Tag / Northbridge

by Eddie

School’s out forever

Dodgy Perth's favourite small bar

Dodgy Perth’s favourite small bar

You’d imagine turning a school into a pub would be controversial, but the PICA Bar is too cool for anyone to object. When the government became liable for education, they needed a central Boys’ and Girls’ School, so the Public Works Department built them one in 1897.

The school had 500 boys on the ground floor and 500 girls upstairs. When it closed in 1958, Perth Technical College moved in. Its heir—TAFE—left the building in 1988 and Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts (PICA), complete with trendy bar, took over.

But back to the building’s school days. There is one historical universal: somebody will always worry about what is happening to our young girls. In 1910, people fretted that girls were growing up with only a basic knowledge of cooking and cleaning.

For those marrying farmers, training in practical household duties was considered essential. For those who would marry men who worked in the city, they needed to be proficient enough they could do without servants.

Perth Central School was useless if all it did was provide a ‘bookish’ education. Miss M. Jordan was appointed to the Central Girls’ School to acquaint her pupils with the duties associated with being a wife. A ‘housewifery cottage’ was built in the schoolyard, where the youth could learn to wash, iron, fold and put away.

Here, they also cooked, laid the table in the appropriate fashion—complete with flowers in the middle—as well as scrubbing the floor, blackening the grates, and brightening the silver.

There was concern that the cottage was so well equipped, the poor darlings would struggle in a real household, but these anxieties were dismissed, and the girls kept learning how to be drudges.

by Eddie

Let’s get it on in public

peepingtom-1We in the Dodgy Perth office are led to believe that some couples like to (ahem) take it outside every now and again. Presumably less popular in the winter months, though.

The best locations for alfresco luvin’ were identified in 1950, when a journalist decided to investigate Perth’s parks frequented by couples. Only in order, though, to check out the perverts who spied on them.

Presumably, hacks from The Mirror who hang around parks at night are exempted from the pervert category.

Let’s start with Weld Square, just off Beaufort Street. A well-lit area, there were two men who first sat looking from the benches, before flitting from tree to tree to peep on the courting pairs. (Dodgy Perth awards three out of five stars to Weld Square)

We cannot recommend Russell Square, in Northbridge, though. It is usually frequented by ‘plonk’ drinkers, and so is unattractive as a rendezvous. (Zero stars)

Hyde Park was very popular with both lovers and Peeping Toms. All the perverts had to do was wait and as soon as the couple was engrossed in lovemaking, take up a vantage point. Thanks to the plantings there, it was possible to get a really close-up viewpoint. (Five out of five stars)

A warning though. Sometimes the Peeping Toms take advantage of the duo being distracted, and creep up and steal her handbag. Being too embarrassed to explain what they were up to, these thefts were never reported to the police.

But the worst place for Peeping Toms is on grass by the river on Riverside Drive. The sheer number of weirdos there made it almost impossible to enjoy an outdoor experience. (Negative one star)

In 1950, a married couple were “sitting quietly” (yeah, right) by the river when the husband noticed a man crawling on all fours towards them. A fight broke out, with the pervert coming out very much second best.

So, Dodgy Perth has made our recommendations. We leave it to our readers to decide where and when they would like to ‘go outside’.

The following video is very NSFW. You have been warned.