Canberra CityNews September 20

CityNews September 20-27 1CityNews September 20-27 1

Open 7 days | Free parking MaCQUarie

SEPTEMBER 20, 2012

ANNABEL LANGBEIN, the free-range cook, is coming to Canberra

Simple pleasures

COUPON INSIDE / TWO-FOR-ONE OFFER TO SEE SYDNEY LONG AT THE NGA

Election 2012: How preferences

will decide poll MICHAEL MOORE

It’s time we had better teachers ROBERT MACKLIN

Hard lesson of losing gracefully

SONYA FLADUN

The Royal treatment

WENDY JOHNSON

Think again, footy fans of little faith

TIM GAVEL

CNC-20-September p1.indd 1 18/09/12 4:26 PM

2 CityNews September 20-27

CityNews September 20-27 3

news

How Inspector Dale copped the SalvosCAPT. Dale Murray’s office is fairly customary: there’s the usual family photos, stationery and paperwork.

The only indication of the force he once served for more than half his life is placed in a small box, which he opens at the start of the interview: a collection of police service medals, neatly polished and gleaming.

“I often wonder where I would be if I had stayed with the police,” he muses.

But it was a “calling from God” that led Dale to leave the Queens-land police service in 2004, where he had served for 22 years since joining as a teenager straight out of high school.

Dale, who had just been promoted to the rank of inspector before he left the police service, still calls the change “the toughest decision” of his life, but doesn’t regret it.

“I wanted to help people; I felt this was the way I was led to go,” he says.

“I can’t explain it, and not many people understand, but I know this was what I was meant to do.”

Dale began working with people from difficult and violent back-grounds in his new role, some of whom were criminals – the sort of people he was once placing hand-cuffs on.

“One minute I was arresting

people, the next I was helping and supporting them in another way,” he says.

“It took me about six years to transition into the new role. It’s a completely different mind frame.”

Dale started as a church leader for the Salvation Army in Mt Isa and Townsville before moving to Canberra in 2010 to work as the NSW and ACT Appeals Director, respon-sible for running events such as the Red Shield Appeal.

In his role with the “Salvos”, Dale travelled to NZ three times, offering help after the Christchurch earth-quakes.

“After the second earthquake, I was there within a week and sup-ported families with members who had died in the quake,” he says.

“When we were over there we were also helping police officers emotionally; officers were allocated 10 victims, and their families to speak to – that’s a lot of trauma, so it was good to be able to help them and work together.”

Dale’s past experience as a police

officer left him with essential skills for the Salvation Army, such as re-maining “emotionally strong” when tragedy strikes.

“My past career has helped to deal with grief and trauma, as I have seen a lot of terrible things in my life, I’ve seen a lot of death and destruction, I’ve seen a lot of hurt people, and even today when I see situations as a Salvation Army of-ficer I’m impacted; but I can deal with it, I’ve got strategies in place to help me emotionally, spiritually and physically which is very important,” he says.

“The most rewarding thing about this role is seeing people’s lives changed, transformed. They come to you in despair and to help them get back on their feet, that’s one of the most rewarding things.”

Dale is happy to stay in Canberra, where he lives in Hughes with his wife and their three children.

“Canberra is a beautiful place, I love the community I deal with and I will stay here for as long as the Salvation Army needs me,” he says.

After 22 years in the police force, Dale Murray made the decision to switch to a career in the Salvos. Suddenly he’s helping some of the people he once was arresting. LAURA EDWARDS reports.

Arts&Entertainment 23-28Canberra Confidential 22Cinema 24Dining 28Fashion 21Floriade 26Garden 30Home 31Letters 10News 3-14Politics 8Puzzles 29Social Scene 15-20Sport 12

index / contacts Since 1993: Volume 18, Number 35

Editor: Ian Meikle, [email protected]: Laura Edwards, [email protected] Libby Hill, [email protected] Kathryn Vukovljak, [email protected] editor: Helen Musa, 0400 043764 [email protected] and photography: Silas Brown, 0412 718086Graphic designer: Leonie FoxContributing photographer: Andrew FinchAccounts manager: Bethany Freeman-Chandler [email protected] and circulation: Richard Watson, [email protected]

Phone 6262 9100 Fax 6262 9111 GPO Box 2448, Canberra City 2601www.citynews.com.autwitter.com/city_newsfacebook.com/canberracitynews

Chief executive officer: Greg Jones 0419 418196, [email protected] advertising executive: Ernie Nichols, 0421 077999 Advertising sales executives: Rebecca Darman 0411 225169 Sara Poguet, 0415 706758Advertising sales co-ordinator: [email protected] advertising sales: Ad Sales Connect, 02 9420 1777

Responsibility for election comment is taken by Ian Meikle, of Suite 1, Level 1, 143 London Circuit, Canberra.

Cover: Annabel Langbein, the free range cook, is coming to Canberra. Story Page 25.

Capt. Dale Murray with his police medals... “One minute I was arresting people, the next I was helping and supporting them in another way.” Photo by Silas Brown


news

Malcolm says, thanks RotaryEVENTS like the St Vincent de Paul CEO sleepout are helping to shake up the “stereotype” of homelessness, says Liberal frontbencher Malcolm Turnbull.

“The homeless person when I was a kid was typically what you’d call a ‘wino’, a man in his 60s riddled with grog, and es-sentially broken down physi-cally,” he said.

“Nowadays a lot of home-less people are young. A lot of them are women. Many are in their 20s. I think Vinnies have really helped people be aware of that.”

Turnbull was one of many

senior business and political identities who took part na-tionally in the Vinnies annual CEO sleepout in June. The Ro-tary Club of Canberra South contributed $10,000 to Vinnies via a donation to the club from Steve Thompson, of SAP Aus-tralia.

Mr Turnbull met with mem-bers of Rotary Canberra South at Parliament House and thanked them for supporting the cause.

“The measure of our hu-manity is how we treat the neediest among us,” he said.

“That is why it is so impor-tant to recognise the generos-ity of individuals such as Steve and the tireless work of chari-ties such as Rotary.”

Malcolm Turnbull with Rotary Club of Canberra South director of public relations, Natalie Johnson. Photo by Silas Brown


election 2012 / comment

Preferences the key to pollPOLITICAL parties hate strategic vot-ers. However, the Hare-Clark system is designed specifically to empower voters so that they are not tied into a party-controlled system.

Strategic voters simply list in order the candidates they believe will best represent their interests, ignoring the columns and working across the ballot paper from whatever the party or from the independ-ent columns.

Preferences really are the key to ACT elections. Only three MLAs were elected on primary votes at the last election in 2008 without the need to rely on going to preferences. They were the two party lead-ers, Jon Stanhope and Zed Seselja and then Deputy Leader, Katy Gallagher. However, their “surplus votes” were distributed ac-cording to voter preferences.

The parties want you to keep your pref-erences within the party ticket. The party scrutineers have a range of pejorative words for the votes that do not follow the party line such as “leakage”, “deserters”, “seepage”. However, voters have the power to make their own decisions about who are the best candidates to represent their interests in the ACT Assembly.

The key to effective voting is often the second, third or later choice of the voter – it has a serious impact. What the parties know is that the way voters distribute their personal preferences has huge influ-ence on who gets elected. Voters need to understand the same and distribute their votes accordingly.

The ACT Election has officially com-

menced and the Government is in care-taker mode. Candidates will have to have nominations in at noon on Wednesday, September 26. So it is time to begin think-ing about the most effective way to make votes count at the election on Saturday, October 20.

Strategic voters understand the frame-work of the three incumbent parties. The party policies and approach provide the context of how they are likely to behave. They have a track record and have well-developed and agreed policy positions to take into the Assembly. Newer parties and independents are developing their policies and trying to get them into the public are-na. Some start with a single interest and then expand beyond their initial purpose – as the Greens did 20 years ago. A strategic, committed party voter will not just look at the party purpose and platform, but will make an assessment of the individuals within the party.

The Motorist Party, unsurprisingly, has policies on public transport, roads, cy-clists and recreational motoring and mo-torcycles. However, it also has a law-and-order policy and supports small business, but does not have a published position on health and education, for example. One of its candidates, Chic Henry, has already made a major contribution to Canberra over many years through Summernats

and might appeal as a first, second or third preference to many.

The Bullet Train for Canberra Party and the Marion Lê Social Justice Party have recently gathered the support of at least 100 people each to be able to register as parties. However, although it is clear that the Bullet Train for Canberra will have a specific focus, it is not that easy to understand how it will behave on a wide range of other issues in the Assembly.

It is a different story for Marion Lê. She is well known for her advocacy work for refugees for more than a quarter of a century. She ran with the Residents Rally in the first ACT election in 1989, the Can-berra Unity Party in the second election in 1992, and has now decided to form her own party based on principles of social justice.

The principles are important. However, Marion Le is going to have to clarify her party position on where she stands on a range of issues before strategic voters will give her their first preference.

The Community Alliance Party sets out five pillars for direct community partici-pation including direct, collective decision making, open politics, citizens’ councils, petitions and an integrity commission.

Michael Moore was an independent mem-ber of the ACT Legislative Assembly (1989 to 2001) and was minister for health. Candidate profiles, Page 8

Preferences are the key to ACT elections. Only three MLAs were elected on primary votes at the last election without having to rely on preferences, writes MICHAEL MOORE



election 2012 / the candidates

Game on: time for the hopeful to nominateTHE official ACT election period has begun and intending candidates must complete the nomination process before noon on Wednesday, September 26 to be eligible to stand in the October 20 poll.

Each candidate of a registered political party and each independent candidate must complete a nomination form and provide a $250 deposit to stand for election.

Independent candidates and candidates from non-registered parties must be nominated by 20 electors eligible to vote for the electorate they are contesting.

“Nominations will be declared on September 27”, says ACT Electoral Commissioner Phillip Green. “A random draw will be conducted for each electorate to determine the ballot paper positions for each registered party. A second draw will determine the Robson rotation start-ing point for candidates within each of the party columns and the ungrouped candidates.”

Nine political parties are registered to contest the 2012 election. In 2008 eight political parties contested the election.

“CityNews” continues its look at candidates who respond to our invitation to tell us why they deserve your vote.

GINNINDERRAWhy politics?My main policy in-

terests are better pub-lic transport, drug law reform, sustainable population, civil liber-ties, and policies that give ordinary Canber-rans a “fair go”.

I was endorsed earlier this year by an Australian Demo-crats members’ ballot. However, on the ballot paper I will appear in the ungrouped column as an independent.

Why should we vote for you?

The Democrats have 31 years of parliamen-tary experience to draw on. We are the natural party of the crossbenches, the negotiators. I am contesting the election to make sure whoever forms government is accountable; to make sure the promised needle and syringe program for the Alexander Maconochie Centre goes ahead; to

fight for a stable population size that gives us a sustainable and liveable Canberra; and to work for electoral reform to enable a greater of variety of views to be represented in ACT elections.

Why politics?S u p p o r t i n g ,

working with and advocating for the unemployed, homeless people, children and young people led me to campaigning on issues and lobbying members of the Assembly.

As an elected repre-sentative for the past four years, I have been able to create positive change in people’s lives and this is what I am committed to con-tinue doing.

Why should we vote for you?Because the Greens get things done. We have a

track record of making our ideas become reality, whether it’s a new rapid bus service or improved mental health funding or tackling problem gambling. We’ve also been leading the way on improving the safety of our children and better supporting children in and transitioning out of the care and protection system. Many Canber-rans vote Green because they know the Legisla-tive Assembly is better with Greens in it.

Why politics?I am a veterinar-

ian with international experience and most recently a public serv-ant. I have left the pub-lic service to fulfil a passion for serving the electorate. I am proud to be representing the Liberal Democratic Party as the party is a best fit for my personal philosophy of building the voice of the indi-vidual in order they may be heard, and of individual responsibil-ity.


My party, the LDP, offers a constructive alter-native with a significant point of difference from the usual players – thus expanding the choices for voters, and contributing to democracy.

MOLONGLOWhy politics?My mum, who mi-

grated from Italy, was a very driven person and instilled a strong work ethic in me. It is this work ethic which has driven me to give Canberrans a better government – one which listens and advocates on their behalf.


As a local Canberra mum, people should

vote for me because I won’t triple their rates. I think local government should spend taxpay-ers’ money as wisely as you and I spend our family budgets. ACT Labor and the Greens plan to triple household rates in coming years and I won’t let that happen. Instead, we will manage taxpayers’ money properly to provide better lo-cal services and lower rates and charges for all our families.

Why politics?I’m in politics

because I care pas-sionately about making Canberra (and the world) a more sustainable and fairer place to live for everyone. I stood for the Greens last elec-tion, never thinking I would be elected, but to advance these principles and the Greens’ ideas. Since being elected, I have

been privileged to be able to turn many of these ideas into realities and to work with the people of Canberra for a better future.

Why should we vote for you?You should vote for me, and the rest of the

Green team, because we have made a real differ-ence. We’ve delivered things such as more cycle paths and footpaths, solar hot water for new houses and more funding for health. We’ve stood up for residents’ right to have a say about de-velopment in their neighbourhood. The Greens have stood up for small businesses and improved government policies to help create green jobs for a more prosperous future economy.

Why politics?I grew up in Can-

berra, and I’ve always loved the open spaces and natural environ-ment as well as the safe and caring community here. This is what I want to preserve and improve and our local Assembly is where I felt I could make a con-tribution.


We’ve made a great start in turning things around to make sure that Canberra has a more sustainable and fairer future. I would like to be re-elected to continue making our city one that is better connected, especially by getting started on building a light rail network. I also want our city to be a place where our natural environment is protected for all of us to enjoy, where kids can swim in our lakes, and our nature reserves and parks are well maintained.

BRINDABELLAWhy politics?I saw it as a way I

could contribute to the community, and advocate for and make changes in the areas I am passionate about. I believe it is important to have the Greens in par-liament so that issues around social justice and sustainability are considered in the poli-cies and legislation that is developed, so that we can have a positive future for everyone.

Why should we vote for you?I am passionate about mental health and the

Greens have been able to have millions of dollars more in funding dedicated to this area. Through making something like mental health a priority, we are raising an issue that is stigmatised and misunderstood which helps people in the com-munity with a mental illness and their carers to be recognised and acknowledged. Disability is an area I would like to do more in if re-elected, so that everyone in Canberra has the opportunity to be connected to their community and contrib-ute to their potential.

Darren Churchill, Australian Democrats (ACT Division)

Meredith Hunter, Greens

Caroline Le Couteur, Greens

Amanda Bresnan, Greens

Shane Rattenbury, Greens

Giulia Jones, Canberra Liberals

Matt Thompson, Liberal Democrats


news

Kitchen spill spins kids’ bookIT seemed fairly trivial at the time; but an accident in the kitchen formed the idea behind Sandra Bennett’s new children’s book.

“We had an accident with a gingerbread maker one day, and I realised I could make a story out of it – about what else could go wrong in the kitchen,” she says.

Sandra, who lives in Royalla, believes that “from ordinary everyday situations, extraor-dinary stories that are fun and entertaining can evolve.”

Her first published children’s book, “Gingerbread Aliens”, fol-lows three cheeky brothers who encounter mystery when their school closes down after “havoc in the kitchen”.

She describes the book as “sci-ence fiction with a big dose of humour”.

“It’s a lot of fun, and I think it’s something parents will re-ally enjoy reading to their kids,” she says.

The book includes illustra-tions by Hayley Welsh, and for three weeks has remained top of Canberra’s Paperchain best-seller list for the children and

young adult category. A primary school teacher for

25 years, Sandra had always loved reading but wanted to share her passion of writing with children in the classroom.

“I decided my future lay in sharing that passion with others through teaching and bringing the joy of words to children in the classroom,” she says.

With three sons of her own, Sandra believes kids can “get lost” in computer games from an early age, and that it’s important to “bring them back to basics”.

“I think there’s far too many other distractions these days, and to bring kids back to books is what I want to be able to do,” she says.

“If they’re going to do any-thing in the world, they need to read first. I think a lot of books have a lesson all the time, it puts them off and it’s not as fun. My major point is for them to have fun and enjoy it. I’m not really worried about kids learning a lesson, I’m just trying to get them to read.”

Since she left teaching in the

ACT in 2009, Sandra has been working for her husband and wants to continue writing, with plans to make “Gingerbread Aliens” into a three-part series.

“It’s been so popular – at

a book reading in Manuka I couldn’t believe how many peo-ple turned up,” she says.

“I just love seeing a child’s face light up when you read to them.”

Author Sandra Bennett... “From ordinary everyday situations, extraordinary stories that are fun and entertaining can evolve.” Photo by Silas Brown

Hospital helpSOUTHERN Cross 10 has donated the $81,000 raised locally from its network’s recent “Give Me 5 for Kids” fundraiser to Canberra Hospital. Chief Minister and Minister for Health Katy Gal-lagher accepted the cheque saying: “The first stage of our new Centenary Hospital for Women and Children officially opened on August 4, and this donation will contribute greatly to the purchase of items to enhance patient and family-centred care.”

School fairYARRALUMLA Montes-sori School, located on the grounds of the Yarralumla Public School, will celebrate its 30th Anniversary Spring Fair, 10am-2pm, on Sunday, November 11. There will be a barbecue, coffee cart, hand-made arts and crafts for sale, a cake stall, a plant stall, silent auction and children’s activities and games. Every-one is invited to create a small drawing on a square of fabric that will be made into the 30th anniversary patchwork quilt to commemorate the history and community around the school.

Kitchen champsFOR the second consecutive year, Merici College has won the Teen Chefs competition. Merici’s team of four Year 11 students, Shae Walsh, Georgia Allen, Stephanie Markee and Rachel Donohoe, triumphed over Stromlo High School and Daramalan College in cooking a three-course menu, plus an additional dish thrown in by chef Tom Moore for the final cook-off.

Jewellery galoreWORK by some of the region’s best jewellery designers and artists will be showcased at the Old Bus Depot Markets’ annual “Jewel of Canberra” theme day on Sunday, November 11. “Each of our designers will be offering one-of-a-kind pieces, perfect for those who prefer to stand out from the crowd,” said Old Bus Depot Markets’ director, Morna Whiting. “It’s the variety and choice of handcrafted pieces that make this day so popular.”

briefly

Laura Edwards reports


opinion letters

Power to crusade for top teachers Greens standSORRY, Patricia Saunders (letters, CN September 13), when you study politics as a major, then work with numbers of Federal Ministers and their staff over many years and then become president of an ACT community political party, you learn to read between the lines.

Many of the Greens’ policies at Federal and State level are pipe dreams with little economic credibility. Their idealistic proposals are usually based on the fact that they do not have to concern themselves with stumping up the money to pay the costings attributed to them.

And when we have Greens MLAs in the Assembly, including the Speaker, either not immediately criticising illegal actions (and then being forced by public opinion to do so) or giving tacit approval to those actions as was the case of the attack on CSIRO facilities, it doesn’t take an intelligent person too much time to figure out where the Greens actually stand.

Ric Hingee, Duffy

Questioning MooreI QUESTION the reality of Michael Moore’s statement (CN, September 13): “The vast majority of heterosexual couples are not particularly concerned about the issue of gay marriage.”

On what basis does he claim this statement to be fact? What research did he conduct to arrive at this conclusion? The opinion of individual Australians on the gay marriage issue will be known if the issue is put to a vote. We have a Federal election coming up in 2013.

Lois Owers via email

Letters are invited from “CityNews” readers. Let loose to [email protected] or write to the editor at GPO Box 2448, Canberra 2601. Letters of 200 words or less stand a better chance of publication.

THE best thing about Julia Gillard’s education “crusade” is her determination to raise the standard and status of teachers.

And lest I be accused of special pleading, let me confess immedi-ately that I am married to one of Canberra’s most beloved teachers.

Wendy has devoted a lifetime to the joyous musical and general ed-ucation of young Territorians. And even now, when she might be put-ting her feet up, painting or com-posing her children’s songs (she has created the anthems for half a dozen of our primary schools), she returns as a relief teacher one or two days a week.

But while she enjoys the chal-lenge, she has been witness to the progressive fall in the place teach-ers occupy in our community. And, sadly, it has occurred in line with the feminisation of the profession, particularly in primary school.

Teaching has become the sec-ondary job within a partnership and, while women are wonderful teachers, they are the first to say that there’s a desperate need for

more men on staff, especially with the marked increase in single parent and blended families. Boys from such families can be greatly assisted by the male mentor and role model. But if you want more men you have to increase the pay and the status of the job.

Moreover, classroom teachers are called upon to accept ever-increasing responsibilities for the social development of the pupil in addition to formal instruction. This involves additional training and skills development of a high order which should add not just to

greater job satisfaction, but more take home pay as well.

Raising the standards of indi-vidual teachers would also improve the quality of their representatives. I have had personal dealings with teachers’ union leaders at the national level and they are, sadly, second rate. Most would be more appropriate running the Builders Labourers’ Federation.

Teaching, like journalism, oc-cupies that equivocal position be-tween trade and profession, but the best practitioners see it as a voca-tion, and that is not reflected in the

snarling outbursts of the teachers’ union leadership. Better teachers will elect better leaders.

We have three parallel systems in Australia. The expensive inde-pendent schools somehow manage to eliminate the hard cases: the class disrupters and the seriously disadvantaged. The Catholic and Evangelical group undermine the quest for true understanding with their religious instruction. The public school teachers have to deal with the full spectrum, from the brightest to the most needy, and with many parents who have aban-doned their own responsibilities.

I strongly suspect that if the Gil-lard crusade succeeds, the best and the brightest teachers will increas-ingly avoid the soft option and the religious institutions, and make their way into the public system. And as they bring new status and esteem to the public schools, par-ents (and pupils) will reverse the trend and follow.

Julia Gillard, I suggest, is very well aware of this most important effect of her crusade. If so, she is showing a rare and delightfully subtle approach to policy making. More power to her.

[email protected]

dose of dorin

Robert Macklin the gadfly



Sporting Confidentialwith Tim Gavel

Fans of little faith, think againBrave HartYOUNG Canberra motor racer Mathew Hart has been invited to the US to trial in the starter class for the Indy Cars. Admittedly, it’s a long way from this category to the Indy Cars. Mathew says he is willing to give it a go. He is currently second in the Formula Fords in Australia and is keen to take the next step, whatever that may be.

He could end up in the V8s, Formula One, Indy Cars, who knows; it won’t be for lack of trying nor support from his family and the likes of local businessman Pat Seers.

Rower to sailorSARAH Cook has been involved in row-ing for most of her pre-adult and adult life, so it comes as no surprise that she has been tempted to try another sport.

After two Olympics as a rower, Sarah is trying her hand at sailing for Rio in four years’ time. By her own admission, she is a novice in the sport, but she is ready for the challenge. Her attributes include the fitness and strength of an elite athlete, a competitive spirit that comes with being an Olympic rower, and a strong will to succeed.

Good luck to her; it’s a gamble. If she can pull it off it will go down as one of the more remarkable changeovers in Australian sport.

WHEN things weren’t going well midway through this NRL season and the Raiders were close to the bottom of the ladder, some supporters took their frustrations out on the coach, the players and anybody who dared to suggest that we should have faith in the club.

As the losses mounted the vitriol became more and more personal, much of it was directed at the coach, David Furner. Some questioned his credentials, others his ability to get the best out of his players. There were also questions about the family nature of the Raiders’ hierarchy and whether it was transparent.

The players were heckled as they left the field during losses to the Wests-Tigers and the Gold Coast. It was getting ugly.

I was getting inundated with emails from disgruntled supporters calling for the club to sack Furner and replace him with Ricky Stuart. There was next to no chance of that happening, but through social media, rumours took on a life of their own.

There was little analysis of why the team wasn’t performing; there was little acceptance that injuries were a key factor with nine players on the sidelines during the dark days. Take playmakers out of any side in the competition and it will struggle.

It happened at the Brumbies with the loss of their two first-string fly halves. That’s what happened at the Raiders with Terry Campese’s injury.

History will show the Raiders turned their season around big time once they were able to put the same team on the field week after week. The hope is that those supporters who turned on the coach and the team won’t be so quick next time.

Mathew Hart

Sarah Cook



IT was a lot of fun while it lasted, those days and nights curled up on the couch with the kids wide-eyed watching the gymnastics, athletics and equestrian events at the Olympics.

But I did breathe a sigh of relief when the closing ceremonies for the Olympics and Para-lympics arrived and the endless questions – such as why are the rings different colours? What is doping? How heavy is a discus? Can you buy gold medals on EBay? – gradually faded away.

But my kiddies are still in the grips of the Olympics, dreaming of one day donning the green and gold and winning medals of Aus-tralia for something, anything.

Sporting activities in our household have taken on a much more serious dimension. Where once “just having fun” was good enough; now being the best is becoming an issue. Words such as “failure” and “loser” have crept into the games they play, as has the sudden appearance of tears when they don’t come first.

I always figured learning to lose is part of life and the art of losing gracefully is an important social skill. You can usually pick those adults who never acquired the knack. They are the ones pacing around the sports field yelling instructions to their kids, or be-rating umpires or coaches, or their own poor hapless child who doesn’t win.

But the truth is (and I am totally at fault here) many modern parents often tell their kids they are the best and can do anything they want to. We do it because we love them and want to instil that all important sense of self-worth and confidence that many of us who had a parent with a more boots-and-braces approach to parenting may not have received. But sometimes we can go a bit far and forget that the acceptance of limitations, and the acknowledgment that others may be better at something, is a crucial social skill.

Ultimately, the most important thing sport can teach kids is to be a better person. Not just through winning, but also through showing commitment, building resilience and being brave enough to just give something a bit of a go. And like all things, as parents, how we re-act, and what we model is what will ultimately determine not only how well our children win, but also how well they cope with the occa-sional inevitability of being on the losing side.

Ned heads for ‘home’THE National Gallery of Australia has announced that a curated exhibition of Sidney Nolan’s celebrated “Ned Kelly” series of paintings will travel to Ireland.

Australia’s most famous bushranger wasn’t born in Ireland, but his ancestors were, and he was often enough made to feel as if he belonged there.

Readers may recall the National Museum of Australia’s huge exhibition last year, “Not Just Ned: A true history of the Irish in Australia”. Then there was the Canberra Friends of Ireland Society concert at the gal-lery’s James O Fairfax Theatre, called “Not only Nolan”, where Irish pianist Elaine Loe-benstein improvised music to a screening of the Nolan images.

Irish Ambassador, Noel White, was busy congratulating himself and the NGA direc-tor, Ron Radford, at the announcement of this cultural coup, but some present were wondering why on earth the former NGA director Brian Kennedy, an Irishman, didn’t think of it when he was here.

The answer is, he probably did.After showing in Dublin, the Kelly series

will travel on to the US, where one of its stops will be the Toledo Museum of Art in Ohio – Dr Kennedy is the director there. –Helen Musa

A section from “Ned Kelly”, 1946, by Sidney Nolan.

mum in the cityHard lesson of losing gracefullySonya Fladun mum in the city


scene Canberra’s only locally-owned Subaru dealerBROUGHT TO

YOU BY ROLFE SUBARU

At the launch of Floriade, Commonwealth Park, Parkes

Diane Morris and Tom Vasey

Floriade designers Paul Bombardier and Giselle Coggan

Joan Waldren, Harriet Elvin, Cindy Young and Dorothy Barclay Chris Faulks, Ian Cox and Cathy Hudson Cathryn Evans, Paul Mallett, Damon Smith and Amanda Irvine

Floriade head gardener Andrew Forster and Peter Byron

Zoe Bowman, Melissa Holcroft and Dianne Ireland

Michelle Rhind, Morna Whiting and Kira Grantham

Jenny Priest and Fleur Flanery

Floriade ambassador Leona Edmiston and guest speaker Jamie Durie


scene ROLFE SUBARU AT PHILLIP & BELCONNEN

At Brassey of Canberra’s 85th birthday celebrations At the Independence of Mexico celebration, Yarralumla

David Fernandez, Anna Raminez and Gomzalo Lugo

Catherine Bandle, Catherine Chapman and Lucy Wells Carlos Obando, Maria Mendez and Elias Lopez

Maria Lopez, Emily Joehak Escosar, Anna Lara and Susana Sanchez

Ellen Jino, Inge Slipper and Sri Lankan high commissioner Admiral Thisara Samarasinghe

Richard Rowe, French ambassador Stephane Romatet and Allan Williams

Brazillian ambassador Rubem Barbosa with Uruguayan ambassador Alberto Fajardo

Jurek Juszczyk with Lisa, Laura and Graeme Wilson

Irene Bisa, Marylou Pooley, Peter Edersen and Christine Sproat

Julie Wheeler, Harold and Nancy Ganter, Meredith Nicol and Bruce Wheeler

Rose Pearce, Carol Scott and Liz Bendeich

Bob Winnel and host Mark Sproat

Ally Kim, Anna Sutherland, David Curtis and Annika Rigby



sceneAt Vienna Boys’ Choir in Canberra, Forrest At Bangarra’s ‘Terrain’ opening night, Canberra Theatre Centre

Colette and Ric Lucas and Reina Shannon

Edeltraud and France Nieterkofler, Sabine Scheiner and Marlies Dressler

Katie and David Eccleston Christine Goode and Bronwyn Halbisch

Darrell Tryon and Richard Rowe

Asa Rowe and Fiona Spencer Suzannah Bayes-Morton, David Page and Frances Rings

Michelle and Jenny Norris with Lorna Sim

Anastasia and Jeanette Zvargulis Lin and Kara Stapleton

Nicole Lustre, Tessa Dunn, Alenka Nappo, Louise Chapman, Emma Jeffery and Lucy Smith

Helani Laisk, Annelise Roberts and Anne Laisk

Stephanie Russo, Karen Ho and Jemma Suigos


scene ROLFE SUBARU AT PHILLIP & BELCONNEN

At Geocon’s cocktails with Jamie Durie, National Gallery At Canberra Short Film Festival drinks, Dendy, Civic

Dallas Bland, Sarah Mason and Che BakerMike Curnow, Nadine Bush, host Nick Georgalis, Jamie Durie, Kate Rea and Michael Andrew

Andrew Clark and Jessica LewSofia Basic, Mili Dukic, Sonya Georgalis and Natasa Sikman

Adam and Nicol UrbaniakNarelle and Josh Staniforth and Alina O’Donnell Tania Parkes and Rob Smyth

Megan Watson and Fiona Edge

Catharine Georgiou and Nathan Townsend Christian Doran and Ben Woods

Graham and Lucy Gall


fashion

All bags bright and beautiful

SPRING’S handbags make a statement with pretty pastels and bold brights to take us away from last season’s neutral palette. With colours such as seafoam, powder blue and pink in classic

shapes, these bags are vibrant but elegant. Fashion editor LIBBY HILL spent a day at the Canberra Centre searching for some of the best...

Soph handbag in powder blue, $249, from David Lawrence.

Del Rey mini day bag in ultramarine, $249, from Saba.

Del Rey clutch in milk, $199, from Saba.

Amelia bag in red, $249, from David Lawrence.

Tough romance handbag in seafoam, $450, from Mimco.

Patent turnlock zip top in black, $499, from Mimco.

Molten hobo in courtesan pink, $499, from Mimco.


Canberra Confidential Know something? / [email protected]

Funny Barr noneDEPUTY Chief Minister Andrew Barr finally noticed the Centenary in the room and gently took a dig at creative director Robyn Archer’s never ending story at her VIP launch of the Centenary program earlier this month.

During his speech at the beautifully-scheduled Floriade opening, Barr recalled the mammoth presentation (which oscillated between passion, tedium, singing and ukulele playing), quipping: “For those of you who had experience of Robyn Archer’s two-hour launch of the Centenary program, possibly felt as I did, exhausted, and that we’d already lived through the Centenary.”

Rocket manCELEBRITY gardener and former stripper Jamie Durie stole the show at the Floriade launch. The pocket rocket was in good humour assuring everybody, when he first went on stage, that he was in fact standing up and, yep, he’s much shorter in real life. Durie went on to mention his former work as a Manpower stripper, saying he had no problems going “from hot pants to pot plants”.

Naughty GenevieveAND while we’re on the subject of speeches at the Floriade launch, MC and ABC 666 pre-senter Genevieve Jacobs roused some giggles with a bit of naughty talk. Jacobs, who wore a low-cut Leona Edmiston frock, likened gardening to sex saying the two pleasures are addictive. Right. There was a blush-making line about a zucchini, too...

Do-or-die for DazWe shall fight in the fields and in the streets,

we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender... THAT’S Winston Churchill, but it might as well be his local namesake, Darren Churchill, the perennial candidate for public office. Having snared a less than dazzling 192 first-preference votes in Ginninderra at the 2008 poll, Daz just hasn’t heard the voice of the people. He’s back into the fray, hoping to top his PB 0.3 per cent following for the Australian Democrats in the northern electorate. Darren doubles as ACT party president and tirelessly stands for parlia-

ment, any parliament, having also had a crack at the Federal seat of Fraser in 2007 and chased a Senate spot in 2010.

Parking mysteryREGULAR readers of “CC” will recall the column’s pout about fluoro stickers on the $12-a-day parking machines announcing specifically that the price of all-day parking would increase by $1.50 a day from Septem-ber 3. Mysteriously, the stickers disappeared and the machines remained fully sated at $12.

“CC” wondered why: Political nervousness about the fees going up this close to the elec-tion, we innocently mused? After calling TAMS we were passed rather strangely to the Justice and Community Safety Directorate. The sweet communications officer wouldn’t take a question over the phone and insisted on our sending an email. We did. And someone we’d never spoken to called Danielle Krajina, wrote back, straight faced that the stickers were “wrongly placed” on the machines and then proffered Parking Operations’ apologies “to the Canberra community for any inconvenience”. That would be the inconven-ience of having more money in our pocket, we suppose. And a prediction: The stickers will be back around, oh, Monday, October 22.

Bring out your bagsWITH the promise of “recycling at its most fashionable”, the ACT Women’s Legal Centre

is urging women with too many handbags and baubles (“CC” hasn’t met one yet) to drop their excesses off at the centre (8 Piguenit Close, North Lyneham) in support of its annual Bags ‘n’ Bling fundraiser, from 5pm, on Wednesday, September 26.

With legal precision, they urge: “Come along on the night for a glass of bubbly and to bag your own bargain (cheap cheap cheap) – one woman’s trash is another woman’s treasure!”

More information at 6257 4377 or email [email protected]

Snappers unitedWHAT would you call a group of photog-raphers? “CC” doesn’t know either, so we googled a group of snappers. No good. Next logical projection: snappers to crocodiles. Bingo! En masse, the Oxford Dictionary tells us they’re called a “bask”.

So, from 3pm on Sunday, September 30 a “bask of snappers” will be wandering the bushes of the Botanic Gardens in the spring Photowalk, organised by local commercial photographer Hilary Wardhaugh, who says it’s a chance for any person, irrespective of age or ability, to get together and have “a lovely walk, get some fresh air and meet other photographically minded people”.

“CityNews” snapper-to-the-stars Silas Brown also plans to be there, like he needs the practice.

“It is meant to be all inclusive whether you own a DSLR, a compact or just a phone-cam,” says Hilary.

“If we get enough photowalkers they’ll keep the cafe open for coffee until 5pm, so it’d be great to know if you are going to come.”

RSVP to Hilary on 0418 255416 or email [email protected]

Gary’s making plansFORMER member for Eden-Monaro Gary Nairn has been out of the spotlight for a while, but he’s making headlines again after scoring a big gig in the new NT Country Liberal Party Govern-ment.

The “NT News” complains that incoming Chief Minister Terry Mills broke an election promise by not advertising Nairn’s new job.

“Former CLP president and qualified surveyor Gary Nairn, who left the Territory 20

years ago and became a Liberal Party federal politician, will be head of the new Planning Commission,” the paper reports.

Nairn, who was an MP for 11 years in the Howard Government, had previously lived in the NT where he was CLP president between 1990 and 1994.

Silly suburbsCLEARLY the grind of the backbench is getting to him. The Federal member for Fraser, Andrew Leigh, is seeking to put some “celebrity” into Canberra’s approach-ing centenary and has encouraged locals to come up with the “silliest suggestions of celebrities after whom your suburb could have been named” on his blog.

Suggestions so far include Hughes after cricketer Merv Hughes, Pearce after Guy Pearce, and Russell after Russell Crowe. And there’s bonus points for the first and last name – props to those who suggested Har-rison Forde, adult film actress Paige Turner, and ANU economist Bruce Chapman.

Dogs are barkingBut I would walk 500 milesAnd I would walk 500 moreJust to be the man who walked 1000 milesTo fall down at your door

SO goes the old “Proclaimers” hit “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)”, something of an anthem for door-knocking politicians everywhere – and they are everywhere at the moment. But from Silas Brown’s privacy-invading shot of Liberal MLA Alistair Coe’s resting shoe, four years walking the front garden paths of Ginninderra are clearly taking their toll on his dogs.

Smacker for RosSERVICE with a... who’s that Press Club waiter about to plant a smacker on the unsuspecting cheek of the Opposition

Leader’s wife, Ros Seselja? As in life, it’s all a matter of timing and perspective. Snapper Silas Brown took these shots at the Great Election Debate at Gandel Hall when Zed

was zeroing in on Mrs S for a supportive peck after his performance against Labor’s Katy Gallagher. He got there.


arts & entertainment Wendy JohnsonThe Royal treatment

TO conductor Rick Prakhoff and vocal director Alan Hicks, Benjamin Britten’s happiest opera, “Albert Herring”, is just about the perfect opera for a bunch of serious opera students.

It’s also a pretty effective antidote to unfortunate goings-on at the School of Music.

An ensemble piece, as Prakhoff explains to “CityNews”, it gives the students ample opportunity to work simultaneously with the conductor director – The Street’s Caroline Stacey – and the 13-piece chamber orchestra, led by Barbara Jane Gilby.

Prakhoff is here for the whole month of September, so the usual process of first rehearsing the parts with a repetiteur, and then doing the music, then introducing the director, coalesces to create an experience often missing from large-scale productions.

It’s also double cast, to give the students a chance at the good roles, and that, as Hicks says, “expands the rehearsal process proper, but consolidates it”.

Best of all, it’s a heart-warming story and riotously funny. Set in an English village, the bumbling grocery clerk Albert is crowned king of the May because there aren’t enough virgins around to be Queen. He lashes out for a night and learns to become his own man, telling his fearsome mother “that’s enough”, just as Britten longed to do with his own formidable mum.

I’ll bet readers know an Albert Herring – I know I do.Prakhoff is pleased to be back in Canberra collaborating with Stacey as he

did with the thrilling contemporary opera, “Jane Eyre”. He’s as sure as I am that Canberrans will recognise some of the characters, as Britten pokes fun at the pompous burgers of any tight-knit community anywhere. It could even be Queanbeyan.

Stacey suggested the opera to Hicks as a good choice for students, since there are roles to share around to help “plant the seeds” for future performance careers.

And though as Prakhoff puts it, “Britten is such a brilliant orchestrator”, his music is also deceptively complicated, another justification for doing the opera with advanced students.

“He’s just a genius,” Prakhoff enthuses.And on that point, we all agree.“Albert Herring,” The Street Theatre, 7.30pm, September 28-30 and 2pm, Septem-

ber 30, bookings to 6247 1223 or www.thestreet.org.au

THOUGH billed as a comedy, this play by Neil Simon has all the earmarks of a more serious drama. Under the strong hand of Punch McGregor, the cast members take control of the plum roles – two sons, two daughters and two grandsons of a dominating German Jewish immigrant grandma, teetering on the brink of tragedy while making us laugh.

Set in and around a candy store in Yonkers, New York, the play sees the 13 and 15-year-old boys Arty (Pippin Carroll) and Jay (Lachlan Ruffy) more trapped than lost in Yonkers when their father (Colin Milner) is forced to go interstate to earn money and leave them with grandma. These three convince us with their warmth.

The eccentric cameo roles of gangster Uncle Louie and nervous Aunt Gertie are beautifully played by Paul Jackson and Elaine Noon, who could well have stolen the limelight were it not for stunning performances by

Bridgette Black as the childlike Aunt Bella and Helen Vaughan-Roberts as the formidable Grandma Kurnitz.

The scene where mother and daughter face uncomfortable truths is truly moving. Handled without mawkishness, we catch a glimpse beneath the iron surface of grandma, yet Vaughan-Roberts remains steely and unsentimental.

The production is notable for its restraint and taste, acted out on a beautiful set by Andrew Kay and backed by a period soundscape devised by Jonathan Pearson. Strongly recommended.

“SHAKESPEARE can be so wonderful, but this is something you can have a giggle at,” actress Harriet Dyer tells me.

She’s talking about the coming Bell Shake-speare production “The School for Wives”.

No, you haven’t missed an important work from the Shakespearean canon. This one is by

France’s answer to Shakespeare, Moliere, and one of the company’s occasional forays into other classical traditions.

If Dyer’s account is anything to go by, it’s

a lot of fun. She gets to play the innocent heroine, Agnes, in a play that pokes fun at traditional male attitudes to marriage and has audiences feeling “a lot of empathy” for her character as she battles the intentions of her would-be older husband, Arnolde.

It’s a tightly-written work in a 24-hour time frame and, she says, the production by Lee Lewis is very physical, the servants “roll around” a lot and there’s a dance at the end, a change from tragedies “where the stage is littered with people bleeding to death”.

Only 14 months out of the Actors’ Centre in Sydney, Dyer has “done all right”, with roles in “Pygmalion” for Sydney Theatre Company and in “Time Stands Still” for Darlinghurst Theatre.

This is her first role with Bell and she’s finding the language “kind-of, quite easy”.

The Aussie translation by Justin Fleming may be in rhyming couplets, but “the language itself is very modern and so not as complex as Shakespeare,” she says.

And hers is a plum role. Moliere married a very young woman so, in his plays, “marriage was fair game”, which is why the play feels very contemporary.

And there’s a happy ending for Agnes. “My character comes out on top, showing

that good things happen to good people,” she says.

The fun thing about the optimistic ending, she says, is that you can see it right from the start, a lot like “Romeo and Juliet”.

So is Agnes as simple as everybody makes out? Not a bit, Dyers says. “It’s true she starts off not knowing where babies come from, so I’ve been very careful not to make her too dumb.

“She’s called simple a lot by Arnolde, because he just doesn’t understand how complex she is… she’s simple in the sense that her mind is not clouded, yet she has a strong sense of curiosity.

“If I’m having a bad day as Harriet, it’s a real pleasure to be on stage as Agnes and forget all about that.”

“School for Wives”, The Playhouse, September 25-October 6. Bookings to 6275 2700 or canber-ratheatrecentre.com.au

Singer Robert Shearer in the title role of “Albert Herring” at The Street. Photo by Lorna Sim

September it may be, but it’s the merry month of May at The Street Theatre as Benjamin Britten’s happiest opera, “Albert Herring”, prepares to hit the stage, writes HELEN MUSA

Raising voices for ‘Albert Herring’

Harriet Dyer with John Adam in “The School for Wives”. Photo by Brett Boardman

Fun’s the lesson in this school for wives

Helen Musa arts editor

Comedy with a serious sidetheatre“Lost in Yonkers” Canberra RepertoryDirected by Angela Punch McGregorAt Theatre 3, Acton, until September 29.Reviewed by Helen Musa


Dougal Macdonaldcinema

arts & entertainment / reviews

musicGuitar Trek – 25th Anniversary Wesley Music CentreReviewed by Clinton White

“Madagascar 3 – Europe’s Most Wanted” (PG) A RED-HAIRED French lady cop, big of bosom and buttock, wants to bag Alex the lion for her trophy room.

In Paris, Alex, together with Melman the giraffe, Gloria the hippo and Marty the zebra, a team of techno-savvy penguins and a troupe of performing monkeys are desperate to get home to the security of the New York Zoo.

They find themselves in a railway marshalling yard beside a circus train. And hop on board, to the delight of a seal, a cheetah and a bear.

The chase plot unfolds in loosely-linked episodes offering comic and dramatic diversions, with the circus just a couple of jumps ahead of the cop as it crosses Europe in search of an impresario who will sign it up for a tour in the US.

The animation is a credit to a big team in India that delivers a quality product while saving Dreamworks a large pot of money. Writer/director Eric Darnell brings the various elements together in a film for kids to enjoy. And who’s to say how old you need to be to stop being a kid.

At all cinemas

“Beasts of the Southern Wild” (M)

RISING sea levels have led to the building of

levees protecting the land from the waters beyond called the Bathtub, where the inhabit-ants are poor, socially outcast, unhealthy, little educated and materially deprived.

Since her mother’s death, seven-year-old Hushpuppy lives with her father Wink on a floating shack built on the tray cut from a pick-up truck. Wink, dying from a terminal condition, is raising her to survive in a world where she must rely on her own resources.

There’s not much joy, pleasure or humour reflecting off the screen from writer/director Benh Zeitlin’s courageous feature debut. But, by

golly, its emotional energy is profound and its visual statements are compelling. The ice floes have carried down the bodies of aurochs and they have found the Bathtub area congenial. But these prehistoric ancestors of modern cattle (the last was sighted in 1627) have reincarnated as giant pigs and their influence on the story is an unexpected delight.

In a convincing, powerful and heartwarming performance, Quvenzhané Wallis, as Hushpuppy, carries a cinematic tour de force to impressive heights.

At Dendy

“The Watch” (MA) THIS is a movie for people who tolerate, even enjoy, plots with low-range credibility, delivered with unrestrained profanity, vulgarity and stupidity.

In Glenview Iowa, after the violent death of the nightwatchman, Costco manager Evan (Ben Stiller) calls for volunteers to form a neighbour-hood watch group to catch the killer.

Bob (Vince Vaughn), Franklin (Jonah Hill) and Jamarcus (Richard Ayoade) are the only takers. Each has his reason, not really connected to neighbourhood-watch principles.

The film is written by a trio including Seth Rogen, whose place in the pantheon of the stupid American comedy genre is front and centre.

The denouement, in the truest tradition of problem solving, involves a lot of gunfire and a big explosion. Been there, done that. Yawn.

At all cinemas, except Greater Union

Zoo crew joins the circus

A moving meditation HOW do you create a score inspired by a place where the silence is overwhelming?

Whatever the challenges, composer David Page has come up with a truly beautiful and sensual soundtrack for Bangarra’s “Terrain”.

Lake Eyre (Kati Thanda) was the inspiration for Frances Ring’s choreography, Page’s composition, Stephen Page’s direction, Jacob Nash’s set design, Karen Norris’s lighting and Jennifer Irwin’s costumes. What a brilliant job they have done.

This stunning creation is like watching a moving meditation, where the music and stage design entice the dancers to make their way through the landscape.

“Terrain” is quite different from Bangarra’s other recent offerings – the dancing is softer, gentler, while still clearly rooted in indigenous in-fluence, it’s more subtly integrated into the contemporary style.

Nine beautiful transitions make up “Terrain”, from a calling heard in suburbia to return to the land; of reclaiming land to rebirth and the many cycles of the Lake – arid, fullness, salt, to the scars inflicted on the land by man.

Although not perfectly executed throughout, the female dancing appeared developed from previous shows. Dancers move across the stage, often locked together like creatures traversing the lake and surrounds, seeming to skate across saltbeds.

Deborah Brown was captivating, as always, in “Reflect”, before being joined by the ensemble for the colourful “Deluge” – the finale for a show that was over too soon.

dance“Terrain”Bangarra Dance TheatreAt Canberra Theatre. Season closed.Reviewed by Samara Purnell

A DELIGHTFUL program and a birthday cake were the treats in a double anniversary celebration – 25 years for Guitar Trek and 10 years for the Wesley Music Centre.

Guitar Trek’s foundation member Timothy Kain, along with fellow Trek-kers Minh Le Hoang, Bradley Kunda and Matthew Withers, played music crossing a couple of centuries and a few cultures. Australian composers dominated with Phillip Houghton’s “News from Nowhere”, Nigel Westlake’s “Six Fish” and Graeme Koehne’s “To His Servant Bach”.

The quartet was in perfect

balance with all players giving each other the space needed for leads or emphasis. Most striking was the expression they achieved both individually and collectively. Drama and bliss, funny and sad, wistful and forceful – they played them all.

They were surprised by the reception the audience gave their performance. They shouldn’t be. They were well-deserving of it.

Trek’s birthday treat

Aria winner Regina Daniel.

Regina wins national operatic finalBy Ian McLeanSYDNEY Conservatorium of Music graduate Re-gina Daniel, who had charmed the audience with aria’s from “The Rake’s Progress” by Stravinsky and Rossini’s “L’occasione fa il Ladro”, has won the $15,000 first prize in the Australian National Eisteddfod’s 2012 National Operatic Aria.

From an initial field of 21 talented entrants, six were chosen to contest the final before an appreciative and enthusiastic audience of opera

lovers at Albert Hall. Contestants each sang two contrasting arias

before adjudicators Adele Nisbet and Margaret Sim retired to deliberate over the obviously outstanding merits of the six.

The National Aria has run continuously in Canberra since 1955 and has afforded many fine young opera performers the opportunity to train with the finest tutors in the world and sing with the greatest international opera companies.


ANNABEL Langbein, the free range cook, grows much of her family’s fresh produce in extensive organic vegetable gardens at her Auckland home and rustic cabin on the shores of scenic Lake Wanaka.

She is a member of the Sustainability Council of NZ and a passionate advocate for using seasonal ingredients as a means to cooking and eating well.

Her runaway best seller in NZ and Australia, the 2010 book “The Free Range Cook”, was recently named Best TV Cookbook at the 2012 Gourmand World Cookbook Awards and earlier this year she returned from her cabin with a new batch of recipes based on her use of fresh natural ingredients prepared in a no-fuss way. These recipes make up her new book, “Annabel Langbein The Free Range Cook: Simple Pleasures”.

Readers are invited to share a drink and canapé with Annabel and preview her new book at “An evening with Annabel Langbein, the free range cook” at the National Press Club, Barton, Wednesday, September 26, 6pm-8pm. The event is hosted by Dymocks Canberra Centre and the NZ High Commission.

“Like many New Zealanders, my roots are deeply tethered in the earth in a satisfying cycle of growing, harvesting, cooking and sharing around the table,” she says.

“My father, Fred, who worked in a down-town city office, would come home each night to tend his vegetable garden and his bees. His washed and trimmed vegetable offerings would arrive at the back door, ready for the creation of a delicious dinner.

“My mother Anne was a natural cook and a home science university graduate. Her well-honed cooking skills and astute

relationship with Cyril, the butcher, coupled with father’s prodigious garden efforts, provided us with a nutritious and interesting diet.

“Coming out of World War II, my parents were thrifty and resourceful. Nothing was wasted, but ours was no dour, mean-spirited household.

“Each evening my mother took the trouble to set the table with candles and a pretty posy from the garden, and we gathered to discuss the day’s happenings.

“Entering my teens in the 1970s as a fully fledged hippy and feminist, I railed against domesticity, consumerism and the urban world in general, leaving school and home when I was just 16.

“My mother took me to Europe, no doubt in the hope of convincing me that the real world had merit, but on my return I promptly moved up the Whanganui River with some friends to an alternative lifestyle growing vegetables, cooking over a fire and living off the land.”

For several years Annabel hunted and fished for much of her own food; caught eels, ran trap lines and jumped out of helicopters for live-deer recovery as a means of making a living. “What I caught I cooked, experimenting endlessly in a learning process that drew where it could from what I had seen in my mother’s kitchen,” she says.

“For the most part, my learning was unfettered by tradition or the rules of any particular school. Some things worked, others failed. I never formally learned to cook (aside from a couple of residential courses at the Culinary Institute of America in upstate New York later in my career), choosing instead to study horticulture at

Lincoln University in NZ. “Understanding how plants grow is

incredibly useful when it comes to cooking.“They say you go back to your roots

as you age. In the recall of those simple childhood traditions we find ways to enjoy our own lives and families.

“Eating homegrown, home-cooked food is part of the way we live as a family today. It connects us, even if only in a small way, to the rhythms of nature. Wandering around my garden at the end of a busy day to find something to serve for our evening meal is incredibly satisfying. So, too, is the daily ritual of setting the table, lighting some candles and sitting down together to enjoy simple, freshly cooked food.

“Working professionally in the kitchen for the past 20 years has also taught me that along with good-quality ingredients, confidence is the key to cooking success. All my recipes are thoroughly and profession-ally tested in our kitchen to ensure you get stress-free, foolproof results.

“My aim is to be your guide. I want to share my knowledge, skills and experience so that your cooking can be more reward-ing and fun.

“The language of food is universal – we can all share and take pleasure in it. No matter what the season, the budget or the company, good food is the right of us all.”

More information about Annabel is at annabel-langbein.com

“An evening with Annabel Langbein, the free range cook” at the National Press Club, Barton, Wednesday, September 26, 6pm-8pm. Tickets, at $35, are available at Dymocks Canberra Centre or call 6257 5057.

Dymocks Canberra Centre / advertising feature‘No matter what the season, the budget or the company, good food is the right of us all.’

Annabel’s search for simple pleasuresLeading NZ celebrity cook, TV star and food writer Annabel Langbein, will be in Canberra on September 26 to share some of the simple pleasures of ‘free-range’ cooking

Annabel Langbein… “Eating homegrown, home-cooked food is part of the way we live as a family today.”


floriade 2012 week 2

Fashion amid the flowersBy Libby Hill

THIS week the Floriade theme is “Fashion and Design” and the Canberra Centre injects a welcome boost to the program of events. It’s a local partnership that’s bringing an air of elegance to the wholesome family festival.

The stilt-walkers and baby animal farm are not going anywhere, but for those who would rather watch a fashion parade than paint a garden gnome, this is your week.

Five days of fashion, beauty and lifestyle will take place from September 25-29 with fashions on show from leading Australian designers Wayne Cooper, Jayson Brunsdon and Leona Edmiston.

Stylists will be on hand to explain key looks of the season and help you prepare your look for the upcoming spring racing carnival.

There will also be samples of the latest in hair and beauty products and industry professionals will be on hand to offer advice.

Visit any time during the week and there’s sure to be something happening, but if you’re a true fashionista, there are two big days not to be missed.

On Wednesday, September 26, designer Jayson Brunsdon hosts fashion events with three parades

showcasing a range of Australian and international fashion labels available at Canberra Centre, includ-ing his own collection for Myer. Shows at 10am, 1pm and 3pm.

And on Saturday, September 29, designer Wayne Cooper hosts two Canberra Centre fashion parades, which will include his own “Wayne by Wayne Cooper” collection. Shows at 11am and 2pm.

And to encourage a spot of shop-

ping after all the inspiration, the Canberra Centre provides the City to Floriade free shuttle service operat-ing daily between 9am and 5pm in 45-minute rotations from the main gates at Regatta Point, to three city locations (Canberra Centre on Petrie Street, Mercure Canberra on Ainslie Avenue and Sydney Building on Northbourne Avenue).

More information at floriadeaus-tralia.com

Models showcase Leona Edmiston’s latest range at Floriade.


floriade dining advertising feature

Read Canberra’s favourite restaurant reviewer Wendy Johnson every week


Helen Musa arts in the city

Wendy Johnsondining

arts & entertainment / reviews

SHE’S a glam old gal and, after months of blood, sweat and tears, has unveiled her $3.4 million makeover. Queanbeyan’s Royal Hotel, on the main drag, has proudly announced she is “re-established 2012” and ready to serve fine drink and food for many a year to come.

Originally open in 1926, “The Royal” was showing its age when the Pub Funds Group

(also owners of two Goulburn pubs) invested millions to create a pub/dining area many would no longer recognise. It’s more contemporary than I expected, but an attractive, inviting space indeed.

You must – absolutely must – visit the outdoor area, originally the old kitchen, pump house and boiler house, with a grand, open fireplace as a centrepiece and many original features lovingly retained including a laundry tub and original brick.

Inside are several comfy seating “zones”, some with funky geometric-patterned pillows scat-tered about. The bar seems like it’s a kilometre long and, at the end, hangs a vintage photo of the Lord Mayor of Sydney and the original pub owner, Mr Richardson, and his son. The “pokie area” has been tucked away so it’s not a bother.

On the menu are many dishes you’d expect of a pub, but the execution and presentation has been ramped up. The French onion soup was made with proper stock and served with chewy bread and melted cheese. My freshly made Tagliatelle packed a punch. The slow-roasted tomato and basil sauve was intense in colour and flavour and married well with spicy chorizo, juicy tiger prawns, salty olives and creamy roasted garlic ($17.50).

Several of our group of 18 had the tender rib-eye steak ($32), all cooked exactly as ordered (bar one). The Greek salad tossed with thick slices of bocconcini, semi-dried tomato, olives and more was dressed appropriately with a sweet balsamic vinaigrette – meal-size and so easy to share ($16.50). The Ranch burger was yummy, although not the best pub burger, one friend reported ($13.50). However, its sourdough bun got the big tick.

You order at the bar at the Royal and then get buzzed when your food is ready. The process is smooth and efficient. I plead with the hotel (indeed, all eating establishments) to stop wrapping cutlery tight in damp serviettes, which end up hard to unravel.

The Royal’s wine list is decent, although I’d like more offerings by the glass. Lots of good drops from across Australia and NZ, but a nice touch would be to offer another label or two from this region.

Upstairs are 14 well-appointed, renovated rooms, most with ensuites (if you have too many, just stay over!). A function room on the main floor is perfect for larger gatherings and a conference room is being finished upstairs, complete with lovely, stained-glass windows.

Royal Hotel, Queanbeyan, 85 Monaro Street, Queanbeyan. Call 6297 1444. Open seven days.

Getting the Royal treatment

“THE Dracula Rock Show” is a “funny, family musical” that somehow mixes zombies, Count Dracula, Inspector Shirley Holmes, Dr Watson, the evil Prof Moriarty and his servant Quasimodo. It’s suitable for all ages, says director Nina Stevenson. At Tuggeranong Arts Centre, October 6-12. Bookings to 6293 1443.

THE “Tap into Water Everyday Youth Dance Festival” celebrates its 27th year with 1100 students from no fewer than 33 high schools and colleges across the ACT and the region interpret-ing this year’s theme, “Heroes and Messages”. Bookings to 6275 2700 or www.canberratheatre-centre.com.au

ROBYN Archer has just launched a new book on Canberra by one of this region’s best-loved photographers, Heidi Smith. The 220-page, coffee table publication covers 1979-2012. Husband of nearly 50 years, Brian, did the design, text and general production. Available in all good book stores.

THE Friends of the School of Music are plan-ning a fabulous concert by staff and students, with a line-up headed by flautist Virginia Taylor, soprano Louise Page, clarinetist Tom Azoury, guitarists Andrey Lebedev and Callum Henshaw,

jazz saxophonist Miles O’Connell and percussion-ist Gary France. In the Larry Sitsky Room, 7pm, Tuesday September 25.

“OVER The Rooftops”, the latest exhibition at ANCA Gallery, Rosevear Place, Dickson, showcases distinctive new paintings inspired by Munich’s suburban skyline by lawyer-turned-artist Annabel Butler. Noon to 5pm, Wednesday-Sunday, until September 23.

CONGRATULATIONS to Canberra com-poser Jesmond Grixti, whose “Intimo for String Orchestra” (2010) will have its world premiere by Southern Cross Philharmonia on September 26, in Melba Hall, University of Melbourne.

THE Combined Canberra Grammar Schools’ Wind Ensembles, under the guidance of Teresa

and Steve Rabe, will perform everything from Fauré to Simon & Garfunkel in a Wednesday Lunchtime Live Concert at Wesley Music Centre, September 26, 12.40pm to 1.20pm. $2 or paper note entry.

MUSIC for Everyone has classics, jazz and popular songs being performed by local musical groups Saxophonix and Sempre Strings at the Belconnen Arts Centre, 118 Emu Bank, 3pm, September 23. Conductors are Andrew Lorenz and Benn Sutcliffe.

THE ACT Writers Centre will host a useful Tuesday chat, “Publish or Bust: How to find your way through the publishing maze”, with Sue Halden-Brown, on September 25 from 1pm-2pm. bookings to 6262 9191.

A fun time with the zombies

Mary Poole and Rhys Hekimian in a scene from “The Dracula Rock Show”.

Rib-eye steak. Photos by Silas Brown

“You must – absolutely must – visit the outdoor area”.

WIN TICKETS TO SEE ELTON JOHNat citynews.com.au


Sudoku medium No.89

General knowledge crossword No. 378

Solution next week

Solution next week

Crossword No.377 Sudoku hard No.88Solutions

puzzles pageJoanne Madeline Moore your week in the stars / September 24 - 30 Across

4 Name the Australian prime minister 1903-04, 1905-08 and 1909-10.7 Which Queensland coastal river rises north-west of Mossman?8 What do we call a shunt inserted by surgery?9 Which peripheral nerve disease is caused by a deficiency in vitamin B?11 What is an artist’s studio also known as?13 Name a prosecution of a claim in a court.15 What is a form of pasta cut into flat sheets?17 To look down upon, as in contempt, is to do what?20 What describes that which relates to valuable records?23 That which resembles stars is called what?24 What is another term for homeless wanderers?25 Name the US most prolific inventor, Thomas ...

Down 2 Near which pole do polar bears live?

1 By which name is a fully grown female horse known?2 What are heavy iron blocks used by blacksmiths?3 To be enjoying liberty is to be what?4 Which entry is recorded on the left side in accounting?5 What is a sealed glass bulb used to hold hypodermic solutions?6 Name a less readily known term for offspring or progeny.9 What is a simple narrative poem?10 To board a goods train illegally is to jump the what?12 What is another term meaning to abrogate?14 Which word is descriptive of an electrician?16 To which kingdom do human beings belong?18 To have been freed from anxiety or care, is to have done what?19 What is a fashionable business establishment called?21 To quote a passage, especially as an authority, is to do what?22 What is another word for a poker stake?

ARIES (Mar 21 – Apr 20)Many Aries (like Marlon Brando and Diana Ross) were pioneers in their chosen fields. Sunday’s Full Moon (in your sign) sees rampaging Rams at your proactive, dynamic best – and your pushy, demanding worst! Plan plenty of physical activities so you can channel excess energy in constructive ways. Otherwise you’ll just end up having partnership problems and ego clashes.

TAURUS (Apr 21 – May 20)You’re not in the mood to mix and mingle, so keep a low profile – and pay attention to your health. The Full Moon brings up secrets from the past. Expect vivid memories to come flooding back, or the resurfacing of a sensitive old issue. It’s also important to get the balance right in your daily life. Perhaps some routines, activities, bad habits (and people) will have to go?

GEMINI (May 21 – June 21)With Neptune and Mars in your employment zones, be creative rather than confused at work. You’ll find calm cooperation will get you a lot further than confrontation, so aim to be a genial Gemini. Choose your words wisely on the weekend, when a fragile relationship with a child or teenager is tested. And has a fair-weather friend passed their used-by date?

CANCER (June 22 – July 22)Relationships will be complicated this week as passion is combined with power plays, and romance is coupled with responsibility. Expect domestic dramas, when the Full Moon triggers prima donna moments and petty jealousies on the home front. Schedule sensitive discussions and difficult tasks for another time, as you’ll have trouble keeping your emotions under control.

LEO (July 23 – Aug 22)On the weekend, the Sun forms tricky aspects to Uranus and Pluto. If you don’t dampen down your demanding diva side, then expect power struggles at every turn. The Full Moon activates your adventure zone, so your motto for the moment is from birthday great Christopher Reeve: “Either you decide to stay in the shallow end of the pool, or you go out in the ocean.”

VIRGO (Aug 23 – Sept 22)Expect dramatic developments to do with lust or loot, as the full moonbeams stimulate your sex/money zone. Some Virgos will become entangled in a secret love affair. With Neptune in your romance zone, it will be difficult to differentiate between a dream date and a smooth operator, so tread carefully. A conservative financial approach is the sensible way to go.

LIBRA (Sept 23 – Oct 23)With Saturn in your sign you’ve experienced a serious setback, but don’t be deterred! Draw inspiration from writer F. Scott Fitzgerald (born on September 24): “Never confuse a single defeat with a final defeat.” Sunday’s Full Moon revs up your relationship zone. Single Librans – stop focusing on past failures. Spruce up your keyboard skills because love is waiting online.

SCORPIO (Oct 24 – Nov 21)Friday’s fabulous for getting up-close-and-personal with someone special, plus projects with children are also favoured. Get ready for Full Moon energy to disrupt your carefully orchestrated routine. The more you try to control others, the more woeful the weekend will be. Expect mood swings and emotional outbursts – but also creative inspiration and spiritual insights.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov 22 – Dec 21)The Full Moon falls in your drama zone so expect a week full of extremes – everything from passion and flamboyance to arguments and dummy-spits. A troubled teenager or a feisty friend may try to push your buttons. Keep your cool Sagittarius, and don’t give them the satisfaction of a response! Group activities are favoured – as long as you are positive and practical.

CAPRICORN (Dec 22 – Jan 19)The Sun’s in your career zone, which boosts your ambitious streak. You’re keen to get ahead but don’t trample over others on your climb to the top! Aim to get the balance right between your personal and professional lives. Conscientious Capricorns love things to run efficiently – but there’s manic Full Moon energy about, so drop the strict schedule and take things as they come.

AQUARIUS (Jan 20 – Feb 18)Aquarians can be controversial. With Venus in your relationship zone, strive to be cooperative, and more tolerant of the conventional views of others. Your newly discovered diplomatic skills will be tested this weekend, as the Full Moon and Uranus stir up your communication zone – and it will be incredibly easy to say the wrong thing to the wrong person at the wrong time.

PISCES (Feb 19 – Mar 20)The Full Moon stimulates your finance zone so it’s not a good time for Fish to hit the shops and online stores, venture into the real estate market, or buy or sell shares. You’re inclined to go on a ‘comfort spending spree’ where you buy things for purely emotional reasons. If you have recently lent money to someone in need, don’t expect it back in a hurry.

Daily astrology updates at www.twitter.com/JoMadelineMooreCopyright Joanne Madeline Moore 2011

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garden

Make the most of orchidsORCHIDS are looking splendorous at present. Here are a few brief notes on the care of two of the most popular varieties.

Phalaenopsis or Moth Orchids are one of the easiest to grow, with blooms lasting up to three months. They like only indirect light with some humidity. It is often said that a steamy bathroom is ideal, but the bathroom is steamy only for short periods and can be one of the coldest rooms in the house.

Usually they are grown in shredded pine bark and will need to be watered once a week. Alternatively, if in sphagnum moss they will not need watering so often. Do not place the pot in a saucer full of water, encouraging root rot. If you must have a saucer, fill it with pebbles and sit the pot on top of the pebbles for good drainage. Do not overfeed, however a weak solution of orchid fertiliser every few weeks in warm water will keep your orchid in peak condition.

Cymbidium orchids are the tough ones. They can be brought indoors when in flower into a well-lit, cool room. This will result in the flowers lasting longer. The same rules apply as above regarding watering, saucers and feeding.

During summer months they can be kept outside in a shady area, raising the pot off the ground for drainage. They are still one of the most popular flowers for a present due to their

hardiness and long flowering period.For more detailed information, you might like

to learn from the experts at the Canberra Orchid Society’s spring show at St. John’s Church Hall, Constitution Avenue, Reid from 11am-5pm on Saturday, September 22 and noon-4.30pm on the Sunday.

THE garden city concept was the vision of Englishman Ebenezer Howard (1850-1928) who saw the miserable consequence of the Industrial

Revolution, when rows of squalid houses were constructed in cities to house the workers pouring into the cities.

There were certainly no gardens or outdoor spaces. Howard’s vision came to fruition with his Letchworth Garden City, commenced in 1905, the first garden city in the world. Howard followed this in 1921 with Welwyn Garden City, with houses having gardens and adjoining parks with lawns and planted with shade trees and flower beds for community use.

Walter Burley Griffin was a keen supporter of the garden city concept with his vision for Canberra. The first suburbs of Forrest, Red Hill and Griffith were based on this concept. As the city rapidly expanded, this concept gradually disappeared and today we are better known as the City of Trees, but certainly not a garden city.

AS a garden designer, I see huge blocks of units being built in Canberra, most with little or no grassy areas for children to play under shady trees or even room for an outdoor clothes line. Many resemble the dismal tower blocks con-structed in Britain and Europe immediately after World War II. So it was encouraging for me to see the new Lend Lease development at Springbank Rise, Casey. I am sure Ebenezer Howard would have endorsed this development with its wide, open spaces and areas resembling the traditional village green.

To assist residents or potential residents with advice for their gardens, I will be conducting free workshops there at 11am and 1pm on Saturday, September 22. All are welcome to Springbank Rise, Yeend Avenue, Casey.

This week...

The splendour of Cymbidium Orchid, “Tiger Eye”.

• I could not resist this photo looking inside the flower of Magnolia soulangiana, “Felix”. Now is the time to select magnolias while in flower.

• When picking lemons, cut them at the stalk, do not pull them off the tree. The opposite with rhubarb, pull stems away from the crown, do not cut them.

• Plant all berry plants and deciduous fruit trees now.

• With smaller blocks and gardens, I have prepared a new Cedfacts Sheet “Small Trees for Small Gardens”. Go to cedricbryant.com and scroll down to “Cedfacts”.

The flower centre of Magnolia soulangiana, “Felix”.

Cedric Bryantgardening


home

KATHRYN VUKOVLJAK showcases the latest and greatest in gadgets and bakeware that lasts.

Beat the heatThis compact benchtop Breville water filter delivers crisp, filtered drinking water on tap with a choice of different temperatures – from room temperature to cool and refreshing. Saving on bottled water and fridge space, the water filter can chill water in around an hour.

The Breville Chill Control (BWC200) costs $169.95. Call 1300 138 789 or www.breville.com.au

Healthy juicerA juicer that’s affordable and requires no power, the Lurch Cold Press juice extractor juices fruits, vegetables and grasses, while retaining more nutrients than any electrical juicer. It produces pure juice without any of the pith or fibre that can make the juice taste bitter.

Available from leading kitchenware retailers at $69.95. Contact 1800 650 601 for local stockists.

Soup in a flashSoup is a great way to get a big hit of veggies. The Tefal Soup & Co soup maker can help you create healthy homemade soups in just 25 minutes. Place your choice of fresh vegetables and soup base into the 2.8-litre stainless steel jug, press the button and that’s it! In the summer, use it to create dips, sauces, smoothies and cocktails.

Available through department stores, electrical retailers and specialist independents for $299.95.

New-look enamelEnamel bakeware has made a comeback, and with very good reason! Enamel Bake is the new kitchen collection from Wiltshire – ideal for baking pies, puddings, casseroles, stews, lasagne or moist, succulent roasts. With its smooth, glossy finish, this traditional-styled enamel bakeware distributes heat efficiently and is easy to clean.

The range includes three oblong pie dishes (from $4.95 for a small), two baking dishes (from $12.95 for a medium) and an oval roaster with lid (30cm, $29.95). Available from David Jones and independent homewares stores.

Gadgets to go for





Documents

Canberra CityNews September 20