Peninsula based rock band Munster Terrace have been performing around the traps for 30 years now, and they will be celebrating this milestone with a special show at the Rye RSL on Saturday the 12th of September. The band first formed in 1985, and their debut gig was on the 7th of May of that year (supporting The Saints on their return to Australia after some years based in the U.K). It took a year or so for the early version of “Munster” to find its’ feet, but by late 1986 the line-up was stable, and the band was a…
Month: September 2015
POWERFUL owls might be 60 centimetre s tall and have white plumage, but they are rarely seen; heard maybe, but not seen. Being a nocturnal bird of prey they are most active at night and make themselves scarce during the day. They are the largest of the avian night hunters and, as their name suggests, capable of preying on medium to large tree-dwelling mammals: ringtail possum and great glider. They also take roosting birds and animals on the ground, such as rabbits and small marsupials. Despite their strength and hunting prowess, powerful owls are listed as being endangered. The Mornington…
THERE have been countless happy campers at Mt Eliza over the past 90 years. Apart from when being used to recuperate US soldiers wounded in the Pacific campaign during World War II, the camp has provided a place to get away from it all for families and groups since 1925. The Sunnyside Rd camp site was given to the YMCA by Thomas and Alice Baker. Camp Manyung’s 90th anniversary last month and the unveiling of a historic interpretive display of the camp’s history from 1925 to the present brought back family memories for Jenny Little (nee Stevens), a camper from…
THE opening of Mt Eliza Bowling Club’s season last week with new synthetic greens and floodlights helped members showcase bowls as a sport which the whole family can play. The additions mean the club can open all year and stage twilight and evening bowls events. A highlight of the night was watching three generations of club life member John Gregson’s family – aged seven to 70 – take part in a special bowling demonstration. Gregson’s grandsons – Victorian and national representative Dylan Fisher and seven year old Jett Simmons – joined him on the green along with Jett’s father, Todd,…
A LONG-TIME peninsula resident with a yen for adventure will celebrate her 100th birthday on Sunday. Thelma Adams will be joined by her two children Roy and Joan, as well as seven grandchildren, 14 great-grandchildren and eight great, great-grandchildren, and friends, making it a family affair to remember. Mrs Adams, who lived at Somers for 30 years and for the past year at an aged care home at Mornington, was born in South Melbourne on 13 September 1915 and spent her early years there. She left school at 13 as her mother was unwell and she was needed at home.…
MP News Group journalist David Harrison is in Thailand supporting his mate Alan Morison and his wife Chutima Sidasathian, who were charged in late 2013 with criminal defamation and computer crime over a story they published on their online website Phuketwan about abuses against Rohingya migrants in Thailand. The charges centred on a paragraph in Phuketwan on 17 July 2013 citing an investigative report by Reuters alleging that some navy officials were involved with trafficking Rohingya Muslims fleeing Myanmar (Burma). The trial generated widespread condemnation from human rights groups and the United Nations. Morison and Sidasathian faced up to seven…
VISUAL arts students at Chisholm Frankston are taking their work to the walls of Monash Health this month to cheer and stimulate patients, visitors and staff. Their show, featuring paintings, sculptures, drawing and printmaking by art and illustration students, will open in the Monash Health Art Space, 3.30pm, Thursday 17 September. The opportunity came about after a meeting between art student Eleni Theodoridi, who also works as a medical interpreter at Monash, and senior manager and curator at Monash Health, Kim Minett. Their mutual vision and enthusiasm for the role that art plays in the public health setting created the…
RABBIT numbers in Mt Martha’s Briars Park wildlife sanctuary are going down as eradication action continues. Mornington Peninsula Shire rangers closed the sanctuary to the public on 25 August and it is expected to reopen on Monday 23 September. Park staff are making a determined attempt to rid the sanctuary of rabbits, which have existed inside the predator-proof fence since it was erected. Several attempts have been made in recent years but this effort is the most comprehensive with eradication techniques including filling in burrows to force rabbits into the open, allowing members of the Sporting Shooters’ Association to cull…
MORNINGTON builder L Clarke and Sons has asked Mornington Peninsula Shire for approval to build a two-storey apartment complex on the Mornington Youth and Community Centre site in Wilsons Rd, Mornington. The project would include 28 apartments, basement car parking, vegetation removal and “associated works”. Clarke and Sons bought the old youth club hall and land from the shire for $2.1 million at an auction in mid-2014. The council made the decision to sell the property in 2011. More than 100 people attended the sale but it went ahead under a cloud as residents and neighbours made a last-ditch appeal…
THE state government last week warned Victorians about a long, hot and dry fire season ahead but made no mention of a key driver of drier conditions and hotter temperatures across southeast Australia – El Nino. The Bureau of Meteorology said the El Nino weather pattern now building in the Pacific Ocean could be worse than the record-breaker of 1997-98, which was one of the drivers of the so-called Millennium drought, which lasted from 1995 to 2010 in some parts of Australia. The drought in Victoria broke in March 2010 when storms pounded the state but it was not declared…
IT might be getting to the pointy end of the season for the AFL, but players were not too busy when asked to sign surfboards for a charity auction. The players stayed off the field long enough to take turns with black markers to autograph boards made in their team colours for the Disabled Surfers Association Mornington Peninsula branch. The auction for the 18 boards starts 2.30pm Sunday 13 September at the Baha taco and music bar, 2201 Point Nepean Rd, Rye. Bids, starting at $650 a board, will be taken from the floor and over the phone. Unsold boards…
CRIME gangs with a disciplined culture and ability to plan and set targets has given a new potency to crime in Frankston and on the Mornington Peninsula. The tech savvy gangs use social media, including Facebook, and encryption apps to co-ordinate activities, allowing their members to mobilise and disperse quickly, recruit members and plan their next hit. Easy access to stolen cars and quicker freeway travel times mean that our once sleepy hamlets are now high on the agenda of the often race-related gangs who regard “slap on the wrist” penalties as green cards to commit more crimes. Mornington Detective…
ITS very name means those diagnosed with borderline personality disorder (BPD) can face criticism and families can also be stigmatised. The word ‘borderline’ tends to make many think there is not really anything wrong with someone diagnosed with BPD and an individual’s ‘personality’ is often judged by others. In fact, the ‘borderline’ aspect refers to the disorder being on the borderline of psychosis and neurosis and the causes of BPD are not yet fully understood. For those facing life with the mental disorder the road to recovery can be paved with criticism and others not taking the condition seriously. BPD…
THE opening of a $224,000 signalised pedestrian crossing in Bittern has made crossing Frankston-Flinders Rd a safer proposition for pedestrians. About 50 pedestrians an hour cross the road between the train station and shops, and in peak hour around 1000 vehicles an hour drive past at 60kph. “Without a pedestrian-operated crossing, local residents have been taking risks when crossing the busy road in between traffic breaks,” Eastern Victoria MP Daniel Mulino said. “Bittern residents will now be able to cross Frankston-Flinders Rd safely.” Hastings MP Neale Burgess last month called on Roads Minister Luke Donnellan “to get on with the…
TOORAK College, Mt Eliza, was in lock-down Wednesday morning after a bomb scare. Students were kept in their classrooms for “a couple of hours” while Mornington police searched the grounds. Nothing was found. Detective Sergeant Peter Drake said a man called the school to say a bomb had been left there. He did not leave his contact details and police were trying to track him down later in the day. “We did an exhaustive search of the general area but found nothing,” Detective Drake said. “We take all calls of this nature seriously.” Anyone with information is asked to call…
Two people have escaped unharmed after three armed men broke into their home in Hastings overnight. The men entered the house early on Tuesday while the occupants were sleeping. The 20-year-old male occupant of the house confronted the intruders while a female occupant called police. A shot was fired before the intruders fled. Nothing was stolen during the brazen break in, and the occupants of the house were uninjured. Police forensic experts and detectives were on the scene this morning collecting evidence and investigating the circumstances surrounding the home invasion.
AN unusual census is being organised by the Western Port Biosphere. Schools, community groups and individuals are being asked to record sightings of animals, birds, reptiles, plants and insects for one week next month. The 2142 square kilometre biosphere covers the municipalities of Frankston, Mornington Peninsula, Casey, Cardinia and Bass Coast as well as French Island. The Lifesearch program – “citizen science in action” – is designed to increase knowledge about biodiversity within the biosphere and how to manage and protect it for the future. The Western Port Biosphere contains national and marine parks, rural agriculture and urban-growth areas and…
THE Western Port Steelers basketball team has re-signed Division 1 women’s coach Andrew Jacobson for next year’s Big V season. Jacobson came on board before the 2015 campaign and steering the team to just missing out on finishing inside the top five. The team fell one game short of playing finals with nine wins and11 losses in its first year in Division 1. Jacobson previously coached Frankston’s SEABL teams and was head coach for 24 years of Victorian championship sides in the VJBL – from under-12s to under-20s boys and girls. “The challenge next season is to take the next…
SACKING staff at the Port of Hastings Development Authority has seen millions of dollars “lost” to Hastings, according to Opposition leader Matthew Guy. Speaking to journalists in Frankston last week Mr Guy said 55 jobs had gone and payouts “will cost millions”. A news release from Opposition ports spokesman David Hodgett said the state government had paid out $2.64 million to 17 staff made redundant at the planning authority. “That works out to an average redundancy payment of over $155,000 a worker,” Mr Hodgett stated in a news release. “These 17 jobs should never have been lost because a second…