WITH ABUNDANT GRATITUDE
On the first day of Christmas, my true love sent to me a partridge in a pear tree, two turtle doves, three French hens, four calling birds, five golden rings, six geese a-laying, seven swans a-swimming, eight maids a-milking, nine ladies dancing, ten lords a-leaping, eleven pipers piping, and twelve drummers drumming.
As you can well imagine, another partridge in a pear tree is completely unnecessary, which leads us to consider this.
Our greatest gift is each other.
On behalf of the Mello House team,
we wish you and your dear ones – near and far, a safe, joyous and soothing festive season, with time spent celebrating what we hold true in our hearts.
A Merry Christmas to you all…..
MELLO HOUSE FESTIVE OPENING HOURS
Mello House will close at midnight on Saturday 20 December 2025
and reopen at 7am on Monday 12 January 2026.
NB: Please note the City of Perth Christmas Pageant is scheduled from 7-9pm
on Saturday 6 December – road closures will apply.
Image – Brad Rimmer Mirror Ball Morawa Town Hall, Spring 2020, Archival pigment print, 45 x 60cm, ed. 3
Brad Rimmer is represented by art Collective WA
WILL YEOMAN PRESENTS…
Returning from an intrepid escapade in Europe, highly respected and eternal journalist and music critic – Will Yeoman, brings his second salon to Mello House with the loved-and-local Freeze Frame Opera (FFO).
Celebrating their 10th anniversary in 2026, FFO boldly creates world-class productions that reimagine opera for today. Championing Western Australian talent and pairing emerging artists with seasoned professionals to nurture the next generation, they deliver through creating opera that is accessible, relevant, and inspiring for audiences of all ages and backgrounds, celebrating the power of live performance.
Join Will with Founder & Creative Director of Freeze Frame Opera – renowned Perth-based soprano Harriet Marshall, internationally acclaimed and adored soprano – Sara Macliver, and pianist, composer, répétiteur and Musical Director of FFO – Tommaso Pollio, up close in conversation interspersed with musical interludes that expose the brilliance of this award-winning company.
A rare moment to frame, forever in our minds.
WHEN: Tuesday 2 December, 6pm
WHERE: Mello House Lounge
RSVP essential HERE by Saturday 29 November
Guests most welcome
Image – Harriet Marshall.
CHRISTMAS WARANGKA IN DEDICATION……
Kalyakoorl, Ngalak Warangka – Forever, We Sing – Songs in Noongar Language.
This day will resonate deeply for many of the Mello House family as we dedicate this Christmas Warangka to the grace, beauty, music and eternal essence of Guy Ghouse AM, who we lost to cancer on Friday 21 November 2025.
Every Christmas since December 2019, legendary guitar maestro Guy and his soulmate, wife, and musical partner, ethereal singer and proud Noongar woman – Gina Williams, have gifted us with the most precious Mello House tradition; sharing stories and performing much-adored carols and songs, translated into the ancient and stunningly musical Noongar language.
Cementing a love and friendship that is everlasting, it was Guy’s wish that we continue this tradition, with Gina and their families, as this is one of the most treasured afternoons of their performance calendar; a shared moment reflecting an astounding generosity from two who are at the deepest part of the cultural heart and joy of Mello House.
In the truest spirit of this season, join us in dedication to Guy, to Gina and Guy’s love, and to the phenomenally overwhelming power that their music and storytelling will forever deliver to our hearts.
Together we will sing – side by side, just for you Guy.
WHEN: Saturday 6 December, 330pm for a 4pm start
WHERE: Mello House Lounges
RSVP essential HERE by Monday 1 December
Russell Holmes will be supporting on the grand piano.
Family members most welcome.
The Mello House WANJU Program is proudly supported by Gilbert + Tobin.
Image – Gina Williams AM and Guy Ghouse AM.
PHILOSOPHY HOUSE
In our final Philosophy House session for 2025, Professor James Arvanitakis returns, by request, to religion. A timely topic with such broad interpretations that merit much questioning, deep discourse, and connected listening.
A note from James:
“What do we and should we expect from religion?
I am excited to be facilitating our next Philosophy Club discussion – the third in our series on religion. So far, we have discussed the role that religion plays in our society. We started by looking at the work of Professor John A Rees and his overview of the way religion has shaped contemporary society as a ‘social phenomenon.’ Prof Rees is a religious studies scholar and looks at the way religions can shape international politics.
We then moved to Richard Dawkins and the new atheist movements. We read the first chapter of The God Delusion and discussed the view of religion as creating conflict and disharmony.
As a third part, I want to move onto how we see religion in the contemporary world. I suggest we start from an extract of a study by the Pew Research Centre that outlines What impact do people around the world think religion has on their society?
The second suggested reading is by Michael Jensen who, as the rector of St. Mark’s Darling Point in Sydney, reflects on the role of Christians (and religion) in a politically partisan world.
As always, I look forward to our open conversation.
james”
A fitting closer until we fling open the philosophical doors to 2026, and all the curious wonder to ponder together.
WHEN: Monday 8 December, 6pm
WHERE: Mello House Lounge
RSVP essential HERE by Tuesday 2 December
Guests welcome.
CHAMPAGNE FAIR
The Champagne campaign returns in an unabashedly effervescent Mello House take-over, with a stunning array of over 25 luxurious French offerings to taste.
Curated by State Buildings Director of Wine – Emma Farrelly, visit six stalls led by the wonderful advocates representing the world’s best Houses; think Laurent Perrier, Louis Roederer, Taittinger, Billecart-Salmon, Moët & Chandon, Bollinger, R d Ruinart, and so many more. Tempted anyone? Mais oui!
Simon Johnson State Manager and local hospitality legend – Kellie Willcock, will host the SJ stall for your delicious gifting pleasures, with delectable cheese and caviar-a-calling.
And while the sumptuous nectar of the Gods flow, one may contemplate which Champagne combination to order for Christmas consumption at 15% off orders placed on the day.
Oh, là là Champagne – c’est incroyable! Don’t miss a bead….
WHEN: Saturday 13 December, 4-6pm
WHERE: Mello House
RSVP essential HERE by Monday 8 December
$$: $99/person including canapés
Guests welcome – the more the merrier!
MELLOTIVO CHRISTMAS EDITION
Let the festive frivolity reign down in a glittered augmentation of joy and celebration. Gather with all the cheer of the season and toast a year that has been quite the decade.
There’ll be live music that morphs a groove into the evening to close 2025 with the pop of a cork and the burst of the best cracker in town. Shimmy the tinsel and frolic into a Friday where the only thing to do is countdown to the eve of a long hot summer.
Join us as we say MERRY CHRISTMAS, and in the immortal words of Bing Crosby, may your days be merry and bright…..
WHEN: Friday 19 December, from 5pm
WHERE: Mello House Lounges
LATER: Karaoke in the Sitting Room
RSVP essential HERE by Monday 15 December
Guests welcome.
WRAPPED UP IN EDICOLE
‘Tis the season so the State Buildings gift shop for the modern explorer, EDICOLE are in the mood for aiding and abetting all of your festive requirements.
In a marvelous offer to Mello House Members and Friends, gifts – even items not purchased from EDICOLE, are wrapped at $10 per item with their beautiful Cape Arid wrapping paper and a Cape Arid gift tag.
State Buildings gift cards, wondrous COMO The Treasury hampers and hotel stays, and COMO Shambhala gift experiences are all available to ease your Christmas choosing.
In another generous gesture, until December 1, EDICOLE are offering a major sale of 40% off all display books. With beautiful titles to suit all tastes and present quandaries, now is the time to get thoroughly wrapped.
EDICOLE OPENING HOURS
From 3 November to 24 December:
Monday to Friday: 8:00 am – 6:00 pm
Saturdays 6, 13, 20 Dec – 9:00 am – 3:00 pm
Closed 25th December – 5th January
WHERE: EDICOLE Postal Hall, The State Buildings
HERE for further enquiries.
BOOKISH HOLIDAY READS
In preparation to wind down from the year that was, and in readiness for the horizontal holiday by the beach, poolside, or après-ski, we have asked two of our favourite Western Australian literary supporters and publishing voices to offer their best reads and Christmas selections.
Founder, Director, Writer and supreme arts supporter, Terri-ann White of UPSWELL, champions “publishing a small number of distinctive books each year in, broadly, the areas of narrative nonfiction, fiction and poetry. I am interested in books that elude easy categorising and work somewhat against the grain of current trends.”
Birrundudu Drawings by John Carty, Jason M. Gibson, Alistair Paterson, Luke Scholes, Jessyca Hutchens, Stephen Gilchrist.
“In advance of the Perth Festival exhibition at the Lawrence Wilson Gallery of some hundreds of these drawings, barely seen since 1948, comes a glorious book that tells the story of how these drawings came into being. A breathtaking Australian story about art; belonging; anthropology; drawing one’s country, and the joys of the next generations of these elder men finding these treasures they knew nothing about.”
Calendar by Vanessa Berry
“A year of objects. Following the 18th century French Republican calendar, in which every day was dedicated to an object, Vanessa Berry set about writing her own object calendar over the course of a year, writing in real-time. Every day, she waited for an object to come to her attention; every night, she wrote its story. Calendar is a book about tuning in to the lives of the things around us, and the powerful connections to time and memory that objects hold.”
From Megan McCracken, the first Western Australian Chair of the Board for stella – the major voice for gender equity and cultural change in Australian literature, Megan is an avid reader and passionately supports their vision, a small selection of Megan’s extensive summer list below!
Literary Mystery/Thriller: Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy
A family living on a remote island near Antarctica find a mysterious woman has washed up on shore, alive. Who is she and why is she so far from home?
Classic: Orlando by Virginia Woolf
First published 1928 and still as fresh today and thought provoking as ever. A ridiculously entitled aristocratic man born in Elizabethan England lives for centuries – at one point in the 18th Century waking up in Constantinople, after a particularly raucous party, as a woman.
Home Grown fiction: The Revisionists by Michelle Johnston
Published 2025, Perth WA emergency physician Michelle Johnston’s third novel in which the protagonist is a journalist reflecting back on her coverage of unrest in 1999 Dagestan, North Caucasus.
Want to keep your young teen off their screen?
My Family and Other Suspects by Kate Emery
Young Adult Winner 2025 WA Premier’s Book Awards, this Agatha Christie style modern murder mystery is super engaging (for adults too!).
Our deepest thanks to Terri-ann and Megan for continuing to feed us with delicious and essential mind-food.
Stay tuned for the 2026 BOOKISH dates for your calendar and keep on reading!
MELLOTIVO – DECEMBER 2025
Every Friday from 530pm
“I don’t want a lot for Christmas..” Mariah Carey
FRIDAY 5 – SIMONE CRADDOCK DUO
This Queen croons with the best of them and will bring the soul, the jazz, the groove and glory to the invisible grand.
FRIDAY 12 – HARLEM NOCTURNES
Their final Friday of 2025 for these golden wonders-of-jazz diamonds.
Chris Foster (grand piano) and Dr Nick Abbey (double bass).
What more could a Christmas elf wish for?
FRIDAY 19 – CHRISTMAS EDITION FROM 5PM
Join us for the finishing touch on the full Friday of merriment before we
bid you adieu, arrivederci and good night.
The Hans Fiance Band, a real life “Christmas Tree”, karaoke into midnight,
and much ado down the chimney. HO HO HO.
AND FINALLY…
A DELECTABLY, REVELROUS SEASON TO YOU ALL
MERRY CHRISTMAS DEAR MEMBERS
