THERE will be at least four new faces on the 11-seat Mornington Peninsula Shire Council after next month’s municipal election. Three councillors have now stated that they will not seek re-election and the fourth seat up for grabs has been vacant since the May resignation of Watson ward’s Lynne Bowden, who was first elected in 2008. Councillors who have come out in public to say they are not standing are Anne Shaw and Andrew Dixon of Briars ward and David Gibb (Seawinds). Cr Bowden’s resignation was too close to the 22 October poll to require a by-election so her seat…
Month: September 2016
THE girls at Peninsula Strikers are showing them how it’s done in the fast-paced and growing world of female soccer. The club finished the season last year mid field but has turned the tables on the competition to scoop three major winds this year. Coach James Waller said the Peninsula Strikers under-13/14 girls showed their spirit early by winning the pre-season event at Darebin, then later becoming league winners for the FFV south east under-13/14B league, before winning the state championships against the undefeated Watsonia Heights last Sunday week. Mr Waller said the grand final at Watsonia was nail biting,…
WE regret to have to record that it is reported that two more of our brave Peninsula lads have been killed while fighting in France in defence of their country. We refer to Private George Harrison, son of Mr L. Harrison, of the Grand Hotel, Mornington, and Private Coxhell of the same town. *** THE Peninsula Motor Garage Pty Ltd., has purchased a fine building allotment in the Main St Mornington, and is calling for tenders for the building of a large up to date brick garage, and manager’s residence. A modern plant has already been purchased by this Company.…
NEPEAN LEAGUE – GRAND FINAL HASTINGS are the 2016 Nepean League Premiers. The Blues defied the odds, won three cut-throat finals and dominated for 120 minutes in the Grand Final on Saturday to be crowned the kings of Nepean League football. It was the Blues’ first flag since 1995. Hastings kept Frankston goalless in the opening half and led 6.8 (44) to 0.9 (9). The Bombers came back hard in the third quarter and had a shot for goal to reduce the margin to 10 points. The shot missed, the Blues went coast-to-coast and kicked their sole goal of the third…
PENINSULA LEAGUE MT ELIZA will play Frankston YCW in the 2016 Peninsula Division Grand Final after thrashing Pines in Sunday’s Preliminary Final at Frankston Park. The Redlegs had a staggering 40 scoring shots to 11 for the match and recorded an 18.22 (130) to 6.5 (41) victory. All the damage was done in the first quarter for Pines, the favourites booting six first quarter goals to lead by 45 points at the first break. Jordan Capkin was again sensational for the Redlegs, booting four first quarter goals. Justin Van Unen was reasonably well held but still managed to finish with…
SOCCER By Craig MacKenzie THREE local champions and four local clubs promoted – it doesn’t get much better than that. The relegation of Frankston Pines was the only disappointing aspect to a spectacular season of achievement in local soccer. Scott Morrison’s Rosebud Heart entered the record books by winning every league game in 2016, finishing with 18 wins, 76 goals for and 11 against. In just its second year Heart joins 2014 juggernaut Eltham Redbacks as the only Victorian senior teams in over 50 years to boast a perfect record in a season. You have to go back to the…
BENCHMARKS are being set to monitor the number and variety of animals living in Western Port’s seagrass beds. Known as the bay’s marine nurseries, a series of night trawls of the seagrass beds in January captured 14,073 animals from five species. The most common animals were crustacea – which includes crabs, lobsters, crayfish, shrimp, krill, woodlice and barnacles – and fish. A team of researchers from the Western Port Seagrass Partnership will repeat the trawl to compare animal numbers and varieties in summer and spring. Marine ecologist Dr Hugh Kirkman said January’s trawl for juvenile fish and macroinvertebrates was the…
HMAS Cerberus personnel donated blood at the Frankston Donor Centre last week as part of the Defence Blood Challenge. They included Commanding Officer Captain Stephen Bowater, Executive Officer Commander Melanie Verho, Leading Seaman Jordan Manie and Able Seaman Debbie Haby. They were part of an annual event, now in its eighth year, which challenges Navy, Army, Air Force and Defence staff to make the most blood donations from September to December. Last year, Defence Force personnel gave more than 6400 blood donations – enough to potentially save 19,200 lives. This year, they are hoping to donate enough to save the…
By Jarrod Potter FIRE may have taken their basketball home in May, but 126 days later the Western Port Steelers have brought victory back to Somerville. Despite the loss of the Somerville Recreation and Community Centre, the Steelers will remember 2016 as the year they broke through to win the Big V Division 2 Men’s championship victory on Sunday. The Steelers had to do it the hard way – at their second home with Southern Peninsula Basketball Association and the Hillview Stadium – after conceding a 64-59 loss to Coburg in the first match of the series. Western Port fought…
SPECTATORS were entertained by 12 thrilling Mornington Peninsula Junior Football League grand finals on Sunday 28 August. Matches were played from under-11s to under-17s with three separate age groups for girls’ football. Tight contests were the order of the day with the under-11 grand final between South Mornington and Dromana in Navy Division going to extra time after the scores were all tied up after four quarters. South Mornington eventually won the match. In other grand final results: Junior girls: Beleura 2.2-14 d. Mt Martha 0.1-1. Under-15s: Mt Martha 13.12-90 d. Somerville 8.7-55. Under-14s: Sorrento 11.12-78 d. Balnarring 5.11-41. Under-12s:…
There were a total of 61 players nominated for the MPNFL Peninsula Division Team of the Year, to be announced at presentation night on Wednesday, September 7 at Mornington Racecourse. All Peninsula Division coaches were asked to present a team, based on the games and video footage that they had seen in season 2016. Based on the greatest number of nominations, the team was again selected by Mornington Peninsula News sports journalist Andrew ‘Toe Punt’ Kelly. The squad for the 2016 Peninsula Division Team of the year was: Bonbeach: Shane McDonald, Mark Tyrell, Gary Carpenter, Dylan Jones, Matthew Douglas, Beau…
NEPEAN LEAGUE HASTINGS will play Frankston Bombers in the 2016 Nepean Division Grand Final this Saturday at Frankston Park after hanging on to win a thriller against Rosebud. The Blues have beaten Red Hill, Somerville and now Rosebud in the lead up to the big dance and have just one more top five side to beat to claim the 2016 title. The minor premiers Frankston are the only team to stand in their way, having the ideal preparation of a rest in week one of the finals and then another break after advancing through after winning their second semi-final. Hastings…
PENINSULA LEAGUE IF it bleeds, you can kill it! That was a famous line used by arguably the greatest ever AFL footballer Leigh Matthews in 2001 when he was referring to his great Brisbane Lions side beating Essendon. For movie buffs, they’ll know he grabbed the line from Arnold Schwarzenegger in the movie Predator. Suffice to say that it can be used again in reference to the great Frankston YCW, a team that was wounded on Saturday in the second semi-final against Mt Eliza but as great sides do, still managed to win a thriller 18.7 (115) to 17.8 (110).…
Hilarious comedy Simon’s Final Sound sails into Frankston Arts Centre on Tuesday 13 September. From the pen of multi-award-winning playwright Finegan Kruckemeyer, it’s an Aussie play about four ordinary people on a cruise who try, fail, try again and fail better. Simon’s a bit of a no-hoper, and he is going deaf. He goes in search of a magical – but possibly mythical – island where, he thinks, he will find some consolation. To make the journey, Simon teams up with Michael, a dull banker with a duller life, and Michael’s wife, Ginny, who is about to leave him. Also…
INTERNATIONAL comedy star, David Strassman’s brand new show, iTED E is an uproarious take on our technology-laden lives. The sharp-tongued Chuck Wood and loveable Ted E. Bare have been thrust into the world of social media, constantly on their iPads and iPhones, not interacting with the real world. With everyone connected to social media and the internet 24/7, will Strassman get them back under control? Strassman’s iTedE introduces an amazing new technology that brings the world’s most advanced Puppetronics to the stage. In a world-first feat, Strassman simultaneously operates 5 characters in a hilarious never-before-done, 6-way conversation, using a handheld…
The video for “Never Seen This Before” showcases the high-octane, energy filled presence that The Delta Riggs bring, and previews the carnival atmosphere they’ll bring when they hit the road in September for a huge run of dates across the country. Joining les Riggs on tour will be Gideon Bensen, whose recently released debut EP “Cold, Cold Heart” draws a squiggly line from Loud Reed to Talking Heads, and never runs out of ink. Active Galactic, produced by the band and Jason Hollis, will be The Riggs’ third studio LP. Recorded in just nine days at The Grove Studios north…
With more than 30 album releases so far, Liberation Blue makes a welcome return of the label’s ‘Acoustic’ series with our first long player for 2016: ‘Acoustica’, 12 stunning, re-worked classic tunes spanning the career of ARIA winner and multi-platinum singer/songwriter Alex Lloyd. “It was certainly something I’d thought of doing before,” Lloyd says of the Acoustica recording, the singer’s seventh full-length release. With four ARIAs already under his belt, Lloyd was intrigued with the concept of revisiting his older material. Expect to hear radio hits ‘Amazing’, ‘Coming Home’, ‘Beautiful’, ‘Black The Sun’ and more, his extensive catalogue getting a…
THE first report by Infrastructure Victoria into the best site for Victoria’s second container port is scheduled to go to the state government in May 2017. The two options being investigated are Hastings in Western Port and Bay West in Port Phillip, but Infrastructure Victoria has cautioned that “evidence we gather may not be conclusive enough to identify a preferred location”. “We won’t reduce government’s strategic flexibility by making a premature recommendation now, particularly because it would be based on evidence that is likely to change. “The final decision to invest in a second container port is still likely to…
MORNINGTON Peninsula ranked sixth out of Victoria’s 79 local council areas for animal cruelty, according to a list of hotspots released by RSPCA Victoria. Of the 11,840 cruelty reports across the state in 2015-16, 366 were involved the welfare of animals on the peninsula. RSPCA Victoria CEO Dr Liz Walker said that geographic analysis of cruelty reporting data will support efforts to focus on the areas that need it most. “Our vision is ending cruelty to all animals – and we know that prevention is the key to ending cruelty,” she said. “Over the next 12 months we will be…
FIRE fighting response times by several CFA brigades near Frankston and on the Mornington Peninsula are not up to scratch, the Inquiry into Bushfire Preparedness at state parliament was told last week. This damning claim has come from the United Firefighters’ Union which is at loggerheads with the CFA and volunteer firefighters over a contentious EBA. Response timelines were provided during last week’s inquiry into the state’s preparedness for the summer bushfire threat. The UFU said the required CFA response time for getting a truck to an emergency was eight minutes, with brigades from Mt Martha failing to meet this…
BRUMBIES were in the news for all the wrong reasons last week as government and conservation bodies discussed their removal from Victorian and NSW alpine regions. Later this year many of the former wild horses will converge on the Melbourne Showground for the 2016 Australian Brumby Challenge. Held in conjunction with Equitana Melbourne, the challenge involves the allocation and schooling of brumbies caught in the wild by professional and amateur trainers. The unhandled and untrained horses, humanely caught as part of an ongoing national park management program, will be gentled and, if old enough, saddle trained over a 150-day period…
OLDER boaters are much more likely to find themselves in trouble when out on the water than youngsters, according to Maritime Safety Victoria’s latest incident statistics. Figures for 2015-16 show the most likely cause of them being in the water is capsizing their boat. In just two days in early August, five people in two different incidents found themselves immersed in cold water after they capsized and none of them was able to call for help immediately. Of the five, four were aged 60 or over and their two boats had capsized, which continued the trend identified in the MSV…
STUDENTS at six secondary colleges around Frankston and on the Mornington Peninsula are among 70,000 being given access to doctors and health care while at school. Carrum Downs, McClelland, Monterey, Mornington, Patterson River and Rosebud secondary colleges are among 100 schools in the first Doctors in Secondary Schools Program. Doctors will be at the colleges for up to one day a week, with students able to get referrals to specialists for help before it affects their studies. Half of the 100 schools in the program are in regional Victoria and 25 in growth areas and the urban fringe, such as…
PAUL Lucas has done a bit of yachting, but travelling thousands of kilometres down the Murray River was never on his radar. But for 89 days from 1 March that’s exactly what he did. Steering a tinny powered by a small outboard Mr Lucas was trailing behind a kayak being paddled by Dave Jacka. Onshore, the pair were in turn being shadowed by friends following the winding course of the Murray as best they could by road. What sounds like a reasonable and enjoyable enterprise for a bunch of friends had one major difference: Dave Jacka is a quadriplegic with…
THE administrator tasked with sorting through Frankston Football Club’s finances says it is too early to determine the way ahead for the Dolphins. Worrells Solvency and Forensic Accountants managing partner Paul Burness said he hoped to have a clearer picture of the Victorian Football League club’s financial position this week. About $800,000 in debts is believed to have caused the football club to put itself into voluntary administration this month (“Dolphins sink under”, The News 30/8/16). Tabcorp Gaming Solutions is owed money for pokies machine licences. The 27 electronic gaming machines at the Dolphins’ stadium and function centre, rebuilt at…
ENTRIES in this year’s Mornington Peninsula Heritage Awards focused on professional and trade heritage skills. The awards – a partnership between Mornington Peninsula Shire and the National Trust – demonstrations of excellence in heritage in a range of categories. The mayor Cr Graham Pittock and National Trust Board chairman Kristin Stegley made the presentations in the Mornington council chambers on Friday 2 September. Judy Walsh, of the trust’s peninsula branch, said the recipients had been “outstanding in their attention to detail and sensitivity to the differing conservation requirements, or sense of place, at the core of heritage”. Recipients over the…
AWAITING the judges’ nod was not as nerve wracking this year as last year for Mornington restaurateur Jill Henderson at the Restaurant and Catering Association’s 2016 Awards for Excellence presentations. And her decision to avoid any stress paid off as her Winey Cow Restaurant in Main St won two awards – best regional cafe and cafe of the year – at a function at the Melbourne Function Centre last month. Cafe of the year is open to cafes and restaurants all over Victoria and Tasmania. “We entered the awards last year for the first time and, I must admit, I…
CARJACKINGS and home invasions were the focus of new legislation introduced into state parliament last week. The Crimes Act 1958 will be amended to create new offences of carjacking, aggravated carjacking, home invasion and aggravated home invasion. The legislated offences will attract harsher penalties and give police the “laws they need to keep the community safe”. The legislation, developed in consultation with Victoria Police, will include statutory minimum sentences for aggravated carjacking and aggravated home invasion. And, to combat the rise of youth gangs, the legislation’s show-cause provisions will apply regardless of the age of the offender. Southern Metro Region…
THE many friends of Mr and Mrs G. Shepherd, of Somerville will regret to hear of the death of their eldest daughter, Mrs Orsino, which occurred at Somerville on Monday last. The deceased has been in ill health for some considerable time. *** CR A. J. Allen, was elected President of the Shire of Frankston and Hastings at their meeting held on Thursday last. *** MESSRS Brody and Mason will hold their monthly sale at Somerville, on Wednesday next, when they expect a good yarding. *** THE friends of Major Stuart Balmain, of Coolart, Balnarring, will be interested to hear that…
WIRE sculptor Annie Glass is patiently bending and winding galvanised steel wire around her first scarecrow as a tribute to the classic children’s movie the Wizard of Oz. “I’ve always wanted an opportunity to do something artistic based around my favourite movie,” Glass said. Her larger-than-life scarecrow will have an Australian flavour with a cocky flying around him, a crow on his arm and Dorothy’s dog Toto nipping at his heels. Glass is building her scarecrow for the inaugural Artist’s Permanent Sculpture category in the Hinterland Scarecrow Festival Trail, 16 September-3 October. For the first time, there’s a $2000 prize…