Tuesday 27 June 2017

Tuesday Poem (Actually Prose this time around): "Global Village" by Andrew M. Bell




GLOBAL VILLAGE
 
“For my family very good, we no complain. Live Byron Street, got a few small tree, cut away all the old one. Boss, he's a open-a shop in 1954. I'm-a workin' for him since 1968.”
 
There are large Italian and Greek communities and smaller groups from Netherlands, Germany, Poland, Yugoslavia and South-East Asia.
 
LOON FOON CHINESE AND JAPANESE RESTAURANT
 
BUTCHER - FLEISCHER FACHGESCHAFT BREMER CONTINENTAL BUTCHER
 
YUGAL CLUB OF WA INC.
 
“I tink it could be right if officials are right. Ve losink business 'cause of parking. I ring dem, ring dem, ring again. Shire don't care. I've been 17 years. New election, talk very sweet, but do nothink. Extremely unhappy.”
 
Quaint phraseology is one of the hallmarks of history.
 
This Foundation Stone of the Leederville Post Office was laid by The Hon. E.H. Wittenoom M.L.C. Minister for Posts and Telegraphs on the 3rd day of May 1897.
 
Leederville is one of Perth's oldest suburbs. It was named after an early settler, William Leeder, who obtained about 120 hectares of land bordering Lake Monger in the early 1830s.
 
“It is a four-minute drive from the city, 10 minutes from the beach and has easy access to Mitchell Freeway. And then there is Lake Monger. What more could anyone want?"
 
Before the white man came, the district had been called Galup. Natives camped there and one of their leaders was Yagan, who resisted the settlers.
 
YUPPIES FUCK OFF
 
“Old, established area. Uncle's 72, lived here since he was 15. Older type homes. Customers lived here a long time. Population's changing - young, trendy kids moving in and doing up old houses. "
 
It seems Leederville is about to become Perth's next Yuppie suburb. Already the young, trendy professionals are moving into an area, which, for many years has been considered an unfashionable backwater.
 
To enjoy sitting outside of an evening, free from "skeeters", we would place pieces of cow manure on shovels of live coals.
 
VOMIT IN MY MOUTH
 
 
“It used to be a great shopping centre, but it's gone down. Terrific 20 years ago. Less business. More dead.”
 
CHIPPER AND SON – Caring Funeral Directors – 144 Railway Pde Leederville
 
Clean-up plan for the deadly Lake Monger
 
In 1974, the Mitchell Freeway hammered yet another nail in Leederville's coffin.
 
ELEGY WRITTEN NEAR THE MITCHELL FREEWAY
 
The car horns toll the knell of parting day,
The toxic fumes creep slowly o'er the park,
The traffic homeward plods its weary way,
And leaves the world to joggers and the dark.
 
Dusk on Lake Monger. The silhouettes of hundreds of black swans, ducks and other waterfowl move gracefully across the darkening waters rippled now by a cool evening breeze. It is quiet. Peaceful. Just the place to escape the tensions of a day at the office.
 
Once as a party of soldiers crept up on his camp, a flock of cockatoos took fright and flew off with deafening cries, warning him.
 
Lake Monger plan is for the birds
 
THE GOANNA GUN COMPANY - MAKE MY DAY - COME IN
 
Leederville went into decline as the boom years faded.
 
Yagan was eventually caught and killed and the native resistance died down.
 
BOOMERANG LUNCH BAR AND TAKEAWAY
 
Recommended measures include:
* Commissioning a landscape concept plan, in consultation with Aboriginal groups;
* Removal of exotic fish and restocking with native species;
 
(Its chief beauty spot is Monger's Lake, a fine sheet of fresh water about 275 acres in extent, stocked with fish [chiefly English perch, tench, and carp] and provided with excellent boating facilities.)
 
FOR OUR CHILDREN’S SAKE - GET NUKE SHIPS OUT OF AUSSIE PORTS
 
NEW RELEASE – Magic Glow Friends or Puppy Surprise – Save $4
 
God’s Gift to you is Life – What you do with it is your Gift to God
 
Introduction to the Deaf Community and its Culture – A 6-week beginner’s course commencing 26th October 1992 at Leederville Campus.
 
"It's a little village town. The village atmosphere appeals to many overseas visitors. Doctor, shops, school, everything's so compact. Lot of other suburbs all stretched out, no appeal, no atmosphere. All the restaurants give it a touch of Northbridge, touch of multicultural."
 
Pearl River bridge – zhongshan specialty – ingredients: Green bean powder, sugar, almond powder, and edible vegetable oil. Packed by china national cereals, oils and foodstuffs imp. & Exp. Corp. guangdong china
 
Loftus Community Centre – French Speaking Playgroup
                              English for Migrants
 
“I work here and that's about it. It's a very, very Italian town. You go down to the shopping arcade and you feel like you're in Milan."
 
JOHN MARZO DIP. D.C. - THE LONDON-MILAN SARTORIAL SPECIALIST
 
"Friendly, not fast-moving, seems to still be in the '60s. Attitudes, way people dress, no one stressed out. Always hunting 'round for a bargain, not very affluent."
 
BAR BIANCHI - PASTA SPECIAL $6-50 12PM TO 2PM - AGLIO OLIO, NAPOLETANO, LASAGNE, CANNELLONI, BOLOGNESE, PENNA ALL ARABRATA
 
OXFORD RELAXATION CENTRE - WARNING ELECTRONIC SECURITY DEVICES INSTALLED IN THESE PREMISES
 
Beware - bag and till snatchers are busy
 
"Don't talk to me about fuckin' Leederville! I got broken into last night and lost two thousand bucks worth of stock."
 
ABSOLUTE SECURITY - GRILLES DOORS GATES LOCKSMITHS
 
“Like a little country town. Lived here all my life. Gonna grow. It's gonna hit. Then it’ll change. Lose its charm."
 
LEEDERVILLE RETRAVISION
 
Finally, who remembers catching gilgies in Smith's Lake, near the corner of Richmond and Loftus Streets long before houses appeared there?



Old Post Office, Leederville, WA (Copyright unknown)

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I decided to post something a bit different this week. With all the global media coverage of the refugee issues, I thought I'd post this Found Text prose piece that I wrote while living and studying in Perth, Western Australia, in the early 1990s.

From 1988-1994, I lived in Leederville in a small cosmopolitan street not far from the main shopping village area. At that stage, Leederville wasn't a "discovered" trendy, inner-city suburb that it is now. I imagine the population demographic and the cost of housing has changed dramatically.

When I lived there, Leederville was a colourful, cosmopolitan suburb filled with people of many ethnic backgrounds and small shops that reflected that multiculturalism. I used to love wandering around and talking to people with all kinds of backgrounds and stories to tell.

I feel that Australia is doing itself a huge disservice with its recent refugee policy. It is denying itself a cultural diversity and richness and it has become blind to compassion.

This Found text was composed from interviews with local residents and shopkeepers, signs, graffiti, local histories and all manner of advertising pamphlets and other ephemera.




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