“That was Eddie’s place there,” she says, pointing to small hollow set back from the beach. It is overgrown with bamboo, and at this hour of the morning is sitting in the shade of a hill rising steeply behind it. Vines run across the yellow sand and down to the beach like cargo cultists. All around, the beach is littered with round, black, basaltic rocks, a kind of volcanic bowling alley. Some have been gathered together into a circle, a rough wire grate above them, cold black ash below, and are surrounded with translucent yellow shapes of turtle shell. “He … Continue reading The Drum on Murray Island: Mark Roy

In troubled times it’s comforting to think there may be a simple solution – and for one evening in Perth’s Forrest Place, there was. In a city where suffering had descended, a giant spider – Aranea “a kind and compassionate creature of the night” built a web capable of catching and collecting all the woes of the people, the “fear, grief, anxiety, doubt, stress, anger, loss, sadness … all the darkness we seek to let go”. Her web was then set ablaze after a ritual of fire-twirling dance, relieving burdens and lightening hearts. Cor Novis The Feast – a combination … Continue reading Aranea’s Blaze

Whose idea was it to have the brave and the foolhardy leap off Dyoondalup Point Walter jetty into the Swan River in the dark of night three weeks into winter? I’d like to give them a hug. It’s difficult for mums and teenage sons to find mutual interests so when I told my boys Rio and Hunter about the swim and Rio immediately wanted to join in I didn’t think twice about committing – at least until we were shivering on the jetty in our bathers, flanked by an encouraging crowd of Antarctic-style explorers dressed in heavy duty coats, parkas, … Continue reading One, Two, Three … GO!

On a small beach beneath the Swan River’s Stirling Bridge on a Sunday afternoon a couple are working with a vintage camera, a portable darkroom and a row of developing trays that bring to mind ‘everything including the kitchen sink’. Photographer Kristian Roosmalen and stained glass artist Hannah Maling are producing images for a project which integrates their artforms. “It was a natural progression to begin combining these passions,” Hannah said.  “As far as the photography aspect of this project goes, it is very much Kris’s domain.  “When we start getting into the combination of his [photo] plates with stained … Continue reading Snap!

After two years of observing Anzac Day Dawn Services from their front gates, restricted by Covid, an estimated 2000 people attended this year’s service at the Fremantle War Memorial on Monument Hill. Photograph by Roger Garwood. Military personnel, veterans, emergency services members and cadets joined families, pyjama-clad children, numerous dogs and teddy bears for the service, which included a reminder that Anzac Day is not about glorifying war. Like Albany, Fremantle was the last part of Australia servicemen saw when they sailed to World War I. Many of them didn’t return. Later in the morning, Fremantle’s Anzac Day March assembled at … Continue reading Fremantle’s Anzac Day

The crucifixion and resurrection of Christ is at the heart of Christian Easter commemorations worldwide. This is a small selection of pictures from the Easter Saturday re-enactment beside Fremantle’s St John’s Anglican Church. Photographs © Roger Garwood 2022 Continue reading Easter Festival