Video: Undersea footage of the HMAS Sydney (II) and the German raider HSK Kormoran

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An expedition to survey the historic World War II shipwrecks of HMAS Sydney (II) and the German raider HSK Kormoran has produced new photographic evidence which appears to confirm why Sydney was so quickly disabled, leading to catastrophic damage and the devastating loss of everyone on board. 

New high resolution images taken two days ago by Curtin University on board DOF Subsea's vessel Skandi Protector clearly shows, for the first time, a 15cm shell hole through the bridge at the compass platform. 

Western Australian Museum CEO Alec Coles said it was a remarkable early discovery for the expedition, and provided support for the theory that within the first 30 seconds of the battle Sydney's bridge was destroyed, her command structure lost, and her ability to effectively fight back severely disabled. 

"This also supports the German captain Theodor Detmers' account of the battle which states the first salvo to hit Sydney was a direct hit to the bridge," Mr Coles said. 

"It would appear we now have photographic evidence to support that, thanks to Curtin University's technology."

When the wrecks were found in 2008 the shell hole was not obvious, presenting as a shadow in the photographs taken at the time. The new imaging technology developed by Curtin University is throwing new light on the historic site. 

"Curtin University is collaborating with the WA Museum to provide the technology needed to properly capture the unique heritage value of these ships so they can be investigated, managed and interpreted for future generations," Curtin's Director of Strategic Projects, Paul Nicholls, said. 

"We are extremely pleased with these early results and look forward to more new and significant information coming to light over the next few days."  

The wrecks lie in 2,500 metres of water, 20km apart, about 200km west of Steep Point (Shark Bay). The $2.4 million survey expedition is supported by the Australian Government, Curtin University, DOF Subsea, the WA Museum Foundation, GMA Garnet Group and the Honorary Consul of the Federal Republic of Germany in WA Torsten Ketelsen, and Prospero Productions. 

The project has the support of the Royal Australian Navy and the Naval Association of Australia, representing veterans' interests.

Close-up of previously unseen 15cm shell hole through bridge.

This is how "finders keepers" will get you in hot water

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Pic via Mid West Police Facebook  

A 38 year old woman is being charged with unlawful possession after trying to exchange some foreign currency at the Commonwealth Bank. 

Bank staff obviously thought something was suspicios so they contacted Police while the woman was trying to carry out her transaction. 

Police found the woman had several hundred US dollars in her possession, but she claimed she found the money.  

However, possession of stolen property is against the law regardless of whether you "found it" or not. 

The woman was arrested and taken to Geraldton Police station.  

The woman told police she found the money in a nearby bush area, and Police went there and found more money and phone cards.  

The currency and phone cards were returned to the rightful owner. 

The 38 year old female from Geraldton will appear at the Geraldton Magistrates Court on 14 May 2015 charged with unlawful possession. 

Assistance sought regarding indecent assault

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Geraldton Detectives are seeking the public’s assistance with information regarding an indecent assault that occurred on Friday, 17 April 2015 in Bluff Point. 

Police say that at about 9:30pm, a 32 year old woman was walking along Railway Street before crossing to North West Coastal Highway through bush land when a man approached her from behind. The man pushed her to the ground and indecently assaulted her.

The woman managed to run away from the man.

The man is described as being 45 to 50 years of age, fair skinned, approximately 165cms tall, with a medium build, thick dark brown hair tied in a ponytail and facial stubble. The man had a tattoo on one arm that appeared to be of Celtic design.

He was wearing black shorts, a black short sleeved shirt and work boots. It is believed the man fled in a grey dual cab utility with a silver bull bar.

Police would like to speak with anyone who was in the area around the time of the incident who may have seen the incident, the vehicle or anyone acting suspiciously.

Anyone with any information is asked to call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or Geraldton Detectives on 9923 4555.

Power pole snapped in half by this driver

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A Geraldton resident has shared images of an incident in Tamblyn Street last night. According to witnesses, the driver "did a runner" after snapping the pole in half.  

Another resident said that the vehicle was stolen from a single mother who is now car-less.  

Woman smashes someone's moped because her Maccas took too long

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You couldn't make this stuff up.

The incident occurred around 10:30 on Tuesday (28/4/15) at Maccas in town. 

 

Pic: Google Streetview

Police allege a 24 year old woman was angry that she hadn't received her order in time to catch her bus...

So she knocked over someone's moped causing $500 to $1000 damage. 

Police located the 24 year old female from Karloo shortly after the incident. She will attend the Geraldton Magistrates Court at a later date charged with criminal damage. 

 

3 things Geraldton needs to change with its parking

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First, I'll start by saying there's no parking crisis in Geraldton. It's seriously not hard to find a parking bay in town, the rates are relatively reasonable where there is paid parking, and there's also a good amount of free parking a majority of the time. The car park next to Maccas is usually nearly empty, and even when I ran a lawn mowing business and had a trailer attached to my ute I was usually able to park within walking distance of Woolworths, the Post Office or the banks. 

If you want a bay right out the front of every shop you're ever going to visit, your demands are unreasonable and you should stop reading this right now. 

But there are a few things Geraldton could do differently or better to help make visiting the CBD a little more enjoyable and a little less stressful.  

1. Two Hours of parking is not enough.  

This picture was taken in Mandurah. Because of the extra time we had (in the angled bay) we spent more time browsing and shopping. 

Most of the free bays in Geraldton's CBD have a limit of 2 hours. Consider this scenario:  

You're heading to meet Jenny for coffee. You decided to meet at the Jaffle Shack at 10am and you get there 15 minutes early at 9:45. She gets there 15 minutes late though, so by the time you've both ordered and sipping on your coffee it's 10:25. You chat for 45 minutes and both head off. It's now 11:10. You walk down to the Post Office to send that letter to Grandma who still doesn't have email or Facebook. You have to queue to buy stamps, so by the time that errand is over it's 11:30. You walk around to Woolies to grab some supplies you needed for the weekend gathering you have planned. You're starting to feel a little more than peckish, so you think to yourself where you might stop for lunch, maybe GoHealth, maybe a Kebab. You glance at your phone to check the time. It's 11:55. CRAP. You've been parked too long. Any decision you make now increases your chance of getting a $75 parking fine. You remember the last parking fine you got a few months ago. "STUFF THAT" you think to yourself. You head home and make a sandwich. 

Every day businesses in Geraldton miss out on lots of trade because people rush to get out of their bays before the two hours is up. You can't grab lunch and a movie in two hours. You can't browse for new clothes, window shop the jewellers, get your hair done, and enjoy a dine in lunch in two hours. You can't take the kids to the foreshore playground, then take them out for lunch in two hours. 

If you want to attract people in to the city, encourage them to stay there and spend money, then don't put a ridiculous two hour limit on the parking. Mandurah has four hours along their shop riddled foreshore and board walk. I think we should take a leaf out of the book from one of the more successful tourist destinations in WA and increase the time limit in the free bays. It may seem like a good idea making people rush back to their cars allowing others to park. But those "others" would have just parked a little further away, and also could have enjoyed a less rushed shopping experience.  

2. Angled parking everywhere

This picture was taken recently in Geraldton. It's not staged. And it's not a joke. Someone actually parked like this. And worse, it's not a rare sight.  

There's two kinds of parking bays; angled bays and stupid bays.  

I mean seriously, how much nicer is it to park in front of the post office in those angled bays than the perpendicular ones that were there before? (Shoutout to Brian Taylor)

It's safer, it's quicker, it's easier. There's virtually no downside to angled parking.

Perhaps in some circumstances it may mean a couple of less bays. But have you looked around in Geraldton at the non angled bays? A lot of the time someone has parked in two bays anyway because they lack the ability to parallel park or aim their car. So angled parking would make it easier for the incompetent drivers (of which we have so many) and we would all win because they wouldn't be taking up one and a half bays all the time. 

Oh, and don't get me started on people trying to parallel park in Geraldton. I'm pretty sure 90% of you don't even know you're meant to drive in front of the bay and then reverse in. Every day I see people take the parralel parking bay head first, having to drive up on to the footpath, and then back in to the bay. It's a joke to watch. I really don't know how we all passed our driving tests.  

And whevenever someone DOES try to parallel park correctly, the person behind them has no idea what they're doing and drives right up their butt, leaving them no room to back into the bay. It would be funny to watch if it wasn't so sad, and didn't happen so often.  

Also, the town planners didn't take into account the high percentage of us that own 4x4s. Parralel parking might be a nice idea in Paris where everyone drives Vespas and Fiats the size of toasters. But in the home of the Landcruiser, parking needs to be rethought. Heck, even parents who do school runs drive 200 series landies. And even the most competent drivers of these cars usually takes one look at the parallel parking bays in town and just keeps driving.  

If the mall was angled parking, I can tell you most people would be less stressed parking there. 

The only people that would be negatively affected by switching to angled parking everywhere would be panel beaters.  

3. First hour free in all the paid spots (at least)

I was a participant in the recent community summit, and like 90 odd percent of the people there I voted to keep paid parking because of the income it brings in, helping other useful services that lose money to exist... like libraries and CCTV. 

But my vote to keep paid parking wasn't an implicit acceptance that paying for parking is always a good idea. 

The world isn't as black and white as many accountants would like us to think. On paper it looks like paid parking generates revenue for the city. But the hidden cost is ... hidden. It's hard to quantify the cost of people who simply won't pay for parking, thus won't stay in town longer than two hours, thus won't spend much money at retailers in town. It's hard to say if that cost to the Geraldton economy is greater than the net gain from the scrap of money the parking generates. I'm not saying it is or isn't greater either way (I haven't done any studies), just that it's hard to quantify.  

Many people view paying to park like paying for bottled water. "It's water. It falls from the sky! Why would I pay you $3.95 for a 600 mL bottle of the stuff?! You're crazy?!"  

Same with parking spaces. "It's a SPACE. There's nothing there! It's not a building! It's a nothing! I'm not paying for parking!"  

To them it would be like Dome charging people for sitting in their chairs. Even if they sold the coffee for $1 and the chair for $3, people would just resent the idea of paying to sit in a chair. Does the chair cost Dome money? Sure does, probably more than the coffee beans and water they heated up and sold you. But they have to build the cost of the chair into the coffee or you'd resent them.  

It's the same with parking. I know it costs money in the form of opportunity costs to keep valuable land free for parking. But if the cost of the parking was built into the price of other things, people would park in town more, stay longer and spend more money at local shops. They'd spend a lot more than the $6 you'd get if you charged for parking. 

Now the city may be wondering how on earth that would ever make THEIR books look good. Sure, it would benefit all the businesses in town. But the only way the council would see a dime of that is if they were able to charge higher rates.  

But here's the thing. If the CBD was thriving, more stores would be built, more premises would exist which would pay rates, and the value of those businesses would be higher too, also affecting the amount of rates charged. 

So while it may look good just to charge more for parking and have more money, in the long term I would argue it hurts commerce and ends up hurting rate revenue for the city too. Encouraging growth in town and getting people in there shopping should be a higher priority.

If paid parking made economic sense, then all the shopping centres would charge for parking. But they don't. Why? Because they know the $5 they got for parking would be nothing compared to the massive amount of money they'd lose from everyone who stopped shopping there. You do pay for the parking indirectly. It's factored into the rent that the tenant stores get charged, thus it's factored into anything you buy from a shopping centre. But if you had to pay that $5 parking cost directly, you wouldn't.  

I say first hour free at least because I understand if you made all parking free everywhere all the time, you'd simply get workers at all the shops taking all the good bays first thing in the morning. They're not spending money all day, and it would achieve the opposite of what you wanted.  

So I'd like to see the paid parking bays converted to at least some free time, so more people are encouraged to duck in to town and do what they need to do. And if they want to stay all day they can pay a small, reasonable fee. And the free bays should (mostly) be lengthened to four hours, long enough to encourage you to spend more time and money in town, but not so long that staff at all the stores take up those bays all day long. 

In conclusion

These opinions I have shared should not be taken without consideration of the first paragraph. I really don't think there's a parking crisis. Walking 7 minutes to get to the shop you want shouldn't be the end of the world, and I don't think a multi story car park needs to be built (though Everything Geraldton often gets calls for this). Parking in Gero is definitely a "first world problem" if it is one at all, but in this time of economic downturn where some businesses are doing it tough, it would be good to look at ways to make it easier for tourists and locals alike to be encouraged to frequent our wonderful CBD and foreshore and spend money here rather than online/overseas. 

One other argument I often here about there being no need to stimulate spending here is that "you only have $x each week, so it doesn't matter." This argument to me is ridiculous. When I have the choice to buy something locally or online, I would much rather get it locally because I want it now and don't want to wait. If it's too hard to get to the store, or the store won't open during hours that are convenient to me, or if the item doesn't exist locally, maybe then I will buy it online.  So the amount of money I have to spend locally is very much a variable thing. And the more I spend locally > the more profitable local businesses are > the more jobs are created locally > the more money other people are able to spend locally > and the cycle of growth continues.  

Planned parking changes

Making it as convenient as possible for people to keep their money spent locally through things like better parking policies should be a priority.  Any thought of adding parking meters or making parking more inhibitive in the city limits would be a bad idea at the moment. 

It appears there are changes on the horizon for parking in Geraldton, but we're unclear about what they might be. 

We've heard through the MWCCI about an upcoming forum on parking. We reached out to the City for information and they sent us the following: 

You are invited to attend a forum on City Centre Car Parking 

Date: Monday 4 May 2015

Time: 5:30pm
 
Location: City of Greater Geraldton, Cathedral Avenue – Function Room 
The items for discussion with a short brief on each as follows:

• Planned carparking provision changes relevant to CBD development as part of the new TP Scheme being drafted

• The City carparking strategy – items implemented and those planned in the medium term

• Advice on whether on-street car parking meters or charging is being contemplated by the City;

• Q & A session

RSVP to admin@mwcci.com.au

Update:  

We have been advised that the parking forum at the City of Greater Geraldton is not open to the general public, only members of the Mid West Chamber of Commerce.  

Thank you for allowing me to watch the ANZAC service

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I'd like to thank the City of Greater Geraldton and the Geraldton RSL for allowing my family and I to participate in the Geraldton ANZAC service via live stream.  

Unfortuanely we were unable to be in town on the day, but we were able to tune in live using the iPad to the live stream of the 11am service.  

Thanks also to Node 1 for making it happen at short notice, from what I understand.  

I posted the videos on Everything Geraldton so our audience was a aware of the streams as well, and had positive feedback. One person in the UK mentioned they were able to watch grandchildren March despite being so far away. 

The videos of the services are available after the fact too. I've embedded them below.  

This man wanted to bring a gun to the cop shop with him

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Last Saturday, 25 April 2015, around 5.10pm, Police say a man was arrested on an outstanding warrant in Waggrakine.

Whilst Police were in the process of detaining the male, Police say requested for his possessions to accompany him to the Police station. 

Sounds innocent enough. But what was in the bag was not what you'd usually bring to the Police station.  

Geraldton Police say that within the accused’s bag that he requested to accompany him, they found a .22 calibre firearm that had all identifying markings removed.

The firearm was secured and seized.

A 36 year old male from Bluff Point will appear in the Geraldton Magistrate’s Court on a charge of Possess Unlicensed Firearm. 

Do you recognise this car? United Fuel station say they didn't pay for their fuel

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United Fuel in Rangeway are asking for the public's assistance in identifying this vehicle. 

"This guy done a drive off without paying for his fuel 24.4.15 couldn't get a clear shot of his number plate after checking cameras..but maybe someone recognises his car."

You can call Geraldton Police on 99234555 if you're able to assist.  

 

Firework thrown into front yard starts small fire - "Scary event" says resident

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A Wonthella resident has described it as a "scary event" when a small fire was started in her front heard early this morning by what she says appears to be a firework. 

She wanted to share what happened early this morning at her home in Phelps Street in Wonthella with the Geraldton community.  

"This early morning around 3:15 there was something like a fire work thrown into my front yard and made a fire around 1m2." 

She says the fire department arrived and extinguished the fire. The resident said whatever was thrown made exploding noises like a firework.  

She says Police had not yet attended the scene.  

Car Fire - Help wanted

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Car Fire - Mt. Tarcoola


Police are seeking the public’s assistance with information to assist with their investigation into the circumstances surrounding a car fire which left a man with serious burns to his body.

At about 8:20 pm on Saturday 25 April 2015, police were advised of a car fire on the Brand Highway near Lockyer Road, Tarcoola Beach.

Department of Fire and Emergency Services officers extinguished the fire.

A 48 year old Cape Burney man received burns to about 30% of his body and was conveyed to Geraldton Regional Hospital. He will be transferred by Royal Flying Doctor Service to Royal Perth Hospital for further treatment.

It is not known if the man was the driver or a passenger in the silver Holden Commodore vehicle.

Police would like to speak to anyone who was in the vicinity at the time of the incident who may have seen the car fire or the Commodore prior to the fire.

Anyone with any information is asked to call Crime Stoppers on 1800 33 000.

Study shows road trauma victims often have a history of bad driving

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Lucy Martin reporting for the ABC: 

Dr Sudhakar Rao, head of Royal Perth Hospital's trauma unit: "Patients that end up in the ICU, which suggests they have very serious injuries, were the ones that you could actually trace back their history and find they had behaviour on the road which was high risk, such as alcohol consumption, no seatbelts or using electronic hand devices when driving," he said.

Click here to read article.  

Live Stream of ANZAC services

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TIME: Dawn Service 6am and Main Service 11am VENUE: RSL Birdwood House, Chapman Road

Geraldton’s ANZAC Day Service will take place at the RSL Birdwood House, Geraldton on Saturday 25 April and for the first time it will be live streamed on to the internet for both the 6 am service and the 11am service. 

If you know someone who would like to be at the Geraldton ANZAC Service, but they are not able to be there, well now they can watch it online.

To be part of the crowd, for 100 years of ANZAC, tune in from your computer, smart phone or tablet.

Just hit play on the video above. 

If you're overseas and wanting to watch the video Geraldton's timezone is GMT+8

The City of Greater Geraldton, in conjunction with Geraldton City RSL Sub-branch, will conduct its annual ANZAC Day commemorative service at Birdwood House, Forrest Street on Saturday April 25, 2015.

Dawn Service will commence at 6am and the Main Service at 11am.

Local ex service personnel, politicians, young people and community members are invited to join the City of Greater Geraldton Mayor Ian Carpenter, in the laying of wreaths

To ensure a quiet and reflective ANZAC Day Ceremony, the City of Greater Geraldton wishes to advise the following roads will be closed:

  •  Closure for Dawn service: 5.30am – 7am, Chapman Road between McDonald’s restaurant and  Birdwood house. March attendees to fall in & congregate at McDonalds.
  • Closure for Main service: 10.30am – 1pm, Maitland Street to Cathedral Avenue, right onto Chapman Road, concludes at Birdwood House. March Attendees to fall in and congregate at QEII Centre.

Please direct all enquiries relating to this road closure and the laying of wreaths to Sierah Lemmon on 0410 993 969 or email SierahL@cgg.wa.gov.au.

Please direct all ANZAC Memorial enquires to the Geraldton City RSL Sub-branch on 9964 1520.

Update on issues with Telstra in Geraldton

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Update on Telstra issues in Geraldton at the moment. 

We've heard back from Telsta and they've issued the following statement: 

"Telstra became aware of an issue affecting mobile coverage in Geraldton yesterday morning. Our investigations have shown that a faulty piece of equipment at our Geraldton Exchange needs replacing. We are currently sourcing the replacement equipment and are working to get the part replaced and services restored as quickly as possible.

"We apologise to customers in the area for the inconvenience this is causing and thank them for their patience."

The people promoting the fracking and the people regulating the fracking are the same people

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Kathryn Diss reporting for the ABC: 

 

Conservation Council WA director Piers Verstegen:

"We're actually seeing taxpayer funded public relations experts working within government agencies on behalf of the industry to promote the industry," he said.

"This is really concerning when it's the same agency that is supposed to be protecting communities from the impacts of gas fracking.

It's also interesting to read about the emails obtained by the ABC showing the government actively coordinating with mining companies on how to manage public relations spin.  

Click here for full article.