CEO Allen Cooper and Council staff members
From 27 August to 2 September, Assistant Director Hiroaki Seino visited the Shire of East Pilbara in Western Australia for his internship, a vital part of CLAIR Sydney’s Japanese staff secondments to Australia.
During his internship, he met with Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Allen Cooper and several managers, gaining insights from them about a host of topics including community development, economic development, and tourism promotion.
His internship coincided with the Art at the Heart Artist Residency program’s opening exhibition, with a piece by the winner of the residency, Japanese artist Yasuaki Onishi from Osaka.
Open cut mining site
East Pilbara is famous for iron ore mining, and is the largest LGA by land area in Australia (as large as Japan!)
As such, the Shire’s operations are different in many respects to other local governments. While local governments around Australia have similar services and operational requirements, Hiroaki saw in East Pilbara that each local authority must adapt its operations to the situation at hand in order to give relevant services to local citizens.
On the last day of internship, on 2 September, Hiroaki attended the Art at the Heart opening exhibition. Yasuaki Onishi amazed the community at the unveiling of his art which featured an untitled piece made entirely of glue, suspended from fishing line and wire.
The artwork was constructed and installed on a local squash court. The artwork could be walked through and viewed from the rear, front, inside and from the viewing platform above. Hiroaki also took pride that a fellow Japanese person Japanese guy had made such a beautiful piece of art.
Hiroaki notes that his time in East Pilbara was an unforgettable experience. He sincerely appreciates the CEO’s and Community Wellbeing division’s assistance in making this internship a reality.
With Japanese artist Yasuaki Onishi (left)