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      Perth Museum review – a magical display of rampant unicorns and naked Picts

      news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · 17:23 · 1 minute

    City Hall, Perth
    This is how to reinvent a local museum, with inspiring, fun exhibits from the Stone of Scone to a salmon boat celebrating a proud and unique history

    It takes balls to transform a local collection of archaeology, art and stuffed salmon into a museum with ambitions on an international scale. And it so happens that balls are one of the new Perth Museum’s highlights, albeit prehistoric stone ones. Decorated with nodules large and small, these carved rocky spheres were a speciality of neolithic artists in Scotland. What do they mean? Nobody knows, but their carefully designed patterns evidently meant a lot to the people who lived in what is now called Scotland about 5,000 years ago.

    A stone can say so much. Even a blank one. Compared with these intricately hewn prehistoric artefacts, the stone that is the centrepiece of this museum is visually dull indeed – but it is enlivened by a spectacular setting. The museum has been fashioned out of an old Edwardian city hall with an imposing classical exterior and a huge, galleried central chamber. Right in the middle rises a tall wooden tower inside which, after a dramatic build-up in a darkened antechamber, you are admitted to see Scotland’s Stone of Destiny.

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      Perth hills fire: rain relief imminent in fight against week-long blaze

      pubsub.dcentralisedmedia.com / TheGuardian-Australia · Friday, 5 February, 2021 - 23:07

    Crews have been dealing with flare-ups on northern flank of bushfire that has destroyed at least 86 homes

    Rain relief is imminent after another dangerous night on the frontline of a devastating bushfire in the Perth hills that has destroyed at least 86 homes.

    Hopes are high that forecast weekend rain will help firefighters get on top of the week-long blaze as a tropical low tracks towards the south-west.

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      WA fire warning zone shrinks as crews focus on north-western flank

      pubsub.dcentralisedmedia.com / TheNewDaily · Friday, 5 February, 2021 - 00:46 · 3 minutes

    The emergency warning area for the out-of-control bushfire burning north-east of Perth has been reduced as hundreds of firefighters enter their fifth day battling the blaze.

    There were more difficult conditions for crews overnight as they fought to save homes, with strong winds and gusts of up to 80km/h.

    But authorities have reviewed and reduced the size of the warning area, and the Department of Fire and Emergency Services said many suburbs under threat on Thursday were no longer at risk.

    The wind has been consistently blowing from the east-south-east, allowing firefighters to focus their efforts on the north-western side of the fire, which has already destroyed 81 homes.

    DFES incident controller Peter Sutton said Thursday night was not without its challenges.

    “Overnight we had gusty east-south-easterlies over the fire ground which put pressure on the northern flank, which is what we expected,” he said on Friday.

    “We ended up having running fire out near Clenton Road and Ewing Road in Gidgegannup where crews were actively defending about four or five properties.

    “I’m pleased to say there were no properties damaged or lost up there overnight which is a great outcome.”

    The emergency warning now applies to parts of Avon Valley National Park, Bailup, Belhus, Brigadoon, Bullsbrook, Ellenbrook, Gidgegannup, The Vines, Upper Swan and Walyunga National Park, in the Shire of Mundaring and the City of Swan.

    Residents in Clenton and Berry roads in Gidgegannup as well as people in Shady Hills estate and east Bullsbrook remain in the immediate danger area and need to take shelter.

    perth bushfire The devastating bushfire has already destroyed 81 homes. Photo: ABC

    ‘We’re fairly confident with today’: DFES

    Superintendent Sutton said confidence about the firefighting effort was rising.

    “The great positive out of this is there has been no loss of human life, so [while it’s] tragic there’s been 81 houses lost and a lot of animal loss, no loss of human life is a great outcome,” he said.

    “We’re fairly confident with today, the conditions are fairly strong in terms of the easterly winds.

    “Most of the western boundary has been tested but there still is a chance around Shady Hills and Walyunga, the Avon Ridge that we could have breakouts.

    “We’ve had breakouts from containment lines several days after fires if the wind conditions are right, so we’ll really be concentrating our efforts on those western areas today.

    “Firefighters and machinery will work to consolidate containment lines throughout today.”

    Residents may be able to return

    About 200 firefighters continued to battle the blaze overnight, down from 500 on Thursday.

    The blaze has burned through close to 11,000 hectares of land but better weather conditions for fire crews are expected in the coming days, including forecast rain.

    “We’re getting cooler temperatures with higher humidity over the next five days, which will certainly help,” Superintendent Sutton said.

    “The effort now is really focused on getting people back to their properties.

    “We’ve got 240 kilometres of various roadways through this fire that need to be cleared and walked to make sure there’s no hazards.

    “We’re just asking people to be patient, we’re doing the best we can to ease road closures back in closer to the fire so we can get as many people back in to their homes.”

    woroloo fire perth Evacuees and their animals arrive at a safe stable in Perth. Photo: AAP

    Second fire declared suspicious

    Authorities said a separate fire, which started 10 kilometres north of the main Wooroloo fire on Thursday afternoon but has been contained and controlled, was being treated as suspicious.

    “I’d like to get a message out that that fire is suspicious, so if anyone does have any information on that fire or dash-cam footage, could they please call Crime Stoppers,” Superintendent Sutton said.

    “Really quite astounding that someone would possibly light a fire on a total fire ban day or any day in these conditions, with such a large fire still quite precarious so close.”

    “We had to divert at least 40 appliances [and] it resulted in the extension of the emergency warning area.”

    About 800 homes and businesses remain without power as a result of the main bushfire.

    Evacuation centres remain set up at Brown Park Recreation Complex in Swan View, Swan Active Midland and Beechboro Community Hub.

    More than 900 people have registered with the Red Cross’s Register, Find, Reunite service, which allows people to register that they are safe so their friends and family can check on them remotely.

    -ABC

    The post WA fire warning zone shrinks as crews focus on north-western flank appeared first on The New Daily .

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      Perth hills fire: rain forecast for weekend lifts firefighters' hopes

      pubsub.dcentralisedmedia.com / TheGuardian-Australia · Friday, 5 February, 2021 - 00:18

    DFES deputy commissioner ‘pretty confident’ total of 81 homes lost to bushfire will be final figure

    Fire crews are hoping rain forecast for the weekend will allow them to control a Perth hills bushfire that has destroyed 81 homes.

    After successfully saving 200 homes in Shady Hills and Avon Ridge, crews were tested on Thursday afternoon after a new fire broke out just kilometres away east of Bullsbrook.

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      Calls grow for national approach to Covid quarantine after Australian Open hotel worker tests positive – politics live

      pubsub.dcentralisedmedia.com / TheGuardian-Australia · Thursday, 4 February, 2021 - 01:01 · 1 minute

    Increased testing at South Australian border as positive case throws tennis tournament preparations into chaos. Follow the latest news, live

    • Australian Open hotel worker positive for Covid
    Victoria Covid hotspots
    WA Covid restrictions explained ; WA hotspot locations
    Labor urges Facebook to act against Craig Kelly’s ‘harmful’ content
    • Follow our global coronavirus live blog

    1.00am GMT

    There is hope the Australian Open schedule will not be affected by the positive case detected in a hotel quarantine support worker yesterday, and that play can get underway as planned on Monday morning, after Victoria’s deputy chief health officer, Professor Allen Cheng, said the risk to players and their support staff of contracting the virus was low.

    Play in build-up tournaments to the Open at Melbourne Park was called off for today with up to 600 people in the sizeable tennis cohort in Melbourne forced into isolation. Testing of those people is well under way this morning and once a negative result is received, they will be allowed out of isolation.

    ✔ Covid test done, now isolate until negative test result @SevenFriday @SEVENFRIDAYaus #melbourne #australia #atptour #ausopen #AO21 #tennis #covid #covid19 #watch #watches #sevenfriday pic.twitter.com/t9DVXktcyj

    1.00am GMT

    A new community case of Covid-19 has been identified in New Zealand: a close contact of two recent cases, who has been self-isolating.

    The new case is the mother of the toddler (known as Person C) who tested positive for Covid-19 after quarantining at the Pullman Hotel in Auckland. Person B, her partner, also tested positive.

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      Perth hills bushfire: thousands of homes under threat as strong winds test firefighters

      pubsub.dcentralisedmedia.com / TheGuardian-Australia · Thursday, 4 February, 2021 - 00:14

    Fire that has already destroyed 71 homes is moving towards Shady Hills, with shifting winds hampering containment efforts

    Thousands of homes are now under threat as the Perth hills bushfire continues to rage out of control on the outskirts of the city.

    The fire has destroyed at least 71 homes, federal drought and emergency management minister, David Littleproud, has said that number had likely risen overnight as the blaze moved towards the Shady Hills area.

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      Security guards speak out on poor pay and conditions at quarantine hotels

      pubsub.dcentralisedmedia.com / TheNewDaily · Wednesday, 3 February, 2021 - 22:38 · 3 minutes

    Hotel quarantine security guards at the frontline of keeping the highly-contagious B117 variant of COVID-19 out of Western Australia have called for better wages and duty of care provisions, with many paid as little as $22 an hour to put their health at risk during 12-hour shifts.

    Speaking anonymously for fear of being sacked, two security guards working for different private contractors have spoken out about the poor conditions and personal toll of the job.

    “We’re not being treated nicely, we’re not being paid well, we’re not looked after,” one said.

    “What’s the upside?”

    Both security guards have come to the defence of a young colleague known as Case 903, who tested positive to the UK variant and sparked Perth’s lockdown, saying the “poor fella” was being demonised.

    It has been revealed that Case 903 appeared to have contracted the virus from a returned overseas traveller, despite being stationed two metres away from the person’s room, at the Four Points by Sheraton in Perth.

    According to authorities, he did not, as was earlier thought, deliver medical supplies to the room .

    The case at Four Points by Sheraton in Perth has heightened concerns about the airborne transmission of the new variant. Photo: ABC/AAP/Richard Wainwright

    Concern about airborne spread

    One guard, who works at another quarantine hotel in Perth, told the ABC the case was a “game-changer” for security personnel working at the quarantine hotels.

    “Everyone’s confidence has been really shaken,” the guard said.

    “I live at home with an elderly family member and many, many people I work with live in multi-generational houses. Every time we do our hallway walks [in the hotel corridors] we are just as close as that guard got.

    “For me, that’s a real concern.”

    On Wednesday, WA’s director of communicable disease control, Paul Armstrong, confirmed that up until this point security guards at quarantine hotels had not been required to wear personal protective equipment (PPE) unless they heard guests coming or had an “inkling” that their door would open.

    Dr Armstrong said that policy would be changed and PPE would now be mandatory for security guards at all times.

    The move has been welcomed by the two guards interviewed by the ABC.

    “I appreciate the fact that they are prioritising our health but still question why this wasn’t instituted before,” one said.

    “It feels like all the rules they bring in are a reaction, rather than proactive.”

    Security guards will now have to wear PPE all the time while guarding the rooms of travellers in quarantine hotels. Photo: ABC/AAP/Richard Wainwright

    “If the health department were to sit down privately with a lot of security guards and ask them where the holes are, they would get a lot better response than talking to some of the management who are not on site.”

    Guards told to be ‘frugal’ with PPE

    Both guards claimed that, if anything, PPE use until this point had been discouraged by supervisors.

    “We’ve definitely been told to be frugal with our PPE. We’ve certainly been told that it’s not a bottomless pit,” one said.

    “I have been made to feel like, if I asked for extra PPE, that that might be questioned.”

    Announcing the change of policy on PPE, Dr Armstrong said that the previous system had been based on advice from a very experienced infection control team.

    “There’s been around 37,000 people in those hotels,” he said.

    “Under this policy, several hundred of those have become positive and we haven’t had any breaches.

    “Something is different in that circumstance [Case 903] and we have to learn from it and change our policy.

    “One of those changes is that these guards need to wear masks at all times.”

    The President of the WA branch of the Australian Medical Association, Andrew Miller, has criticised the health department for not ensuring security guards at quarantine hotels were required to wear masks earlier.

    “If we don’t adopt an approach that mitigates against, that protects us against airborne spread in stuffy indoor situations, then we will fail again and again and again,” Dr Miller said.

    He said the science on the airborne spread of COVID-19 had been clear since March 2020 and he again called for “proper airborne protection” for security guards.

    -ABC

    The post Security guards speak out on poor pay and conditions at quarantine hotels appeared first on The New Daily .