Semaphore Community

Welcome comrades to the Semaphore Workers Club, beachside bastion of the labour movement.

Once it was the meeting place for bosses and shipping agents when Port Adelaide was a bustling commercial centre.

Back then the billiard table was the centre of the social scene as wealthy merchants kept an eye out for passing trade.

Now it’s union organisers and workers who call in for a quick round of the table.

At the turn of the century this place with its pressed metal ceiling and leather-bound benches was home to the local Yacht Squadron and later the exclusive Semaphore Club.

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Sixty Adelaide school students will represent the 60 South Australian sailors lost in the HMAS Sydney tragedy in 1941 during an ANZAC Eve commemoration on the Port River on April 24.

The focus of ANZAC Light on the Water 2008 will be on the 645 lost crew of the Sydney when up to 3000 cardboard lifeboats bearing lighted candles are launched on the river from the Birkenhead pontoons.

Adelaide and regional schools students and their families and war veterans make all of the lifeboats.

The names of the 60 lost South Australian sailors will be on the sides of the lifeboats to be launched by the students.

A special March and Salute by the RAN Ceremonial Unit will be a dedication to the officers and men of Sydney and a one-hour Ceilidh Music Concert by the SA Pipes and Drums will include a special Ode to the Finding Sydney Foundation search team.

The SA Pipes and Drums won international acclaim for their Ceilidh Music at the Edinburgh Military Tattoo.

Semaphore Port Adelaide RSL, the Merchant Navy Association SA and the Vindicatrix Association SA staged the first ANZAC Light on the Water on ANZAC Eve 2007 during the first Port Festival.

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The new Keith Withey designed cardboard lifeboat for ANZAC Light on the Water on April 24 passed its Sea Trials with flying colours on Friday March 14.

Port River shipping gave the lifeboat a wide berth as it moved gracefully across the water.

On ANZAC Eve a Notice to Mariners will ensure that up to 3000 lifeboats have right of way during the unique commemoration.

Organisers will soon deliver 3000 Visy Board white lifeboat templates to schools in Semaphore, Port Adelaide, other Adelaide suburbs and some regional centres in special packs with instructions and information about ANZAC Light on the Water.

From these students will make their own boats for the ANZAC Eve tribute to the merchant seamen who rowed out troops ashore at Gallipoli in 1915.

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Kura Yerlo Centre which provides services and facilities to the Aboriginal Community on the west side of Adelaide is situated on the Esplanade at Largs Bay.

The Centre promotes and supports Aboriginal organisations and groups that are developing community activities within the area.

Kura Yerlo also develops, implements and provides educational, cultural, sporting and other programs for the benefit of the Aboriginal Community.

Programs include Childcare, Youth, Elders, Karrarendi, Health and Fitness, Pottery and Leadlight.

For more information visit the Kura Yerrlo website.

Parish Priest Ali Wurm says Soul Food at St. Bede’s is a venture in community building and strengthening the soul.

“My Polish mother says ‘Every meal is sacred’, meaning every meal is an opportunity for thanksgiving, for being mindful and appreciative for the food we can enjoy, share, and delight in,” Ali says.

“Every meal is a time for nourishing the body and the soul.

“For me, church should be like a good restaurant.

“Our whole being is inspired through the senses through good food, music, art, stimulating company, conversation, and laughter.

“Once I discover a good restaurant I tell my friends about it, I can’t wait to go back.

“Every meal is a rich experience, leaving me feeling more connected to the world.

“This is what Soul Food is all about.”

St. Bede’s Anglican Parish, Semaphore invites you to Soul Food at St. Bede’s Hall at 200 Military Road, Semaphore on Saturday March 1 from 6.30 pm to 8.30 pm

Guest speaker Dr. Charles Williamson is the local chiropractor at Back by the Beach on Semaphore Road.

Dr Williamson’s theme is Being Human Well and he explores the spirit of nurturing community life through food, music, art and energy awareness

Admission is $12 to $15 and includes BBQ and salads , BYO.

Phone 8449 5064 to book

Nature strip is an apt name when you take into account the disastrous lack of rain in Adelaide that has stripped away carefully tended grass from our roadsides.

A few grass strips survive, often with Nature’s help in the form of large shade trees.

Many residents have simply given up and opted for a range of solutions to keep their front of house looking attractive, from simply using pebbles or gravel to replacing grass with hardy native grasses, cactus and plants.

Our Exeter photos show a lush survivor under a cloud of foliage, a pebble solution on opposite sides of Woolnough Road and two examples of the use of natives in Harris Street.

This exhibition explores both the fantasy and the factual elements of pirates, their lives, stories and legend. It’s a hands-on interactive experience for the young and young at heart.

The brutal, yet somehow romantic reputation of the pirate has helped create some of the most popular characters in fiction.

But where does fiction end and history begin? Uncover the truth behind pirate legend and learn about some of the amazing feats and incredible tales of these fabled sea dogs.

This exhibition allows children to follow the pirate path of peril with Penzance the pirate monkey as their guide.

Penzance takes them through the lives and fates of various pirates of the past as he attempts to regain his lost treasure.

The journey takes you from the Pirates Cabin and Skull Island to the Serpent’s Lair, where the hidden treasure is up for grabs.

Along the way you will learn about the mythology of pirates and how they came to occupy their place in current popular culture.

And for the keen buccaneer you will even discover the history of pirates in South Australia!

So come join us at the South Australian Maritime Museum for pirate mayhem and skulduggery, if you dare!

Pirates! Skulduggery at the Maritime Museum is on show at the South Australian Maritime Museum in Lipson Street Port Adelaide till 24 February 2008.

This new City of Port Adelaide Enfield publication reflects the range of services, interest groups, facilities, resources, activities and enterprises that assist residents in their daily lives and enable them to participate fully in their community.

Services provided by Council are identified throughout the directory by the use of the Council logo.

You can get your printed copy of the directory at a number of locations including:

• The Civic Centre, 161 St Vincent Street
• The Town Hall, 34 Nile Street
• The Visitor Information Centre, 66 Commercial Road
• Semaphore and Port Adelaide Libraries

Click here to search the Council’s community information database.

Each year the City of Port Adelaide Enfield presents Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Awards which recognise and celebrate the contribution that our ATSI community makes to our overall community.

There are a number of categories, including the Elder of the Year, which was presented to Trevor Bromley by Uncle Lewis O’Brien.

The Awards are presented at a special Awards Ceremony, which in 2007 was one of the key events of Council’s Inaugural Nunga Week at the Parks Community Centre; more than 100 people were there.

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You can download a PDF copy of Blue Swimmer, the lively and informative newsletter of the environmental group Friends of Gulf St Vincent — just click here.