Albany Visits Geraldton Homeschoolers

STEFANIE MULLER

     Southlands Christian College, based in Albany, operates a School of Distance Education for Western Australian families. The school is part of the nation wide Australian Christian College. Last month, Southlands came to Geraldton as part of an activity day for all of their distance education students.

Principal Stuart Chapman talking with the parents.
                Picture: STEFANIE MULLER             

     

     School Principal, Stuart Chapman, came with his assistant distance ed. teacher, Sheryl Hawley, to meet the students and parents. All students, varying from Pr-primary to Year 11, were eager for the day and to meet the teachers they had previously only ever talked with over the phone.

Student Josiah Frahm
attempting spinning plates.
Picture: STEFANIE MULLER

     Mr. Chapman introduced himself whilst wearing juggling pins on his head, which made a large impression upon the younger students, who were glad to see that their principal had a sense of humour. Mrs. Hawley then took the parents into another room to talk, whilst Mr. Chapman proceeded to teach the students 'circus tricks.' This involved juggling, spinning plates, and all sorts of different tricks that he himself learned as a child.

     Later on, the two teachers switched. Stuart talked to the parents whilst Sheryl got the kids playing a maths game involving dice and football scoring. Lunch and social time followed.

“It was wonderful to finally meet all of my dear students and to be                                                able to talk to the parents,” said Sheryl.

Sheryl Hawley talking with a student.
Picture: STEFANIE MULLER

Portraiture Shoot - Tarryn Anderson

Portrait Shoot. 18 November.

Model : Tarryn Anderson

Make-up & Hair: Tarryn Anderson

Fashion Design: Stefanie Muller & Tarryn Anderson

Photography and Post Production: Stefanie Muller

Location: Marine Terrace, Geraldton

To see more pictures of this shoot on facebook, or just to see more of my photography work, visit

Stefanie Muller Photography

     

This wasn't a planned photo, but it turned out rather well. We were walking between alleyways when I told Tarryn that I really wanted to take photos in the middle of the road sometime. She loved the idea and suggested we do it right then. So we borrowed a stool from the Topolinis restaurant garbage area, and stuck it in the middle of the road with Tarryn sitting/posing on it. 

We had to alternate between taking a 2 or 3 pictures, then running off the road quickly when a car came. Was quite a laugh and I loved the spontaneity of it!   

We found an old staircase in an alleyway and decided it'd make a good place for some photos. It turns out that the staircase wasn't 'old and un-used' at all. At the top was a back door that led to a retirement club/pub and there were elderly men and women constantly streaming down the staircase. It occasionally made it slightly awkward to take shots, but we managed. And managed to meet quite a few lovely old people along the way!

This was in an alleyway that I had wanted to use when planning the shoot. Once again using the broken stool from the Topolinis restaurant garbage, Tarryn struck a pose and off we went! They're were some men in the tower behind Tarryn who were watching and jokingly asked me if they could model for me too. It was rather embarrassing and I asked Tarryn if she wanted to wait until they'd left, but my wonderful model was willing to keep going anyway. Bless her socks.

What Goes Around, Comes Around

Community members who gave up their time to attend the workshops
and give their input.
Picture: STEFANIE MULLER 

STEFANIE MULLER 

Three council workshops regarding the currently bolted "50 cent swing" and the new foreshore development area were held over the last two months. 

The first workshop was held on August 17^th, the second on the 1^st of September, and the last on the 22^nd of September. The workshops were aimed to gain community input on ideas for a new swing, and to develop the area around the old one into something that everyone would like.

The iconic swing, built after Geraldton born Randolph Stow's classic book   “Merry-go-round in the Sea, " was disabled in May 2010, after a risk assessment deemed the structure 'inherently unsafe' and the only option was to decommission the merry go round. The swing became a seat when six posts were concreted into the ground around it, making it immovable. This council move caused quite a stir from the general public of Geraldton, who were unhappy with the decision to bolt it. The merry go round, previously called "The 50 Cent Swing" has now been re-nicknamed "The 50 Cent Bench."

Though plans are underway for new development on the foreshore in front of the old swing, many community members and workers are still unhappy with the decision to bolt the swing. Despite several public claims of injury due to use of the swing, complaining members who were present at the workshop still argue that the swing is more than safe.

Being such a great icon of many childhoods, protests against the bolting are unlikely to stop. Nevertheless, the council of Geraldton-Greenough has announced that their decision shall not change.

The second workshop, purposed to design the new equipment, had an arguably reasonable show of people ready to give their input. Community spokesperson, Lesley Adrian, argued that there were no Indigenous people at the workshop, and since it is their land, they should be present when development plans are being made. Other community members present at the meeting pointed out to her that if the Geraldton Aborigines cared about that particular land enough to complain about development on it, then they would come to the workshops.

Greg Rowe facilitated the workshop and presented a powerpoint on what elements the development needed to have in order to be considered safe and useable by the council. Community members present at the workshop then presented their ideas on what they thought the new area needed to have, keeping in mind that they only had

100 x 40m of land to work with.

·        Suitable for teenagers and young people in general

·        An all hours area for people from all backgrounds

·        Safe

·        Needs to have some sort of tree or shelter present since the ‘Moreton Bay Fig Tree’ 
  sheltering the bolted swing was so symbolic in people’s memories of the swing.

·        New equipment needs to capture the adventurous, unpredictable, inclusive, 
  and moving elements of the merry go round.

·        The current merry go round needs to be preserved and presented in a nicer way.

·        A link from the swing to the foreshore.

Lewis Freer
Picture: STEFANIE MULLER

Lewis Freer, dubbed "the Trouble Stirrer," due to his famous vigor in trying to partition for the unbolting of the swing, came up with many wonderful and strange ideas for new equipment, varying from an underground cave, to a bicycle on tracks going around the whole piece of new foreshore land. Though some of his ideas may have been out of the city's league, a lot of them inspired and gave way to more ideas from other city members.

“I want the new equipment to be different and exciting. Something Geraldton and its surrounding areas have never seen before,” Lewis said.

Consultant landscape architect, Stuart Pullybank, was in attendance to guide discussion on how the area could be designed and landscaped. Stuart took everyone's ideas and thoughts and is in the process of designing the development of the land.

The last workshop on the 22^nd of September was held to allow the community to review a draft precinct plan. This draft plan will be prepared by the landscape architect, Pullybank, from ideas put forward at the design workshop.

Randolph Stow Young Writers Award Presentation Night

STEFANIE MULLER
  

Randolph Stow (Joshua Keys) looks as his mother
(Saffire Lewis) points to the Merry-go-round in the Sea.
Picture: STEFANIE MULLER

The Randolph Stow Young Writers Award has once again provided hopeful young Geraldton writers with a chance to make their dreams come true.

The competition has been going on for over 20 years and aims to encourage young writers in the Mid West region. The award also recognizes the international achievements of famous Geraldton-born writer, Randolph Stow.

More than 600 entries were received this year for the annual Mid West awards, named in honour of the late Geraldton-born poet and author, Randolph Stow.

 Judges said they enjoyed reading the entries and had a hard time selecting the 10 winners in prose and poetry across junior and senior age groups. All award and commendation receivers showed exceptional potential and talent.

The awards presentation was held on Tuesday night at Strathalbyn Christian College hall. Strathalbyn’s head 
of drama, Peter Hanrahan, hosted the event, with Year 10 drama students from the school presenting a mini-drama interpretation of Stow’s classic "The Merry-go-round in the Sea."

The annual awards are organized by Geraldton Regional Library and hosted by a different school each year. Much time and effort was put into the event, but it was worth it, according to client services librarian Jennifer Hargrave.

Year 11 and 12 Prose. L-R: First Place- Simon Thujis.
Second Place - Jordan Moore.Highly Commended - Jessica Cribble.
Highly Commended - Katie Bogumil.
Picture: STEFANIE MULLER

“It is a privilege being able to give young writers an opportunity like this. Winners are held with the highest regard in our community,” she said.

Raewyn Caisley, author of the children's classic "Mermaid's Tale," spoke at the presentation and encouraged aspiring young writers to believe in themselves. 

“Believe in yourself, and believe in your talent,” she said.

“Keep reading other books, be single-minded, and never let go of your dream to write.    

  - and make a difference,” she said

Children's author, Raewyn Caisley
Picture: STEFANIE MULLER

Ms Caisley  told the  audience it was a great honour to receive a Randolph Stow Award.

“Your name will now forever be associated with Randolph’s,” she said.

Stow, a Miles Franklin Award winner, was born in Geraldton in 1935 and studied at both Geraldton Primary School and the former Geraldton High School.

So my first article will be up soon!