Three Things I Love: Gillian O’Shaughnessy on Perth’s best book-shopping and bird-spotting

Each week, WAtoday reaches out to the Perth community to discover three things people love most about our coastal capital. Today we feature Gillian O’Shaughnessy, a veteran of Perth radio, turned global award-winning short fiction author. She’s also the city’s most sought-after event interviewer, with subjects including Sir Ian McKellan, John Cleese, Grace Tame, Tim Winton and Paul Kelly. She curates the famously kind Facebook page, Reading Between the Wines.

Gillian O’Shaughnessy at Paper Bird Children’s Books and Arts, Fremantle.Credit: Charlotte Clifford

1. Perth’s independent bookshops. I had a visit from a friend who lives in the USA recently; she was dazzled by the number and quality of independent bookshops we have in Perth. There isn’t a single bookshop left in her city, they’ve all gone out of business because, she says, everyone buys from multinational outfits online. If this isn’t a call to arms to support and nurture our Perth bookshops, I don’t know what is. We are so lucky. I try to share the love, but because I’m a Freo girl, you can usually find me in New Edition. It’s so cosy, the range of books is wonderful, and for addicts like me, they have excellent notebooks. Alan Sheardown, the owner, and the staff are friendly and hugely knowledgeable. And Kristy Diffey, New Edition bookseller and baker, makes the best book-inspired biscuits in Australia. Check her work out for yourself on her Instagram page, @jetlagmama. I hope I am never too old for Paper Bird Children’s Books and Arts; they have new books, classics, and a huge range of First Nations books. The shop itself is magical, with an actual wardrobe, complete with fur coats and suitcases, for fans of C.S. Lewis’ Narnia books. Bill Campbell’s second-hand bookshop on High Street is an institution, and Elizabeth’s Secondhand Bookshops is right around the corner. There are so many wonderful bookshops to visit around the city: Boffins and Stefen’s in Perth, Beaufort Street Books in Mount Lawley, Rabble in Maylands, Crow Books in East Victoria Park, Planet Books in Mount Lawley and Northbridge, Typeface in Applecross, Open Book in Mosman Park and The Lane Bookshop in Claremont. To name just a few!
2. Perth’s birds. I have stalked birds all over the world with my camera, and I can say with great confidence that Perth has some of the most beautiful birdlife you could hope to see anywhere. The Alfred Cove Nature Reserve on the Swan River has more than 140 different species of birds, some that migrate from as far as Arctic Siberia and Mongolia. Bibra Lake in the southern suburbs is part of the Beeliar Wetlands chain and is internationally recognised for its glorious birdlife, and Woodman Point is a delightful place to see pelicans and other seabirds gather. There are so many amazing places to see birds in our city. But you don’t have to go further than your own garden to see some of Perth’s prettiest and most interesting birds. Look into re-wilding your garden, including planting natives and cutting out chemicals and poisons, and you’ll be rewarded with a garden of wonder. In my area of Fremantle, you’ll even find the beautiful splendid blue fairy wrens. Glorious.

A New Holland honeyeater and blue fairy wren in my Fremantle back garden.Credit: Gillian O'Shaughnessy

3. Perth’s libraries. As author Neil Gaiman so famously said: ’Libraries are one of the few public spaces where you’re allowed to exist without the expectation of spending any money.” Libraries are no longer simply places to borrow books, they are vital community hubs. If you’re housebound for any reason, they will deliver books to your door, and pick them up again when you’re done, free of charge. They run workshops, community events, they have free printers, and computers and if you don’t know how to use a computer, there’ll be someone at the library who can show you. There are children’s storytimes, gaming consoles, accessible and clean public toilets. Libraries are for everyone, including some of the most vulnerable in our community. Free knowledge, how brilliant. It’s a human right. Librarians are my heroes. Check out Joondalup Library, Fremantle Library, Success Library and the wonderful State Library in the centre of Perth. But wherever you live in Perth, there’ll be a library close by.

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