Pittwater Life April 2022 Issue

The Local Voice Since 1991
APRIL 2022
FREE
pittwaterlife
MORE WAKEHURST FIX DELAYS
COUNCIL OPPOSES LOCAL ABORIGINAL LAND DEVELOPMENT
PITTWATER MOPS UP / SWIM SCHOOL CLOSURE TWIST
THE WAY WE WERE / LOCAL EATERIES / SEEN... HEARD... ABSURD

Editorial
After the flood? Nothing...
If you’d hoped the problem of
flooding on the Wakehurst
Parkway was any closer to
resolution following $18
million worth of funding
from the State Government
and years of studies and
subsequent community
consultation by our Council,
well, we’ve got some bad news.
Council has decided to adopt
a “softly softly” approach,
despite 66 per cent of
residents’ submissions clearly
voting for works that would
cut disruption to a minimum
one-in-two-year flood event –
or, better still, actual floodproofing
of the road.
Council is defending its
decision to invest more time
and money on additional
studies and assessments,
citing community concern
about environmental impacts
associated with the options
presented in its Wakehurst
Parkway Flood Mitigation
Feasibility Study.
But surely that was the whole
point of putting the study in
front of the people, warts and
all, so we could weigh up the
environmental impact and
make a call, one way or the
other?
Call us cynical, but it just
smacks of Council not having
the fortitude to act in the
interests of its ratepayers, for
fear of any kind of backlash.
Don’t be surprised if
little more than cosmetic
adjustment to the Parkway,
with little change to flooding
frequency, is the end result,
even a year or two down the
track. We deserve better.
* * *
With ANZAC Day
approaching we present
the Life Story of one of the
few surviving World War II
veterans who spent time on the
Thai-Burma railway – 99-yearold
Narrabeen resident Wal
Williams, a truly remarkable
man.
– Nigel Wall
The Local Voice Since 1991
APRIL 2022 3

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Celebrating 31 years
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The Local Voice Since 1991
APRIL 2022
FREE
pittwaterlife
MORE WAKEHURST FIX DELAYS
COUNCIL OPPOSES LOCAL ABORIGINAL LAND DEVELOPMENT
PITTWATER MOPS UP / SWIM SCHOOL CLOSURE TWIST
THE WAY WE WERE / LOCAL EATERIES / SEEN... HEARD... ABSURD
PWL_APR22_p001.indd 1 28/3/2022 5:46 pm
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thislife
INSIDE: The Federal Government has pledged $75 million
for works on the Wakehurst Parkway (p11); the proposal to
facilitate development of Aboriginal-owned land at Lizard
Rock, Belrose has drawn widespread criticism – read the
latest (p12); Mona Vale SLSC has announced its new cafe
and restaurant operators (p18); under-fire Barrenjoey Swim
School has been asked to present a revised operations plan
to Council by May 3 (p24); and read World War II veteran Wal
William’s raw recollection of POW life (p50).
COVER: Raindrops / Sharon Green
MARCH 2022
also this month
Editorial 3
Pittwater Local News 10-39
Seen... Heard... Absurd... 30
The Way We Were 32
Briefs & Community News 34-39
Art 40-41
Hot Property 42-49
Life Stories: World War II vet Wal Williams 50-52
Surfing 54-55
Health & Wellbeing; Hair & Beauty 56-63
Money & Law 64-67
Food & Tasty Morsels 72-76
Crossword 77
Gardening 78-80
the goodlife
Returning soon! Showtime, Pubs & Clubs and gigs!
Inside this month: our regular features on food, gardening,
beauty, health, surfing, art, local history, money, plus our
guide to trades and services... and our essential maps.
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written consent of the copyright owner. All advertising rates are subject to GST.
* The complete Pittwater
Life archive can be found at
6
the State Library of NSW.
APRIL 2022
The Local Voice Since 1991

News
Jess earns AFLW stripes
Jess Doyle didn’t start playing AFL until she was 13; just five
years later the ex-Pittwater Tigers junior is now a regular
for the GWS Giants in the AFLW – and she is absolutely
loving it.
“My first game was the best feeling ever,” says Jess excitedly.
“I didn’t even know I was in the
team, and when the coach said
‘Jess Doyle you’re playing this
weekend’, I gasped in shock.
And then all of the other girls
jumped on me.”
And there have already been
a few other great moments for
Jess in her very short time in
footy.
“The draft was also an
amazing night,” recalls Jess.
“My name got read out as the
second draft pick for the GWS
Giants and it felt amazing. It
was a dream come true.”
That dream started for the
ex-Barrenjoey High School
pupil when she used to watch
AFL as a kid, before the AFLW
had come into being. Jess had
been playing netball to a high
standard from the age of nine,
but at 13 her parents asked her
to give the Pittwater Tigers a go.
“There weren’t that many
girls when I started playing, so
I ‘played up’ with the under-
16s,” Jess explains. “I scored a
goal in my first game and loved it.
“Netball games were on Saturday and footy on Sunday, and
training was different nights of the week, so it all worked out
well together – I was basically playing sport every night of the
week.
“Then at 16, I played in the Senior comp with adults. That
was much faster and the girls were bigger and stronger than
me – I was playing against 30-year-olds.
“That year we won the Grand Final and I scored three goals
KICKING GOALS:
Jess Doyle with
the GWS Giants.
in the final.”
From there Jess joined the Swans academy for a year, before
joining 25 girls from across Australia in the Rep Allied Team,
with a dream of being drafted. Since that dream has become
reality, Jess has been contracted to the GWS Giants on a parttime
basis – although it’s very
much a full-time commitment.
“All of the AFLW players
are part-time, but it’s pretty
much a full-time job,” says
Jess. “We train four times a
week and play at the weekend.
I’m studying at Uni and so the
money is good for me, but most
older players have a full-time
job as well.
“Training is later in the
afternoon so people can work
in the day, but from everything
involved it can run from 3pm
until 10pm.
“I just can’t believe I’m being
paid to do what I love!”
Having played six games now
for the Giants and scored five
goals, Jess is getting stronger,
fitter and more confident with
every game, but she’s certainly
not getting ahead of herself.
“My aim is just to try to
focus on getting more of the
ball, and to keep learning and
improving – and hopefully kick
a few more goals.”
And for any girls out there wanting to join Jess, she’d
thoroughly recommend it.
“I love sport and AFL is just the best bits of all sports
combined – kicking, throwing, catching and running. It’s fun
and enjoyable and you make so many friends.”
Formed in 1950, the Pittwater Tigers have 400 young Tigers
across different ages and are always looking for more players.
– Rob Pegley
*More information pittwatertigers.com.au
Council balks at Wakehurst action
Northern Beaches Council will
not trigger any of the options
identified in the Wakehurst
Parkway Flood Mitigation Feasibility
Study despite a review of community
consultation that showed 66 per cent
of submissions supported the most
intensive flood mitigation option – or
actual flood-proofing.
Instead, Council has voted to undertake
more studies and environmental
assessments, commencing with a focus
on Oxford Falls which experiences the
least impact from flooding of the three
locations identified in the study.
Other locations are The Bends (Middle
Creek) and the Academy of Sport.
Further, Council will initiate a study of
options to help reduce the closure of Oxford
Falls Road West, a site not previously
considered in the feasibility study.
Meanwhile, Mackellar MP Jason
Falinski has announced $75 million in
Federal Government funding to progress
widening and improvement works on the
Parkway from Frenchs Forest to Oxford
Falls, as well as south of Warringah Road.
Mr Falinski added the State Government
would co-fund the works which
totalled $150 million.
“Unlike other announcements this isn’t
a promise or another study, it is money in
the bank,” Mr Falinski said. “This is a first
step in making the Parkway safer.”
Mr Falinski and Pittwater State MP Rob
Stokes are urging Council to “press go” on
flood mitigation works.
Prior to Council’s latest announcement,
Mr Stokes said: “The studies have been
completed and the funding has been
secured – let’s get on with it.
“Like many major projects there are
environmental challenges to be worked
through – but community safety must
ONGOING PROBLEM: Wakehurst Parkway.
come first. We’ve been talking about this
for too long – we need to press go.”
In a media release, Mayor Michael
Regan heralded Council’s “first steps” to
reduce flood impacts on the parkway.
“Detailed design and environmental assessments
will now get underway specifically
for the Oxford Falls site with a view
to designs being completed by mid-year,”
he said.
“With respect to The Bends site, due
to the potential environmental impacts,
Council will undertake further investigations
to consider alternate solutions.”
Mayor Regan said community consultation
revealed that while there was
support for flood mitigation works, views
diverged on the acceptability of the environmental
impact.
“While a quick solution would be great,
in the case of Wakehurst Parkway there
is a lot of detail to consider along with
environmental regulations and site constraints,”
he said.
The Mayor did not break down the
community consultation.
However, Pittwater Life can reveal
Council’s Executive Summary, presented
to councillors, identified that a whopping
two-thirds of 512 submissions received
were in favour of works that would see
the Parkway subjected to closure by flood
just a minimum once every two years.
The Wakehurst Parkway can be closed
due to floods up to seven times a year,
according to Council.
The Executive Summary noted Council’s
Community Engagement Report
found that most respondents supported
works to reduce flooding (76 per cent).
Responses fell into three groups: Do
nothing; Do something, but not an option
presented in the Feasibility Study (implying
major infrastructure upgrades); and
Do something suggested in the study.
The Summary said those who chose
“Do nothing” did so “because they were
concerned about the environmental impacts
of any flood mitigation measures”.
The 26 per cent who chose “Do
something (else)” wanted options that
provided permanent flood-free access
along the Parkway and considered none
of the options presented in the study as
adequate.
Of the 50 per cent who requested “Do
something” in accordance with the flood
mitigation options offered, 80 per cent
(40 per cent total respondents) supported
the 1-in-2-year flood protection option.
The remaining 10 per cent supported
the study’s 1-in-3-month, 1-in-6-month
or 1-in-1-year flood protection options
(combined).
Among the Executive Summary’s
recommendations were to “undertake a
peer and technical review of the options
at The Bends site in conjunction with key
stakeholders to determine if the environmental
impact of options at that location
can be reduced further”, and “request
a further report from staff on progress
within six months”. – Nigel Wall
*What do you think? Email readers @
pittwaterlife.com.au
News
10 APRIL 2022
The Local Voice Since 1991
The Local Voice Since 1991
APRIL 2022 11

News
Lizard Rock: 10 Things To Know
When the unknown 4.The Government’s View: An-
SACRED:
artists from Guringai thony Roberts – the NSW Plan-
A carving
country created the ning Minister (who succeeded
at Lizard Rock.
rock carvings known as Lizard
Rock, they couldn’t possibly
have foreseen the 21st
century Northern Beaches
suburb of Belrose with its
SuperCentre, schools, garden
centres and ever-expanding
boundaries.
Or that the land they considered
sacred would become
the subject of a bitter redevelopment
dispute that has
polarised opinion between indigenous
and non-indigenous
Australians.
Still less that, in a bizarre
role reversal, usual positions
have become topsy-turvy.
Here’s the story so far…
1.Lizard Rock: Whoever
carved the paintings were
descended from ancestors
who had inhabited Australia
for 60,000 years, long before
Pittwater MP Rob Stokes) is
a big fan, stating “… this is
about Aboriginal people taking
charge of their land”.
5.Council’s View: Following
debate at Council’s March
meeting Mayor Michael
Regan said: “There must be
alternative ways the NSW
Government can support
Aboriginal self-determination
than facilitating inappropriate
development. This proposal
does not effectively address
the potential destruction to
bushland, waterways and
threatened species or inherent
bushfire risk. They have
had to go back to the drawing
board because of all of these
issues at Ingleside, and they
need to do so again here,
largely for the same reasons.”
6.Community Consultation:
Europeans arrived. But this Council asked for submissions
from the public last who don’t have any clue about 8.Polarised Opinion: Ron Pat-
became part of “Crown Land”
after 1788.
month (March) which it will how we operate, start making ton, president of the Friends
2.The Handover: Lizard Rock
forward to the State Government.
However, it has already should hand land over for Catchment group believes per-
statements about how we of the Narrabeen Lagoon
and many other Crown Land
sites of particular indigenous
stated its opinion: saying the National Parks, or it should mitting the Lizard Rock development
would make a “sham”
significance were handed
DDP “inaccurately and selectively
suggests compliance” just be for the flora and out of decades-old calls to
never be developed, it should
back to the Metropolitan Local
Aboriginal Land Council
with its planning and housing fauna,” he told the Australian
Financial Review. “Land
protect sacred Indigenous
strategy. And that “there has
(MLALC), headquartered
sites. “It makes a mockery of
been no proper independent rights isn’t just about getting
in Redfern under the NSW
the supposedly democratic
review or assessment”.
land back to add to the public
Aboriginal Land Rights Act of
processes in which so many of
7.The MLALC View: Nathan estate, which we already lost.
1983. Today the land council
us have participated, believing
Moran, MLALC’s chief executive,
says Lizard Rock is part to us as recompense.” The
It’s actually land given back
is one of the largest land owners
in the metropolis.
sitive environmental heritage
that this will protect our sen-
of a much wider battle to MLALC’s proposal includes
3.The Proposal: After a failed
areas. Council has identified
permit the indigenous community
to take control of its and protection of Lizard Rock
a cultural community centre
approach to Council in 2017,
where the housing target can
in 2019, the NSW government
received a Development
turb the Lizard Rock area.”
be met without needing to dis-
own financial destiny. “It can and other culturally sensitive
be frustrating when people, heritage sites.
Delivery Plan (DDP) proposal
9.State MP Rob Stokes: “It’s
from MLALC to allow the 71
really important to look at the
hectares of environmentally What The Mayor Says…
MLALC’s valuable land holdings
strategically. This is to
sensitive bushland that surround
Lizard Rock for a hous-
ensure they are able to achieve
Mayor Michael Regan has personally floated the idea to
lease the MLALC’s landholdings on the Northern Beaches
ing development of up
economic self-determination
and care and manage it for them forever.
to 450 low- to medium-density
homes. Lizard Rock is one
also identify the best path-
using their own land – but
He says he and Council fully support the intent of the
Land Rights Act to provide Aboriginal people with a vehicle
of nine sites MLALC owns for self-determination.
ways for lands that are incapable
of supporting development
within the Northern Beaches “But personally I’d ask both the State and Federal
Council jurisdiction, totalling Governments to recognise that some lands are simply not
or otherwise too environmentally
valuable to develop.”
912 hectares. There are five suitable for development and to find another way to support
other MLALC-owned blocks this intent,” he said.
10.Federal MP Jason Falinski:
of land that have development
potential – in Belrose, lease to the Aboriginal Land Council to manage and protect has been photographed at
“For example, on the Northern Beaches, an option to pay a The member for Mackellar
Oxford Falls and Frenchs
Forest. However Lizard Rock
is the only parcel the MLALC
the land in perpetuity and linked to inflation would provide
the MLALC with ongoing income for their operations while
ensuring the land is saved from inappropriate development.”
Lizard Rock, calling it a “bad
development”, bereft of the infrastructure
required to move
is placing on the table for
– Nigel Wall forward. – Steve Meacham
development discussions at
this stage.
*What do you think? Tell us at readers@pittwaterlife.com.au *Where does it go from here?
Watch this space...
12 APRIL 2022
The Local Voice Since 1991
PHOTO: MLALC

Candidate out of the Blue
News
Few prospective candidates
for Federal parliament would
list their main attributes to
represent Mackellar in the House
of Representatives on Instagram as:
“Fisherman, Dad, computer scientist
and boofhead extraordinaire”.
But then Barry Steele, 66 – standing
for The New Liberals (TNL),
Australia’s youngest political party
established in February 2019 by
“little l liberals” disillusioned with
the Abbott/Turnbull/Morrison
governments – is hardly the kind
of candidate most parties would
endorse.
“Obviously, mate, I haven’t spent
my life working through party
selection contests,” he laughs at the
top floor apartment in Dee Why he
shares with wife Dhada and one of
their two adult daughters, Shannon
(the other, Kelly, works in London).
“I’ve never joined a political party
before, apart from… the Australian
Workers Party when I was looking
for a party that adopted modern
monetary theory – like TNL in this
election.”
Born in Queensland “to a share
farming family, relatively poor”,
Barry started working at 15 (“picking
lettuce before school and
weeding at the market garden after
school”) before becoming the first member
of his family to study at university.
“Thank god for Gough Whitlam who
made university education free.” His first
degree was in Zoology, a second – later –
was in Computer science.
He earned his keep doing a series of
tough jobs “including five years on a
handline fishing boat on the Great Barrier
Reef”. Later, he worked on scientific
projects in Canberra for the CSIRO, in
Wollongong for BHP IT, plus other IT
executive positions.
This morning Barry is wearing a
purple top with words that go to his
LONG SHOT:
Barry Steele is
realistic about
his chances
of winning
Mackellar.
scientific core: “I’d rather have questions
that can’t be answered… than answers
that can’t be questioned.”
The shirt reinforces his scientific
credentials and the three basic tenets of
his campaign: urgent action to reverse
Climate Change, a Federal ICAC with
teeth to ensure government transparency,
and a commitment to the economic
polices laid out by the post-Keynesian
economist, Professor Steven Keen (TNL’s
first pick for the Senate).
TNL’s focus, Barry readily admits, is
to secure the defeat of Scott Morrison’s
Coalition government. The party’s preference
deals? “We’ll advise whoever votes
for us to put the Liberal Party last,
and the Labor Party second last.”
Cynics will see TNL as a spoof
party, calculated to confuse voters
in seats such as Mackellar, one of
the safest Coalition seats in the
nation.
Certainly the party Menzies
founded – the Liberal Party of
Australia – felt that, for it legally
contested the right for TNL to
call itself ‘The New Liberals’. (The
upshot is that Barry’s party can call
itself ‘The New Liberals’ on posters,
but will be ‘TNL’ on the ballot forms
once the election is called.)
“Our early polling showed up to
30 per cent of Liberal voters were
disgusted with the gender issues,
the pork barrelling, and the lies,”
Barry says.
“These voters count themselves
as ‘small l’ liberals – and they look
at the people in parliament and say:
‘Hang on, these aren’t liberals…
they’re right wing conservatives’.”
Barry’s campaign got off to a bad
start when he broke his arm and
wrist in December – and suffered
a worse fracture when Narrabeenpractising
GP Dr Sophie Scamps
declared her nomination as a Zali
Steggall-like Independent.
So how does Barry rate his
chances of a spell in Canberra?
“A long shot. Good luck to Independents
like Sophie, but I’d prefer to see an
organised party holding the balance of
power.”
As for sitting Liberal member Jason
Falinski? “Jason is a nice bloke, but he’s
completely out of step with his electorate.”
Apart from the three candidates
mentioned above, the two other declared
candidates for Mackellar are Ethan
Hrjnak (Greens) and Christopher Ball
(UAP) – with Labor set to announce Paula
Goodman will run. – Steve Meacham
*Full election coverage: May edition.
14 APRIL 2022
The Local Voice Since 1991

LANDSLIP: Tonnes of earth blocked Lower Plateau Road, Bilgola Plateau.
Beaches deluge mop-up
PHOTO: Northern Beaches Advocate
News
After the worst
flooding seen in
decades on the
Northern Beaches, it’s also
set to be a wet late autumn
and early winter – but the
SES says it has also seen
a flood of new applicants
wanting to help.
Early March saw flooding
on the Northern Beaches
to an extent that most had
never witnessed in their
lifetime. The bulk of local
problems caused by the
storms occurred south of
Newport, with the most
dramatic scenes occurring
near to Manly Dam. Cars
were captured on film
floating past the window of
a Mackellar Girls classroom,
as students watched in awe.
Pittwater was not immune
though, with flooding in
Warriewood, Mona Vale
and residents around
Narrabeen Lagoon evacuated
late on March 8 as the lake
threatened to spill over.
All across Pittwater large
rainfall impacted homes,
roads and businesses. An
evacuation centre was set
up at Mona Vale Memorial
Hall, along with another at
Freshwater, to help people
whose homes were damaged.
“It was well spread across
the Beaches,” agrees Wayne
Lyne, Local Commander
of Pittwater SES, based at
Terrey Hills. “Frenchs Forest
missed out, but most places
were affected.
“Mona Vale probably got
the worst in the Warringah
area, along with Narrabeen;
and obviously the area around
Manly Dam in the Manly area.”
In the aftermath as
the water subsided, large
potholes made driving
hazardous. In particular
Beach Road, Ocean Road,
Barrenjoey Road and Bilgola
Bends, Mona Vale Road and
McCarrs Creek Road all
experienced difficulties.
Some 860 local potholes
were reported to authorities
(you can continue to report
any on smaller roads to NSW
Transport).
As the flood clean-up
began, Northern Beaches
Council customer service
team recorded 1000 calls
per day – an increase of 40
per cent. After removing 150
tonnes of household waste
in the first week after the
floods, the vast majority has
now been cleared.
In addition, Northern
Beaches Council had to deal
with more than 220 reported
landslips, 320 requests for
assistance with tree falls on
public land, and 270 reports
relating to storm water
infrastructure damage.
Wayne’s team also had a
busy time between midnight
on March 6 and midnight on
March 9, with 440 calls to
the SES for assistance.
“The worst of it was on the
7th, 8th and 9th and we had
assistance from other SES
crews across Sydney, as the
Northern Beaches seemed to
be more affected than most
areas,” says Wayne. “We also
had help from the Rural Fire
Service and Fire Rescue.”
“Then crews from ACT and
Victoria came up, so that we
could have a break and get
some sleep.”
Wayne has been heartened
though by the number of
people wanting to offer their
services to help with his
team’s efforts.
“We’ve had around 100
applications this month
across Manly and Warringah,
and when things settle down
we’ll be able to train people
up to help in the future.”
Sadly, the rain looks far
from over, with the Bureau
of Meteorology predicting
April, May and June will
have larger than average
rainfall; however, that it is
unlikely to be anything like
the peaks experienced in
early March.
If storms do hit though,
Wayne has some sound
advice.
“Make sure everything
is secured in your yard or
on balconies. In particular
trampoline’s with the safety
nets – they tend to take off
like sailboats and can be
really dangerous.
“If you need improvised
sandbags to block doorways,
then you can fill a plastic
shopping bag with soil
from the garden, tie the bag
tight and push it into place
firmly.”
“And finally, if you see
wires down, leave them
alone and stay clear of
them. Unless someone from
Ausgrid specifically tells you
they’re okay, then assume
they’re live.” – Rob Pegley
*Residents and businesses
impacted by the flood
emergency may be available
for financial assistance –
see Council website (search
flood clean up).
16 APRIL 2022
The Local Voice Since 1991

Surf Club’s new wave of
eateries
NEARLY OPEN:
Paula Tocquer
and Jon Dibbs
on the balcony at
Mona Vale SLSC.
News
By now, Paula Tocquer and Jon Dibbs
had hoped to be enjoying a drink at
Cook Terrace, the members bar of
Mona Vale SLSC with its glorious views out
past the headlands and the ocean pool.
Sadly, it’s still a hard hat area, due to
the record rainfall that has delayed the
opening of the $6.6 million rebuild of a
much-loved architectural eyesore that had
served the club since 1969.
The partial opening of the new clubhouse
(the club itself dates to 1923) will
now be sometime this month (April).
“Yes, we’ve had our setbacks,” admits
Paula, president of the Mona Vale club
since 2020, citing COVID and global supply
chain issues.
However a major time delay, she shares,
was the late delivery of the signature panoramic
glass ordered for the central section.
Hello? Have none of the councillors,
architects or club committee members
ever watched Kevin McCloud’s Grand
Designs? It’s always the bloody glass that
holds up the project and prevents the
building being waterproof once winter sets
in.
“No, our glass didn’t come from Germany,”
laughs Paula. “It was made here in
Australia, but it had to be a special glass to
withstand the kind of winds we get here on
the Northern Beaches.”
“And don’t call it a bar,” adds Jon, who
now doubles as the club’s head of life
saving and licensee. “It’s a members area
which serves food and drink. More importantly,
the club only closed for one summer
season.”
Paula is too polite to say, but the redevelopment
of Mona Vale SLSC has avoided
some of the problems which beleaguer
their friends at nearby Avalon SLSC – the
first surf club on the Northern Beaches
to undergo such a reinvention for 21st
Century needs.
Both buildings are now owned by Northern
Beaches Council and leased by the surf
clubs. But Avalon SLSC, which opened in
2014, was conceived and constructed under
the old cash-strapped Pittwater Council.
Pittwater Council awarded tender to the
high-profile Trippas White Group (which
runs well-frequented, year-round eateries
in the Eastern Suburbs and CBD). The
terms allowed Trippas White rights not
only to the ocean-view restaurant – Avalon
on the Beach – and the popular surfside
kiosk, but also the use (on Fridays and
Saturdays) of the Ocean Room, capable of
seating up to 120 guests.
The surf club was left with only the
income from its Bangalley Bar, the Nippers
canteen and weekday hire of the Ocean
Room for community yoga and pilates
classes.
But when COVID struck the facilities
leased to Trippas White shut. Much to the
frustration of Avalon residents, visitors
and the surf club itself, the café and the
restaurant have been closed ever since.
The Ocean Room remains off-limits to
the club to lease for functions.
“The dispute is between Northern
Beaches Council and Trippas White Group,”
advises Bernadette McKay, Avalon SLSC’s
president. “The club hopes a resolution can
be reached soon.”
Council would only say negotiations between
it and Trippas White were “ongoing”.
“We’re very different from Avalon,” Paula
claims. “Our model is still very much what
the old surf club was.
“At Mona Vale, the surf club manages
the function space. We’ll be utilising it for
club events and training as well as hiring
out to community groups, businesses and
function organisers. The income will go to
supporting the club, but we’ll also allow
other groups to use the function space at
no cost. And we can let it out to whoever we
choose and collect the income.”
Council and the club have combined to
choose the ground floor cafe and elevated
restaurant tenants – which, unlike what
happened at Avalon, are separate businesses.
“With the cafe, the club chose the tenant
while the council sat in and gave us advice,”
Paula says.
And the winner is? “Nine Yards Coffee,”
she announces.
“We thought the main thing adults want
at a beachside cafe is great coffee – and they
do great tea too. We went down to their base
in Brookvale and loved their coffee and
their menu.
“But it will be different in Mona Vale. Kids
come up from the beach and want hot chips
or a bacon and egg roll – and parents don’t
want it to cost a bomb.”
Much the same is true about the restaurant
– chosen by the council but approved
by the club. It will be run by the same
operators at Lovat Newport.
“We need a restaurant that appeals to
local families and is affordable,” Paula says.
“And they’ll provide the bar menu for our
club bar, Cook Terrace.” – Steve Meacham
*More info monavaleslsc.org.au; avalonbeachslsc.com.au
PHOTO: Steve Meacham
News
18 APRIL 2022
The Local Voice Since 1991
The Local Voice Since 1991
APRIL 2022 19

News
Sarah’s selfless vision is AOK
At the start of the COVID pandemic in March 2020 and
compelled by the plight of people in need, Warriewood
mother of three Sarah Morris decided she would begin
cooking for people living on the street.
She met Paul Shiel, a supporter of homeless people for many
years, who told her that there wasn’t an organisation cooking for
people ‘sleeping rough’ in Woolloomooloo on Wednesday nights.
So Sarah, Paul and a few friends ventured to the city.
“We started with 20 meals, and we could barely give them
away,” Sarah recounts, “and within
six weeks, and since then, we’ve
been doing 200 meals every week.”
Paul and Sarah formed the
grassroots organisation Acts of
Kindness Community Outreach
(known as AOK); last month her
contribution to community saw her
named the 2022 Pittwater Woman of
the Year.
“It’s a massive honour,” said
Sarah, who received her award from
Pittwater MP Rob Stokes at a special
event at the Royal Prince Alfred
Yacht Club last month.
“It raises awareness of Acts of
Kindness Community Outreach to
people who haven’t known we are
here, or that they can reach out.”
AOK now has more than 100
volunteers who Sarah refers to
as ‘earth angels’. These include
hairdressers, who also offer their time every week giving
haircuts.
In early 2022 they also began serving meals for homeless
people at Wentworth Park in Glebe every Thursday.
Soon after Sarah started cooking meals in 2020, she was
told that food was not being ‘rescued’ from Woolworths in
Warriewood. She approached the manager and AOK now has a
contract with Woolworths (as part of the supermarket’s food
diversion program) to take fresh produce, which is edible,
but no longer sellable, such as bruised fruit or day-old bread.
Produce is distributed among volunteers, to reduce their
charity cooking costs.
Then during the worst of the pandemic, Sarah was
approached by friends on the Northern Beaches saying that
next-door neighbours were doing it tough and asked could
she give them food. Sarah realised that there were many
individuals on the peninsula who were struggling to make
ends meet and unable to feed their families. Ten months ago
Sarah opened a pop-up pantry in Newport offering free food.
PHOTO: Tom Morris
PROUD:
Sarah Morris.
On a table outside the shop she displayed leftover rescued
food, as a further way to provide for people who needed it, but
also to prevent it going to waste.
“A couple of the guys we help often found it comforting that
they were taking from a table that everybody was welcome
to. They didn’t have to put their hand up in the middle of the
Northern Beaches and say ‘I can’t support myself – everybody
else here can, but I can’t’.”
Sarah’s life has always been about helping others. As well as
a job as a cook she has worked in
healthcare, for the elderly, and for
the Red Cross. At time of writing
she is in isolation in her home
in Warriewood with COVID and
looking after 12 puppies in her
garage for a homeless friend.
“I’ve always just wanted to be
kind, and I want to connect with
people.”
Sarah’s husband Tom, who works
in IT, is an invaluable support to
her. But she admits it was the words
of their children Ethan, Nirvana
and Isabelle, six months after she
established AOK, which spurred
her on.
“Mum, we didn’t realise that you
can just start stuff. You’ve just
started feeding people and you’ve
called it Acts of Kindness and now
you’ve got 100 volunteers,” they said.
“I said, neither did I! I thought you needed money and
business support, but if your intention is correct people just
want to join you.”
Her latest idea for the Northern Beaches is Blessings Boxes on
the side of the road from which people take what they need and
leave what they can. And her concept for a community pantry
at Pittwater High has just received the go-ahead. In it will be
snacks and rescued food, so any student who has come to
school hungry is able to grab something.
“We should never presume or make assumptions about
people’s circumstances. Sarah’s initiative has offered kindness
and support to all, and reminded us how simple actions can
make a huge difference,” said Rob Stokes. – Rosamund Burton
*AOK is always looking for volunteers to cook, and to rescue
and distribute food, and is also open to financial help. And
Sarah is looking for an empty shopfront on the Northern
Beaches to use as a community pantry. If you would like
to help, contact aokcommunityoutreach@gmail.com or
facebook.com/acts.of.kindness.20
20 APRIL 2022
The Local Voice Since 1991

News
Reserve sale proposal slammed
The possible closure and sale of
a thin strip of public reserve at
Avalon Beach has ignited conflict
between State MP Rob Stokes and Northern
Beaches Council.
In a letter to Council, Mr Stokes voiced
strong opposition to the Council’s
proposed road reserve closure of the
3.66-metre unformed pathway running
between properties 32, 34 and 36 Watkins
Road.
Council, which is poring over community
consultation on an application from
a local resident, conceded the closure
would enable the sale of the land to the
adjoining owner at 32 Watkins Road for
the potential construction of a second
dwelling and subdivision of land.
But Mr Stokes noted that if the reserve
was closed, responsibility would pass to
the NSW Government to rubber-stamp
its sale – something he said was at odds
with his and the Government’s position
on public reserves.
He added that “long-term” neglect of
the reserve by Council was not sufficient
reason for it to wipe it from its books.
“Local communities have embraced
public open space in the wake of the pandemic
– now is the time for government
and councils to reclaim forgotten places
SITE: Overhead view
of the narrow
Watkins Rd reserve.
like this reserve, and reintegrate them
into our network of streets and parks,”
Mr Stokes said.
“This reserve could form improved
access to Bangalley Head, in addition to
the established entrances at the northern
and southern ends of the walkway.
“Although the road reserve is unsigned,
obstructed and overgrown with
weeds as a result of long-term neglect,
its current condition is not a sufficient
reason to justify the closure and sale of
public land.”
He noted that the NSW Government
would be responsible for selling the reserve
once it was closed by Council.
“As Minister for Active Transport and
Member for Pittwater, I would not support
such a sale.”
Further, Mr Stokes said the NSW Government
did not need the proceeds from
the sale of the land.
“There is much greater public value in
retaining and improving this reserve for
access for the community rather than
selling the land for private development,”
he said.
“I have confidence that Council could
build on enlivened community interest
in this reserve to plan, design and
deliver an accessible walkway.”
He asked Council to invest in making
it a “treasured and naturalised public
space”.
Council said that if the closure of the
road reserve was approved, any proposed
sale of the land would be managed by
NSW Department of Planning Industry &
Environment – Crown Lands.
Council is now considering the application,
along with a summary of the community
engagement and feedback which
closed on March 6.
“This application is currently under
assessment and will be determined on its
merits,” Council CEO Ray Brownlee told
Pittwater Life.
“We thank the community for making
submissions and having their say.”
– Nigel Wall
Scamps’ health policies
Independent candidate for Mackellar Dr Sophie Scamps has
launched a three-pronged health policy in the lead-up to the
Federal election which is expected in May.
Dr Scamps wants climate change to be recognised as a
‘health emergency’, is calling for targeted action on mental
health and is campaigning for adequate funding for Australia’s
public hospitals.
Dr Scamps says addressing national and local health issues
will be among her top priorities.
She will call on the next government to develop a National
Climate, Health and Wellbeing Strategy.
“The climate crisis is a health crisis – heat has killed more
Australians than any other extreme weather event while fossil
fuel air pollution contributes to more than 5,000 Australian
deaths per year,” she said.
“There are also significant mental health impacts associated
with natural disasters and climate change that are going unaddressed.
We know ‘eco-grief’ experienced by young Australians
as they experience anxiety about their future is on the rise.”
Other aspects of Dr Scamps’ health policy include support
for a Royal Commission into the Government’s handling of the
pandemic; increasing Commonwealth funding to ensure public
hospitals can provide both inpatient acute care and outpatient
chronic care services; expanding public outpatient specialist
services at Northern Beaches Hospital; and implementing all
recommendations of the Royal Commission into Aged Care
Quality and Safety.
“Policy decisions are all about priorities – rather than
prioritising ‘pork barrelling’ and party political rorts, as an
Independent I will push the government of the day to prioritise
adequately funding our public health system,” she said. – NW
News
22 APRIL 2022
The Local Voice Since 1991
The Local Voice Since 1991
APRIL 2022 23

News
Swim school preparing changes
following Council’s intervention
Young children are chattering while
they learn to survive at Barrenjoey
Swim School in Patrick Street, Avalon;
little do they know their shrieks and
expressions of achievement almost saw
the business closed.
In February, Damian Geyle and wife
Lucie received devastating news from
Northern Beaches Council. The swim
school they founded in their backyard
in 2012 – both having given up successful
jobs – would have to close within 90
days.
Though the swim school was operating
as “a home business”, the council determined
the volume of kids it was teaching
to swim each week (400) meant it should
be reclassified as “a recreational facility”.
Not allowed in residential areas.
“Noise from the swim school is clearly
audible and causing impact,” the council
wrote. “Typically children and instructors
(are) splashing from within the pool.
Parents (are) also chatting from outside
the pool.”
The Geyles say they were amazed:
they thought they had addressed every
complaint, and that some complainants
were “vexatious”.
The issue will come to a head sometime
in May.
The council’s chief executive Ray
Brownlee met with the Geyles at the
swim school last month – and has since
rescinded the closure order, subject to
the owners presenting a workable plan to
address the identified amenity impacts.
That plan is due by May 3.
“We had a very productive meeting,”
the council boss told Pittwater Life. “We
welcome their commitment to address
concerns from fellow residents about
traffic, noise and parking.
“We look forward to receiving their
new operating model… a good outcome
for the swim school, their students and
HOPEFUL: Swim school’s Damian and Lucie Geyle.
the community.”
The swim school management is also
optimistic. “We are working to address
the concerns, and we will provide this
to council within the two months as
agreed,” Damian said.
“It has always been our position to
work with council to resolve any issues.
Nothing is off the table.”
A dispute pitting neighbour against
neighbour is hardly new but has become
even more vitriolic in the social media
era.
Some Patrick Street residents complain
(anonymously) of social media abuse. Or
on occasion in the street, when they’re
unable to get their cars out of their
driveways because of illegal parking, as
parents drop off their children (“I’ll only
be a minute!”).
On the other hand, swim school supporters
say the Geyles have had lifechanging
influences over their kids.
An estimated 2500 children have
learned to swim in this backyard pool,
including youngsters with physical or
mental disadvantages.
One is Bilgola’s Fletcher Laird, who
lives with cerebral palsy. His mother
PHOTO: Courtesy Northern Beaches Advocate
Amy took him to the Geyles when he was
five and about to join Nippers.
“We’d tried a larger swim school but it
was just too overwhelming, distracting
and noisy for him,” Amy recalled. “The
noise levels at Barrenjoey are nothing
like the noise levels at most swim
schools.
“Damian and Lucie are excellent swim
teachers, very patient and calm.”
Fletcher, now 14, was taught by the
Geyles for five years – and competes in
his school’s swimming carnivals.
“He doesn’t look like an Olympian or
a Paralympian,” his mum admits. “But
he’s safe in the water thanks to those
lessons.”
How did the Geyles become the middle
of such a hurricane?
“The idea of the swim school started
when I was the age manager of the Under-9
Nippers at Avalon SLSC,” Damian
explains.
“I’ve been a member of the Avalon club
since I was 16, and I’m 52 now.
“Our son Sebastian was in that Nippers
group. But I was amazed at how many
Under-9s in Avalon still couldn’t swim.
“There was such a huge disparity
between the kids who could swim,
and those who could just paddle and
wouldn’t stand a chance in a rip.
“So I said to some of the Nipper parents,
we have a backyard pool and I’ll
teach them how to swim. Then it all got
crazy...”
The swim school still doesn’t have a
guaranteed future.
“But we have a couple of months to
thrash out the problems and mitigate
any noise or traffic concerns,” Damian
concedes.
“And we’re looking at timetable
changes, putting in a ‘wrap-and-go’
policy so kids don’t hang around after
their classes.” – Steve Meacham
24 APRIL 2022
The Local Voice Since 1991

News
Beaches beat goes on
Well, now we know
one of the Northern
Beaches’ most vibrant
live music venues – the hillsideclinging
Narrabeen RSL (‘The
Razza’) – faces a substantial
climb to ever reopen again.
Unable to be interviewed
because of legal delicacies, the
board of the business which
hired the premises from the
RSL sub-branch posted on Facebook
in March that it had gone
into voluntary administration.
“All queries and concerns
should be directed to the
administrators,” the statement
continued, adding: “Whatever
happens next, The Razza will
always have a place in our
hearts.”
The board also praised the
overwhelming “concern and
support from our local community
and members” during
a “very challenging time”.
Behind the scenes, directors
and staff have been subjected
to vitriolic abuse on social media:
most of it uninformed.
The animosity is exemplified
by the theft of several framed
posters advertising past gigs
by iconic bands which have
performed at the Razza over
the years. The club was hoping
to auction the posters to help
stave off administration.
A handful have been
returned by shamed looters:
others are still missing.
Tim Rogers, lead singer and
guitarist of You Am I, once
said: “We want to play this
venue every year for the rest of
our lives.
“It was a proper communityrun
venue,” the frontman told
Pittwater Life once voluntary
administration was announced.
What did its closure mean
to Australian bands hoping
to perform on the Northern
Beaches? “Messed up. Where
there is demand, there will be a
venue. But will it be as hospitable,
friendly and welcoming?”
RAZZA FANS:
Tim Rogers and
You Am I; a poster
advertising a gig in
2019 (below).
You Am I will now perform
its rescheduled gig at Avalon
Beach RSL on April 22. Three
other headline acts previously
due to play at The Razza have
also been diverted to Avalon:
Marvell (April 2); Tijuana
Cartel (April 9) and
Thunder Fox (May
14).
Two other Northern
Beaches clubs
– Dee Why RSL and
the Manly Leagues
Club – also stepped
in to stage bands
that couldn’t perform
at NRSL last
month.
Claire Morris is
grateful most of the
bands she arranged (as NRSL’s
venue and entertainment
manager with leading booking
agents Kingdom Sound) still
got to play on the peninsula:
“It’s great other local venues
picked up ticketed shows we’d
booked.”
With 30 years’ experience in
the hospitality industry, driven
by a passion for live music,
she’s a perfect witness to discuss
the changing nature of
live music on the
Northern Beaches.
In its heyday,
she explains
– before poker
machines were
allowed into pubs
and clubs – the
peninsula was both
a breeding and
training ground for
bands that became
world-famous.
Midnight Oil and INXS stand
out.
But the Hoodoo Gurus,
Mental As Anything and Cold
Chisel – none of which ever
had much of an international
profile, were just as popular on
“the pub rock” scene north of
Manly.
Since former Barrenjoey
High School students Angus
and Julia Stone had their first
big hit with ‘Big Jet Plane’ in
2010, the peninsula has overachieved.
We’ve had Flume,
Lime Cordiale, Ocean Alley
and Dear Seattle for starters.
There’s no shortage of young
talent in 2022 either.
What worries Claire, though,
is whether they’ll ever get a
chance to hone their craft,
playing in venues supporting
headline acts, both Australian
and international.
She names some surviving
Northern Beaches music
venues that don’t just feature
tribute acts appealing to ABBA
and Fleetwood Mac fans: The
Old Manly Boatshed (“great,
but small”); Label in Brookvale
(“electronic and DJ-based, but
a great atmosphere”); Parkhouse
in Mona Vale (formerly
the Mona Vale Hotel but now
featuring local bands).
Dee Why RSL is among those
keen to answer the need.
“We’re trying to expand
on just having acts that tour
around the entire club circuit,”
says Bruce McLean, Dee Why’s
executive manager of operations
and compliance.
“Our membership is going
through the roof, but we’ve got
to cater for the 18-25 demographic
because they are our
future members.
“They want to stand up and
dance.” – Steve Meacham
Sons’ free Anzac Day gig
Prior to the COVID pandemic, Pittwater RSL at Mona Vale showcased home-grown
bands including Screaming Jets, Dragon and more. Now music is back they are
ramping up their schedule, including supporting plenty of young local bands. It
all starts on Anzac Day with a free concert by Sons of the East, one of the most
successful groups to emerge from the Northern Beaches in the past decade.
Trapped in a recording studio, the trio answered this exclusive Q & A for us…
Q. The three of you – Jack Rollins (vocals,
guitar), Nic Johnston (vocals, keys) and Dan
Wallage (guitar, banjo) were schoolfriends
on the Northern Beaches. So why Sons Of
The East? Are you ashamed of growing up
on “the insular peninsula”?
Haha! Not at all, we love the Northern Beaches
and consider ourselves incredibly lucky to
grow up here. When we came up with the
name we were thinking big. So we went with
‘East’, representing the east coast of Australia.
Q. You’ve had enormous success in Europe
and the US with music video hits such as
You Might Think, On My Way and Fool Me.
How good will it feel to perform them back
on home territory?
Nothing beats a hometown show, seeing
friends and family in the audience. Having
played our first ever shows in Manly, this
area will always hold special meaning for
us. Hopefully we can continue playing in the
Beaches for a long time to come.
Q. You’re busy in the studio recording your
first album. How important is that?
Extremely! This will be our first full-length
album so it’s very exciting… a big milestone
for the band.
Q. What new directions can fans expect
from your work on the album?
We’re really excited that the album is a
diverse mix of songs. We’ve always drawn
from the music we grew up on as kids,
and this album feels closer to those roots.
There’s a little more country, a little more
soul, and a little more rattle and hum. But it
still feels very much like Sons Of The East.
Q. Not that long ago Sons Of The East were
an emerging teenage band in the Northern
Beaches. What advice would you give to
new bands just starting out?
Dan: Get out and play as many gigs as you
can, creating chances to share your music.
Nic: You have to write lots of bad songs to
write one good one, so don’t be discouraged
by your not-so-great ideas – we all have
them!
Jack: If it sounds good and if it feels good,
then it is good!
– Steve Meacham
* More info sonsoftheeast.com; pittwaterrsl.
com.au
News
Fight to save ‘Razza’ continues
As the appointed administrator for Narrabeen RSL pursues
money owed to the club’s creditors and its employees, the
club’s landlord RSL NSW confirmed it would look for a new
leaseholder to operate a club at the premises in Nareen
Parade.
The administrator held its first meetings with creditors
in mid-March.
A spokesperson for RSL NSW said that as a charity, it had
a duty of care to “ensure that optimal income is achieved
from its assets so that it can continue to support and provide
services to veterans and current serving members of
the Australian Defence Force, and their families”.
“As the owner of the premises the Narrabeen RSL sub-
Branch intends to secure a new lease with a club entity so
that the facility can reopen to the public.
“In the meantime, the Narrabeen RSL sub-Branch will
honour the club’s various agreements with community
organisations, by facilitating access as required.”
26 APRIL 2022
The Local Voice Since 1991
The Local Voice Since 1991
APRIL 2022 27

News
Warning on local bin messages
In a pre-Federal election stir,
Hornsby Council set the
cat among the pigeons last
month, threatening to not collect
a local resident’s rubbish
bins after they were plastered
with political messages.
The Liberal-led Council took
umbrage after the resident displayed
stickers with anti-Morrison
Government sentiment,
including images of PM Scott
Morrison heralding a lump of
coal and the caption ‘Bin Him!’.
For clarity on the local front, we approached
Pittwater Ward councillors…
Michael Gencher – YNBIT
“I think it’s fairly clever… that being said,
some may believe this is a way of getting
around political signage rules,” he said.
“People should be advised that political
signs are regulated under the Election Act
2017 – Section 184 – which requires that advertising
material, including political signs and
posters, cannot be displayed on or within land
used by, or under the control or management
of the Crown, NSW Government agencies, or a
Council – so once your stickered-bin is on the
street… you are possibly facing a fine.
“I really doubt fines would be issued though
– I am more concerned that it may encourage
people to keep their bins on
the streets for days on end.”
Miranda Korzy –
Greens
“I don’t have a problem with
residents decorating bins – so
long as they’re not damaged,”
she said.
“I can’t see why freedom of
expression shouldn’t extend
to our bins – but I wouldn’t
want messages to be racist,
sexist or discriminatory in
any way.
“In fact, many residents already paint
numbers or other large identifying features
on them so they can work out which belong to
them after the garbage truck’s been through.”
Rory Amon – Liberals
“Council bins are owned by the Council and
all ratepayers, they are not individually owned
by households,” he said.
“Public assets should not be used for political
purposes or messages, end of story.
“It’s unacceptable to have political messages
on assets paid for by all. This includes
public schools, public hospitals and, even, rubbish
bins.”
– Nigel Wall
* What do you think? Email readers@pittwaterlife.com.au
6THINGS
THIS MONTH
Wharf Review. Last chance to
catch the regular crew of Jonathan
Biggins, Drew Forsythe and Phil
Scott – along with their figurehead
of talent, Mandy Bishop – as they
voyage to the bottom of the barrel
on a journey of satirical discovery
at Glen Street Theatre on Fri
1 at 8pm, Sat 2 at 2pm & 8pm
and Sunday 3 at 5pm. Bookings
glenstreet.com.au or 9470 5913.
Cinema By The Sea. Grab
some rugs, pillows and pack a
picnic and watch the fun family
movie Encanto on the big screen
under the stars brought to you by
Barrenjoey Montessori School on
Friday 1 at Des Creagh Reserve,
North Avalon. Gates open 6pm,
film starts 7pm. Tickets 2 for $30,
3 for $40, 4 for $50 at BIT.LY/
CINEMABYTHESEA2022 or 9973
1422.
Author Talk. Local author Ali
Lowe will talk about her new
“gripping, domestic page turner,
full of shocking reveals” The Trivia
Night, at the Avalon Recreation
Centre on Thursday 7 from 6pm
tickets $7 includes a glass of wine
and nibbles; bookings Avalon
Community Library or 9918 3013.
Donate Blood. Blood donors are
urgently needed. The Australian
Red Cross Mobile Donor Centre
will be set up at Surfview Road
Mona Vale from Monday 11 to
Saturday 16. More info 13 14 95 or
visit lifeblood.com.au
Artist Chat. Head to Manly
and join senior curator Katherine
Roberts in conversation with
Billy Bain, illuminating his artistic
practice and teasing out the
messages conveyed through
his work – how does he view
the way masculinity plays out
in contemporary Australian
culture? How does he explore his
Aboriginality through his work?
Hosted by Manly Art Gallery and
Museum Society on Thursday
21 from 6-7pm. Members $25,
$35 non-members, includes
refreshments; bookings via
MAG&M Eventbrite.
Anyone For Tennis? Social
tennis players wanted on Mondays
from 9am-12pm at Woorarra
Street North Narrabeen. Call Janet
045 214 434 for more info.
McTaggart bounces back at NBISC
Few leaders in their
90s – not even popes or
monarchs – are able to
witness their hand-picked successor
assume the job they’re
vacating.
But after 25 years steering
the Northern Beaches Indoor
Sport Centre from inception
to over-booked venue, Shirley
Phelps – mother of prominent
GP/politician Kerryn, actor
Peter and granddaughter Aja
– has relayed the presidency
of the three-person board to
a fresh pair of hands: former
Northern Beaches councillor
Alex McTaggart.
“I’d been looking for someone
to replace me for a long
time because I’m 92,” Shirley
concedes. “I’ve known Alex for
many years since we were on
Pittwater Council together.
“When he wasn’t re-elected
at the last council elections,
I knew he was the perfect
person to take over from me
as the community representative.
I put it to Northern
Beaches Council and it was
CHANGING OF THE GUARD: Alex McTaggart and Shirley Phelps at the NBISC.
approved.”
Alex, a former Pittwater
mayor, says: “It was a great
honour to be nominated by
Shirley.”
Two of the three board
members, who offer their
services as volunteers, have
changed this year, making
Jenny Sagus – the basketball
representative appointed
in 2012 – the veteran.
Netball representative Ken
Thomas (now on a caravan
trip around Australia) has also
stood down after 20 years,
replaced by daughter Nicole
Page. (Netball and basketball
have always been the main
sports to use the centre.)
“Ken did everything I’m
doing now,” Alex says. “He
looked after the maintenance,
the insurance, all the documentary
stuff. Nicole looks
after the school liaison which
Shirley used to do.”
Ironically neither the past
nor new president play indoor
sport.
However in 1995 Shirley realised
kids from the Northern
Beaches were travelling long
distances to play basketball
and indoor netball. She
convinced fellow Pittwater
councillors an indoor sports
facility was desperately
needed, and has championed
it ever since.
Opened in 2001 under council
management, the thenunnamed
centre became a
not-for-profit private business
the following year with Shirley
at the helm.
Since then it has grown
from four courts to six, always
following best world-practice.
More than 10,000 participants
take to its courts each
year.
“The need is even greater
now,” Shirley says. “The centre
is open from 6.30am to 10 pm
most days.”
What does the new president
want to change?
“Not much,” Alex says. “Why
change a winning combination?”
– Steve Meacham
News
28 APRIL 2022
The Local Voice Since 1991
The Local Voice Since 1991
APRIL 2022 29

News
SEEN #1… HEARD #1…
Council accounts show Pittwater Ward councillors set a
surprising record in the second half of last financial year,
recording negative expenditure during the course of their
official duties from July 1 through December 31. The trio
of Alex McTaggart, Kylie Ferguson and Ian White actually
accrued $600 credit during the period; Cr McTaggart
recorded $0 spent, Cr White put in a claim for just $25,
while Cr Ferguson was reimbursed the $625 she outlaid
for conferences and events which were either cancelled or
which she did not attend. Cr Ferguson and Cr White did not
seek re-election to Council in December, while Cr McTaggart
was unsuccessful. Manly was the biggest-spending LGA
Ward during the period, due to claims from Candy Bingham
($1,980), Cr Pat Daley ($1,485) and Cr Sarah Grattan ($941).
With markedly broader duties Mayor Michael Regan spent
$4,679. Total councillor expenditure was $11,993. Here’s
some perspective on the spending, and the renumeration our
councillors receive: The current annual fee for councillors is
$31,020 per annum with the Mayor receiving an additional
fee of $90,370. In May last year, the NSW Government
introduced changes to enable superannuation payments
to be made to councillors; it was designed to attract more
diversity in local government representation, including more
women and younger people. Accordingly, at its February
meeting, our Council resolved to support this change and
councillors will begin to receive superannuation in addition
to their councillor fees from July 1. Northern Beaches
councillors represent an average population of 18,233 per
councillor, which is higher than the average of other large
metropolitan councils (14,141 population per councillor).
SEEN #2…
Anyone noticed those new orange buoys floating several
hundred metres off our beaches? They’re the new SMART
drumlines the State Government have rolled out to monitor
the presence and activity of sharks and boost swimmer
safety. The Department of Primary Industry says the
SMART (Shark Management Alert in Real Time) drumlines
were introduced after on March 12 from Palm Beach to
Manly. They will be checked and redeployed daily (weather
permitting). SMART drumlines are intended as a nonlethal
alternative deterrent to shark nets that are more effective
at catching target shark species, with lower bycatch and
mortality. If you’re curious about the results, you can
monitor shark activity on Twitter @NSWSharkSmart.
Seems our item last month on landscaping and garden works
undertaken at celebrity gardener Jamie Durie’s property at
189 Riverview Road, Avalon Beach attracted the interest of
Council staff. They told us: “On February 10, Council carried
out an inspection from the waterway to view the retaining
walls. At the time of the inspection, the walls were not
visible due to foliage overgrowth. Following this inspection,
Council wrote to the owner seeking further information.
The owner responded advising the works had been carried
out under a Permissive Occupancy Certificate issued by
Crown land. The information provided by the owner was not
sufficient to demonstrate that the works were exempt, so a
further response has been sent advising that an inspection
will be carried out.” We’ll keep you posted.
HEARD #2…
The Barrenjoey Swim School saga continues (see page 24). For
context, Council told us they have actually been investigating
the permissibility of the school since 2018. It said: “The
former Pittwater Council received complaints about the swim
school from time to time since 2013, but did not take any
action.” Since then, the amalgamated Council had received
complaints from a number of residents. “Council previously
issued a Notice in 2019 to the owners regarding the matter to
which representations were received. Council was considering
the representations and undertaking further investigations
but as COVID-19 restrictions meant the swim school was not
operating, enforcement action was not necessary.” It seems
when COVID restrictions lifted, everyone wanted their kids
to learn how to swim. Hence the renewed complaints about
noise and parking problems. Council also tells us one of the
neighbours has accepted an offer to meet with the CEO in the
near future.
ABSURD...
Oops. What a fizzer. Last year Mayor Michael Regan voiced
concern about the impact Council’s annual New Year’s
Eve fireworks displays were having on the environment
and wildlife. He framed a Mayoral Minute asking staff to
investigate drones and laser displays as an alternative.
At last month’s Council meeting staff detailed their many
months of investigation. We learned Council’s annual
budget for this year’s fireworks is $137,956, across four sites
including Bayview. But an alternative drone/ laser light show
would cost an extra $1 million – at every site! (Some 350 –
500 drones minimum are required for one location to create
a significant effect.) There’s also a higher risk of cancellation
or poor display due to weather conditions. Also, drones
and laser lighting shows still have carbon emissions. Not
surprisingly Council recommended the continued delivery of
our existing New Year’s Eve fireworks events in 2022.
30 APRIL 2022
The Local Voice Since 1991

The Way We Were
Every month we continue to pore over three decades of Pittwater Life, providing a snapshot
of the area’s recent history – and confirming that quite often the more things change,
the more things stay the same! Compiled by Lisa Offord
25 Years Ago…
The Way We Were
Readers learned “… how a bit of local vigilance
stopped the Council building a fence at the request
of an Iluka Road resident beside controversial
Snapperman’s Beach which would have blocked
access for boaties”; an apology was issued for
misspelling the “suburb” Pittwater on the cover
and spine of the 1997 Yellow Pages Directory –
“the wording error states Pitt Water rather than
Pittwater”; the Avalon service station Totally Tom
closed down, with a fanfare including drinks,
performances by the Barrenjoey High School
Band, a gathering of hundreds of well-wishers.
Democrats Leader Cheryl Kernot visited to offer
her support for Vicki Dimond, the “unofficial
opposition in Pittwater and Mackellar”. A Newport
Progress Association was launched to “ensure
that Newport retains and even enhances its unique
village atmosphere” and Caroline Kinsella was
named President of the Newport Chamber of
Commerce: “… the tasks she has set herself include
15 Years Ago…
It was a “sweet victory”
for Rob Stokes who
won back the seat of
Pittwater for the Liberals
from independent Alex
McTaggart. The day after
the election Mr Stokes
was “… already taking
about his agenda, with
the fate of Currawong
at the top”. Next on his
list was Careel Bay “…
where he is opposed to
the Marina Development
and at the prospect of
developers coming back
with a watered-down
proposal that the Land
and Environment Court
would accept without
public consultation.” As
for Mr McTaggart, he was “relieved” the morning after. “It had
been rumoured that he was going to give up one of his jobs (he is
still Mayor). McTaggart said: “But that decision has been made for
me,” adding that he and his family “can now get our life back”.
Meanwhile, the $5m Pittwater Sports Centre was opened and the
nearby Northern Beaches Indoor Sports Centre was running at
near capacity with the Chair Mrs Shirley Phelps saying: “… there
had been talk of expanding the facilities.” There was pressure
to relax height limits in retail centres from 8.5m to 11m “… to
generate new shop shops and shop-top housing… however at a
workshop on the future of Newport the attendees at the meetings
so far have indicated that rather than have an 11m height
approval, heights should be controlled to ensure the main street
did not become a canyon.”
slowing down the traffic in the shopping centre
and implementation of a colour palette she has
designed for new developments and shops.” A
study of Mona Vale’s commercial centre “is
to be made by Pittwater Council at a cost of
between $10,000 and $150,000 from which a
plan for its future can be made.” Meanwhile,
people around the world were wondering
“where is Mona Vale” when cinematographer
John Seale thanked family when receiving
an Oscar for The English Patient. In health
and wellbeing news, Lifeline held a public
seminar to heighten awareness of the
causes of youth suicide; a new community
restaurant was set to open for $5 Friday
lunches at Avalon Community Centre; and
readers were reminded to book their annual
flu vaccination – “this year we can expect a
Texas variety and two Chinese strains Beijing
and Nanchang/Wuhan”. (Seriously!)
5 Years Ago…
The NSW Government announced councillors were to
be given control on future planning and development
in Pittwater; the community was called to contribute
to the Shape 2028 program to help define the roadmap
for the Northern Beaches; and in an Australia-first
initiative, NBC was granted $80,000 to ensure that public
infrastructure “… is resilient and adaptable in response to
the impact of climate change.” More than 20 expressions of
interest were received to provide additional health services
at the Mona Vale Hospital Campus. Pittwater RSL sub-branch
President Deborah Carter was named Pittwater Woman
of the Year. The Pittwater Artists trail announced it was
to hold its first
joint exhibition
over the June
long weekend
and The Artists
and Craftsmen
of Pittwater
celebrated their
50 th Anniversary.
Newport SLSC
gained the points
decision in
the NSW Open
for the fourth
successive year,
with Georgia
Miller winning
12 gold, while
RPAYC hosted
the 6 th annual
Club Marine
Pittwater Sail
Expo.
32 APRIL 2022
The Local Voice Since 1991

News
Pittwater News
Entries open for
Art & Design Prize
Artists and designers are
invited to enter this year’s
Environmental Art & Design
Prize, offering an opportunity
for them to be part of the
national conversation around
our environment and future
challenges. Open to painting,
photography, digital media,
ceramics, functional and
textile design and more,
the Environmental Art &
Design Prize is an annual
non-acquisitive award with
nine categories and a prize
pool of more than $40,000.
Finalists will have their works
displayed at Manly Art Gallery
& Museum, Curl Curl Creative
Space and Mona Vale Pop-up
Gallery from August 5-28. More
info on Council’s website.
Calling creatives
Still on local art, Council is
calling for local creatives to
join Creative Open Northern
Beaches, a new open studio
event held over the weekends
of 13-14 and 20-21 August.
Creative Open will connect
people with creative spaces,
promote local artists and
support our local creative
industries. It’s expected
visitors from across Sydney
will flock to open studios on
the Northern Beaches, get
involved in workshops, meet
artists, see exhibitions, listen
to live music and experience
the very best of our creative
community. All kinds of
creatives are welcome including
artist studios, galleries, music
recording studios, film editing
suites, creative workshops,
screen printers, digital labs
and other creative businesses
such as designers, bookshops,
surfboard shapers, live music
venues, cafes and food vendors.
Applications close May 2; see
Council’s website.
Local Probus update
The next meeting of the Palm
Beach and Peninsula Probus
Club will be on Wednesday April
20, commencing 9.30am at Club
Palm Beach. The speaker – and
performer – will be classical
pianist Ambre Hammond who
founded ‘Girl Piano Truck’, a
humanitarian project involving
her travelling by truck with
her piano to remote areas
and disadvantaged locations,
presenting free concerts.
Since 2012 Ambre has taken
the project to India, Thailand,
East Timor, Belarus, Outback
Australia, the Philippines
and Africa. Visitors welcome;
more info Carmel 0414 978
465. Meanwhile Pittwater
Men’s Probus will hold their
next meeting at Pittwater RSL
on Tuesday April 12; Gunter
Schaule will talk on how crypto
currency works on the Internet,
with its distributed processing
methods.
Meeting starts 10.30am, visitors
welcome; more info Terry 0412
220 820.
Avalon 100 tree planting
The Avalon 100 celebrations continue to roll out, with
commemorative tree planting on the agenda for the
remainder of the year. Last month Avalon PS captains Alex
and Hanne planted trees at Dunbar Park. More trees will be
planted through to the end of Term 4.
Palm Beach Wine
Garden returns
The Palm Beach Wine Garden
returns in 2022 on the
weekend of Saturday April
30 and Sunday May 1. The
exclusive, ticketed cellar
door event at Governor
Philip Park will showcase a
range of wineries alongside
local food providers and live
entertainment, amongst the
backdrop of our beautiful Palm
Beach. Unlike last year, when
there were two sessions each
day, this year you’ll be able
to sit back, relax and soak up
the surrounds with your entry
valid for the whole event. Runs
11.30am-6pm both days; info
Council website.
Third time unlucky
for Ocean swims
March’s east coast low and
torrential rain disrupted
preparations for the remaining
swims in the 2022 Pittwater
Ocean Swim Series and the
annual Around The Bends
Swim from Newport to Avalon.
Organisers of the Bilgola Beach
swim hope to reschedule their
event for October; meanwhile
the Avalon Beach swims
Continued on page 36
PHOTO: Sally Mayman
34 APRIL 2022
The Local Voice Since 1991

News
Pittwater News
Continued from page 34
and Around the Bends swim
have been scrapped. They
were originally postponed in
January due to the Tongan
tsunami warning. It’s a bitter
pill for the Avalon SLSC, which
has now gone a third year
without its major fundraiser
event after COVID saw the
swims cancelled in 2020-21.
Meet local seniors
groups at Newport
There are many seniors groups
on the Northern Beaches – this
month find the right fit for you.
Check out the free mini-expo
at the Newport Community
Centre on Friday April 8 from
1pm-4pm – the event features
stands from: Avalon Computer
Pals; Carers NSW; Centre for
Volunteering; CCNB – Belong
Club; Community Connect
Northern Beaches; Easylink
Community Transport; Healthy
Lifestyle – Northern Sydney
Local Health District; Lifeline
Northern Beaches; MWP
Care; Newport Waves Square
Dance Club; Northern Beaches
Creative Leisure & Learning;
Probus Club of Pittwater;
University of the Third Age
(U3A) and Yourside – Carers
Gateway. Free transport can be
arranged; phone on 9919 0700
(conditions apply).
RSL election dates
The Pittwater RSL Club Annual
General Meeting will be held
and its biennial election results
announced on Sunday, May
15 at 11am. Nominations for
Board of Directors will run
from April 1-23. To obtain a
nomination form or for more
info call 9997 3833.
Loosely Woven
concert returns
After a wait of more than two
years (due to COVID) locals
will once again be able to
enjoy a concert by musical
group Loosely Woven, led by
Wayne Richmond. The concert,
entitled ‘We’ll Meet Again’, will
be held at the Avalon Baptist
Church at 4pm on Saturday
April 9. The concert is free,
but donations to Amnesty
International are appreciated.
The group comprises 22
instrumentalists and singers.
As in previous concerts, songs
will range from protest songs,
to pop to folk to show tunes.
More info 0427 864 724.
A model head start
After January classes were
cancelled due to COVID,
Sydney Model Agency and its
associated Sydney Etiquette
College will stage teenagers
holiday classes from April
10-12 at Collaroy. The two- or
three-day courses aim to
improve teens’ self-confidence
and give them an introduction
into the modelling industry.
The program schedule
comprises: Day 1 – Etiquette
and Confidence; Day 2 –
Continued on page 38
Brave ocean rescue
Brave Avalon Beach SLSC patrol members risked their
lives to rescue three people who jumped into huge seas
after their 35ft power cruiser took on water and sank off
Careel Head last month.
Driver Zac Dale and crew Todd Barber launched their
IRB and covered two kilometres of churning four-metre
southerly swell and waves, ducking in and out to avoid
being smashed themselves, before arriving at the scene and
rescuing the boat’s male captain and a male and female
passenger.
The pair could not see the boat through the choppy swell,
but then caught sight of a small narrow upturned V above
the water, which they realised was the bow of the stricken
vessel (pictured).
The rescued trio, who were wearing life jackets, were
transferred from the IRB to the Police Boat for transport
into Pittwater, as it was deemed too unsafe for any other
vessel to convey them to the beach.
The cruiser sank in deep water off Careel Head; it’s
understood the power boat’s bilge pump failed.
36 APRIL 2022
The Local Voice Since 1991

News
Pittwate
Continued from page 36
Professional photos, make-up
and hair styling; and Day 3
(optional) – Modelling, TV
Auditions. Run by industry
leader and Palm Beach local
Val Edwards, the Sydney Model
and Etiquette College courses
have helped the careers of the
likes of Laura Tunstall and Lara
Worthington. More info val@
sydneymodelagency.com or
call 0416 247 700.
Connecting dots
for local youth
With mental health charities
doing it tough, Community
Capital Foundation is
campaigning to increase
awareness and raise the capital
to contribute to its next grants
program. In partnership with
Connecting the Dots, a film
by award-winning Canadian
film director Noemi Weis,
two screenings will be held,
followed by panel discussions
with local organisations
including One Eighty Burdekin,
Headspace, Kyds, Streetwork
and Avalon Youth Hub.
Screenings will be at United
Cinemas Avalon – Wednesday
30th March, 8pm; and Collaroy
United Cinemas – Thursday
7th April, 8pm. Tickets
communitycapitalfoundation.
com.au
New mozzie warning
With NSW Health issuing a
warning on mosquito-spread,
potentially fatal Japanese
encephalitis which has been
detected in more than 10 people
in the State, Northern Beaches
Council is urging residents to
cover up to protect themselves
from mosquito bites. Recent
rains have seen local mosquito
numbers soar in Pittwater.
Mayor Michael Regan said that
while nothing “sinister” had
been reported in trap results in
the second half of March, the
numbers (101-1000) were up
due to increased rain. ”
Mona Vale Place Plan
Community consultation on
the process for the new Mona
Vale Place Plan continues this
month with a drop-in session
at Mona Vale Memorial Hall on
Saturday April 2, from 10am to
1pm. The Mona Vale Place Plan
38 APRIL 2022
The Local Voice Since 1991
r News
Beaches ANZAC Day services
PITTWATER
Sunday April 10
ANZAC Sunday Parade and Service – The
Pittwater RSL Sub-Branch ANZAC Sunday
Parade will commence in Vineyard Street,
Mona Vale at the corner of Pittwater Road.
Participants, including students and
teachers from local schools, will assemble
at 12.20pm and commence in Parade order
at 12.45pm. The Commemoration Service
and Book/Wreath Laying Ceremony will
take place at the Mona Vale War Memorial
in Village Park at 1pm. In the event of wet
weather, the service will be held in Mona
Vale Memorial Hall.
Monday April 25
ANZAC Day Dawn Service – The Dawn
Service will commence at 5.30am at the
Cenotaph located at the rear of Pittwater
RSL Club all attendees are expected to be
seating at least 10 minutes prior. In the
event of wet weather, the Service will be
held inside the Pittwater RSL Club.
NARRABEEN
Sunday April 24
ANZAC Sunday March – The President and
Members of the Narrabeen RSL Sub-Branch
invite the local community to its annual
ANZAC Sunday March and Wreath Laying
Ceremony. This year participants in the
march will assemble in the Narrabeen
Surf Life Saving Club car park (opposite
Furlough House on Ocean Street) from
11am, and the march will commence
at 11.30am sharp. Local police will be
managing the march and the parade will
proceed south along Ocean Street to the
Narrabeen Cenotaph (at the intersection of
Pittwater Road and Ocean Street) where a
Wreath Laying and Service ceremony will
occur.
will set a vision for the area
and prioritise improvements
in and around Mona Vale town
centre over the next 10 years.
Also, Council have launched
an online survey which can be
completed before Friday April
22. More info Council website.
Youth Week activation
Council is gearing up for a
bumper week of events all
focused on a very special
group of our community – our
youth. Youth Week will run
from April 4-14, focusing on
encouraging 12- to 25-year-olds
to take part in engaging youth
activations that celebrate the
The Local Voice Since 1991
diversity and creativity young
people offer in our community.
The popular Ruby Fields will
headline an event at PCYC
on Friday April 8 thanks to
funding from Great Southern
Nights, in collaboration with
Headspace, One Eighty and
PCYC. For details on activities
visit kalof.com.au
Black Dog trek
Epic… untamed… exceptionally
beautiful – they’re some of
the words used to describe
Cradle Mountain in Tasmania’s
Wilderness World Heritage
Area. Now you’re invited to
discover Tassie’s stunning and
NEWPORT
Monday April 25
ANZAC Day Dawn Service – All welcome
to attend the Dawn Service at the Newport
Cenotaph in Trafalgar Park on Gladstone
Street, which will commence at 5.30am.
DEE WHY
Monday April 25
Dawn Service – The Dawn Service will be
held in the Peach Garden at the Dee Why
RSL Club. Reception opens at 5.15am and
the service starts at 5.30am.
AVALON BEACH
Monday April 25
March and Services –The Dawn Service
commences at 5.30am at the Cenotaph in
Dunbar Park. Participants in the March
are asked to gather outside Avalon Public
School at 10.45am, the march will start at
11am with the Commemoration Service at
Dunbar Park around 11am.
PALM BEACH
Monday April 25. March from 10.45am
service outside Club Palm Beach at 11am.
unique outdoors as part of
Black Dog Institute’s 4-day hike
fundraiser from the November
5-8. Feel inspired as you trek
with a group of up to 20 fellow
Black Dog Institute supporters,
all with an individual goal of
raising $3,500 to fund vital
mental health research. Black
Dog Institute has a vision for
a mentally healthier world
and they aim to significantly
reduce the incidence of mental
illness and suicide, remove
stigma and empower all people
to live the most mentally
healthy life possible. This trek
is open to all; more info email
fundraising@blackdog.org.au
Vet
on call
with Dr Brown
As our pets age, they can
suffer from a variety of
conditions which can be painful
and debilitating. Effectively
managing any chronic pain
conditions in our pets ensures
that they can live a happy and
comfortable life.
One of the most common
causes of chronic pain in our
pets is osteoarthritis, where the
cartilage within the joint is worn
away, leading to inflammation,
pain and impaired mobility.
Chronic pain can develop
when acute pain isn’t
adequately managed, and other
common causes of chronic
pain in pets can include dental
disease, chronic ear infections,
nerve or spinal pain, and some
metabolic conditions such as
renal disease – causing kidney
pain and changes to the pet’s
normal behaviour.
Monitoring your pet for any
indications of pain is important,
such as noticing if your pet
reacts differently to being
patted at different locations
on their body, observing any
changes in their demeanour,
or seeing them have difficulty
getting up.
Our veterinarians will discuss
with you the appropriate
treatment options available to
manage your pet’s condition,
and also explain strategies
for how you can help your pet
at home. This might include
ensuring their food and water
is easily accessible, and making
sure that they have the most
appropriate bedding and the
right amount of daily exercise.
Recognising when your pet
appears to be in pain, seeking
advice from our veterinary
team and implementing the
appropriate treatment will
ensure that your pet remains
happy and healthy into their
older years.
Senior pets are the focus
during April at Sydney Animal
Hospitals with the opportunity
for your pet to have a free
senior pet arthritis check from a
veterinary nurse and a Geriatric
Profile Blood Test undertaken at
a reduced price. For more info
call our team Avalon 9918 0833
or Newport 9997 4609.
APRIL 2022 39
News

Art Life
Art Life
Society back
on track at
Tramshed
After a tumultuous two years of
cancellations, restrictions and
limitations, the Northern Beaches Art
Society will hold their Autumn Art
Exhibition and Sale at Tramshed Hall at
Narrabeen from April 15-18.
Works by members of the society –
who are all local artists – will be in a
variety of mediums and styles in oils,
watercolours, acrylics, and pastels, as
well as drawings covering a multitude
of subjects such as landscapes, seascapes,
abstracts, semi-abstracts, still
life, animals and birds.
President Heather Macorison advises
the exhibition will be as COVID-safe
as possible; even though masks are
no longer mandatory, visitors may still
choose to wear a mask while indoors.
Opening day viewing and sales (free
entry) commences 2pm, with celebratory
drinks served between 3-6pm.
Saturday to Monday hours are 9am to
5pm (any paintings bought can be collected
after 4pm on Monday.)
*More info northernbeachesartsociety.org
Framing Avalon Beach – ‘Then and Now’
flagship event of
A the Avalon Beach
Centenary – ‘Framing
Avalon Beach’ – will kick
off the week before Easter,
encouraging locals and
visitors alike to connect
with Avalon’s past, present
and future.
The visual exhibition comprises 16
sites that form a trail to follow, through
street and alleyways, taking you back
in time while being right in the heart of
Avalon Beach, and inviting you to look,
reflect and share what makes this locale
unique.
Special sites to look out for include
where the first general store was in the
village and the site for the annual circus
visit with its elephants
feeding on the sandhills
(pictured).
Organiser Jayne Denshire
says the project has generated
great support from
local suppliers, including
gold sponsor Woolworths
Metro Avalon Beach whose
contribution will help showcase archival
historic photos from Avalon Beach
Historical Society’s collection, as well as
bespoke shots from private collections.
Keep an eye out for the red frames
from 11 April – they’ll get you up-close
and personal with Avalon Beach’s amazing
past.
*More info Jayne Denshire 0417 247
281; jayne.denshire@bigpond.com
The eyes have it
Collaroy-based artist Geraldine Simmons’
mission to raise funds and awareness
for endangered wildlife began in 2005 when
she ventured into the deep jungle in Borneo
and was captivated by the native Indonesian
wildlife – in particular the dazzling, intelligent
eyes of the orangutans she visited at a
rehabilitation centre.
“These eyes and the love shining from
them captivated me,” said Geraldine. “They
are the key to unlocking the personality and
sentience that I burn to express through each
of my works.”
Geraldine will launch her new exhibition
– Sentient Beings: A Close-up Look into the
World of Animals through Portraiture – at the
Diversarty Gallery at Cromer from April 2.
Of her process, she says: “I take my time to
perfect each mark I make with utmost care.
That is my way of honouring and respecting
them at the deepest level of my being. It’s
a slow and deliberate process that unfolds
one stroke at a time in either mixed media or
scratchboard.
“Through each portrait, I aspire to show
what is inherent in every animal on earth,
what is beautiful and worth saving, to show
that these innocent beings are just as sentient
as we are.
“When someone views one of my wildlife
portraits and connects with their eyes, I invite
the viewer to become more curious and take
a closer look; to learn more about them… to
save them.”
Geraldine will donate 10% of proceeds of
sales to wildlife conservation.
The exhibition runs April 3-17 (Tues-Sat).
*More info geraldineswildlifeart.com
Studio focus on Careel Bay
The April exhibition at
community-focused hybrid
creative space The Studio at
Careel Bay Marina will focus
on its own marine doorstep.
Local artists will showcase
works to support Living
Ocean, with proceeds will
go towards a new scientific
research project – the Careel
Bay Collaborative – aimed at
better understanding, and
protecting, our local marine
environment.
The Collaborative brings
together scientific experts with
different fields of expertise,
from Macquarie University and
University of New South Wales,
working to collectively research
Careel Bay and identify the
best strategies to protect this
natural local gift for the longterm.
A range of artists who
support Living Ocean will
make examples of their
stunning, evocative and
locally inspired works
available for purchase.
The Studio – a communityfocused
hybrid creative
space – is an initiative of
Laing+Simmons Young
Property. To date, the not-forprofit
community initiative
has raised more than $8,000
for local causes including
Living Ocean, One Eighty,
Dreams2Live4, Sea Shepherd
Australia, the Seabin Project
and the BeCentre.
The free-entry exhibition
commences 5pm Wednesday
April and runs all month; 8am
to 4pm, Monday to Saturday,
and Sundays from 8am to
12pm.
*More info Amy Young from
Laing+Simmons Young
Property on 0422 225 227.
Vicki’s costume art
Pittwater artist Vicki Ratcliff (pictured) is renowned for her
beachy watercolour and oil paintings – and now they’re being
turned into “walking, talking galleries”.
Vicki is a member of the Buckettes at Mona Vale Beach,
where she goes most mornings for a dip in the ocean pool.
The water features in much of her
art – now two of her designs are being
used on fellow Northern Beaches
artist Lee Smith’s unique swimwear
range, called ‘Art Needs A Heart’.
“Being in the sea lifts my mood and
gives me the energy shot l need for
the day,” says Vicki. “I swim with the
Buckettes, whose strength, warmth
and love of life inspire me every day.
“It was inevitable that l would be
drawn to express how l feel by painting
my mornings and the joy they
bring.”
Art Needs A Heart was founded
by Dee Why artist Lee Smith, 59,
who once the first COVID lockdowns
lifted, decided to get out and take sunrise
photos from every beach on the Northern Beaches.
Her own sunrises feature on the swimwear, along with art
from Manly’s Kathryn Steggles, Melbourne artist Damien
March and Adelaide’s Andrew Baines.
Lee is selling her swimming costumes, bikinis and sand-free
towels on the market circuit (including Palm Beach); Vicki’s
paintings are available at Art Gallery on Palm Beach.
More info: Insta @art_needs_a_heart and @vicki.ratcliff
Art Life
40 APRIL 2022
The Local Voice Since 1991
The Local Voice Since 1991
APRIL 2022 41

Hot Property
More options to move
on the cards for locals
Hot Property
Northern Beaches properties
will remain in hot
demand throughout
Autumn with buyers more confident
to make a move now the
heat is coming off the market.
Cunninghams’ Jonathan
Fletcher reported 2021 saw “an
abundance of buyers flood into
the area”, fierce competition
and a sharp rise in prices.
“We have seen more stock
come on, and the market
becoming more normalised,”
he said.
“The good news for buyers
is that with more available, the
chances are buyers are more
likely to find a property that
suits their needs.”
Mr Fletcher explained when
the real estate market was
“hot” it could be difficult for
homeowners to sell and buy
back in at the same level.
“Now that the market is
more balanced we are seeing
downsizers, upsizers and
empty nesters who were
previously hesitant to make a
change, now ready to come to
market.
“It is important for buyers
to have considered sound judgment,
understanding that the
market hasn’t pulled back, it is
still strong.
“A normalised market is a
good time to buy and sell as
there is less volatility which
means less risk and less risk
can make for less stress.”
The global pandemic has
triggered remarkable shifts in
the Australian housing market
CoreLogic says in its new
report: Two years on: Six ways
COVID-19 has shaped the housing
market.
CoreLogic’s Head of Research
Eliza Owen said the obvious
impact was record high
house prices, fuelled by low
interest rates, high household
savings, government grants
and a sharp reduction in the
supply of housing.
“The current housing market
upswing has delivered extraordinary
value gains, providing
a significant wealth boost for
home owners, but larger hurdles
to enter the market for nonhomeowners,”
Ms Owen said.
She confirmed growth in
most markets was now moderating.
“Since April of 2021, monthly
gains in national home values
have softened,” Ms Owen said.
“Arguably, there are more
headwinds than tailwinds
now stacked against continued
growth in the property
market, with the potential for
sooner-than expected cash
rate increases, affordability
constraints, and weakening
consumer sentiment slowing
demand.”
Mr Fletcher reported Cunninghams
inspection numbers
FOR SALE:
Cunninghams Real Estate have
listed 4 Alexander Rd, Avalon
Beach at $3.2 million.
were returning to their “usual
levels”, as were auctions.
“Last year there was an average
of 11 registered bidders;
currently the average is four,”
he said.
LJ Hooker ‘owns’
Palmy sales podium
Reflecting on an incredible six
months, the LJ Hooker Palm
Beach team report they have
set the three highest all-time
sale records on the Northern
Beaches.
All boasted Palm Beach
postcodes.
The equal top seller was 64-
66 Iluka Road which fetched
Continued on page 44
Continued on page 44
42 APRIL 2022
The Local Voice Since 1991

Hot Property
Magic in Mona Vale
Mona Vale
24 Philip Road
4 Bed / 1 Bath / 2 Car
There’s nothing to do but walk in and enjoy this solid, fully
renovated home set on 818sqm. Enjoying spacious open-plan
living and dining, there’s an effortless flow from internal living to
all year entertaining decks and heated pool.
The home features a sleek and modern kitchen with premium
appliances and Caesarstone benchtops, plus three of four bedrooms
feature built-ins wardrobes.
Additional under-house storage offers great potential for a family
wanting more space, as a separate office or boat storage.
The floorplan is ideal for families and downsizers alike and is
just moments to the beach. Auction Guide $2.9m.
* Contact the listing agents @ LJ Hooker Avalon Beach: Peter
Robinson (0401 219 077) & Rebecca Hammond (0488 004 052).
Beach house rental
Palm Beach
766 Barrenjoey Road
3 Bed / 1.5 Bath / 2 Car
Situated in a sought-after Avalon/Palm Beach position with allday
sunshine, this updated beach house captures the essence
of beachside family living with beautiful, landscaped gardens.
The home features polished floorboards throughout, with three
good-sized bedrooms (two with built-ins).
The large open-plan lounge/dining room overlooks the front
garden and deck, while the open-plan kitchen overlooks the rear
garden with spa.
Features a modern bathroom plus second shower in laundry,
plus there’s a light and airy sunroom.
Lawn and garden maintenance included in the rent.
* Contact the leasing agent @ LJ Hooker Avalon Beach:
Sian Uther (0439 844 743)
Continued from page 42
a then record $27 million late
last year; one of the other two
sales matched that price, with
the other hovering very near to
the mark.
When the private doublefronted
north-facing waterfront
Iluka Rd home positioned
between Sandy Point and
Snapperman Beach was sold
in November, it became the
most expensive house sale in
the state outside of the eastern
suburbs.
The surprising factor is the
other two properties are not on
the waterfront or beachfront.
Waterfront property
mentor onboard
Laing+Simmons Young Property
at Careel Bay Marina have
snared high-profile real estate
coach and mentor Marnie
Beauchamp to help them focus
on the Palm Beach prestige
property market.
Ms Beauchamp’s career has
spanned almost 30 years; most
recently, she sold her two
McGrath offices on the South
Coast and relocated to the
Northern Beaches.
She says her role with L+S
will complement her continuing
work as a business growth specialist
and performance coach
for the wider industry – she has
mentored many high-performing
agents over the years and
has won business awards for
herself and her agencies.
“With the community-minded
ethos and sustainability principles
of our office, combined
with our ability to do things
differently such as offering
inspections by boat, we’re
committed to providing a new
and enhanced service to the
local market,” she said.
Having previously run
agencies in markets including
Kiama and Berry, she’s highly
experienced in prestige waterfront
property.
“It’s all about people and
relationships,” she said. “I
approach every home with an
individually inspired marketing
campaign and an exclusive,
personalised service.”
– Lisa Offord
*More info Marnie
Beauchamp.com
44 APRIL 2022
The Local Voice Since 1991

Life Stories
As we prepare to
commemorate ANZAC DAY, a
remarkable World War II story
can now be told – thanks to
the bond developed between
a curious writer and a clearminded,
near-centenarian
Narrabeen veteran.
Story by Michelle Fraser
The story of the Thai-Burma railway,
the brutality and plight of World War
II prisoners of war has long fascinated
me, starting when I saw the classic
black-and-white movie, The Bridge on the
River Kwai as a teenager.
Half a century later, in 2018, I travelled
into the jungle of Thailand with my
11-year-old son, to the place where the
Thai-Burma railway was constructed. We
learned about the real story of our blokes
whose misfortune it was to be prisoners of
war under the Japanese.
On return, I made it my mission to write
to any remaining Australian ex-POWs, to
let them know they’re not forgotten, and
their stories are important.
Among those was Walter ‘Wal’ George
Williams OAM, now a much-loved resident
of the RSL Lifecare retirement community
at Narrabeen, now in his 100th year.
I never intended to write Wal’s tale. What
started out as a simple visit to say “hello”,
became numerous Saturday and Sunday
morning visits where I’d arrive with fresh
pastries and settle in for a few hours.
The resulting book, I Don’t Mind Telling
You, is in its final edit and the first time
Wal has told his incredible tale in full.
For Private Wal Williams, his war can be
summed up as wrong place, wrong time,
every time. Yet, each time, he survived.
In the telling, one thing’s for sure: the
POW mates he lost in the war and those
he’s lost along the way, are not forgotten
to Wal.
Here’s a snapshot of his incredible story:
Against
“There’s not many of us blokes left you
know,” Wal says. “If you were born in the
early ’20s, well by the time war broke out,
you’re the right age. Off you went.”
He recalls growing up at Northbridge,
in a village-like atmosphere where most
people knew all the local families.
“Our parents never had money and we
all must have looked like a team of hillbillies,
patched clothes, handed down from
All Odds
somewhere else,” he said.
“It might have been difficult for older
people, being the Depression, but us kids
had a ball. Where I lived, we were surrounded
by bush, and you could do every-
50 APRIL 2022
The Local Voice Since 1991
PHOTO: Carol Gibbons
thing. It was all fantasy, adventurous stuff.
The only bit of ‘put-on’ entertainment was
a Saturday afternoon at the pictures, on
the corner of Sailors Bay Road and Eastern
Valley Way. To get money, we’d do jobs. I
used to deliver stuff in my billycart to the
local butcher and fish shops.”
Wal says his father Frank was a good
swimmer who taught him and his sister
Wanda to swim properly – noting it probably
saved his life “down the track”.
When Wal turned 18, he signed up with
the second Australian Imperial Force (AIF).
“All my schoolmates from Northbridge
Primary had made up their mind they
were going to go to war,” he said. “We had
our last drinks at Narrabeen lake, rode
our pushbikes down Wakehurst Parkway.
It was different back in those days, all
natural… good fishing.
“When I joined up with the AIF, I got
channelled into an infantry battalion, first
the 2/20th and later the 2/19th. My Dad
went crook on me – he’d got injured in Gallipoli
in WWI.
The Local Voice Since 1991
“On January 10, 1941, we boarded the
Aquitania, bound for Singapore. It was a
wonderful feeling of gaiety, the moment I’d
been waiting for.
“We didn’t hang around in Singapore but
were taken by train, across the Johor–Singapore
Causeway north into Malaya, to the
area Australia had to defend.”
Wal says things began to get hectic and
it wasn’t long before the Australians were
forced to retreat.
“Our platoon was transported to Kranji
on the north-west coast of Singapore
Island. We walked in, through the rubber
plantation, virgin bush, down to the
water’s edge.”
He says that when the Japanese attacked
on February 7, 1942, they “copped it from
about 2 o’clock in the afternoon, shelling
us constantly until about 8 o’clock that
night.
“The shelling. Oh God, it was constant.
The shrapnel was going over us all the
time, cutting the trees. And as soon as that
lifted, we knew the Japs were on their way.
CLOCKWISE FROM OPPOSITE Wal with war medals at
the War Vets, Narrabeen; historical record of captured
Allied soldiers working on the Death Railway in
Burma; Wal (in cap) with mates from Northbridge
Swimming Club in the early 1930s; Wal in 1940 in his
Australian Permanent Army uniform, shortly before he
made his move into the second AIF; a teenage Wal with
his father Frank in George Street, Sydney; with mates
Gordon, Vern, Jim and Bert marching on ANZAC Day
in the 1990s; at left, with sister Wanda and cousin Vic
Millburn – who also ended up on the Thai-Burma line
and picked up valuable ‘doctoring’ skills; a ‘postcard’
home – one of the few occasions Wal was permitted to
send notes home, albeit heavily censored.
“That night, everyone was mixed up
together. It was pitch black. You could’ve
been walking alongside Japs and you
wouldn’t know.
“We were surrounded and the only way
we could get out was through a swamp.
The blokes with the Bren guns – hand-held
automatic machine guns – did their best to
hold up the Japs.”
Eventually the platoon was picked up by
an army truck and taken to the Singapore
Botanical Gardens.
“Then it was all over,” Wal said. “Singapore
fell on February 15 at 8pm. I couldn’t
believe it. We were prepared to box on, to
fight.”
Wal said they were marched to Changi
where the Japanese formed working parties.
“Mine was working on the wharves,
loading, and unloading ships, in the warehouses,
the ‘go-downs’,” he said. “I can tell
you for a while we were living pretty good.
There was a lot of merchandise and food.
Continued on page 52
APRIL 2022 51
Life Stories

Life Stories
Continued from page 51
All POWs became professional thieves.”
But by May, the Japanese had other
plans for them, and Wal was on his way to
Burma.
“A Jap colonel addressed us at one
point saying the railway will be built in 12
months ‘even if it’s over your dead bodies’,”
he said.
“We were in pretty good health, before
we got down to the nitty gritty. The further
we went, the worse the conditions got.
“Working on the line, we never had
wheelbarrows as we know them now. The
hardest thing would be getting rock out, a
big boulder, where the railway had to go.”
He said the Australians weren’t too
concerned about building the Burma
railway, knowing in time it would probably
be bombed.
“Food was the big priority,” he said. “You
dream about it, think about, talk about it.
“We stayed on rice right from the go. The
bigger fellas started losing weight right
away… it was terrible.”
Back home, Australians were busy contributing
to Red Cross parcels for POWs.
“I remember getting off the bus at my
old street in Northbridge, there was a bit
of tin nailed to a tree with some writing in
colour, ‘this is a POW street, we contribute’.
I thought to myself poor devils, they
didn’t know we never got much from their
efforts,” Wal recalls.
“As it went on the Japs put the ‘speedo’
on, and we were working double shifts
night and day,” he said. “All our health
went out the door.
“We had a lot of sick fellas, with tropical
ulcers, cholera, dysentery, dengue fever,
ring worm, black water fever, you name it.
“Our doctors looked after the blokes
with very little medical supplies and a bit
of primitive equipment. Whatever they had
was like gold.”
Wal says that while cholera and dysentery
were bad, tropical ulcers got the men
the most.
“I used to doctor them myself the best
I could,” he said. “I’d find a little tributary
and put my legs in the water for the fish
to clean – it hurts like hell I don’t mind
telling you!”
The railway was completed on October
16, 1943.
“The Japs said it would take 12 months
to build. We’d all laughed and said rubbish,”
he said.
“Then word came through we were moving
out of Burma, down through Thailand.
“It was hair-raising. See, we knew us
blokes in Burma were sabotaging the railway
and we guessed our blokes were doing
the same in Thailand.”
Wal says that after a few months, the
Japanese formed the Japan Number One
Party, destined for Japan.
“Some blokes wanted to get out of the
tropics,” he said. “Others tried desperately
to get off that party. We all knew about the
submarine activity and Japanese losses.”
Around 2,300 prisoners left Singapore
on September 6, 1944.
“We’re off the coast of Hainan Island in
the South China Sea, September 14 it was,
about 2am and bingo, we ran into a pack
of American subs. What a lot of fireworks
that was.
“We knew it was going to be a heck of a
job getting out of this alive.
“We were in the water for three days
when a Jap corvette came alongside our
lifeboats, and a voice sang out, ‘Are you
American?’ ‘No’. ‘Are you British?’ ‘No’.
‘Australian?’ ‘Yes’. They threw a scrambling
net over the side.”
Wal says his working party finished up
in Kawasaki, a precinct of Yokohama, in
Camp 11D where they worked at a factory
owned by the Shivaro Engineering Company.
“It was all heavy milling and all that
sort of thing.”
When bombing started around March
1945, Wal and his mates began to feel
that things weren’t going too well for the
Japanese.
“We knew the war was getting close to
a finish and then it was officially announced,”
he said.
“I arrived home on October 19, 1945, my
23rd birthday.”
*Michelle Fraser is a writer; it’s hoped
I Don’t Mind Telling You will be published
in time for Wal’s 100th birthday in
October.
52 APRIL 2022
The Local Voice Since 1991

Surfing Life
with Nick Carroll
NICK’S APRIL SURF FORECAST
Surfing Life
Coming clean about how our
water quality is monitored
Take the experts’ advice with a grain of salt...
What’s washed up on
your beach in March?
At my beach, in the
past two weeks, we’ve plucked
these items from the inshore
waters:
n A 20,000-litre water tank.
n A massive red roadworks
security barrier.
n A hard-to-identify thing
made from aluminium framework
and polystyrene blocks
(probably a pontoon).
n Several chairs.
n Two huge plastic tarp bags.
An equally huge plastic thing
that looked like it could be
used as a planter pot for a middle-aged
California redwood.
Hundreds of plastic bottles,
pieces of sporting equipment,
toys, and balloon ribbons
(which thanks to almost always
being tangled up with bluebottles,
carry the added excitement
of stinging ya).
That’s not counting all
the natural stuff: the logs of
various sizes, other vegetable
matter, plus thousands of jelly
blubbers, excreted out of their
Hawkesbury spawning grounds
and just hanging around the
way they do, waiting to be
pitched out on top of you by a
wave.
What are the whales going to
think as they swim up the coast
this year? You can imagine
A TRULY BROKEN BAY: The mouth of the Hawkesbury River after March’s torrential rainfall.
them tut-tutting and waving
their flukes disapprovingly:
“Disgusting! Someone really
should tidy up this mess.”
But that’s just the visible
stuff. A bigger question facing
the people who were watching
and waiting for the bursts of
good surf between the crazy
downpours was this: Would the
ocean make you sick?
Once upon a time, it wouldn’t
even have been a question.
For many years until the early
1990s, via a series of massive
coastal outfalls from Warriewood
to Cronulla, the old
Sydney Water Board oversaw
the direct discharge of untreated
sewage into Sydney’s
surf zones.
As the city and suburbs
grew, so did the quantities of
effluent. Toward the end, it
was insane: any day a southeasterly
wind blew, most of
the northern beaches would
be assailed by everything from
human faeces to dirty needles
and other medical waste. Globs
of fat… nappies… you name it.
In the face of increasingly furious
public protests, the NSW
Government finally cracked,
dismantling the Water Board,
replacing it with the much
more modern-sounding Sydney
Water, and spending around
$500 million on a series of
deepwater outfalls and treatment
plants.
It also installed a beach
and water pollution monitoring
body named Beachwatch,
whose job was to keep the
54 APRIL 2022
The Local Voice Since 1991
PHOTO: Pittwater Photography / @natbromheadphoto
This whole autumn feels like it’ll be confusing. I don’t reckon we
can expect too much in the way of westerly winds and sudden
hits of snow-chill. The surface water in the Tasman is still way
too warm for any of that. Instead, I suspect April will be a rattly
month, higher than usual rainfall (again), southerly gales switching
back to light sea-breezes, and a good chance of an East Coast Low
or two. There’s likely to be some gold in there but you’ll have to
be patient – either that, or start exploring some travel options,
because now, you’re allowed! Happy hunting.
public informed about the state
of inshore waters. Tests were
done and the results publicly
reported. When dangerous
levels of bacteria were found at
a beach, warnings were issued.
That was 1992. Today?
As the March rains poured
down, I went looking for some
expert advice on the day-to-day
water risk off our beaches.
Imagine my surprise to find
that nobody could tell me a
thing!
Over the years since 1992,
Beachwatch’s program has
changed. A lot. Beachwatch’s
website tells you proudly that
it tests over 130 sites up and
down the NSW coast and inside
some estuaries every week (a
few are tested once a month in
winter). What isn’t immediately
obvious is that Beachwatch
doesn’t actually do this testing
itself. All its water testing programs
have been outsourced to
“partner” councils.
There are no details on
how frequently the testing is
reported back, nor is there any
publicly available record of the
testing, aside from a collated
version in the Beachwatch annual
report.
Which, let’s face it, isn’t
much help if you’re wondering
about today.
The fact is that today, nobody
actually knows whether
or not your beach’s water is
safe to swim in.
You can pick this up in
Beachwatch’s language. During
the March rains, it issued a
series of very veiled warnings
about water quality off the
beaches and estuaries, saying
things like: “Your beach may be
polluted.”
Turns out the data Beachwatch
uses in order to issue
those warnings is nothing more
or less than the Bureau of Meteorology’s
rainfall data from a
coupla days before.
The Local Voice Since 1991
Nick Carroll
Literally: they wait for it to
rain, then tell you your beach
“may be polluted”.
Wow! Deduction.
We’ve been lucky down
here this March. Down here, a
bunch of Nippers got gastro
bugs from the SLSA State
champs at Queenscliff. Up in
the northern rivers, it was hell,
and not just because many
people lost everything in the
floods. It was also hell because
the waters in those floods
became incredibly dangerous.
The sewage treatment plant
near Lismore broke down
almost immediately, and since
early March has been pouring
untreated waste directly into
the Wilson River, and by extension
into the Richmond.
All the flooded housing in the
Tweed Valley became a massive
sewage leak. People were
hospitalised with scary infections
acquired through minor
scratches and paper cuts. Some
will be recovering for years.
You could say, “Radical
event!” Sure, it was, even
though it’s probably going to
happen again pretty soon.
But it doesn’t explain why
nobody knows, on a day-to-day
basis, if the beaches are actually
polluted or not.
It’s not always a question of
water clarity. Faecal bacteria
can live in seawater for five to
10 days. Some viruses survive
much longer. Hepatitis A can
take three months to entirely
vanish from an initial flush.
But we’re pretty used to
clear water around these parts,
since those deepwater outfalls
went in. Maybe we’ve grown
complacent. Maybe Beachwatch
has too.
*View amazing drone footage
of the flooding at the mouth
of the Hawkesbury River
at Broken Bay - Pittwater
Photography Facebook / @
natbromheadphoto
APRIL 2022 55
Surfing Life

Health & Wellbeing
Health & Wellbeing
New intensive support
centre for children with ASD
For children living with autism spectrum
disorder (ASD), early diagnosis
and interventions can play a big role
in improving development and long-term
health.
Now families on the Northern Beaches
will soon be able to access vital, evidence-based
early intervention services
under the one roof at the Child Development
Institute’s new purpose-built centre
at Beacon Hill.
Clinical Manager Kamila Jendykiewicz
has held a variety of roles at preschools
and early primary settings
on the Northern Beaches
over the past 14 years. She’s
worked with children with
high support needs and is
acutely aware of the challenges
local families face.
“Once a delay is detected,
early, intensive intervention
is vital to a child’s
chances of development and
inclusion,” Ms Jendykiewicz
explained.
However, getting access
to support services and implementing
high-quality programs
in mainstream childcare settings
during a child’s first five years, when the
brain’s plasticity was at its greatest, was
far from straightforward.
“A purpose-built centre on the Northern
Beaches with a highly skilled transdisciplinary
team providing high-quality
intensive intervention all under the one
umbrella is a godsend… this type of support
will have life-changing outcomes for
children and their families,” she said.
The Child Development Institute delivers
programs based on the Early Start
Denver Model (ESDM), an evidence-based,
HELP AT HAND: Kamila Jendykiewicz (left) will head up the new Beacon Hill centre.
comprehensive, play-based
therapy that focuses on
helping preschool-aged
children living with ASD to
develop social communication
skills, play skills, relationships and
language through everyday activities.
CDI Director Nadene Anderson said
the new centre would provide a range of
individual and group programs and offer
access to intensive therapy hours, with
parents involved every step of the way,
including in goal-setting and through
direct parent coaching, so support could
continue at home and in the community.
She explained each child would be
assigned a dedicated ‘Key Worker’ who
would oversee their individualised
program, meet with parents regularly
(including a formal review each term)
and collaborate with any other therapists
involved in the child’s program.
“Our various programs can be tailored
to meet the needs of the child, and as
their skills develop the programs will
change and the level of supports will fade
over time,” Ms Anderson said.
While the final touches are made on the
new centre at the junction of Warringah
Road and Beacon Hill Road, the Child
Development Institute has opened a clinic
space in Dee Why to start providing select
services to the community.
Ms Anderson said if families act now,
and enrol their child they will be able to
avoid a waitlist.
– Lisa Offord
*More information at cdinstitute.com.au
‘World’s most effective’
autism screening tool
The average age of ASD diagnosis
in Australia is said
to be somewhere between four
and six years old, with delays
not uncommon.
But this could soon change,
with a new study confirming
a screening tool developed by
an Australian researcher can effectively
cut the average age of
diagnosis in half.
The Social Attention and
Communication Surveillance-
Revised (SACS-R) tool is used
to identify a set of behaviours
that are characteristic
of children on the spectrum,
including infrequent or inconsistent
use of: gestures (such
as waving and pointing at objects);
response to name being
called; eye contact; imitation or
copying other’s activities; sharing
interest with others; and
pretend play.
A five-year study of more
than 13,500 Victorian children,
recently published in JAMA
Open, found the SACS-R tool
to be “… extremely accurate in
identifying very young children
on the autism spectrum”.
Of the infants and toddlers
aged 12 to 24 months identified
at ‘high likelihood’ for an
autism diagnosis by the tool,
83% were later diagnosed with
autism.
When used alongside a
SACS-Preschool check, 96% of
children on the autism spectrum
were identified by their
3.5-year health check.
Lead researcher and author
of the SACS-R tool Associate
Professor Josephine Barbaro
from La Trobe University’s Olga
Tennison Autism Research Centre
(OTARC) said the research
pointed to the critical need for
the SACS-R and SACS-Preschool
to be rolled out as part of regular
infant health checks.
Professor Barbaro added
early diagnosis of autism was
critical, as it led to earlier access
to affirming supports and
services.
“Early diagnosis improves developmental
outcomes.” – LW
Health & Wellbeing
56 APRIL 2022
The Local Voice Since 1991
The Local Voice Since 1991
APRIL 2022 57

Health & Wellbeing
Health & Wellbeing
Sustainability extends to
optical services providers
Small businesses have an
opportunity to be thought
leaders and influencers
in communities – with a social
responsibility to make the
environment a key factor in
decision making.
Sustainability is just an
abstract construct until you
look closely at what your
business is doing daily to
operate in a more socially and
environmentally responsible
manner.
Some of the ways small
businesses can begin to look
at sustainability is by engaging
in eco-friendly practices and
holding the businesses they
partner with accountable for
their environmental impacts.
How Beckenham
Optometrist engages in
sustainable practices can be
broken down into several
compartments: firstly our instore
practices, and secondly
the suppliers we partner with.
In store, we recycle, reuse
and refill everything we
can, from our packaging to
suppliers to old spectacle
cases. We don’t brand our
packaging for our customers
so they can re-use our carry
bags and we refill cleaning
sprays and encourage
microfiber cleaning cloths are
washed and reused.
We recycle spectacles
patients no longer need by
donating them to Lions Club
who put them to good use
in developing countries; we
are a drop site for disposable
contact lenses and blister
packs, which are recycled
with TerraCycle; and we have
a COVID-19 initiative with a
mask recycling service for
patients and staff, ensuring a
large quantity of disposable
facemasks are kept out of
landfill.
with Rowena Beckenham
We value our contact
lens supplier CooperVision
who take pride in their
sustainability practices.
With water recycling and
rain water collecting efforts,
CooperVision have reduced
the demand on water by 35%;
utilising wind-based renewable
energy to power 100% of
operations in their New York
facility; and 95% of materials
in their production process are
recycled.
CR Surfacing, our Australianmade
spectacle lens
supplier, has committed to
sustainability initiatives in lens
manufacturing. Their water
waste management system
saves over 500,000L of water
per year; they use recycling
waste bins for by-products
of production and they’re
implementing a program
using recyclable packaging
materials.
We are actively partnering
with frame brands with
sustainable credentials, such
as Garret Leight, Otis, and
Zeal. Garret Leight’s frames
are made from an innovative
sustainable eco-acetate, M49.
The M49 is both biodegradable
(in fact it’s compostable!) and
bio-based. Otis is a frame
brand from Western Australia,
and takes pride in providing
“style with substance”. Their
sunglass lenses are made
from mineral glass – sourced
from natural elements, they
are non-toxic and recyclable.
And Zeal have committed to
renewable resources in the
manufacturing of sunglass
frames and lenses and
contribute 1% of their gross
sales to environmental causes.
Fast fashion and disposable
frequent replacement of
frames and sunglasses is a
by-product of the past decade
of two-for-one and cheaper
disposable manufacturing. At
Beckenham Optometrist we
are asking the question – what
is better for the world we live
in?
Sustainability issues may
seem confronting because
they are numerous and
complex, however the journey
of transforming our business
has evolved slowly over time
through incremental changes.
The process is a rewarding
one that provides for greater
opportunities for collaboration
and new avenues of growth
with the overarching aim of
minimiszing our impact on the
world we live in.
Comment supplied by
Rowena Beckenham, of
Beckenham Optometrist
in Avalon (9918 0616).
Rowena has been
involved in all facets
of independent private
practice optometry in
Avalon for 20 years,
in addition to working
as a consultant to the
optometric and
pharmaceutical industry,
and regularly volunteering
in Aboriginal eyecare
programs in regional NSW.
Health & Wellbeing
58 APRIL 2022
The Local Voice Since 1991
The Local Voice Since 1991
APRIL 2022 59

Health & Wellbeing
with Andrew Snow
Health & Wellbeing
Use antibiotics appropriately
and help prevent resistance
Antibiotics are used to
treat infections caused
by bacteria, as they
interfere with the growth and
function of bacterial cells. They
are not effective against other
pathogens such as fungi or
viruses, and should not be used
to treat these infections.
These include common viral
infections such as the common
cold, the ‘flu’, and most dry
coughs and sore throats.
When an antibiotic is taken
for a viral infection, it will have
no effect on stopping the viral
infection from progressing or
spreading to others.
In recent years, many
bacteria have become resistant
to certain antibiotics due to
the frequency of their misuse.
When a strain of infectioncausing
bacteria becomes
resistant to an antibiotic, this
means that this antibiotic will
no longer effectively treat this
infection. Resistant bacteria
such as MRSA are therefore
more difficult to treat.
Using antibiotics
appropriately can help to
prevent resistance over time.
However, instead of
requesting antibiotic products
from your doctor or pharmacy,
explain your symptoms and
ask the best way to treat them.
Did you know most coughs,
colds, sore throats and runny
noses will clear up on their
own without the need for
antibiotics?
If an antibiotic is required,
ensure you take the antibiotic
for the full course. This is
important because stopping
an antibiotic early – even if you
feel the infection has resolved
– can prevent all infectious
bacteria from being eradicated.
If you have a repeat
prescription on an antibiotic
script you have been issued for
a previous bacterial infection,
discuss the issue with your
doctor or pharmacist before
taking any action.
Never share your antibiotics
with your family or friends.
Implementing techniques to
prevent the spread of infection
are important in the fight
against antibiotic resistance:
n Wash your hands well with
soap and water for at least
20 seconds. Alcohol-based
sanitisers with 70 per cent
alcohol content can be used
if soap and water are not
available.
n If you are feeling unwell, stay
home to prevent the potential
spread of infection.
n When coughing and
sneezing, always cover your
nose and mouth with the
bend of your elbow, not your
hands.
n Ensure you and your family
members are kept up to
date with vaccinations.
This includes COVID-19
vaccinations and annual
influenza vaccinations.
Boosting your immune
system with vitamin C, vitamin
D, and zinc has been found to
reduce the severity of disease
progression.
Furthermore, probiotics
have been found to have
immunomodulatory effects
– this highlights the role of
having a diverse gut flora in the
prevention of infection.
It is particularly important to
consider a probiotic following
a course of antibiotics, as
antibiotics vastly reduce species
diversity in the gut. A course of
probiotics can be taken during
antibiotic therapy at least two
hours after the antibiotic dose,
or after the therapy has been
completed.
Talk to your local pharmacist
for more information.
Health & Wellbeing
Pittwater Pharmacy &
Compounding Chemist
at Mona Vale has operated
as a family-run business
since 1977. Open seven
days; drop in and meet
the highly qualified and
experienced team of Len,
Sam and Amy Papandrea
and Andrew Snow. Find
them at 1771 Pittwater Rd;
call 9999 3398.
60 APRIL 2022
The Local Voice Since 1991
The Local Voice Since 1991
APRIL 2022 61

Health & Wellbeing
Health & Wellbeing
Arm yourself against the flu
With influenza cases expected to spike
in the coming months, experts are
pleading with Australians to make an
appointment for their flu shot now they are
becoming available.
The flu virus has been virtually non-existent
in Australia for almost two years
and many people did not have their
flu vaccine last year, making us
more vulnerable to the flu virus.
And now that international
borders are open and protective
measures such as mask-wearing
and social distancing are being
relaxed, it’s likely that flu will get
into Australia and spread.
Ominously, University of Sydney
immunisation expert Professor Robert
Booy said: “My prediction is flu is
jumping on a plane coming our way.”
Local health providers are now taking appointment
bookings for flu jabs, recommended
for anyone aged six months and over who
don’t want to get sick with influenza.
Influenza is a potentially fatal disease that is
estimated to contribute to more than 18,000
hospitalisations and cause up to 3000 deaths
in Australia each year.
Symptoms usually develop suddenly and
can lead to complications such as chest infections
and pneumonia – particularly among the
elderly and young children.
In adults, the symptoms of influenza can
include fever, dry cough, muscle and joint pain,
extreme tiredness, headache and sore throat.
In children, influenza may present with a
cough, high fever and listlessness.
Children can also get diarrhoea
and vomiting as a result of influenza
infection.
Most people who get the flu
will suffer from mild illness
and will recover in around four
weeks, however, some people
can develop more severe health
problems, including pneumonia,
bronchitis, chest and sinus infections,
heart, blood system or liver
complications, which can lead to
hospitalisation and even death.
Health authorities say the annual flu vaccination
is your “best shot” at keeping you and your
family safe from the serious risks of influenza.
Flu vaccines can be administered at the same
time as COVID-19 vaccines and should last for
at least 6-12 months.
Manly local GPS are receiving doses of flu
vaccines in April; ask your doctor for advice on
the best time to receive your vaccinations.
– Lisa Offord
Private Hospital
in the works
Construction is underway
on a new hospital and
rehab centre at Terrey Hills.
The 84-bed Wyvern
Private Hospital is being
built on a 4ha site between
Myoora and Larool roads
and is set to be completed
by mid-2023.
The acute care hospital
will focus on spinal surgery,
neurosurgery, orthopaedic
surgery, vascular surgery,
interventional cardiology,
pain management and ophthalmology.
Initially, the three-story
facility will include seven operating
theatres, one cardiac
catheterisation laboratory,
56 surgical inpatient beds,
20 rehabilitation beds, eight
ICU beds, associated clinical
support units – including
radiology, pathology and
pharmacy – a 148-space car
park and consulting suites.
Hospital Operator Wyvern
Health has signed a 30-year
lease and major works
agreement with Australian
Unity to develop and operate
the hospital.
– LO
62 APRIL 2022
The Local Voice Since 1991
Hair & Beauty
Beauty buzz, wellness and
correcting any sun damage
Having forced time off and
working from home over
the past two years has
made more people think about
their health and beauty issues.
It is time to look at the body,
mind, and spirit. The act of
taking time to care for oneself is
healing within itself.
Anti-aging injectables still
provide one of the best antiwrinkle
solutions for crows feet
and the furrows between the
brows. But, did you know they
may also assist with reducing
a gummy smile, provide a “lip
flip” instead of having filler,
and lessen the pursing action
of the top lip, which creates the
lipstick bleed?
Faces and lips are indeed
focal points during working
situations such as Zoom. As
we age, there is a decrease
in the lip volume, while lip
borders become blurred, outer
corners of the lips droop, and
vertical lines occur. Younger
clients typically desire the
exaggerated, extra-plump
look they see on social media.
The older client usually wants
soft, subtle volume with
minimal projection. Combining
modalities with anti-aging
injectables and resurfacing
treatments will often provide
the optimum result.
Poor Lymphatic drainage is
the cause of a lot of beauty
and health issues in the body.
Either manual lymphatic
drainage or the use of a
relaxing compression suit
will assist with bringing fresh
blood to the stagnant areas
and will assist with removing
toxins. In addition, lymphatic
drainage positively affects
collagen production and can be
magnified when multitasking
under an LED or Bioptron light
for extra collagen stimulation.
It’s that time of the year
again when we are thinking
about correcting the sun
damage – hyperpigmentation
and glycation wrinkles – we
acquired during the warmer
The Local Voice Since 1991
months. Enjoy results when
you combine a cocktail of
treatments designed specifically
for your requirements. In
2022, the message is still to
combine correct skincare,
laser treatments, chemical
peels, and a healthy internal
programme. A “cookie cutter”
approach is unsuitable as we
are all individuals with specific
concerns.
There is always a debate
about what diet provides
the most significant health
benefits. For example, is
it a low-carbohydrate, lowfat,
increased-protein, or
intermittent fasting? Whilst
exercise with moderate
calorie restrictions often
changes health outcomes, a
nutrition practitioner should
always supervise any diet
modifications.
Cryotherapy is a healthy
addition to recover muscle
strain and reduce inflammation
within the body. Reducing
inflammation can be achieved in
many ways, including ice baths,
cryotherapy chambers or spas
(pictured), and cold showers
using the Wimhof breathing
techniques.
Sugar intake increases the
speed and degree to which the
skin looks and feels older. This
process is known as glycation.
Sugar molecules in food attach
themselves to proteins, such as
elastin and collagen, making
the protein stiff and inflexible.
Eventually, these end products
make collagen rigid, and it will
lose its ability to keep the skin
firm and ultimately contributes
to the aging process. This
process intensifies as we age.
Again, nothing new, but after
a challenging few years, it is a
timely reminder that our diet
helps our body function in a
state of wellness or illness.
with Sue Carroll
There is a greater focus in
2022 on wellbeing, feeling
good, looking good and being
the best version of ourselves
both internally and externally.
This road we are travelling is
about adding small sustainable
changes, and remembering the
healthy habits we consistently
do every day will deliver results.
Sue Carroll is at the forefront
of the beauty, wellness
and para-medical profession
with 35 years’ experience on
Sydney’s Northern Beaches.
She leads a dedicated team
of professionals who are
passionate about results for
men and women.
info@skininspiration.com.au
www.skininspiration.com.au
APRIL 2022 63
Hair & Beauty

Business Life
Business Life: Money
It rained... it poured... it then
seems like we were ignored
This month is a look back
at how we faired during
Sydney’s rain event – and
what an event it was. Unprecedented
they said. A hell-of-alot
of rain they said. Potholes
the size of moon craters they
claimed. Well, it was all those
things including a miserable,
damp way to end the summer…
but was it the worst ever?
A look back at the stats from
the Bureau for our area tells us
that for the month of February
Collaroy recorded 419mm of
rainfall, Mona Vale 321mm and
Palm Beach 277mm. Monthly
averages for these centres are
141mm, 132mm and 130mm,
respectively.
But are these unprecedented
levels? For Collaroy, recorded
at Long Reef GC, it might have
been. The 419mm in February
2022 was never exceeded but
the BOM’s data is unreliable
with no monthly records from
1979 to 1997. Over at Mona
Vale the 321mm was exceeded
in at least eight years from
1969, most notably in 1990
when 594mm fell in February
of that year and 497mm fell in
April 1988. At Palm Beach the
277mm was exceeded in several
other years but the record was
612mm – again in April of 1988
– which along with being the
bicentennial year stood out as
a year of extreme wet weather
for our area. If we thought the
recent weather was wet, the
April 1988 levels shown for
Palm Beach averaged around
20mm per day for the month
and the annual fall of 1968mm
averaged over 5mm of rain per
day for the whole year!
So, while it felt like a whole
lot of rain fell on us, it wasn’t
the most rain ever. What did add
insult to our perceived injury (to
me anyway) was the state of our
local infrastructure. Just putting
the events on the Northern Rivers
to one side, those poor people
experienced a weather event
of biblical proportions and
really do deserve all the support
available, our issues down here
in many cases looked more like
a failure of maintenance.
There is now a resident
pothole on the Bilgola Bends
that is so malicious and it appears
regularly after extended
rain events. It’s been lurking
there for years. It got my front
passenger-side tyre on the 25th
of February and by that stage
it had already been claiming
victims for around a fortnight. (I
hear the guys at Avalon Tyres
at Mona Vale even had a photo
of it up in reception naming
it employee of the month.) I
reported it online to RMS (the
Bends are a regional road) as
must have dozens of others. A
day later a huge sign and some
traffic cones were placed by
an unknown good Samaritan
warning approaching drivers. At
with Brian Hrnjak
this point I gave Dee Why police
a call to see if they were aware
of it and I got an exasperated:
“Ah yes, the pothole, we know
about that… and the sign, thank
you very much.” It grew so wide
and so deep you had to cross
into oncoming traffic to avoid
it, but still there were no formal
warning signs or repairs from
those responsible for upkeep.
After about three weeks it was
patched but with the ongoing
rain it returned for an encore
performance and in early March
it was recognised with a post on
the Avalon ‘What’s On’ Facebook
page showing (Lord of the
Rings’) Gollum climbing out of it
from middle earth surrounded
by a collection of ‘precious’
(sorry) hubcaps scored from
passing cars (pictured). The pothole’s
status at this point was
approaching celebrity – it had
a sign, it had two traffic cones
inside it and only the tops were
showing, it had a post on Avalon
‘What’s On’ and finally it had
a huge white outline painted
around it along with a line of arrows
leading from the warning
sign for about 30 metres like
a runway, just in case anyone
had any doubt that this was
one bloody big hole. Sometime
around the 13th of March, in the
dead of night, it was patched
and the rains stopped and all
that remained was the painted
outline and the painted arrows
to remind us that this hideous
mongrel lives just below the surface,
waiting for the next week
of rain before it re-emerges.
Potholes are one thing and
there were plenty that I saw and
drove over in my travels from
Mosman to Palm Beach but I
have never seen the extent of
water sheeting across Mona Vale
Road as it did just past Kimbriki
Tip, a road I have driven for 40
years and can do with my eyes
closed. Nor have I ever seen
the RFS and police unblocking
the drains on Mona Vale Road
between Terrey Hills and St
Ives. There is a swimming pool
that appears after most rains
northbound on Bilgola Bends,
this time it almost blocked both
lanes. There was extensive
flooding in Newport beachfront
but there is almost always a
massive puddle after rain southbound
as you enter Newport
Village. Some of these things are
extraordinary events and the
result of extreme weather – like
the images of Careel Creek in
flood – but others are pure and
simple maintenance-related
that then go on to cause bigger
problems when we do get an
extreme event.
This is often one of the
failures of contracting. A rigid
determination to meet KPIs and
budgets over effective outcomes;
where 85% most of the
time is okay but the last 15% is
too expensive or not worth it. As
the chosen contractors are usually
from outside the area there
is also a lack of local knowledge
or understanding of local nuances.
This can be a side effect
of the growth of institutions,
caused by remoteness to the
customer or in simple terms not
having any idea of what’s happening
on the ground locally. I
don’t wish to, nor do I have the
space here to re-prosecute the
amalgamation argument, but
you can see over time that RMS
has amalgamated and grown
from the Department of Main
Roads and Council has re-amalgamated,
so contracting day-today
services is de rigueur. The
trouble is that contractors
operate within tightly drafted
boundaries about what they
will do and for how much. The
days of maintenance ‘flying
squads’, where something could
be responded to within hours, is
replaced by online notification
portals and service standards
based on average, not extreme,
events.
If something doesn’t fit neatly
into the contracted scenario or
if it missed the cut at project
selection phase, the community
is left to pick up the pieces. We
see this in examples such as
Avalon local Lisa Hewitt’s onewoman
clean-up of the signs
and other rubbish on the Bilgola
Bends in August last year. Parts
of the community still wonder
how ‘Paris’ is getting on, so
many years after her multiple
pink-hearted 21st birthday signs
came down. We also see it in
Lionel Kools’ pop-up community
group to remove decades of accumulated
rubbish from Careel
Creek. Some might argue the
community should be responsible
for cleaning up the mess
it created but it’s a fact that in
the days of Pittwater Council the
rangers used to take down the
signs on the Bends and other
areas before they became litter.
One thing is for sure: that
pothole on the Bends is truly the
love child of the RMS and the
community that drive over it and
therefore a shared responsibility
– let’s hope we see some programmed
maintenance before
the next big storms arrive.
Business Life
Brian Hrnjak B Bus CPA (FPS) is
a Director of GHR Accounting
Group Pty Ltd, Certified
Practising Accountants. Offices
at: Suite 12, Ground Floor,
20 Bungan Street Mona Vale
NSW 2103 and Shop 8, 9 – 15
Central Ave Manly NSW 2095,
Telephone: 02 9979-4300,
Webs: www.ghr.com.au and
www.altre.com.au Email:
brian@ghr.com.au
These comments are of a
general nature only and are
not intended as a substitute
for professional advice.
64 APRIL 2022
The Local Voice Since 1991
The Local Voice Since 1991
APRIL 2022 65

Business Life
Business Life: Law
Last month we discussed
the process of conveyancing
up to the exchange of
contracts by both private treaty
and auction. The process
then is one of investigations
of title of the property you are
purchasing, including:
n The ordering of searches
from Government authorities.
The Conveyancing
(Vendor Disclosure and
Warranty) Regulations give
you the right to end the
Contract and claim return
of the deposit in the event
the property is affected
adversely by certain matters
which were not disclosed
to you in the Contract. If
we find that the property is
adversely affected, then the
only remedy is to rescind
the Contract. (These investigations
only relate to the
property being purchased
and do not extend to adjoining
or neighboring properties.)
n Where you are borrowing
to purchase the property,
seeing that your lender has
what it needs to complete
the loan.
n Arranging the stamping of
the Contract which has to
be paid within three months
of exchange. However if you
are to settle with 42 days,
which is customary, and you
have an incoming mortgagee
they will require that
stamp duty is payable on or
before settlement.
Your solicitor will arrange
for settlement/completion of
the Contract with the Vendor
and your lending Bank/financial
institution.
This is an initial summary
of a residential Conveyancing
procedure which will be conducted
by your solicitor when
you purchase a property.
What happens when you
decide to sell your property
and how different is it from
purchase?
The Vendor or seller
commences the process by
with Jennifer Harris
Process between ‘exchange’
and final sale or ‘settlement’
instructing the solicitor to
prepare a Contract for sale.
The Vendor via the Contract
provides information and
includes warranties and representations
about the property
which is being sold. Essential
elements of the Contract
include for example a section
10.7 certificate, or zoning
certificate, issued by the local
council and provides details of
planning controls and matters
which may affect the property.
A Sewerage service diagram
which shows the location of
the sewer lines and a copy of
the certificate of title showing
your ownership of the property
are crucial together with
copies of documents which
create easements, rights of
way, covenants or restrictions.
The warranties you make
about the property include
that you have not received
notice that the land on which
the property stands is not proposed
to be acquired by any
government or government
instrumentality which would
affect your enjoyment of the
property.
Also that the sewer service
lines are fully disclosed on the
sewerage service diagram and
that the planning certificate
provides an accurate of the
zoning of the land as at the
date of the contract.
If you have carried out improvements
or building works
you should include copies of
a building certificate, an occupation
certificate, a copy of
home owners warranty insurance
and if you have a pool,
a certificate of compliance.
You may also provide to the
successful purchaser copies of
the plans as approved by the
council in the case of major
works.
Your solicitor usually provides
special conditions to the
contract, ie. terms and conditions
additional to those found
in the Law Societies standard
conditions found in the first
19 pages of the contract.
Special conditions are drawn
to protect the vendor’s best
interests. It may be that the
vendor is purchasing another
property at the same time as
selling and desires to have
both settlements occur simultaneously.
A special condition
which seeks the release of the
deposit for the purpose of a
deposit on the new property
may therefore be included.
It is customary for solicitors
for vendors and purchasers to
negotiate many of the terms
and conditions of the contract.
For example, a purchaser
may want to have a shorter or
more likely longer settlement
period than the usual 42 days.
Often there are negotiations
over what is included in the
sale – for example fittings
and fixtures or what constitutes
fittings and fixtures
and in cases where vendors
are downsizing furniture and
furnishings may be included
or offered in the sale. All these
matters must be negotiated
and settled before exchange.
Another element vitally important
in the sale is the real
estate agent. It is not lawful to
show or advertise a property
without a contract available
for a prospective purchaser
to view or obtain a copy. It is
always desirable that the vendor
has a solicitor responsive
to prospective purchaser’s
solicitor’s enquiries as they
examine the contract.
When the contracts have
been exchanged and the property
has been taken off the
market the deposit cheque is
frequently handed to the real
estate agent to invest in an
interest bearing account until
settlement. If you don’t have
an agent your solicitor may do
it for you.
At settlement the interest
earned on the deposit will usually
be split equally between
the vendor and purchaser.
These two articles have endeavored
to provide information
on some of the steps and
matters which occur in the
process of buying and selling
residential property. They are
not an exhaustive summary
of the steps to be taken but
they may provide some of the
issues you should consider
when buying and selling. It
can be an extremely complex
area of law and should not
be embarked upon without
professional legal advice.
Comment supplied by
Jennifer Harris, of Jennifer
Harris & Associates,
Solicitors, 4/57 Avalon
Parade, Avalon Beach.
T: 9973 2011. F: 9918 3290.
E: jennifer@jenniferharris.com.au
W: www.jenniferharris.com.au
Business Life
66 APRIL 2022
The Local Voice Since 1991
The Local Voice Since 1991
APRIL 2022 67

Trades & Services
Trades & Services
AIR CONDITIONING
Alliance Climate Control
Call 02 9186 4179
Air Conditioning & Electrical Professionals. Specialists
in Air Conditioning Installation, Service, Repair &
Replacement.
NORTH EAST AIR
Call Tim 0400 364 913
We will deliver all your heating and cooling options;
prompt, courteous service.
AUTO REPAIRS
British & Swedish Motors
Call 9970 6654
Services Range Rover, Land Rover, Saab and Volvo with
the latest in diagnostic equipment.
Narrabeen Tyrepower
Call 9970 6670
Stocks all popular brands including Cooper 4WD. Plus
they’ll do all mechanical repairs and rego inspections.
BATTERIES
Battery Business
Call 9970 6999
Batteries for all applications. Won’t be beaten on price
or service. Free testing, 7 days.
BOAT SERVICES
Avalon Marine Upholstery
Call Simon 9918 9803
Makes cushions for boats, patio and pool furniture,
window seats.
CLEANING
All Northern Beaches Pressure Clean
Call 0416 215 095
Driveways, paths, garden walls, awnings, house wash.
Amazing Clean
Call Andrew 0412 475 2871
Specialists in blinds, curtains and awnings. Clean,
repair, supply new.
Aussie Clean Team
Call John 0478 799 680
For a sparkling finish, inside and out. Also
light maintenance/repairs. Free quotes; fully
insured.
Housewashing - northernbeaches.com.au
Call Ben 0408 682 525
Established 1999 in Avalon & Collaroy.
We specialise in soft and pressure washes,
plus window and gutter cleaning, driveways
and rooftops.
The Aqua Clean Team
Call Mark 0449 049 101
Quality window washing, pressure cleaning, carpet washing,
building soft wash.
CONCRETING
Pavecrete – All Concrete Services
Call Phil 0418 772 799
pavecrete@iinet.net.au
Established locally 1995. Driveways plus – Council
Accredited. Excavation service.
ELECTRICAL
Alliance Service Group
Call Adrian 9063 4658
All services & repairs, 24hr. Lighting installation,
switchboard upgrade. Seniors discount 5%.
Eamon Dowling Electrical
Call Eamon 0410 457 373
For all electrical needs including phone, TV and data.
Pittwater-based. Reliable; quality service guaranteed.
FLOOR COVERINGS
Blue Tongue Carpets
Call Stephan or Roslyn 9979 7292
Northern Beaches Flooring Centre has been family
owned & run for over 20 years. Carpets, Tiles, Timber,
Laminates, Hybrids & Vinyls. Open 6 days.
GARDENS
!Abloom Ace Gardening
Call 0415 817 880
Full range of gardening services including landscaping,
maintenance and rubbish removal.
Melaleuca Landscapes
Call Sandy 0416 276 066
Professional design and construction for every garden
situation. Sustainable vegetable gardens and waterfront
specialist.
Precision Tree Services
Call Adam 0410 736 105
Adam Bridger; professional tree care by qualified
arborists and tree surgeons.
GUTTERS & ROOFING
Cloud9 G&R
Call Tommy 0447 999 929
Prompt and reliable service; gutter cleaning and
installation, leak detection, roof installation and painting.
Also roof repairs specialist.
Ken Wilson Roofing
Call 0419 466 783
Leaking roofs, tile repairs, tiles replaced, metal roof repairs,
gutter cleaning, valley irons replaced.
HANDYMEN
Hire A Hubby
Call 1800 803 339
Extensive services including carpentry, outdoor maintenance,
painting and plastering and more.
HOT WATER
Hot Water Maintenance NB
Call 9982 1265
Local emergency specialists, 7 days. Sales, service,
installation. Warranty agents, fully accredited.
Trades & Services
68 APRIL 2022
The Local Voice Since 1991
The Local Voice Since 1991
APRIL 2022 69

Trades & Services
KITCHENS
Collaroy Kitchen Centre
Call 9972 9300
Danish design excellence. Local beaches specialists in
kitchens, bathrooms and joinery.
Visit the showroom in Collaroy.
Seabreeze Kitchens
Call 9938 5477
Specialists in all kitchen needs; design, fitting, consultation.
Excellent trades.
LOCKSMITHS
Mosman Locksmiths
Call 9969 6333
40 years servicing the Beaches; specialists in lock-outs
including automotive, rekeying, smart lock security; also
door hardware and safe sales & installation.
MASSAGE & FITNESS
Avalon Physiotherapy
Call 9918 3373
Provide specialist treatment for neck & back pain,
sports injuries, orthopaedic problems.
PAINTING
Cloud9 Painting
Call 0447 999 929
Your one-stop shop for home or office painting; interiors,
exteriors and also roof painting. Call for a quote.
PEST CONTROL
Predator Pest Control
Call 0417 276 962
predatorpestcontrol.com.au
Environmental services at their best. Comprehensive
control. Eliminate all manner of pests.
PLUMBING
Mark Ellison Plumbing
Call 0431 000 400
Advanced solutions for sewer & stormwater pipe relining:
Upfront price, 25-year warranty.
RENOVATIONS
BlindLight
Call Dave 0403 466 350
Specialists in window tintings and glass coatings. Act
now the weather is hot.
Jack’s Rubbish Removals
Call Jack 0403 385 312
Up to 45% cheaper than skips. Latest health regulations.
Old-fashioned honesty & reliability. Free quotes.
One 2 Dump
Call Josh 0450 712 779
Seven-days-a-week pick-up service includes general
household rubbish, construction, commercial plus
vegetation. Also car removals.
UPHOLSTERY
Luxafoam North
Call 0414 468 434
Local specialists in all aspects of outdoor & indoor seating.
Custom service, expert advice.
Trades & Services
DISCLAIMER: The editorial and advertising
content in Pittwater Life has been provided by a
number of sources. Any opinions expressed are
not necessarily those of the Editor or Publisher of
Pittwater Life and no responsibility is taken for
the accuracy of the information contained within.
Readers should make their own enquiries directly
to any organisations or businesses prior to making
any plans or taking any action.
RUBBISH REMOVAL
Brown Bros Skip Bins
Call 1300 879 688
Local waste management & environmental services experts.
Bins to suit, delivered between 2 & 24 hours. Green footprint.
Trades & Services
70 APRIL 2022
The Local Voice Since 1991
The Local Voice Since 1991
APRIL 2022 71

Tasty Dining Morsels Guide
Tasty Morsels
Holy guacamole! Avalon’s
Alma hits the Mexican mark
Alma
47 Old Barrenjoey Rd,
Avalon Beach
Open: Tues-Sun
P: 8919 0447
The sun’s
out. It’s Saturday.
It’s
past noon. It’s
time for lunch.
Other people
clearly have had
the same idea. By
1.30pm, the let’sdo-lunch
crowd
have bagged all
the best tables.
Alma is buzzing
with young
couples enjoying
a bub-free lunch date, chatty
families and groups of mates
bonding over corn chips and
margaritas.
Dress up, dress down, bring
your dog, stylish Alma extends
a warm, kitsch-free welcome to
everyone.
You won’t find a mawkish
shrine to Mexicana nailed to
brightly coloured walls here.
Alma’s mood board is distinctly
neutral and the decor is paredback
but classy.
The food, if you haven’t already
guessed, is contemporary
Mexican blended
with local
coastal produce
and western
influences.
The story
starts back in
2017 when Alma
Group co-owners
Jack Leary and
Tim Christensen
went on a
research trip to
the east coast
and south-west
Mexico where they tried dishes
in 30 or so different venues.
Their take-home ‘soul’ food
– Alma is Spanish for soul – is
an evolving riff of cultures and
cuisines.
There’s one menu that covers
lunch and dinner with plenty
of entrees and larger sharing
dishes. Bigger plates include
with Beverley Hudec
CONTEMPORARY MEX: Alma’s agave short ribs with grilled cos lettuce
(left); Saturday lunch street food includes tacos and ceviche (below left);
their gorgeous guac and chips topped with toasted pepitas (above).
two of the restaurant’s best Fresh lime and jalapeño
sellers: agave short ribs served add zing and lots of flavour to
with grilled cos lettuce, pickled the hard-shell salmon sashimi
carrots and corn tortillas; and served in a crispy wonton taco
grilled octopus, fermented el shell. Each taco is topped with
diablo chilli and crispy kale more pico de gallo and sesame
chips.
seeds.
Alternatively, the chef’s ‘feed Three soft shell crab tostadas
me I’m a boss’ for $69 is a nonstop
with avocado, crispy bacon and
Mexico meets the beaches truffle oil don’t quite pack the
roller-coaster of dishes. Tequila flavour punch you’d expect
pairing, if you want to take it to from the interesting ingredient
the next level, is an extra $40. combo.
If you haven’t time to do
The consensus is our choices
the full entree, mains, dessert are a little bit samey, next time
thing (it does get very busy, I’d venture out and try the agave
so be prepared to wait) Alma grilled halloumi, chargrilled
has Saturday lunch ‘snacky’ sweet corn, or a slow-cooked
street food including tacos and pork belly taco.
ceviche.
If time’s not an issue, save
Guacamole, one of 2021’s room for dessert because the
most Googled recipes, is a ‘Pastel de Elote’, or Mexican
must. Alma’s guac and chips sweet corn cake served with a
is a bowl of creamy smashed cinnamon and hazelnut shard
avocado topped with toasted and a quenelle of vibrant spiced
pepitas, pico de gallo and a strawberry sorbet, looks gorgeous.
sprinkle of smoked paprika.
It’s neither over-citrusy nor too Alma Group has recently
hot, just a moreish, eat and opened St Alma in Freshwater.
repeat dip served with salty Coincidently, when Leary and
house-pressed corn chips. It Christensen were first looking
just cries out loud for one of
for a venue, they had their
those classic margaritas. sights set on Freshie.
72 APRIL 2022
The Local Voice Since 1991
Tiny Morsels…
OMG! How good
are these ‘donuts’?
If you’re nuts for donuts, but can’t
eat a conventional one, OMG has a
solution. Their soy and maize starch
donuts are vegan and gluten-free.
Each donut is dipped in flavoured
sugars like strawberry patch and pinelime.
They’re on sale at local markets
from Narrabeen to Palm Beach.
Details online.
Biscoff Calzone
oozes yummy
The Lotus Biscoff trend
has now spread to pizza.
Mona Vale’s Yes Pizza has
introduced a new dessert to
its menu. The Biscoff Calzone
is filled with a spreadable
version of the buttery-caramel
biscuit. There’s also a Nutella
version. Savoury pizza fans
can order from a range of
meaty, vegetarian and vegan
options.
The Local Voice Since 1991
A Social gathering
on Bilgola Plateau
New Bilgola Plateau cafe Bilgola Social
has only been going since last September
– it opened in the COVID lockdown. The
menu has all the favourites including
poke bowls, smashed avo and a signature
bacon and egg roll, cheekily named Kevin
Bacon. The obligatory caffeine hit comes
from The Grounds Roastery Coffee.
Three of a kind: Shops with Cafes
Armchair Collective is one of
those touchy-feely places that
are jam-packed with pretty
homewares, table lamps
and an assortment of gift
ideas for all ages. If all that
browsing makes you hungry,
this Mona Vale cafe (left)
obliges with corn fritters and
bircher muesli for breakfast
and veggie burgers and fish
and chips at lunch.
Fancy a chilled glass of
Chablis, a beer and live
music? You can enjoy all
three at Bookoccino. The
Avalon bookshop is open
until 9pm on Fridays. There’s
also jazz on Sundays. The
daytime vibe is just as
relaxed. Customers can sit
down for a coffee with a
slice of cake or croissant, or
simply check out the books.
Gather round for
top-quality coffee
Gather Coffee Kiosk’s main home
is a retro-fitted coffee trailer in
Warriewood’s Link Collective.
However it also pops up at special
community events. Gather keeps
things local. Coffee comes from Nine
Yards in Brookvale. Simple snacks
include banana bread and ham and
cheese croissants. It’s open Tuesday
to Friday morning.
Just looking? That’s hard to
do at Avalon Organics. Inside
this greengrocer-cum-cafe
has chilled display cabinets
filled with healthy goodies
and shelves brimming
with baskets of fruit and
vegetables, condiments and
ingredients. Its menu includes
superfood smoothies, a crab
omelette and bowls of organic
hand-cut sebago fries.
APRIL 2022 73
Tasty Dining Morsels Guide

Food Life
with Janelle Bloom
For more recipes go to janellebloom.com.au
Food Life
Recipes: janellebloom.com.au; facebook.com/culinaryinbloom; instagram.com/janellegbloom/ Photos: Adobe Stock
The sweet, the savoury, the
sumptuous for Easter feast
The first three months of 2022 have
flown by so quickly! I can’t believe
Easter and the school holidays are
about to hit! Time to think plenty of hot cross
buns, lamb, snacking plates – and of course,
Hot cross buns
Makes 20
1 2/3 cups (410ml) luke warm
milk
1/3 cup caster sugar
2 tsp instant dried yeast
4 ¾ cups (715g) plain flour
3 tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp sea salt flakes, crushed
80g butter, melted, cooled
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 tsp vanilla bean paste
¾ cup sultanas, chopped
walnuts or choc bits
2 tsp gelatine powder
2 tbs cold water
Paste
½ cup (75g) plain flour
80ml cold water
1. Combine the milk, 1
tablespoon of the sugar and
yeast in a jug. Whisk with
a fork until the yeast has
dissolved.
2. Place the flour, remaining
¼ cup sugar, cinnamon
and salt in the bowl of
an electric mixer, stir to
combine. Make a well in
the centre. Add the yeast
mixture, butter, egg and
vanilla, use the K beater
to mix until the dough
comes together. Replace
the K beater with the dough
hook and mix for 8 minutes
until the dough is smooth
and elastic, when you
touch the dough with you
finger it should not leave
an indentation. Place the
dough in a lightly greased
bowl, cover with plastic and
a clean tea towel. Set aside
for 1 hour to double in size.
3. Turn the dough onto a
lightly floured surface,
punch it down to remove
the air, then knead until
the base is smooth. Flatten
the dough to a rectangle
20 x 30cm, sprinkle with
sultanas, walnuts or choc
bits (or a mix of all) and
knead until well combined.
4. Divide the dough into 20
equal portions. Roll each
into a smooth ball. Place
onto a large well-greased
round baking tray in a
chocolate! Easter is a time to celebrate life
and remember family. Enjoy the combination
of treats I have put together, all the sorts of
things family and friends will love. Stay safe
and well!
circular pattern, 1cm apart,
starting with 1 in the centre,
then a circle of 6 followed
by a circle of 13. Cover
loosely with plastic wrap.
Set aside for 30 minutes or
until the buns have doubled
in size.
5. For the paste, combine the
flour and water together,
stir until smooth adding
more water if the paste
is too thick. Spoon into
a snap lock bag and snip
the corner. Pipe the flour
paste over the buns to form
crosses.
6. Preheat the oven to 170°C
fan forced. Remove the
wrap and bake the buns
for 20-25 minutes or until
golden; the buns should
sound hollow when tapped
on the base.
7. Sprinkle gelatine over the
water in a small heatproof
bowl, stir until combined.
Microwave, uncovered for
30 seconds until gelatine
has dissolved, it will turn
clear as it cools a little.
Brush the hot gelatine
mixture over the hot buns.
Serve warm.
Janelle’s Tip: For larger,
‘traditional-style’ buns divide
the dough into 12 equal
portions and place onto a
large flat baking tray (four
rows of three, 1cm apart).
Bake for around 25-30
minutes.
Slow cooked
Greek lamb
Serves 4
4 tbs olive oil
1 eggplant sliced into rounds
1 brown onion, thickly sliced
2 garlic cloves, crushed
4 large lamb shanks
2 tsp ground paprika
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp ground fennel
½ tsp dried thyme
175g Minicaps, halved, cored
400g can diced tomatoes
2 cups beef stock
1 cup pitted kalamata olives
¼ cup rosemary sprigs
1. Preheat the oven to 130°C
fan forced.
2. Heat a large non-stick frying
pan over medium-high
heat until hot. Add 1
tablespoon oil, and half
the eggplant, cook for
1 minute each side until
light golden. Remove to a
deep roasting pan or large
ovenproof (preferably
cast iron) casserole.
Repeat with the remaining
eggplant.
3. Add 1 tablespoon of oil to
the pan with the oil and
garlic, cook, stirring 3
minutes until soft, remove
to the pan with the
eggplant.
4. Drizzle the remaining oil
over the lamb, sprinkle
with the paprika, oregano,
fennel and season well.
Cook the lamb in two
batches for 5 minutes,
turning until browned all
over.
5. Place on top of the
eggplant and onions.
Combine the tomatoes
and stock and pour over
the lamb. Press a sheet
of baking paper onto the
surface of the lamb and
cover tightly with 2-3
sheets of foil, making sure
there are no tears in the
foil. Cook for 4 hours.
6. Remove the foil and
baking paper carefully,
scatter over the olives
and rosemary. Cover and
stand for 15 minutes.
Serve with olive, feta and
rocket salad and tzatziki
dip.
Chocolate bark with
roasted hazelnuts,
peanuts and freezedried
raspberries
Serves 8
400g good quality dark
chocolate, chopped
125g white chocolate
1/3 cup roasted hazelnuts,
chopped
1/3 cup roasted salted
peanuts, chopped
20g freeze dried raspberries
(see tip)
1. Line a 20 x 30cm tray with
baking paper.
2. Melt the dark chocolate in
a microwave safe bowl in
1-minute bursts, stirring
every minute with a metal
spoon until smooth. Spread
the chocolate over the base
of the tray. Stand for 10
minutes.
3. Meanwhile, melt the white
chocolate in a microwavesafe
bowl in 30-second
bursts, stirring with a
metal spoon until smooth.
Drizzle the white chocolate
carefully over the semi-set
dark chocolate. Scatter over
hazelnuts, peanuts and
raspberries. Refrigerate until
set. Break into pieces to
serve.
Janelle’s Tips: Freeze dried
raspberries are available at
green grocers like Harris Farm,
Whole foods or online.
You can switch the raspberries
for freeze dried strawberries.
Bark will keep 10 days in the
fridge.
Variations: Replace the white
chocolate with milk chocolate
and the nuts with toasted
muesli.
Easter bunny
Nutella biscuits
(Makes 16 sandwiched
cookies)
2 cups plain flour
½ cup icing sugar mixture
200g unsalted butter, chilled,
chopped
2 egg yolks
1 tbs cold water
1 tsp vanilla extract
2/3 cup Nutella
1. Grease and line three large
oven trays with baking
paper.
2. Place the flour, sugar and
butter in a food processor
and pulse until the mixture
resembles fine crumbs.
With motor operating, add
yolks, water and vanilla,
processing until the dough
comes together to form a
ball. Remove to the bench
lightly dusted with flour.
3. Divide into two equal
portions. Flatten each piece
of dough slightly and wrap
in baking paper. Refrigerate
for 1 hour, or until firm.
4. Roll out each portion of
dough between two sheets
baking paper until ½ cm
thick. Using a 6cm round
fluted cutter, cut out 32
shapes, re-rolling and chilling
the dough as necessary.
Place the rounds on a tray
and refrigerate until firm.
5. Preheat the oven 160°C fan
forced.
6. Using a mini bunny cookie
cutter, cut bunny shapes
from the centre of half the
rounds. Place the rounds
and bunny cut outs onto
trays allowing room for
spreading. Bake one tray
at a time, for about 12
minutes, or until edges
are lightly golden. Cool on
trays.
7. Just before serving,
sandwich biscuits together
with Nutella.
Snacking plate
There are so many great
things you can purchase
from supermarkets, bespoke
cheese shops and grocery
stores to put together on a
board or platter to share
with family and friends.
To assemble a Greek
Platter – buy some dolmades;
stuffed mini capsicums,
olives, feta, roasted red
capsicum, chargerilled
eggplant, thinly sliced spicy
salami and a hummus dip.
Spoon the dip into a bowl,
drizzle with extra virgin oil
and sprinkle with sesame
seeds, lemon rind and dried
oregano. Serve with torn
bread and crackers.
Food Life
74 APRIL 2022
The Local Voice Since 1991
The Local Voice Since 1991
APRIL 2022 75

Food Life
Food Life
Pick of the Month:
Bananas
Bananas are the world’s Chocolate dipped
oldest fruit and the most bananas
popular fruit consumed Makes 8
in Australia – would you
believe we eat more than 5 8 bananas, peeled
million per day!
200g, milk, dark or white
chocolate, melted
1 tbs vegetable oil or melted
coconut oil
Decoration
Sprinkles
Coconut
Chopped honeycomb
Types
There are many varieties,
the most common in
Australia are Cavendish,
these are longer and
thinner. Cavendish are
creamy and great for eating,
blending and cooking.
The lady finger or Sugar
bananas are smaller and
sweeter and best enjoyed
fresh.
The red-tipped bananas
you see on shelves
are grown using the
Ecoganic® farming system
endorsed by The Great
Barrier Reef Foundation. The
wax tip is to let you know
their growing method is
good for the environment.
Storage
Store in a cool dry place out
of direct sunlight; bananas
will keep for 3-4 days; even
with brown spots they are
okay to eat. And when they
look to have gone “off”
don’t throw them away –
these are ideal for making
banana bread and banana
muffins!
1. Line a large tray with
baking paper. Insert a
wooden chopstick or
paddle pop stick in one
end of each banana. Place
the bananas onto the tray
and freeze for 10 minutes.
2. Combine the chocolate
and oil together then
spoon into a thin tall
glass and carefully
dip the bananas into
the chocolate to coat.
Allow the excess to drip
off then sprinkle with
sprinkles, coconut or
chopped honeycomb.
Return to the tray,
refrigerate until the
chocolate has set. Serve.
In Season
April
Apples; avocados;
Custard apples; Fresh
Australian dates
and pomegranates;
pineapple; grapes,
Kiwi fruit; limes; pears;
passionfruit; mandarins;
Bok Choy; Green beans;
cabbage; capsicum;
cauliflower; kale; fennel;
potatoes; pumpkin;
silverbeet; spinach.
Pittwater Puzzler
ACROSS
1 Private whose story will be
told in I Don’t Mind Telling You
to be published later this year
(3,8)
9 See 22-across
10 A person who lives in
seclusion or apart from society
(7)
11 In an irregular way (8)
12 & 19-across Carvings
created on Guringai country
that are surrounded by land
that was handed back to the
Metropolitan Local Aboriginal
Land Council (6,4)
13 Northern Beaches Council’s
school holiday program: ____
On The Coast (4)
14 An allowance, duty,
commission, or rate of interest
on a hundred (10)
18 Tradies who are skilled in
woodwork (10)
19 See 12-across
22 & 9-across Northern Beaches
group who will be playing a free
concert on ANZAC Day (4,2,3,4)
Compiled by David Stickley
24 Travel behind a speedboat
being pulled along (5,3)
26 Piece of infrastructure, built
in Farrell’s Quarry in Newport,
that remained to at least 1987
(3,4)
27 Overturn accidentally (7)
28 Community support
volunteer who has been named
2022 Pittwater Woman of the
Year (5,6)
DOWN
1 Home away from home (9)
2 A principal or important
editorial article, as in a
newspaper (6)
3 Understanding or mental
capacity, especially of a high
order (9)
4 Tempting piece of fishing
gear (4)
5 Public sales in which articles
are sold to the highest bidders
(8)
6 An apparatus used by skindivers,
consisting of a breathing
tube attached to a cylinder or
cylinders of compressed air (5)
7 Affected by something
overwhelming (6)
8 Intrude in other people’s
affairs or business; interfere
unwantedly (6)
15 An hors d’oeuvre of thin
strips of raw meat or fish often
eaten with a relish (9)
16 The study of the physical
properties of sound (9)
17 Suave; stylish (8)
18 Endorse jointly (2-4)
20 Part of a cutlery set (6)
21 One who provides assistance
(6)
23 Breeding places or lairs for
animals or insects (5)
25 Pretentious nonsense (4)
[Solution page 80]
Pittwater Puzzler
76 APRIL 2022
The Local Voice Since 1991
The Local Voice Since 1991
APRIL 2022 77

Garden Life
Garden Life
Origins of rosemary
and remembrance
The use and growing of rosemary
was first documented in Britain
in the 11th century, when it was
first introduced by the Romans from the
Mediterranean.
Its fragrant aromatic scent convinced
users that it would fight infection. Over
the centuries its uses increased; in
clothing to prevent the moths and it was
also burnt instead of incense at weddings,
funerals and church services. Popular
belief was that it would only grow in
the gardens righteous people, helping
to improve memory. Greek students
wore wreaths of rosemary to help them
in exams. It soon became a symbol of
remembrance and faith.
Rosemary is an upright shrub that
is easy to grow either as a bush in the
vegetable garden or as a low-growing
hedge. The bright blue flowers that bloom
along the stems from under the needlelike
leaves. If you have no space for a
shrub you can grow the prostrate variety
that will cover the ground or spill over a
wall, or grow it in a pot and train it as a
standard. Rosemary loves full sun and
a light sandy soil, but will tolerate some
shade. There are several varieties, some
with pink flowers and some with white, in
cultivation. Rosemary Blue Lagoon has sky
blue flowers but is grown under several
names. Sometimes it is labelled as Tuscan
Blue or Beneden Blue that is a slightly
smaller growing variety.
Anzac Day is coming up. Plant a
Rosemary bush in remembrance of those
who have risked their lives and for those
who paid the ultimate price in defence of
peace. Pick a sprig and wear it with pride.
with Gabrielle Bryant
Dainty, hardy
pink Indigofera
Strelitzias & Palm
Grass seeds warning
We all know of lantana,
‘morning glory’ and
asparagus fern invading the
bush – but now there are a
couple of newcomers that
have settled in without notice.
The orange and violet
‘Bird of Paradise’, strelitzia
regina, is a clumping plant
that is welcome any day, but
it has a tall-growing relative
strelizia nicholli which is not
so welcome! These strelitzias
are huge growing trees that
are seeding into the bush.
Carefully maintained and
trimmed, they are great in a
large garden with room for
tall clumping trees but left
untamed they are seeding
into the bush!
Landscapers love them
as small, innocent-looking
plants; they are great as
structural accents or pot
plants, but they don’t stay
small. Fully grown this
clumping plant can reach
past a second storey to
roof height and their cream
coloured flowers are out of
reach to their owners but
can be easily reached by the
birds who love the seeds!
The newest problem is the
palm grass (setaria palmifolia)
that is insidiously invading
the Mackay reserve and
other bushland reserves. It is
a common weed in Queensland
coastal areas and the
coastline of NSW further
north. It is an ornamental
grass that has escaped into
the bush and has been noted
the as a “weed of significance”
(noxious weed).
Growing to a height of
1.5m with feathery flower
stems that appear above the
leaves, the seeds blow in
the wind to germinate and
choke out native species.
Once established the roots
are hard to get out. It is very
decorative as an indoor or
pot plant but in the garden
it is creating huge damage.
If you have it in your garden,
consider getting rid of it!
Have fun growing fungi
airy rings’ are popping up everywhere! Warmth, high humidity
‘F and rain are the three best ingredients for fungus – and the
most common fungus of all are mushrooms.
Mushrooms grow in the grass, out of bark or under logs; they
can be white, pink, spotted, orange or gold. A word of warning:
every Autumn someone will end up in hospital (or worse coffin)
from trying to eat them. Unless you are an expert, no matter how
appetising they look, never pick mushrooms from the wild. If you
like to eat them, invest in a mushroom kit and grow them in a box.
They are easy to grow if you follow the instructions. You can
grow white button mushrooms, portobello mushrooms or oyster
mushrooms from kits that are readily available to buy.
I used to have problems before I found out that it is necessary to
keep the kit sealed until the white mycelium covered the surface.
If you open your kit and it is brown when opened, close it up again
for several days until it turns white. The kit does not have to be
kept in the dark, but it should never be exposed to direct sunlight
that can kill the spore.
Follow the instructions carefully and remember to spray every
day with water from an atomiser; your kit should continue to
produce mushrooms for a couple of months, re-cropping every 10
days. The perfect temperature is between 17-24 degrees.
Garden Life
It may be an old-fashioned favourite, but Indigofera is still one of
the most useful, tough and hardy plants you can grow.
Indigofera decora, sometimes known as ‘summer wisteria’, is
a hardy, forgiving, fast-growing plant that will grow easily in the
garden. It will fill difficult corners with its dainty fern-like foliage
and trailing soft pink pea flowers, sending up suckers as it
spreads filling in gaps between shrubs and trees.
It loves sun or semi-shade in well-drained garden soil. Although
it would prefer moist conditions, it will tolerate dry spells. Coastal
conditions are ideal. Growing just 60cm tall and 1m wide, it is
perfect for rockeries, garden beds or as a ground cover beneath
shrubs and trees. Watch as the new shoots appear from the soil as
it travels along.
78 APRIL 2022
The Local Voice Since 1991
The Local Voice Since 1991
APRIL 2022 79

Garden Life
Jobs this Month
Times Past
Garden Life
April
Turn the
surface
and clean
the topsoil that has
compacted with the heavy
rain or replace it where it
has washed away. Renew
the vigour of the garden
with a fresh layer of garden
compost and mulch. Clean
up muddy, or slippery paths
with a pressure cleaner. Read
carefully the instructions if
you use a cleaning product
as many of them will burn
the plants and be harmful to
frogs and waterways.
Lawn revival
Lawns are overgrown and
lank after so many wet
dreary days. Don’t cut them
Crossword solution from page 77
Mystery location: AVALON BEACH
right back in one go, reduce
the length gradually. If you
get a hot sunny day the newly
exposed roots will burn.
Take care
Be sure to wear shoes and
gloves in the garden, slugs
and snails are having a ball
– but so are leeches, spiders
and snakes that have been
washed out of their homes.
Plant now
The soil is warm and moist,
perfect for planting Winterand
Spring-flowering annuals
to fill the gaps. Winter
pansies, primulas, poppies
violas, marigolds,
stock, corn flowers,
snapdragons,
kalanchoes, lobelia
and alyssum all give
cheerful colour.
Veggie rethink
If you were trying to get
a final crop in the veggie
garden when you should
have pulled them out, the
rain will have done it for
you. Time to start again
with cabbages, broccolini,
cauliflowers, carrots.
parsnips, lettuce, spring
onions, leeks and peas.
Add colour
The weather may be
dull but look around
at the brilliant colour
of trees and shrubs
that are flowering
now. Fill empty
spots or replace
damaged shrubs
with violet tibouchina
Alstonville, bright pink
tibouchina Kathleen,
vibrant orange vireya
rhododenron, autumn
flowering camelia sasanquas in any colour from white to pink or
burgundy or spires of blue ginger.
Caladiums’
If you love the tropical look
of the ‘elephant ears’ that
grow in the garden, consider
Caladiums – they are a little
too delicate to plant in the
garden but in pots they are
wonderful.
The huge diversity of
colour, size and shape of
these plants is unending.
They have been expensive
and hard to buy, but the new
range by Enliven in garden
centres now is magic.
Take good care of them
until Winter. Once the bulbs
die down, keep them dry but
with a small amount of water
once a month. In Spring
when they show new signs
of growing, replant into new
soil and feed them and they
will come back better than
ever.
Remember that caladiums
are bulbs and should
be treated the same – but
they will not tolerate frost
and need temperatures of
18C-plus.
Before the Newport
Rugby Club existed
there was the Newport
RSL Club; and before the
Newport RSL Club there was
the gas ball reservoir located
in what was the disused
Farrell’s Quarry.
The quarry was accessed
at the end of what is known
these days as Burke Street.
The newspaper ‘Construction’
notified under ‘Opportunities
for Business’ in November
1954, that the North Shore
Gas Company was erecting a
250,000 cubic feet gas holder
at Newport Beach which
would be ready by April 1955.
As far as can be ascertained,
the gas ball was still there
until at least 1987.
The Newport RSL subbranch
was established after
World War II at the instigation
of local resident Carl
Porter. He was a returned
serviceman from World War
I and a foundation member
of Newport Surf Club. After
securing a lease in 1961, a
clubhouse for the RSL was
built by Les Pope.
For some years the area to
the south of the clubhouse
was used as a tip.
Local newsagent David Pitt
was involved in the formation
of a sports club and became
its first president. In 1960,
this club evolved into the
Newport Junior Rugby Club
and they played their home
games at Newport Oval,
Barrenjoey Road.
Three years later, and
as interest and numbers
swelled, the junior club
became a part of the Newport
Rugby Club, focussing mainly
on those aged under 18.
David Pitt was a foundation
member and eventually
became its inaugural Life
Member; as a result the
clubhouse is called the ‘David
E. Pitt Clubrooms’. (From
1957 he also served 11 terms
as President of the Newport
Chamber of Commerce.)
In 1966 the first senior
team was formed to play in
the NSW Suburban Rugby
Competition.
Doug Porter worked
for Clark Equipment, a
manufacturer of earthmoving
equipment.
In May 1968, he organised
a ‘field day’ and a load of
bulldozers were brought to
Porter Reserve – and almost
instantly the old tip site
became a football field.
In 1972 and with Tim
Bristow as coach, the club won
its first premiership and held
aloft the Barraclough Cup.
In 1973 the Government
Gazette of NSW noted that
the Newport RSL and the
Sports Club had arranged for
the transfer of the clubhouse
from the RSL to the Newport
FROM TIP TO TOE: Photo taken
in May 1968 when a team of
bulldozers converted the tip into
the playing field for the Newport
Rugby Club; the gas ball; the
clubhouse before deck additions.
Quarry filled in to make rugby field
Rugby Club. The RSL had
disbanded due to the lack of
support from its members.
In recent years the
clubhouse has become more
popularly known as the
‘Portress’.
2020 was undoubtedly the
greatest year for the club,
even with COVID19 thrown
in. The club won three
premierships: 1st Grade won
the Clark Cup, their Colts
won the Nicholson Club and
2nd Grade won the Farrant
Cup. The icing on the cake
was when they were named
the Club of the Year from all
divisions.
TIMES PAST is supplied by
local historian and President
of the Avalon Beach
Historical Society GEOFF
SEARL. Visit the Society’s
showroom in Bowling Green
Lane, Avalon Beach.
Times Past
80 APRIL 2022
The Local Voice Since 1991
The Local Voice Since 1991
APRIL 2022 81

Travel Life
Travel Life
Rail journey reveals NT splendour
Regarded as one of the
world’s greatest rail journeys,
The Ghan delivers so
much more than an extended
train ride, or a way to get from
point A to B. It provides access
to some of the most remote
parts of Australia – from the
Red Centre to the stunning
waterfalls of the Top End – and
offers the perfect balance of
extravagance and adventure.
Travel View’s Sharon Godden
said on board The Ghan you
will find sumptuous dining,
elegant private cabins, attentive
service, and the camaraderie
of your fellow travellers in the
lounge carriages.
“When the train stops, the
adventures continue as you
choose your off-train experiences
to create a rewarding
personal journey through Australia’s
outback,” Sharon said.
“Everything has been carefully
considered and included in
your fare so you can enjoy your
journey knowing everything
has been taken care of.”
Sharon said operator Journey
Beyond don’t just deliver epic
rail journeys, they have curated
a range of enriching holiday
packages so that you can delve
even further into this great
land, making the most of your
time in the NT.
The Ultimate Territory Tour
holiday package is the perfect
way to immerse yourself in the
heart of the Australian Outback
with hands-on experiences.
“Experience the legendary
Ghan and explore the Red Centre
and Top End with Australia’s
leading small group tour operator,
Outback Spirit,” Sharon
said. “All in one sensational
15-day itinerary through the
nation’s heartland.
“Beginning in Adelaide,
enjoy the comfort and solitude
of your private cabin on The
Ghan, lose yourself in conversation
with newfound travelling
companions, or simply gaze
out of the window, taking inspiration
from the ever-changing
landscape.”
When you arrive in the
Red Centre, you’ll enjoy two
nights’ accommodation in Alice
Springs before beginning your
five-night intimate small-group
Red Centre tour – via a luxury
state-of- the-art 4WD Mercedes-
Benz all-terrain vehicle, and
including all accommodation,
guided touring and meals.
“Venture off the beaten track
without sacrificing comfort,
professionalism and safety,
with passionate and knowledgeable
guides making every
trip an enlightening and unforgettable
experience,” Sharon
said.
“During your Red Centre tour,
you’ll visit the spectacular Kings
Canyon, the stunning rock
formations of Kata Tjuta and
admire the internationally acclaimed
‘Field of Light’ display
at Uluru.
“You re-join The Ghan to finish
your rail journey to Darwin,
before experiencing all that the
Top End has to offer.
“In Darwin, you’ll immerse
yourself in a two-night experience
exploring Kakadu, East
Alligator River and Litchfield.”
*To find out more about
booking this unforgettable
Ghan experience, meet Journey
Beyond Rail expert Gareth
at a special presentation at
Travel View Avalon on April
27; bookings essential on
9918 4444.
82 APRIL 2022
The Local Voice Since 1991