan</a> moves into the realm of precinct-scale planning and urban design. Operating at 1:1,000 scale, this game playfully engages concepts of transport and movement, different building types, subdivisions and open space networks using different blocks and tiles. </p>
<p>Master my Plan has attracted a development grant to integrate the physical gameplay with digital mapping to provide real-time measurements of participants’ physical designs in terms of health outcomes, sustainability and economic feasibility. </p>
<p>Expansion into the digital realm seems exciting, but it is the playful, tactile and collaborative nature of the physical games and models that seem to provoke positive outcomes. Through this process people seem to develop a more tolerant and reflective mindset, creating the possibility of reaching meaningful agreements about a common future.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/116171/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anthony Duckworth works for the Australian Urban Design Research Centre which receives funding from agencies within the State Government of Western Australia and various Local Governments.</span></em></p>Faced with local planning changes like infill development people often fear they could lose the neighbourhood they love. But serious games are proving effective in giving locals a say in their future.Anthony Duckworth, Assistant Professor, Australian Urban Design Research Centre, The University of Western AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/866732017-11-02T03:12:39Z2017-11-02T03:12:39ZFremantle’s High Tide festival: wonder and illusion as artists turn streets into stages<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/192752/original/file-20171031-32643-76f9f6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Zora Kreuzer, Arcade (2017)
Liebler Facade, Fremantle
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">James Whineray</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Fremantle proudly proclaims itself a “city for artists”, and while that has been a somewhat hollow boast in recent years, there is evidence of its former cultural vibrancy returning. The Fremantle Arts Centre, ArtSource and Spare Parts Puppet Theatre have held the fort while other venues and organisations have collapsed into the back hole of Australia Council funding cuts, but the opening of the <a href="http://www.hightidefremantle.com/">High Tide festival</a> of site-responsive art raises hopes for a return to the city’s artistic leadership role.</p>
<p>Announced as the inaugural event of a new Fremantle Biennale, High Tide brings together a group of artists who respond to and work with the history, landscape, and community that define a city’s sense of place. </p>
<p>Within the West End, these artists have created works within, on and around its buildings and public spaces. While many of the public murals currently colonising walls around the country infiltrate the urban landscape, the works created for High Tide grow from it and act as a trigger to re-examine the environment they inhabit. They are a prompt to re-think its history and a stimulus to re-assess preconceptions of place.</p>
<p>Felice Varini has been working on major urban installations around the world since 1978, so he was a natural choice as keynote artist for this festival. He began his career designing for the theatre, and after refocusing his creative energies as a painter, his ambitions expanded from the confines of a rectangular canvas to tackle architectural interiors and eventually expanded urban environments.</p>
<p>His latest work for High Tide returns full-circle to explore the world of illusion, light, magic, and shadow that was at the centre of his theatrical practice. His painting in the heart of Fremantle transforms High Street into a stage, which we are invited to activate. Wandering down towards the Roundhouse at the end of the street one enters a space of surprise and wonder, where shards of yellow paint interact with the buildings and are enlivened by the coloured garments of fellow performers taking an afternoon stroll. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/192749/original/file-20171031-32602-1e3zy96.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/192749/original/file-20171031-32602-1e3zy96.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/192749/original/file-20171031-32602-1e3zy96.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192749/original/file-20171031-32602-1e3zy96.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192749/original/file-20171031-32602-1e3zy96.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192749/original/file-20171031-32602-1e3zy96.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192749/original/file-20171031-32602-1e3zy96.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192749/original/file-20171031-32602-1e3zy96.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Felice Varini, Arcs d'Éllipses (2017)
High St (from Round House to Town Hall), Fremantle. Installation view High St.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">James Whineray</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Varini’s Arcs D’Ellipses is captivating, in every sense. Not only does it attract attention but it beguiles and charms with its looping, yellow arches that intertwine through the buildings of the old port town. The effect is mesmerising. It demands sustained engagement and encourages return visits to confirm our first impressions.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/192753/original/file-20171031-32643-1xm3dmd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/192753/original/file-20171031-32643-1xm3dmd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/192753/original/file-20171031-32643-1xm3dmd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192753/original/file-20171031-32643-1xm3dmd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192753/original/file-20171031-32643-1xm3dmd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192753/original/file-20171031-32643-1xm3dmd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192753/original/file-20171031-32643-1xm3dmd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192753/original/file-20171031-32643-1xm3dmd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Felice Varini, Arcs d'Éllipses (2017) Installation view Town Hall.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">James Whineray</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The painting is premised on the notion of a fixed point of view, from which we read the six yellow arches framed and contained by the streetscape. Standing on the stairs that lead up to the Roundhouse at the end of High Street is the sweet spot where everything comes together with startling clarity. All the fragments of yellow that seem arbitrarily painted on the walls, footpath, and signage you have just walked past, coalesce into a brilliantly composed series of golden arches that literally pop up from the street and seem to hover magically in front of you.</p>
<p>With permission from the City Council, Varini and curator Tom Müller blacked out the entire West End for an evening and projected the image of the arches onto the buildings, while a team of volunteers atop Cherry Pickers carefully drew the outline of the arches wherever they struck a solid surface. </p>
<p>Then over a four-week period, Varini and his team applied very thin aluminum sheeting that wrapped around these surfaces, adhering to each area, no matter how small. The resulting yellow fragments are embedded in the streetscape and provide markers to discovery of architectural features, forgotten elements and surprising juxtapositions.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/192750/original/file-20171031-32659-1m8vxui.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/192750/original/file-20171031-32659-1m8vxui.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/192750/original/file-20171031-32659-1m8vxui.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192750/original/file-20171031-32659-1m8vxui.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192750/original/file-20171031-32659-1m8vxui.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192750/original/file-20171031-32659-1m8vxui.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192750/original/file-20171031-32659-1m8vxui.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192750/original/file-20171031-32659-1m8vxui.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Felice Varini, Arcs d'Éllipses (2017)
High St (from Round House to Town Hall), Fremantle. Installation view University of Notre-Dame.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">James Whineray</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>While the punch line is the Instagram shot from the Roundhouse stairs where the six arches spiraling back to the Town Hall are clearly visible, Arcs D’Ellipses delivers so much more. Like many of the other works in High Tide, it makes the viewer an active participant in the event. </p>
<p>Zora Kreuzer’s Arcade is deceptively simple. Appropriating the façade of the old Liebler Building she has chosen a palette of fluoro hues to paint to create a rainbow spectrum of spaces in the former arched window cavities. Not only do they re-energise the building but instantly she has created a photo booth for the thousands of visitors streaming through the historic site.</p>
<p>Trevor Richard’s Lowdown installation, painted directly onto the tarmac of Mouat Street, plays similar games with geometry that shifts our perception of the urban environment. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/192751/original/file-20171031-32595-1b1rfmh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/192751/original/file-20171031-32595-1b1rfmh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/192751/original/file-20171031-32595-1b1rfmh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192751/original/file-20171031-32595-1b1rfmh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192751/original/file-20171031-32595-1b1rfmh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192751/original/file-20171031-32595-1b1rfmh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192751/original/file-20171031-32595-1b1rfmh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192751/original/file-20171031-32595-1b1rfmh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Tom Mùller, Uprising (2017)
Installation view Round House, Fremantle.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">James Whineray</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Combined with Jacobus Capone’s poignant Heartsstone video, made in homage to his boatbuilding grandfather and located in the J Shed, Thomas Müller’s Uprising video in the Roundhouse, Jo Darbyshire’s projection onto the Port Authority building, Domenico de Clario’s durational performance and many more works spread throughout the city, High Tide reinforces the legitimacy of Fremantle’s epithet.</p>
<p><em>The High Tide Festival runs until 12 November 2017</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/86673/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ted Snell does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The artists in this inaugural event have created works within, on and around the buildings of an old port town.Ted Snell, Professor, Chief Cultural Officer, Cultural Precinct, The University of Western AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/639262016-09-20T00:29:43Z2016-09-20T00:29:43ZFrom placeholder to pathfinder: innovative temporary site uses help us reimagine city spaces<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/134872/original/image-20160822-30403-18x9aij.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The closure of the Myer store would once have been a crippling blow for Fremantle, but now it is a site of new activity and possibilities.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">City of Fremantle</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Fremantle’s five-storey <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-09-13/myer-fremantle-store-closes/4259494">Myer department store closed</a> in 2013 after four decades of service. The demise of a mass-market store in the heart of Fremantle should have been a large blow to the retail and broader character of the area.</p>
<p>In the 20th century it would have been. But times have changed, in Australia and around the world. Rather than being left dormant while development plans were being drawn up, the building reopened as <a href="http://many6160.com/">MANY 6160</a> six months after Myer closed.</p>
<p>MANY 6160 is Australia’s largest temporary place activation, with more than 20,000m² of space dedicated to retail, production and events. It provides spaces for independent artists, designers, other cultural workers and small business enterprises. </p>
<p>In February 2016, MANY 6160 became home to Australia’s <a href="http://www.urbanwalkabout.com/australia/perth/fremantle/art/art-gallery/event/opening-of-success-gallery-in-fremantle">second-largest private gallery</a> (after <a href="http://www.mona.net.au/">Hobart’s MONA</a>). Called <a href="http://successarts.org/">Success</a>, it operates from the building’s basement.</p>
<p>The temporary use of space has become popular in cities and towns across the world. When properties have lost their capacity to be rented or sold at a profit, or are left vacant for redevelopment plans, they have the potential for interim uses while the owner waits for development or for property prices to warm up.</p>
<h2>How does temporary occupation work?</h2>
<p>The advantages of temporary occupation are many. It allows members of a community to come together to work, socialise or learn, unencumbered by market-rate rents. It taps into culture’s current interest in customisation, localisation and co-creation. At MANY 6160 you can buy everything from 3D-printed jewellery
to surfboards.</p>
<p>Temporary users can act as surveillance and maintenance providers for the property owner. At the same time, they bring cultural cachet to the space and adjacent area.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/134873/original/image-20160822-30406-7j6yz3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/134873/original/image-20160822-30406-7j6yz3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/134873/original/image-20160822-30406-7j6yz3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=373&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134873/original/image-20160822-30406-7j6yz3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=373&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134873/original/image-20160822-30406-7j6yz3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=373&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134873/original/image-20160822-30406-7j6yz3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=468&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134873/original/image-20160822-30406-7j6yz3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=468&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134873/original/image-20160822-30406-7j6yz3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=468&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The production floor provides 4,000m² of workspace.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Dave Sharp/vanityprojects.com.au</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Temporary occupation can bring about the challenging and redefinition of planning regulations and rental contracts. At MANY 6160, rental contracts are short – renters need give only 30 days’ notice to opt out. </p>
<p>With planning regulations tailored towards permanent occupation, the local council was slightly confounded as to how to determine the building class of the gallery in the basement. MANY 6160’s architect, <a href="http://www.architectureanddesign.com.au/news/post-architecture-injects-life-into-old-fremantle">Nic Brunsdon of Post-Architecture</a>, says:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The city would not sign off on it at first. We had to get an independent evaluation to certify the building. All you need is a piece of paper [of certification] rather than do something to address the code.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Brunsdon delights in this grey-area-ness:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>It’s the place where no-one wants to be. It’s fertile ground. You need to revel in uncertainty and risk.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Recognising the benefits for users and owners, government agencies and developers are <a href="http://www.creativespaces.net.au/about-us">making it easier</a> for real estate to become available for temporary use. They can, for example, reduce the liability for building owners and provide incentives for owners and citizens to start up their own projects. </p>
<p>Space-brokering agencies have emerged in cities and towns across Australia – Adelaide, Townsville, Geelong, Newcastle and Parramatta – and further afield, in places like Christchurch, Singapore, Chicago and Dublin.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/134752/original/image-20160819-6906-199iei5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/134752/original/image-20160819-6906-199iei5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/134752/original/image-20160819-6906-199iei5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=897&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134752/original/image-20160819-6906-199iei5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=897&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134752/original/image-20160819-6906-199iei5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=897&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134752/original/image-20160819-6906-199iei5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1127&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134752/original/image-20160819-6906-199iei5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1127&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134752/original/image-20160819-6906-199iei5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1127&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Temporary place activation enables diverse users to bring underutilised space to life.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Dave Sharp/vanityprojects.com.au</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Perth has its own space-brokering service, <a href="http://spacemarket.com.au/">Spacemarket</a>, also available as an app since 2016. The service helps a diversity of tenants, from tech start-ups to community groups, to use the thousands of square metres of underutilised space in the Perth CBD. </p>
<p>It also partly solves a problem for commercial leases: vacancies fluctuate with market cycles; when vacancies are high, temporary occupation may be a solution.</p>
<p>While many local councils see the temporary use of space as a solution to providing cheap <a href="http://theconversation.com/gaming-trends-show-cities-need-to-rethink-how-they-tap-into-creative-economy-63322">spaces for creative workers</a>, in the long term it may not be so. Buildings will still be bulldozed or converted, rents will increase and tenancies will become affordable. </p>
<p>When this happens, those occupying the temporary space can get squeezed out, even though their presence and activity made the area culturally and economically valuable to start with.</p>
<p>This is a potential scenario for the creatives at MANY 6160. A A$220 million development <a href="http://www.fremantle.wa.gov.au/ksp">planned for Kings Square</a> may eventually force them to move on, despite the council’s ambitions to preserve the diversity of the temporary occupation in future.</p>
<h2>Temporary, but with a city-making legacy</h2>
<p>So, can temporary use influence local city-shaping and state decision-making in the long term, rather than simply being a stopgap? Can projects like MANY 6160 help to forge new approaches to urban design and planning?</p>
<p>The answer is yes. Temporary occupation creates opportunities for a new type of city-making. </p>
<p>With the current trend towards decreasing public expenditure on the built environment, the temporary use of space demonstrates alternative models of governance where developers, councils and citizens work together to resolve the issue of a lack of resources. The MANY 6160 project, in particular, demonstrates a shift in government behaviour towards incentivising and supporting citizens. </p>
<p>The City of Fremantle contributed $20,000 to the project. Citizens have put in thousands of hours of volunteer labour, along with the architects, who have borne start-up costs of more than $50,000. There is also the goodwill of building owner Sirona Capital.</p>
<p>A new world of cross-societal participation in urban design and planning has been opened up. However, the biggest advantage of temporary use has not been leveraged at the Fremantle site. The missed opportunity is an incremental approach to development, so that temporary occupation becomes a pivotal intermediate step towards long-term development. </p>
<p>In this scenario, the occupation of MANY 6160 could inform and influence the Kings Square development. Learnings from the temporary place activation – about the location, the community and other local factors – could contribute to the next iteration of the site. </p>
<p>The temporary project could be embedded within broader master plans and urban frameworks to test out experimental programs and governance models that could be brought into the long-term development.</p>
<p>The temporary occupation of space is ripe for exploration in Perth and other centres where the use of sites is constantly changing. When we cannot predict the future, let alone the next decade, interim use provides ways to reimagine buildings.</p>
<p>Citizens are increasingly demanding spaces for hours, days, weeks or months rather than years. This type of future city, contingent on mobility, requires a looser planning vision, one that allows for temporary occupation to inform future occupations, rather than merely being a placeholder for the development to follow.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>The Conversation is co-publishing articles with <a href="http://www.alva.uwa.edu.au/community/futurewest">Future West (Australian Urbanism)</a>, produced by the University of Western Australia’s Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Visual Arts. These articles look towards the future of urbanism, taking Perth and Western Australia as its reference point. You can read other articles <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/future-west-30248">here</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/63926/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Timothy Moore does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The rise in temporary use of urban space requires a looser planning vision that can draw on this new type of city-making to inform longer-term developments.Timothy Moore, PhD Candidate, Melbourne School of Design, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/319662014-09-30T19:43:08Z2014-09-30T19:43:08ZMaking an impression: 39 years of the Fremantle Print Award<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/60268/original/xfm7zcyc-1411967790.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">This year's 272 submissions guaranteed a tough selection process for the judges. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photographer Jessica Wyld</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Last Thursday, Melbourne artist Gosia Wlodarczak won the 2014 <a href="http://fac.org.au/facpa/">Fremantle Arts Centre Print Award</a> with her work Process Capsule Situations Sofitel (below). </p>
<p>Over the 39 years that the award has been exhibited at the Fremantle Arts Centre, it has played a central role within Australian printmaking – both as a catalyst for innovation and a forum for its dissemination. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/60260/original/83ygqdwp-1411966905.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/60260/original/83ygqdwp-1411966905.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/60260/original/83ygqdwp-1411966905.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=252&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/60260/original/83ygqdwp-1411966905.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=252&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/60260/original/83ygqdwp-1411966905.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=252&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/60260/original/83ygqdwp-1411966905.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=317&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/60260/original/83ygqdwp-1411966905.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=317&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/60260/original/83ygqdwp-1411966905.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=317&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Gosia Wlodarczak, Process Capsule Situations Sofitel, 2014.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Fremantle Arts Centre</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Establishing the award</h2>
<p>In 1973, the old Fremantle Lunatic Asylum was transformed into a centre for contemporary arts practice. </p>
<p>The time was right. With the State Gallery still housed in the Museum Building in Beaufort Street and showing little interest in local practice, the <a href="https://www.fac.org.au/">Fremantle Arts Centre</a> was a major new initiative that both celebrated the preservation of the past (the building itself) and ushered in a new era for the arts in Western Australia.</p>
<p>The early exhibitions were presented with a new kind of energy. The Arts Centre was a place to see new work by younger artists, some for the first time. Most importantly, though, it generated a confidence about being from Western Australia, from Perth and, of course, from Fremantle. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/60270/original/c53wxgd9-1411968152.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/60270/original/c53wxgd9-1411968152.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/60270/original/c53wxgd9-1411968152.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/60270/original/c53wxgd9-1411968152.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/60270/original/c53wxgd9-1411968152.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/60270/original/c53wxgd9-1411968152.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/60270/original/c53wxgd9-1411968152.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/60270/original/c53wxgd9-1411968152.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Fremantle Arts Centre, the former Fremantle Lunatic Asylum.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Antoine SIPOS</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This was the best kind of parochialism that celebrated the local as a place where you could work with assurance and look outside with interest.</p>
<p>That self-confidence convinced the inaugural Director, <a href="http://www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/A12953">Ian Templeman</a>, to establish an annual event that would guarantee a national profile. In a relatively well-packed field of prizes and awards finding a theme or topic that would put the Centre on the map wasn’t easy but the decision to choose printmaking has proven to be as canny as it was well-timed.</p>
<p>After a period of expansion during the 60s and 70s, printmaking had established itself as an important creative medium for Australian artists. Printmakers were established in every state and, as a result, the medium had an aura that transcended the Sydney/Melbourne nexus by moving out towards the periphery. </p>
<p>Prints were also produced in multiple copies, so the “original” could travel easily. It was just the kind of national project achievable from a regional base and, with the assistance of Ron Douglas, State Representative for the Shell Company of Australia, the Centre found the funding to host the first event in 1976, with an acquisitive prize of A$500. </p>
<h2>Enduring corporate sponsorship</h2>
<p>It was also the beginning of one of the most enduring partnerships in Australian art sponsorship. Although not the largest in terms of funding, the consistent support for this project over a 30-year period is a rare example of long-term corporate backing. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/60261/original/bczrbmry-1411967005.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/60261/original/bczrbmry-1411967005.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/60261/original/bczrbmry-1411967005.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=670&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/60261/original/bczrbmry-1411967005.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=670&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/60261/original/bczrbmry-1411967005.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=670&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/60261/original/bczrbmry-1411967005.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=842&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/60261/original/bczrbmry-1411967005.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=842&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/60261/original/bczrbmry-1411967005.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=842&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Second prize winner Susanna Castleden making a print in New Orleans.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Fremantle Arts Centre</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In 1996 the company’s ongoing commitment was acknowledged by a change of name to the Shell Fremantle Print Award and the link between the company, the Centre and the medium of printmaking established a nexus recognised nationally. </p>
<p>In 2005 Shell relinquished its sponsorship and in 2007 local brewing company Little Creatures took it up and have been the major sponsor over the past eight years. </p>
<p>The award has attracted extraordinary interest, both from artists and the media outlets across the country and the list of winners now constitutes a certified cohort of leading practitioners. </p>
<p>For the country’s printmakers, it is an opportunity to present their work in a national forum that showcases the best work produced and the innovations and emerging fields of practice within the medium.</p>
<p>This latter role may prove to be the most important and enduring contribution the award has made to Australian visual culture.</p>
<h2>The 2014 field</h2>
<p>This year 272 submissions guaranteed a tough selection process for the three judges: Peter Burgess, co-head of the Printmaking Department at the National Art School in Sydney; Queensland-based curator and writer Anne Kirker; and Leigh Robb, Curator at the Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts. </p>
<p>Among a field of works they describe WHERE? LINK as “… eclectic, demonstrating both the efficacy of traditional printmaking and the ever changing nature of the print medium”, they identify a number of approaches that show how:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>in adapting to change, with the digital so much a part of our lives, printmaking creates an opportunity to critically explore questions such as the role of the handmade, reproducibility, indirect image making, the imprint and the trace</p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/60263/original/qtx2634r-1411967085.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/60263/original/qtx2634r-1411967085.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/60263/original/qtx2634r-1411967085.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=272&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/60263/original/qtx2634r-1411967085.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=272&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/60263/original/qtx2634r-1411967085.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=272&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/60263/original/qtx2634r-1411967085.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=341&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/60263/original/qtx2634r-1411967085.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=341&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/60263/original/qtx2634r-1411967085.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=341&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Daniel O'Shane, Geb Omai Ene Sirr (Coconut Story).</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Printer Theo Tremblay</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Gosia Wlodarczak’s work was the judges’ unanimous choice for the 2014 Fremantle Arts Centre Print Award because of the artist’s ability to capture “the sights and sensations of the hotel as a personalised space and an elaborate memoir”. </p>
<p>It is a complex work that succeeds in combining a multitude of images — fragments, snippets and traces from photographs — that document an expanding narrative about hotel life. </p>
<p>Their second prize winner was WA artist Susanna Castleden’s Round the World print (Rottnest to Bermuda), an ambitious documentation of a three-week journey inscribed onto a 30-metre roll of paper through tracing, rubbing and mark making. </p>
<p>An additional special commendation was awarded to Torres Strait Islander artist Daniel O’Shane, for his linocut Geb Omai ene Sirr (Coconut Story), and four artists were highly commended: Lesley Duxbury, Rew Hanks, Matthew McVeigh and Kynan Tan. </p>
<p>Some 40 years on the documentation of practice and the research trail it has left in its wake provides a unique record of the evolving nature of the medium during a vibrant period of creative engagement. </p>
<p><br></p>
<p><em>The annual <a href="http://fac.org.au/facpa/">Fremantle Arts Centre Print Award</a> runs until Sunday November 16 at the Fremantle Arts Centre.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/31966/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ted Snell does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Last Thursday, Melbourne artist Gosia Wlodarczak won the 2014 Fremantle Arts Centre Print Award with her work Process Capsule Situations Sofitel (below). Over the 39 years that the award has been exhibited…Ted Snell, Winthrop Professor, Director Cultural Precinct, The University of Western AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/295842014-09-09T20:27:14Z2014-09-09T20:27:14ZExplainer: how weather can trigger dangerous tsunamis<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/58520/original/ywkgzpcp-1410234747.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=12%2C69%2C653%2C516&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The AAL Fremantle, borne along by a meteotsunami, hits the rail bridge next to Fremantle Harbour.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">@Mattiegeesu via Twitter</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>At around 10pm on Sunday 17 August 2014, the container ship AAL Fremantle was being unloaded after arriving in Western Australia’s Fremantle Harbour, when it broke away from its mooring and <a href="https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/24741311/probe-into-how-ship-hit-bridge">collided with a rail bridge</a>. The bridge was <a href="http://www.watoday.com.au/wa-news/fremantle-rail-bridge-to-stay-closed-20140823-107jez.html">badly damaged</a> and closed for two weeks, severely disrupting one of Perth’s major railway lines. </p>
<p>Initially, the incident was attributed to strong winds, but further analysis revealed that the ship’s moorings were actually broken by strong currents in the harbour. Analysis of the water levels and weather data showed that a “meteotsunami” was the culprit.</p>
<p>You’d be forgiven for not having heard of meteotsunamis, which are caused by meteorological events – in contrast to conventional tsunamis, which are triggered by seismic activity. </p>
<p>But these lesser-known cousins of tsunamis are more common than you might realise: a storm triggered another one off Perth at the weekend (hitting at around midnight on September 7), causing another ship docked at Fremantle to break a mooring line. Overall, Western Australia is hit by an average of 10-12 meteotsunamis each year, and similar events happen all over the world.</p>
<h2>What is a meteotsunami?</h2>
<p>Meteorological tsunamis, or meteotsunamis, are caused by weather events such as squalls, tornadoes, thunderstorms, frontal systems – generally, anything that causes an abrupt change in atmospheric pressure. </p>
<p>This change generates small wave heights (less than 5 cm) in deep water, but like conventional tsunamis, these waves grow much taller as they move into shallow water and hit the shore. </p>
<p>In Western Australia, meteotsunamis reaching a metre in height are common along the coast between Geraldton and Esperance – an area that includes Perth and its major cargo port, Fremantle. In <a href="http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11069-014-1263-8">one case</a>, in January 2013, a single thunderstorm event generated a meteotsunami that travelled more than 500 kilometres along the coast.</p>
<p>To put these waves in context, the tsunami that <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Indian_Ocean_earthquake_and_tsunami">wreaked devastation</a> around the Indian Ocean on December 26, 2004, caused a maximum wave height in Fremantle of 0.33 m. Meteotsunamis, meanwhile, routinely trigger waves twice as high, and in June 2012 a meteotsunami contributed to the highest ever water level recorded at Fremantle in over 115 years of records.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/58329/original/whmq6kd2-1409900985.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/58329/original/whmq6kd2-1409900985.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/58329/original/whmq6kd2-1409900985.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/58329/original/whmq6kd2-1409900985.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/58329/original/whmq6kd2-1409900985.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/58329/original/whmq6kd2-1409900985.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/58329/original/whmq6kd2-1409900985.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/58329/original/whmq6kd2-1409900985.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Water level at Fremantle Boat Harbour during the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami (top) and a meteotsunami on 17 October 2002 (bottom)</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Charitha Pattiaratchi, data from WA Department of Transport</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Worldwide waves</h2>
<p>Meteotsunamis are a global phenomenon, and have been observed in <a href="http://oce.oce.kagoshima-u.ac.jp/%7Ekaikou/asano/NHAZ1811.pdf">Japan</a>, <a href="http://ics2013.org/papers/Paper4323_rev.pdf">Korea</a>, <a href="http://www.carscoops.com/2014/02/freaky-meteotsunami-tosses-parked-cars.html">Brazil</a>, the <a href="http://blogs.agu.org/geospace/2012/12/06/surprising-source-of-tsunamis/">US Great Lakes</a>, the <a href="http://jadran.izor.hr/%7Evilibic/razno/ms-PAGEOPH-Med-meteotsunami.pdf">Mediterranean Sea</a>, <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/wea.2061/abstract">the United Kingdom</a>, and the <a href="http://journals.ametsoc.org/doi/abs/10.1175/1520-0477%281995%29076%3C0021%3ATDBWOJ%3E2.0.CO%3B2">US east coast</a>. </p>
<p>Many regions have their own local names for meteotsunamis: <em>rissaga</em> in Spain’s <a href="http://www.adv-geosci.net/12/1/2007/adgeo-12-1-2007.pdf">Balearic Islands</a> and around New Zealand; <em>abiki</em> in <a href="http://oce.oce.kagoshima-u.ac.jp/%7Ekaikou/asano/NHAZ1811.pdf">Japan’s Nagasaki Bay</a>; <em>ščiga</em> in the <a href="http://www.total-hvar.com/index.php/hvar-blog/item/the-day-the-sea-disappeared-from-vrboska">Adriatic Sea</a>; <em>milghuba</em> in <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1474706509001156">Malta</a>; <em>marrobbio</em> (“mad sea”) in <a href="http://journals.ametsoc.org/doi/abs/10.1175/1520-0485%281999%29029%3C2210%3ATMSPIT%3E2.0.CO%3B2">Sicily</a>; and <em>seebär</em> in the Baltic Sea. </p>
<p>The largest meteotsunami ever recorded was a 4.8 m wave that hit Nagasaki Bay in 1979. Meteotsunamis have caused millions of dollars in damage to boats and harbours around the world, and have claimed lives (such as the <a href="http://www.livescience.com/25477-meteotsunamis-waves-from-storms.html">seven people killed while fishing on a sunny Chicago day in 1954</a>), although many fewer lives than seismic mega-tsunamis.</p>
<h2>How are they formed?</h2>
<p>Meteotsunamis were previously viewed as part of a “storm surge” – the elevated water levels caused by a storm. Yet meteotsunamis have also been observed during periods of <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/12/meteotsunamis_n_2286374.html">fine weather</a>, meaning that the two phenomena are distinct, albeit similar. </p>
<p>Both meteotsunamis and storm surges result from atmospheric effects, but they differ in terms of time scale. A meteotsunami is active over 3-4 hours and consists of several waves that generate strong, rapidly changing currents. A storm surge is slower and gentler, lasting 12-36 hours and changing the water levels more gradually, causing weaker currents.</p>
<p>Meteotsunamis are triggered by rapidly moving pressure systems with speeds of up to 100 km per hour – the kind of conditions found in squalls and thunderstorms. Just a small change in pressure (about 2 hectopascals, or roughly 0.2% of atmospheric pressure) is enough to create a meteotsunami. </p>
<p>In a static system, a 1 hectopascal change in atmospheric pressure would alter the water level by about 1 cm. But a moving pressure jump can have vastly bigger effects, as the wave interacts with the changing depth of the sea floor. Waves can be boosted even more by “resonance” effects, for instance when the pressure disturbance is moving at the waves’ natural speed, causing the waves to grow ever larger. </p>
<h2>The Fremantle Harbour tsunami</h2>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/58325/original/zn5rkbhg-1409900111.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/58325/original/zn5rkbhg-1409900111.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/58325/original/zn5rkbhg-1409900111.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/58325/original/zn5rkbhg-1409900111.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/58325/original/zn5rkbhg-1409900111.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/58325/original/zn5rkbhg-1409900111.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=622&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/58325/original/zn5rkbhg-1409900111.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=622&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/58325/original/zn5rkbhg-1409900111.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=622&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Weather and water level data from coastal stations near Fremantle Harbour, 17 August 2014. Top, wind speeds (gusts in red) at Fremantle Port; middle, sea level pressure at Rottnest Island; bottom, water level at Hillarys Boat Harbour (blue), Fremantle Boat Harbour (red) and Fremantle Inner Harbour (black).</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Charitha Pattiaratchi, data from Fremantle Ports, WA Department of Transport and Bureau of Meteorology</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>What happened in Fremantle Harbour last month is clear when you look at weather and water level data from nearby coastal stations. A travelling pressure jump of 2 hectopascals generated wind gusts of up to 55 knots (102 km per hour). In turn, water levels rose sharply in Fremantle’s inner harbour, where the AAL Fremantle was berthed.</p>
<p>It snapped its moorings and was dragged upstream by currents of 0.6 m per second, hitting a barge before crunching into the bridge. And that’s how a storm out at sea on a Sunday evening gave rail commuters a very frustrating Monday morning.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/29584/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Charitha Pattiaratchi receives funding from the Intergrated Marine Observing System, The Australian Research Council and Bushfire Natural Hazards Cooperative Research Centre.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span><a href="mailto:sarath.wijeratne@uwa.edu.au">sarath.wijeratne@uwa.edu.au</a>
School of Civil, Environmental and Mining Engineering & UWA Oceans Institute
The University of Western Australia
</span></em></p>At around 10pm on Sunday 17 August 2014, the container ship AAL Fremantle was being unloaded after arriving in Western Australia’s Fremantle Harbour, when it broke away from its mooring and collided with…Charitha Pattiaratchi, Winthrop Professor of Coastal Oceanography, The University of Western AustraliaEms Wijeratne, Research Assistant Professor, UWA Oceans Institute, The University of Western AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/111892012-12-06T19:51:39Z2012-12-06T19:51:39ZIn Conversation: Greens are not our enemy, says Labor’s Melissa Parke<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/18393/original/8fdms3g4-1354765964.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Federal member for Fremantle Melissa Parke has attracted a national profile with her left wing views in recent years.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Office of Melissa Parke MP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Labor’s Melissa Parke probably won’t be too popular with rightwing powerbrokers like Paul Howes with her view that the Greens are a fellow progressive party rather than an <a href="http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/opinion/paul-howes-labor-must-turn-on-the-greens-and-destroy-them/story-e6frezz0-1226419835582">insidious enemy to be confronted and crushed</a>.</p>
<p>But the Federal member for Fremantle - first elected in the 2007 landslide - has demonstrated a willingness to express her own views on key policy and political issues, even when those stances differ from the party line.</p>
<p>A lawyer by training who worked with the UN in locations as diverse and dangerous as Gaza and Kosovo, Parke has an unashamedly left-wing take an issues like asylum, animal protection and international issues like the Israel/Palestine conflict.</p>
<p>Yet Parke represents a Western Australian seat, where her views stand well apart from the prevailing norm in a state with a clear conservative ascendancy. </p>
<p>Add this to the fact that Parke is a female member of a parliament riven by accusations of misogyny and sexism, and the Member for Fremantle has one of the most fascinating profiles of any current Australian politician.</p>
<p>Today The Conversation presents an in depth conversation between Parke and Deakin University political expert and historian Geoffrey Robinson.</p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/in-conversation-melissa-parke-full-transcript-11190">Click here</a> for a full transcript</p>
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<p><strong>Geoffrey Robinson:</strong> Your state equivalent is a Green, then certain events transpired and is <a href="http://www.parliament.wa.gov.au/Parliament/Memblist.nsf/WAllMembersFlat/Carles,+Adele+Simone?opendocument">now an independent Green</a>, do you feel under threat from the Greens?</p>
<p><strong>Melissa Parke:</strong> No I don’t. I think the Greens are not our enemies, I know that some Labor people may disagree with that but I don’t think they are. They’re another left party, another progressive party and we have many values and objectives in common, but there are areas where we differ. But the main difference is that we are a party of Government and the Greens manifestly are not.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/18379/original/q37q25dy-1354754944.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/18379/original/q37q25dy-1354754944.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/18379/original/q37q25dy-1354754944.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/18379/original/q37q25dy-1354754944.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/18379/original/q37q25dy-1354754944.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/18379/original/q37q25dy-1354754944.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/18379/original/q37q25dy-1354754944.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Labor Right figures would like to destroy Christine Milne and the Greens, yet Parke sees them as sharing many political values with the ALP.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP/Alan Porrit</span></span>
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<p>And I also think that if you took people through all the things that the Labor Government has achieved they would agree that they were good things, that they have been good things. So if you just look at this Government as opposed to past Labor governments, we’ve got the platform for the National Disability Insurance Scheme and for mental and dental health and aged care reform, is anyone going to disagree with that? We’ve got a paid parental leave scheme, national broadband network, a price on carbon, the largest investment in renewable energy in Australia’s history, the largest capital investment in schools, in local government and public transport infrastructure in Australian Government history, we’ve got Australia’s standing as a good international citizen.</p>
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<p><strong>Geoffrey Robinson:</strong> Being a woman in politics, from my mind as a political journalist the defining moment of the year and the defining moment of the term was <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfo3SGIiSE0">Julia’s speech to Tony Abbott</a> where she laid out the sexism and the misogyny.</p>
<p>Do you think there’s a danger, though it might be a short term win, that we’ve let a certain genie out of the bottle here?</p>
<p><strong>Melissa Parke:</strong> No, because I think gender was always an issue as soon as Julia became Prime Minister. I think gender was up there and we saw it very clearly in the carbon tax accusations from Tony Abbott and that wild bunch of people who were campaigning outside of Parliament House with their signs. So I think what the Prime Minister did was name it, that it was there, that it’s always been there.</p>
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<p><strong>Geoffrey Robinson:</strong> You could very easily win an inner-city Melbourne or Sydney seat with your unite left politics. How do you see Western Australia’s relationship with the rest of Australia, especially in terms of the mining boom and so on and also through the lens of yourself as someone who is quite on the left and holds what could be described as the elitist metropolitan views that a certain side of politics tries to attribute to inner-city Melbourne and Sydney latte sippers?</p>
<p><strong>Melissa Parke:</strong> I’m proud to be West Australian. It’s a beautiful state. The South West is the most biodiverse region in the world, so it has a lot of natural beauty, and the marine parks decision that was made by the Federal Government was immensely popular, with that popularity evidenced by the state Premier announcing a lot of state marine parks this year as well, so it’s become one of those mainstream issues, I think people are appreciating the environment more. We’re getting more and more people coming from overseas and interstate, so I’m hopeful that we will continue to be a place of arrival and a multicultural outward-looking place and that perhaps the conservative streak might evolve. I think at its base the conservatism is essentially an expression of independence and being far away from and different to the rest of the country.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/18382/original/yzbgm37g-1354755371.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/18382/original/yzbgm37g-1354755371.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=433&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/18382/original/yzbgm37g-1354755371.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=433&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/18382/original/yzbgm37g-1354755371.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=433&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/18382/original/yzbgm37g-1354755371.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=545&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/18382/original/yzbgm37g-1354755371.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=545&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/18382/original/yzbgm37g-1354755371.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=545&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Rare whale sharks are often seen off Western Australian waters, an example of the environmental fragility that drives much of Parke’s political outlook.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP/Splash Communications</span></span>
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<p>There certainly is a feeling that the rest of the country is dependent and relying on Western Australia without giving enough back, and you do see that when it comes to parliamentary sessions and committee travel, there’s not a lot of consideration given for those who have to travel a long distance. I’m not just talking about Western Australia, but also Tasmania or the Northern Territory, they’re just not taken into account. There is a very strong Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra and sometimes Brisbane centric view of Australia that exists.</p>
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<p><strong>Geoffrey Robinson:</strong> Do you think we’re seen as an honest broker, or do you think we are too closely aligned to the US to play that role?</p>
<p><strong>Melissa Parke:</strong> I think that the <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-11-27/australia-to-abstain-from-palestinian-vote/4395000">Palestinian statehood vote where we abstained</a> was highly significant, that the international community recognised and in particular those who otherwise might have been annoyed like the Arab and Muslim countries recognised the significance of that abstention and have applauded it. So I think that it bodes well for our seat on the security council and it bodes well for our membership of the leadership troika of the G20, which is coming up, where we can play a big role in helping to eliminate global poverty and addressing the issue of food security. What’s not commonly understood is that most of the world’s poorest people actually live in G20 nations like China, India, Indonesia, to a lesser extent South Africa and Brazil. That’s where we can make a big difference and we have the expertise in that area of food security.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/18405/original/cz5z4wrh-1354770257.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/18405/original/cz5z4wrh-1354770257.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=908&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/18405/original/cz5z4wrh-1354770257.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=908&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/18405/original/cz5z4wrh-1354770257.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=908&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/18405/original/cz5z4wrh-1354770257.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1141&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/18405/original/cz5z4wrh-1354770257.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1141&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/18405/original/cz5z4wrh-1354770257.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1141&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Fremantle player Alex Silvagni celebrates in the Dockers win over Geelong in this year’s AFL finals. The possible relocation of the team’s training ground from its traditional home is a major constituency issue for Parke.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP Image/David Crosling</span></span>
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<p><strong>Geoffrey Robinson:</strong> Should the <a href="http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/breaking/14091056/dockers-eye-cockburn-purple-patch/">Fremantle Football Club move out to Cockburn</a>, or should they stay in Fremantle?</p>
<p><strong>Melissa Parke:</strong> Apparently it’s already been decided. They’ve announced they’re going to Cockburn, and for me, both of those areas are in my electorate. So I would love to have seen the Dockers stay in Fremantle, but I also think the club is in the best position to assess its own needs.</p>
<p>Cockburn certainly does have the need for a regional sports facility of such quality, as it is one the fastest growing areas in the country. So independently of whether the Dockers went there or not I’d certainly support the sports facility at Cockburn, but the issue of the Dockers, well, they’ve decided for themselves.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/11189/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Geoffrey Robinson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Labor’s Melissa Parke probably won’t be too popular with rightwing powerbrokers like Paul Howes with her view that the Greens are a fellow progressive party rather than an insidious enemy to be confronted…Geoffrey Robinson, Senior Lecturer, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Deakin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.