FOOTY NEWS SORRENTO has landed multiple Peninsula Team of the Year centre half forward Scott Lockwood. Lockwood was said to be on the move to an amateur club closer to the city but after a few chats with new coach Nick Jewell, decided to go to Sorrento. Mt Eliza team mate and hard running defender Jack Egan will join Lockwood at the Sharks. Whilst it’s big news for the Sharks, Jewell played it down. “Look, we are just replacing at the moment. We get Lockwood for Leigh Poholke and Egan for Troy Schwarze. If you like, Nick Corp, who we…
Month: November 2015
SUB-DISTRICT DROMANA maintained its stranglehold on the MPCA Sub District competition with an effortless victory against Skye. After rain effected all matches in Sub District last weekend, all matches were limited overs games on Saturday. Skye batted first against the Hoppers on their home deck but could only manage 78 runs in 32 overs. Young gun Jack Fowler was at it again for Dromana, snaring 5/14 from just six overs. He then went out and made an unbeaten 51 to absolutely tear the game apart. Jye Voelkle was also very good for the Hoppers with 3/35 from eight overs and…
PROVINCIAL PENINSULA Old Boys sit on top of the MPCA Provincial ladder after knocking over Long Island comfortably on Saturday. Chasing 157 for victory, the Old Boys cruised past the total three wickets down and finished the day 6/212. The Old Boys’ top order all pretty much got going except for skipper Matt Hyden who was caught behind off Jake Middleton for 16 after banging a four and six. Dylan O’Malley scored 40 at the top of the batting line-up, Wade Pelzer opened with 33, Eivion Bowen hit 46 and Will Crowder continued his outstanding start to the season with…
THE Langwarrin branch of the Red Cross Society report a steady response to their appeal for funds, over £5 being contributed for the last month. At a working bee arranged by Mrs Williams, of Ruperstan, an average attendance of twelve assisted in making sand bags for the trenches. *** A welcome home social will be tendered to Private E. A. Berry, who has returned invalided from the front, and also a farewell and presentation will be given to Gunner Wm Evans, who has enlisted, on Saturday, 20th inst, in the Langwarrin Recreation Hall. *** REV Adamson, of Melbourne,…
MORNINGTON Peninsula Shire has made a commitment to be carbon neutral and has been working with the community to develop the best approach to achieving this outcome, the mayor Cr Bev Colomb says. A draft carbon neutral policy, action plan and the supporting business cases, are available for community feedback. Cr Colomb said carbon neutrality was a forward-thinking approach to long-term environmental improvement. “In August, council endorsed the preferred option in achieving carbon neutrality within five years,” she said. “This approach includes actions to significantly reduce emissions, such as upgrading public street lighting to LED lights, installing solar panels on…
JUST as many families pride themselves on an annual visit to a favourite holiday spot so it is for thousands of birds that regard Western Port as one of their homes. The large bay and its islands include internationally recognised wetlands which governments have an obligation to protect under the Ramsar treaty as well as beaches. One migratory bird that regularly flies in to Flinders is back for its 14 th recorded visit. Flagged when two years old, the ruddy turnstone has been making a 24,000 kilometre round trip since 2003. Another two-year-old was flagged in 2007. Victorian Wader Study…
THE co-founder of Kunyung Residents Group, formed to lobby for South East Water’s decommissioned Mt Eliza reservoir to be turned into a reserve, has started an online petition. The blurb accompanying Rebecca Taylor’s change.org petition is an impassioned letter to Premier Daniel Andrews, planning minister Richard Wynne, South East Water, and Mornington Peninsula Shire requesting the land become a wildlife reserve instead of a 24-lot housing estate. It is headed “South East Water customers, would you give up a $6 savings on your bill to save a frog?” The dam was decommissioned in 1999 and has become a haven for…
ARTISTS across the Mornington Peninsula are showing themselves as well as their works over the next two weekends. While it’s usually a display of their works, 19 artists are on the map for this year’s Peninsula Studio Trail, inviting the public into their studios to see art in the making. “You can look forward to rooms filled with the smell of drying paints and ink; canvases waiting to be stretched; needles threading; ceramic wheels wet and turning; hot burners burning, and molten silver pouring,” gold and silversmith Katrina Newman said. Many of the artists will be demonstrating the techniques that…
CITIZENS of 19th century Mornington would be astonished at the latest technology that guides tourists and locals through the history of Main St. No more guide books, pamphlets or humans leading a group – it’s an audio tour (or podcast) with 18 recordings that can be downloaded by scanning a QR code on plaques placed near historic buildings on Main St and the Esplanade. The tour complements a revised heritage walk brochure produced by Mornington and District Historical Society and the chamber of commerce for the town’s 150th in 2011. The project also saw the replacement of historic signs installed…
YOUNG people in the Mornington area have a new place to hang out with the opening of The Corner, a youth resource centre, in Wilsons Rd. The centre brings together a range of youth services under one roof and caters to the needs of the growing youth population in Mt Eliza, Mornington and Mt Martha. “The Corner will provide a modern and safe space where young people can seek advice and support from a range of youth organisations, including the council’s youth service and Headspace,” Dunkley MP Bruce Billson said. “It will offer drop-in services, fun and engaging programs, youth-orientated…
RESIDENTS wanting to help shape the way the shire council spends its income can have a say about the 2016-17 annual budget. Mornington Peninsula Shire is again inviting input from ratepayers as it develops a budget, which this time will be affected by the state government’s new rate capping rules. Victoria councils are facing the prospect of lower rate income, and will have to show “special circumstances” to increase rates by more than the cost of inflation. Rate capping will be introduced for the 2016-17 financial year, and the shire will have to find new sources of revenue to maintain…
A MOBILE phone app providing information about recycling has been nominated for a smart technology award. The Sustain Me app, developed by Mornington Peninsula residents Eleanor Meyer and Stephen Halpin, was put up for a Banksia award on Sunday. They hope that every item that can be disposed of is eventually categorised and listed in the Sustain Me application, with instructions on how to discard it. The app can help local councils reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill. Mornington Peninsula Shire is one of four councils partnering the initiative and tailoring its information to residents. It contributed $5000…
CONSTRUCTION of long-awaited traffic lights in Mt Eliza where Tower Rd and Volitans Ave join the Nepean Hwy is set to start next week. The $500,000 project is a win for safety campaigners who have been lobbying for lights or turning restrictions since 2008 at the acknowledged black spot. The federal government will contribute $400,000 and Mornington Peninsula Shire $100,000. Construction will be managed by state government authority VicRoads. The project, due to be completed in December, will include a pedestrian-operated crossing north of the intersection, cycling lanes, moving of the southbound bus stop, and a concrete footpath. Vehicle-activated, under-road…
THE state government has provided just one third of the money needed to fix a track down a steep cliff in Mornington. Barriers to prevent anyone using the track have been torn down and hundreds of walkers and joggers use the track each week to access Mills Beach from Kalimna Drive, officially known as the Caraar Creek Coastal Cliff Pathway. Parts of the track’s bitumen covering have collapsed and sections of the exposed cliff are still subject to severe erosion. Stormwater drainage from luxury homes above the track – blamed for much of the erosion – appears to no longer…
A STYLISED calendar featuring fire fighters from across the Mornington Peninsula is helping raise money for the new Monash Children’s Hospital. Designed to hang on the wall, the Victorian Firefighter Calendar 2016 displays a month a page with space for jotting down notes in each day’s box. Public holidays are clearly marked. The glossy pages feature fire fighters in posed, semi-action shots at locations all over the peninsula. Producer Carolyn Donovan, of Mornington, said the calendar paid tribute to the crews who “go above and beyond every day to serve the community”. “They choose their valued profession because they want…
THE state government has introduced laws to strengthen local government governance and reduce councillor misconduct. Minister for Local Government Natalie Hutchins said the changes would improve the standard of behaviour of councillors, provide a clear process for dealing with misconduct, and empower councils and her to take action against councillors “doing the wrong thing”. Mornington Peninsula Shire councillors will be required to sign codes of conduct, and councils will have to introduce procedures to deal with alleged breaches. Allegations of misconduct and “serious misconduct” will be dealt with by independent councillor conduct panels, which will have the power to suspend…
A COMMON fish tank water quality test kit is tackling stormwater pollution at Mornington beach. The innovative test has been recognised at this year’s Stormwater Victoria Awards. Staff from the Environment Protection Authority worked with Mornington Peninsula Shire Council, Melbourne Water and Melbourne University’s Centre for Aquatic Pollution Investigation and Management on the project to improve water quality there. The EPA’s recreational water quality program co-ordinator Darren Cottam said the test was part of the project Hitting the Hot Spots, which he described as a strategic approach to point source pollution management on the peninsula. It received two high commendations…
PENINSULA Aero Club, Tyabb, has been named Aero Club of the Year. This comes through aviation magazine, Australian Flying, acting for the Royal Aeronautical Society, Australian Division. “Of all the clubs in the country, Peninsula Aero Club’s submission won,” president Peter Bernardi said. The award was presented by Captain David Jacobson, a former commercial airline pilot with 24,000 flying hours’ experience. It recognises the club’s outstanding support, facilities and training to the general aviation community, as well as its high standards of safety in operations, while creating an environment that fosters participation in aviation. The award also acknowledges the efforts…
WALLAROO primary, Hastings, is the first government school on the Mornington Peninsula accredited to use a teaching method more often available only at expensive private schools. Last Friday 30 educators from Australia and New Zealand toured Wallaroo to see the results of the Walker Learning Approach (WLA) to education. Principal Nicky Fammartino describes the WLA as “a total approach to teaching and learning, which includes the need for children to be active participants in their learning”. She said the method had been developed after decades of research into “developing skills, knowledge and social interaction through a personalised and age appropriate…
COMMENT By David Gill MORNINGTON Peninsula Shire is trying to avoid the state government’s rate cap plan by using special charge schemes. These are schemes where landowners pay what amounts to de facto rate increases for those unfortunate enough to be caught up in almost any kind of public works by councils. As revealed by David Harrison last week (“Rate cap may not quell cash demands”, The News 27/10/15), it is not surprising that there is little information about special charge schemes on the shire’s website. The shire is implementing a special charge concrete footpath scheme for every ratepayer in…
COMMENT THE Hastings office of Flinders MP Greg Hunt was again “occupied” and under siege on Friday by environmentalists concerned by the federal government’s pro-coal policies. As Environment Minister, Mr Hunt has become a main target of protests, most recently in response to his re-approval of the Indian corporation Adani’s Carmichael coal mine in central Queensland. The protesters are concerned by the mining of coal and its subsequent use contributing to greenhouse gases as well as threats to the Great Barrier Reef by ships carrying the coal from terminals at Abbot Point. Although most federal ministers are subjected to protests,…
A HASTINGS businessman last week faced Frankston Magistrates’ Court charged with failing to extinguish a fire in the open on Wednesday 31 December last year. Alan Duke, of A&A Worm Farm Waste Systems, of Frankston-Flinders Rd, appeared at a contest mention but did not enter a formal plea. The case was adjourned until 1 December and is expected to be dealt with by diversion hearing. On Saturday 3 January, fires burnt out a wood yard in Reid Parade, parts of Warringine reserve and threatened nearby houses in temperatures of over 40 degrees and with strong northerlies fanning the flames. Mr…
RESIDENTS of Davies Rd, Bittern, are fed up with speeding motorists putting their families at risk – and want the top brass at HMAS Cerberus to rein them in. Neighbours on 0.8 hectare properties abutting the narrow bitumen strip – which links the base’s main entrance to Coolart and Frankston-Flinders roads – say the 90kph limit is “way too fast”, and want it reduced to 70kph. The one-lane-each-way road has no footpaths or shoulders, allowing little space for residents, especially children, to walk. They say lower speed limits are in force on roads capable of faster driving, and that it…
FOLLOWING on from the outrageously successful season of Jason Coleman’s Spiegelicious and Animalastic in Sorrento, The Ministry of Entertainment proudly presents “Jason Coleman’s Razzle Dazzle” and “The Humanimals” performed exclusively in the Cabaret Cathedral in Rye. The Peninsula’s own Jason Coleman has returned to where he grew up, after purchasing a property in Rye a year ago. With so many accolades to his name, having choreographed Christine Anu, Tina Arena, Sheena Easton, and the opening ceremony for the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games to name a few, Coleman is delighted to be bringing world class theatre to the peninsula, once again.…
NETBALL games down the beach? That’s the plan for Dromana Junior Netball Club president Paul Faillia, who says he has had “a huge response” from local clubs showing interest in playing the game at Dromana beach. “I have always wanted to see the sport played on our beautiful beaches as part of a summer comp,” he said. “I am in the early-mid stages of completing a portable court system that would see the game played on the beach in any location from Frankston through to Portsea, whether it be on a foreshore or back beach. “We have so many netball…
By Craig MacKenzie SOUTHERN United Soccer Club has named Theresa Deas as president and Stuart Munro as head coach. It is one of eight clubs contesting next year’s inaugural Victorian Women’s National Premier League competition. Deas is a former Matilda’s goalkeeper who made her Victorian state debut aged 14 and her international debut at 17. She was inducted into Football Federation Australia’s Hall of Fame in 2003 and the Football Federation Victoria equivalent in 2011. Married with two daughters she has managed the national women’s team, Victorian state teams, is a former director of Women’s Soccer Victoria, worked as a…
Those anticipating a community meeting of Mornington Peninsula Shire Council at Somerville on Monday 26 October were gutted to learn of the change of venue to the Rosebud bunker. Reason: the Mechanics Hall is still under repair. No briefing, no meal – the gallery made do with a cuppa, a cream biscuit and a full agenda. LET us skip past the majority of the meeting and get to the point of interest – councillors’ consideration of yet another request for a design change to the Arthurs Seat Skylift proposal. On Council Watch’s calculation, this will be possibly the fourth or…
COMMUNITY lobby group Save Tootgarook Swamp has filed an application in the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal to carry out native revegetation works in a part of the swamp that VCAT ordered developer Watermark Villages to carry out in April 2011. Watermark owns 92 Elizabeth Ave, 6.2 hectares on the edge of the wetlands, which it wants to develop as a retirement village with 99 dwellings. The site was cleared of native grasses in 2008. VCAT ordered that it be restored and a revegetation plan was supposed to be submitted to the shire within 120 days but this did not…
THE owner of Tully’s Corner Produce Store on the Moorooduc Highway, Moorooduc, was not a happy man when he left the council chamber in Rosebud on Monday last week. Frank Brancatisano wanted the council to approve his application to sell in his store bottled wine produced by three nearby wineries – Barmah Park Vineyard and Stumpy Gully Vineyard in Moorooduc, and Massoni Vineyard in Mt Eliza. He’d spent a motza on reports from town planner Ratio Consultants and was confident that green wedge zone changes made by Coalition planning minister Matthew Guy, before the Napthine government was rolled by Labor,…
JACK Russell-cross Barney is still right at home with his master, Alex Downs, even though they are living in aged care. And that companionship is doing both of them the world of good. They live at Peninsula Grange Aged Care, Mornington, with Barney’s upkeep paid for by a Pets in Aged Care grant from Animal Welfare League Australia. The money goes towards behaviour training for one-eyed Barney – the only resident-owned pet – who needs to be taught to eat on his own, rather than accompanying Mr Downs to the dining area. “He’s a quirky little fellow loved by all…