Month: February 2015

A CROWD of 60-70 people attended Friday’s auction of the Bay Hotel, 62 Main St, Mornington, which was sold for $6.1 million. Vinci Carbone auctioneer David O’Callaghan sold the 1880s former Commerce Bank in conjunction with Jacobs & Lowe’s Russell Murphy. It later became a silver service restaurant and then a hotel. The new owners, a group of investors from Balwyn, bought the two-storey building of 732 square metres and land area of 552 square metres with rear laneway access. “They are happy and the vendors – a group of locals – are also happy,” Jacobs & Lowe’s Peter Skewes…

FEW people get to live on a small island close to a major city. Even fewer can claim they are the island’s sole inhabitant. Anne Tillig has been in that enviable situation since 1996 after buying Elizabeth Island with her late husband, Ivan Vit. The 26 hectare island is close to the south east corner of French Island and an eight kilometre boat trip from Corinella and just over twice that distance from Stony Point. Isolated it might be, but Elizabeth Island has all mod cons, including mobile phone and internet access, there are adequate water tanks, bottled gas and…

A FRANKSTON police officer has been honoured for saving the lives of three people – one a troubled 17-year-old girl – about 250 metres offshore from the lifesaving club last February. First Constable Cameron Wallace, 35, of Hastings, received the Police Medal of Courage last week from Acting Chief Commissioner Tim Cartwright at a ceremony at the police academy. Before the rescue, police had been called to the foreshore by reports of a swimmer in trouble about 10.40pm. Constable Wallace rushed to the scene and jumped into the water and swam to assist the girl – and then discovered two…

PRESSURE is building on South East Water and Mornington Peninsula Shire to create a nature reserve instead of a housing estate on land occupied by an old reservoir at Mt Eliza. Last year the government water authority asked the shire to rezone 2.8 hectares on the corner of Barmah and Kanya roads, east of Kunyung Rd, for 24 blocks of about 1000 square metres. The shire called for public comment and is likely to consider the matter at its 23 March meeting in Mt Martha. Several of more than 75 submissions point out this part of Mt Eliza has just…

MORNINGTON Peninsula Shire would have to spend $56.5 million to build new headquarters in Rosebud or $51.7 million at Mornington. The shire bought Rosebud Central shopping centre on Wannaeue Place in 2012 as a possible site for Southern Peninsula Aquatic Centre (SPA) and is now looking at housing all shire staff there. Employees would be moved from the shire’s three existing offices in Bes­grove St, Rosebud; Queen St, Morn­ing­ton; and Marine Parade, Hastings. Councillors were briefed about the radical change to shire office ar­range­ments on Monday last week. They have been offered six options ranging from retaining the three offices…

THE opening of Frankston’s Hospital’s new $81 million building has been hailed “an important milestone” by Peninsula Health. Health Minister Jill Hennessy visited the hospital last Tuesday (17 February) to officially open the new emergency department and three additional wards. Patients began being accepted to the new wards last Thursday. “The opening of this new building marks an important milestone in Frankston Hospital’s proud 74 year history. The last five years have seen more than $150 million invested in capital works for critical care, emergency medicine, and general medical services,” Peninsula Health chairwoman Nancy Hogan said. Known as Frankston Stage…

MAIN St Mornington will be a hive of activity on Tuesday (24 Feb) as locals welcome passengers from the P&O cruise liner Pacific Pearl. The 63,875-tonne ship is due to arrive from Eden, on the NSW south coast, at 8am and berth about 1.6km off shore – weather permitting – or 3.2km out if it is too rough near shore. Its 1800 passengers will be ferried to shore in tenders for a day’s sightseeing and shopping in the town, bus trips to Sorrento and Portsea, drinking at wineries, as well as dolphin, swimming and paddling excursions. A Plan B scenario,…

THE sound of screeching seagulls is nothing new over the shops at Mt Martha. The birds are masters of the air and making the trip across the road from beach to scavenging on the footpath is just a wingbeat away. But on a Sunday afternoon in early January a glance upwards would have shown shoppers that the screeching of the gulls had nothing to do with squabbles over food. Not too far above the shops glided a wedge-tailed eagle, its characteristic silhouette raising alarm among the birds underneath. Sightings of Australia’s largest bird of prey are becoming more common on…

THE Between the Bays festival at Penbank School on Saturday is more than just a music treat – it has a much higher calling… Money raised goes towards fostering the close relationship between the Moorooduc school and Wugularr Primary School in the Northern Territory. It helps pay for the airfares, accommodation, food and activities of the Aboriginal students who visit Penbank on cultural exchanges and for the whole Wugubank partnership – an amalgam of the schools’ names. Popular singer James Reyne will headline this year’s festival, alongside Mark Seymour, Custard, Wagons, Sweet Jean, Combo La Revelacion, Indiginous Hip Hop Projects…

PRIME Minister Tony Abbott made a flying visit to Frankston last Thursday afternoon for “an afternoon tea with community members”. Mr Abbott addressed the invited guests – including Liberal Party members, school principals and council representatives – at Frankston RSL flanked by Dunkley MP and Small Business Minister Bruce Billson. Mr Billson has been highly visible in his support for the embattled Prime Minister both before and after this month’s failed Liberal leadership spill vote last Monday (8 February). Mr Billson told The News he knew the Prime Minister would be visiting Frankston “a few weeks ago”. Mr Abbott made…

AFTER years of battling development in Tootgarook Swamp, defenders received good news earlier in the month when Mornington Peninsula Shire released a planning amendment designed to protect the iconic wetlands. Save Tootgarook Swamp president Cameron Brown said Amendment C188, if approved, would create a new Environmental Significance Overlay (ESO). “For the first time the wetlands will have a site-specific overlay specifically designed for the needs and issues of the Tootgarook Swamp,” he said. “The ESO will acknowledge the unique characteristics and values of an area in need of protection and preservation. “It will provide concise direction for appropriate planning and…

IT DOESN’T take much to get a plein-air painter out of the house. If it’s a Thursday and there’s a chance of the sun coming out it’s a safe bet the Mornington Peninsula Plein Air Painters are someplace scenic putting on canvas what they see before them. Asked why they choose to paint in the open away from their studio they will say that you can never capture the feeling and the colours from a photo or a pre-determined image that you can on site. Visitors can see this for themselves over three days from Friday 6 March at the…

POLLUTION of Rye Beach is being investigated by the state Environment Protection Authority and Mornington Peninsula Shire’s environmental health team. The probe was revealed to the council on Monday last week by the shire’s communications manager Todd Trimble during his annual “summer report”. He said the two bodies were “conducting a risk assessment of Rye Beach to determine possible sources of bacterial contamination detected”. “As part of the assessment, the environmental health team is assisting Monash University and Melbourne Water in a bacterial water sampling program around the Rye Beach stormwater outfall, including sampling from septic systems and groundwater bores,”…

A LITTLE black dog spotted floating face down off Fisherman’s beach was all but gone until some quick thinking brought him back to life. Sammy, the Maltese-poodle cross, was enjoying a walk and a paddle near the boat ramp with owner Maggie Brown on Tuesday when, to her horror, she looked up to see him about eight metres off-shore – and motionless in the water. “I thought: “’Oh my god’, and I was trying to run through the water to reach him and hoping he would pop his little head up but he appeared drowned,” she said. “I grabbed him…

Sexual Crimes Squad detectives are appealing for information following a sexual assault which is reported to have occurred in 1982 at HMAS Cerberus. The female victim, who was a junior officer within the Navy, was taking part in a course at the training facility when the assault occurred on the night of a ‘mess dinner’ sometime between March and June. It is believed that a Steward, who was working on the particular night of the attack and involved in the ‘mess dinner’, entered the woman’s sleeping quarters in the Gunroom and sexually assaulted her. Detectives have been investigating the matter…

DISTRICT ONLY four of the six scheduled MPCA District matches got starts on Saturday. Seaford and Carrum, a critical match in the context of the season, as well as Somerville and Boneo, will be played this Saturday in a one day format. There was no stopping Red Hill though, who bounced back from their first loss of the season last week to post a massive 3/347 against Flinders at BA Cairns Reserve. However, despite posting the massive score, there were no triple figures from any of the five Hillmen bats who went out into the middle. Mind you, none of…

PROVINCIAL IT was an unbelievable day in MPCA Provincial cricket on Saturday. While the highest score for the day was a staggering 136, arguably the peninsula’s greatest ever player, Long Island’s Scott Phillips, was single handedly tearing up Heatherhill. The all-rounder snared nine wickets in a day, eight in the first innings and one in the second to have the Hills reeling at Bruce Park. Although heavy rain threatened matches across the peninsula, five of the six Provincial games got underway. Baxter and Crib Point will play a one-day match this Saturday after Baxter Park was unplayable for the second…

SUB-DISTRICT BALNARRING has yet another opportunity for an outright victory after dominating Dromana on Saturday in Sub-District cricket. Dromana won the toss and sent the Saints in to bat. It proved to be a pretty good decision when the Hoppers rolled the visitors for 168. Tim Jessup top scored for the Saints with 40, taking the place of David Ross, who didn’t play. Craig Dunlop was the pick of the bowlers for the Hoppers with 4/50 from 20 overs. Dromana needed to capitalise with the bat and failed to do so, bowled out for 62 in 28 overs. Jacob Cook…

COUNTRY WEEK THE Mornington Peninsula Cricket Association failed to have an impact in last week’s Country Week carnival for the first time in memory. The MPCA finished in sixth place on the table with just one win for the carnival. That win came in round one when the MPCA rolled South West at Melbourne University. Sorrento’s Corey Harris made 82 and Moorooduc’s Bobby Wilson an unbeaten 75 in that first game when the team scored 3/260. Long Island’s Justin Bridgeman and Mornington’s Luke Popov snared two wickets each as the MPCA rolled South West for 225. In Round two, despite…

MR J. P. Pratt has quite recovered his recent motor accident, and has now returned to Shepparton. *** MESSRS A. Eddie, H. Jackson and O. Palmer have returned to Melbourne after spending a most enjoyable holiday at Mr A. Eddie’s seaside residence, “Cheer-Oh”, Frankston. *** THE monthly meeting of the Somerville Fruit-growers’ Association will be held in the Somerville Hall on Monday next, when the matter of the cool storage project will be discussed. *** NOMINATIONS for the Flinders Naval Base Sports close with the secretary on Monday next. From what we hear there is likely to be a big…

ABOUT 3500 people packed Rosebud’s Village Green on the foreshore for the Peninsula Short Film Fest, delighting organisers and cementing it as one of the peninsula’s premier arts events after just four years. The films were streamed to Federation Square in Melbourne. Festival founder Steve Bastoni said the event generated a “fantastic, friendly community feel” and the galaxy of acting stars who came down to Rosebud “loved it”. Bastoni, a Rosebud resident and award-winning actor (On the Beach, The Matrix Reloaded, The Water Diviner, and Blue Murder), started the festival in 2011 to give his acting students a forum for…

THE derelict lower station of the old Arthurs Seat chairlift is no more. A Parks Victoria contractor operating a tracked excavator flattened the building, which contained a kiosk and storage sheds, in less than a day on Monday last week but a Parks spokeswoman said the work would take about a week as there was asbestos material throughout the building. Parks Victoria said the building was surplus to its needs. The demolition also removed graffiti that appeared on Thursday 5 February: “No vandalism in our park” and “I am not the vandal”, presumably painted by a person or people opposed…

MORNINGTON poet Theresa O’Dea’s book Someone’s Child is a poetry anthology on grief and loss. It has been written to raise funds for the Luke Batty Foundation and the Forgetmenot Foundation. It will be launched on Wednesday 18 March at the Mornington Library in Vancouver St, from 5-7pm, and sell for $50 each. Ms O’Dea started Poet’s Corner in Mornington many years ago “when it was just a small township”. “When Luke Batty was murdered in February last year, I was brought into a higher power by his spirit to compile a book of poetry from other poets,” Ms O’Dea…

MORE international tourists visited the Mornington Peninsula over sum­mer than last season with a large per­centage using the region as a “gate­way” to Phillip Island and the Great Ocean Road. Peninsula tourism operators reported that visitors spent between 10-20 per cent more, and more bookings were made in advance. These and other trends were reported to shire councillors last week by the shire’s communications manager Todd Trimble in his annual “summer report”. “Tourists complained less, perhaps due to improvement in quality of ser­vices and products,” he said. The increase in international visitors came particularly from Asian markets. Statistics on the…

LIKE ripples from a pebble tossed into a still pond, revelations of sexual impropriety at the Mt Eliza-based Shiva School of Meditation and Yoga have been echoing around the world. The ripples have left a string of fractured and broken friendships and relationships in their wake. Announced first to “members” of the school and ashram and then published in The News, the revelations that the school’s founder Swami Shankarananda had admitted to having secret sexual relations with women devotees was soon picked up by national news organisations. Inevitably, it has also become a source of comment on social media, mostly…

REMOVAL of the carbon tax should curb any rate rise next year, according figures drawn from the Victorian Auditor-General’s report for 2012-13. The federal Labor government’s tax, abolished by the current federal Coalition government after it was elected in 2013, is the fourth largest driver of rate increases, the report, Rating Practices in Local Government, stated. The three bigger items were “maintaining services/cost shifting”, “general/other costs” and the state government’s landfill levy. The report was compiled using figures supplied by Victorian councils. Both federal and state governments “cost-shift” services on to local councils, often to achieve savings in their own…

AUSTRALIAN of the Year Rosie Batty is taking time out from official duties for a motorbike ride. The inaugural Luke Batty Memorial Ride was held last year three weeks after 11-year-old Luke was killed by his father after cricket training at Tyabb. Since then, Rosie batty has become a high profile symbol for the growing anti-domestic violence movement. And with her being named by the Prime Minister Tony Abbott as Australian of the Year and a Royal Commission into domestic violence about to begin in Victoria, she is guaranteed never to be far from the limelight. Ms Batty will be…

THE shire council has been embarrassed by revelations it could have stopped the controversial Rye food truck park. Food truck traders under the banner of Australian Mobile Food Vendors Group set up on a vacant block on the corner of Weir St and Point Nepean Rd last November. The move sparked angry protests from Rye traders with Mornington Peninsula Shire saying it could not stop the food trucks. Signs protesting the food trucks were erected on fences with one painted on a shop roof. Now it has been revealed the food truck park needed a planning permit. Rye eatery Baha…