August 2014

Hijinks

29/08/2014 | Comments: 0 | Posted by: Tom Christophersen | In: Music, Theatre

hijinks

Search for sunken treasure in a sparkling underwater city filled with dive bars, fascinating sea creatures and Sydney’s hottest young artists.

The underwater tunnels of SEA LIFE Sydney Aquarium open after-hours for limited-edition 18+ events run by non-profit arts company The Festivalists. Experience some of the best emerging local artists against a magnificent backdrop of sharks, stingrays and sea jellies.

Take on the role of a buccaneer as you are challenged to search for sunken treasure throughout the Aquarium’s mysterious underwater corridors and caverns, home to astonishing marine life from dugongs and sawfish to penguins and seahorses. Take selfies with Bitches of the Sea, learn something untrue about Penguins and find Quint’s lost undersea booty.

Grab a drink at the pop up bars serving Little Creatures beers or SKYY Vodka cocktails, take selfies with Grey Nurse sharks, chat with marine biologists or simply get a head start on the weekend. SEA LIFE Sydney Aquarium is one of Sydney’s most surprising, awe-inspiring sites. HIJINKS is a unique opportunity for local residents to reclaim the aquarium as their own over the course of a wild and eventful evening.

Thursday September 11th at 6.30pm – 9.30pm at the Sydney Aquarium.

More info and tickets here.

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Westbrook

29/08/2014 | Comments: 0 | Posted by: Tom Christophersen | In: TV

WESTBROOK

Westbrook

The Crime & Investigation Network.

Starts – Thursday August 28 at 8.30pm

Concludes – Thursday September 4 at 8.30pm

Encores – Sunday August 31 at 8.30pm and Sunday September 7 at 8.30pm

Westbrook is the horrifying story of a modern Australian slave labour camp where for many years in the 1950s and ‘60s, teenage boys were imprisoned, systematically brutalised and sexually assaulted. Many had escaped from violent and dysfunctional families only to face years of deprivation and humiliation, degraded day-after-day in a regimen designed to break their spirit.

This the story of Westbrook, a notorious hell-hole at Toowoomba, Queensland, where boys were beaten till they bled, dragged at night from their dormitory beds to be raped by guards and older inmates; the screams of the victims echoing over the other boys lying terrified and weeping.

When a boy managed to report the abuse to authorities he was disbelieved and beaten even more harshly. The few who managed to get away were quickly re-captured and put into the horrifying confinement of a terrible cage called “The Compound”.

Through re-enactments and interviews with the survivors, Westbrook exposes the criminal behaviour of supervisors with unrestricted power over all aspects of the boys’ lives.

Westbrook is a documentary all Australians must see. It reveals a legacy of violence and misery that continues to this day; a trail of homelessness, unemployment, substance abuse, mental illness and emotional breakdown.

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