Month: March 2018

A STRONG show of public support helped swing the vote in favour of building a 50-metre swimming pool at a packed Mornington Peninsula Shire Council meeting on Tuesday night, 13 March. About 150 “enthusiastic but well behaved” supporters crammed into Rosebud Memorial Hall to back the larger option for the Rosebud Aquatic Centre at Besgrove Street. Some carried signs urging approval of the 50-metre pool; others wore water polo caps. The mayor Cr Bryan Payne later described the unanimous council vote as “fantastic”. He said the councillors’ backing of the larger pool over a 25-metre lower-cost alternative recommended by shire…

SENIOR police on the Mornington Peninsula are pleased with the drop in crime across almost all categories over the past 12 months. Crime Statistics Agency figures for the year ending 31 December 2017 released last week show reported crimes in the region were down from 9123 to 8483. Mornington Peninsula Local Area Commander Janene Denton, based at Rosebud, said it was “good news that crime is trending in the right direction”. “We live in a very safe area,” she said. “There is good community spirit on the peninsula and no reason for people to feel unsafe.” Crimes Against the Person…

AS part of its commitment to become “carbon neutral” Mornington Peninsula Shire is trying out electric cars with a view to having them become part of vehicle fleet. “Electric vehicles can have zero tailpipe emissions when powered by renewable energy and will be considered in our efforts to lead the way on tackling the climate change challenge,” the mayor Cr Bryan Payne said. The acting manager climate change, energy and water Melissa Burrage said all staff and counciullors had been invited to participate in the one-week trial of the electric Renault Zoe and Kangoo. Other ways of minimising carbon emissions…

CLOSE friends and family of Joel Hawkins gathered on a Dromana roadside last Saturday near where the 17-year-old cyclist was hit by a car in June 2015. Joel, who had already notched up a long list of cycling achievements, died after spending more than a week on life support at the Alfred hospital. A white ghost bike was placed in his memory near the corner of Marine Parade and Nepean Highway and now his former coach, Chris Savage, is taking the White Bike Foundation’s safety message to Canberra. Savage left Mornington for Canberra on Saturday and is due to end…

Detectives from the Major Collision Investigation Unit today charged a teenage girl following a fatal crash in Frankston last year. A 19-year-old Safety Beach woman was charged with culpable driving, dangerous driving causing death, drive in a manner dangerous, careless driving, drive whilst impaired by drug, disobey traffic control signal and possess drug of dependence. The charge follows a crash at the intersection of Cranbourne Road and Moorooduc Highway on 13 July, 2017. A Kia Rio sedan travelling east on Cranbourne Rd, 9.40pm, was crossing Moorooduc Highway when it ran head-on into a pole. Its passenger, a 16-year-old girl, of…

An off-duty police officer fought off a man armed with a knife in an attempted aggravated carjacking in Frankston. The incident took place on Ashleigh Avenue when the man, armed with a knife allegedly tried to steal a car which was parked in a car space at the local shops just after 8pm on Tuesday evening (13 March). The driver of the car, an 82-year-old Frankston man, was attempting to start the car when he was approached by the armed man. The off-duty officer, understood to be a Dandenong area police officer, was walking on Ashleigh Avenue when he saw…

THE Western Port Biosphere organisation wants volunteer citizen scientists to help keep an eye on foxes. The biosphere has been given a government grant for a two-year fox “monitoring and control” project in the northern coast area of Western Port. “Our aim is to abate the predation pressure by foxes on stock, small native fauna and ground dwelling shore birds,” executive officer Cecelia Witton said. “Photo-monitoring in the first year will assess the distribution and abundance of the red fox, which will determine the most effective areas to undertake control activities in the second year,” she said. Ms Whitton said…

HASTINGS volunteer Sue King is out to encourage more people to be involved with Peninsula Health’s community advisory group. “I was coming up to retirement and thought I needed to do some voluntary work,” she said. “I’d done some social voluntary work through sporting clubs over the years and I thought I want something to do so I came to the Western Port Community Advisory Group meeting and found it quite interesting.” Now, years later, Ms King is encouraging others to join the group. “We need more members from a diverse range of backgrounds across Western Port so we can…

STATE opposition MPs have been told that the Mornington Peninsula needs an overall roads strategy. A delegation from Mornington Peninsula Shire last week met with Liberal Party MPS, including roads and infrastructure spokesman David Hodgett. Cr David Gill said the shire also intended to meet with members of the Labor government to press the need for safer roads. “We had a good hearing [from the opposition] and they basically said they were interested and would look into it,” Cr Gill told The News. “They’re local MPs and want to do something and they could possibly be part of the next…

CONSULTANTS have drawn up an $80.3 million plan for a Stony Point to Phillip Island car ferry service. The business case prepared for the state government and Mornington Peninsula and Bass Coast councils predicts the ferry would inject an extra $93.3m into the two municipalities over 30 years. The business case also envisages 278 jobs being created “for the first year of operation”. The shire’s economic development and tourism manager Tania Treasure sees the car ferry as “a strategic contribution to the current tourism offering” that would “provide the missing link for a world class touring route linking the Great…

IN an entertaining double-header, Rabbi Jonathan Keren-Black will speak at Rosebud Uniting Church on Judaism, faith and the environment before the screening of Al Gore’s new film, An Inconvenient Sequel. Truth to Power. The events are being held from 5-8pm, Sunday 18 March. Rabbi Keren-Black says the Mornington Peninsula, like islands in the Pacific Ocean, are in peril from the rising seas. He believes people of faith have a religious obligation to act. Australian Religious Response to Climate Change is hosting this event with the cooperation of the church at 6 Murray-Anderson Road, Rosebud. Light refreshments will be followed by question time afterwards.

THE PARKDALE Gift will be revived after 54 years on the sidelines and is set to showcase some untapped indigenous talent with two sprinters from far north Western Australia making the journey down south. The Gift which is set to return to the Gerry Green Reserve on Saturday 24 March has come to fruition through the efforts of former professional Parkdale runner Tim Mason who pursued the idea just over two years ago. “I ran at the Stawell Gift and now coach my daughter Georgia and we went down to the reserve a couple of years ago and thought it…

RIDING track work since the age of 12, Mornington-based horseman Clayton Douglas has risen through the ranks of the racing industry to ride his first Victorian metropolitan winner at Moonee Valley on Friday 2 February. It’s been no ordinary journey for the rider as he began his racing career on the picnic circuit just over seven years ago before finding his feet over the jumps. Douglas often works about 15 horses each morning before travelling across the state to pick up rides for numerous trainers but originally thought he would be too heavy to make the light weight needed to…

SOCCER LANGWARRIN’S victory against high-flying Dandenong City and FFA Cup wins to Mornington and Peninsula Strikers highlighted last weekend’s local action. Langy went into Saturday’s league clash at Lawton Park as a pronounced underdog having come off a 4-1 thumping from Springvale White Eagles and facing the big-spending second-placed team in NPL2. But Gus Macleod’s men defied the odds and stunned the Croatian-backed visitors with a 2-1 triumph in front of a large crowd. “I keep telling people that we’re three years behind all these other NPL clubs,” Macleod said, a reference to the league’s inception in 2014. “We go…

SUB-DISTRICT By Mr & Mrs IT Gully DROMANA is on fire heading into the MPCA Sub District finals after belting Ballam Park on Saturday by more than 100 runs.  The Tigers will host Carrum Downs in the first semi-final, while Carrum will host Tootgarook in the other final. The winners will play off in the grand final. Dromana scored 192 batting first against Ballam Park on Saturday, Blake Pappas top scoring with 54 and fellow opener Daniel Byatt contributing 40.  Ballam Park’s Justin Moore was the pick of his team’s bowlers with 3/14, while Gabriel Lawrence picked up 3/27 off…

DISTRICT By Mr & Mrs IT Gully BADEN Powell flexed its muscles at the right time leading into the MPCA District semi-final, recording a seven-wicket victory over Rye. Baden Powell batted first at the beautiful RJ Rowley Reserve and set Rye 183 for victory after scoring 182 for the loss of three wickets.  Craig Entwistle hit 85 off 109 balls while Tom Kellerman hit 30 runs off 46 balls. In the chase Matt Whelan top scored with 44 for Rye while Dean Collins scored 35 and Andrew Dunn 29. No other Rye player hit double figures and consequently, they were…

PENINSULA By Mr & Mrs IT Gully IT was always going to be a really tight finish in MPCA Peninsula Cricket, and that proved to be the case on Saturday.  The cricket has been hot in this division all season and picking a top four at any stage was always fraught with danger. However, Flinders came out on top with 108 points, while Main Ridge were second with 98, Long Island third on 90, Moorooduc fourth, also on 90.  To highlight the closeness of the season Somerville just missed out on 86 points, as did Pines with 78 and Red…

PROVINCIAL By Mr & Mrs IT Gully LANGWARRIN will meet Mornington in this weekend’s MPCA Provincial semi-final after finishing on top of the ladder. The other Semi Final will be played between neighbours Mt Eliza and Peninsula Old Boys. The Kangas will head into the semi-final with great confidence after knocking over the Doggies by 38 runs in the final home and away one-day game at Lloyd Park.  It is a remarkable effort by the Kangas considering many experts believed they would fail to make the top four. However, they have proved that relentless pressure in the field and with…

TWO miles out of Mornington, the body of an unknown man was found on Tuesday afternoon by Constable Kerr. Nearby were discovered two packets of strychnine, one of which had apparently been used. On the body was a ticket for a Bay street issued that morning, but there was nothing that would lead to identification. Deceased had a heavy bushy moustache; and was dressed in a grey sac suit, black woollen socks elastic “slip-on” boots and a cotton shirt and singlet. *** PROFOUND regret was expressed when the news of the death of Sir John Madden, Chief Justice of Victoria…

PARENTS, pupils and staff at Tootgarook Primary School were in shock on Friday after learning of the death of eight-year-old Brodie Moran. The body of the popular grade 2 pupil was found at his Alma Street home, 1.30pm, Thursday 8 March. Floral tributes and cards from grieving school friends and parents covered the front yard and pupils were being offered counselling. Seven police cars and 13 officers rushed to the house following a 000 call reportedly made by his mother, Joanne Finch. Ms Finch, 42, appeared at an out-of-sessions hearing at Melbourne Magistrates’ Court later that day charged with one…

AN old TV set, ceramic pipe, umbrella, bike helmet, 900-amp jump starter and two plastic drums were added to the 28 bags of general rubbish collected by BERG Mt Martha members at last week’s Clean-Up Australia Day event. Also picked up were another 20 bags of discarded underclothing, dirty wipes, beer and soft drink bottles and takeaway wrappings at popular The Pillars rock jumping site. Spokesman Barry Morris said 82 volunteers turned up to help in the mass annual clean-up – including 54 adults (31 females and 23 males), 28 children, and nine BERG members, with others helping at Bird…

A SELL-OUT exhibition at Oak Hill Gallery, Mornington, was the first held by 92-year-old Chris Colquhoun. As a result of her first solo show the Merricks-based artist has received three commissions – including one from Copenhagen, Denmark. “A love of maps led Chris to a career at a drawing desk and, after studying technical drawing at RMIT, she worked at the Titles Office and later at the Division of National Mapping,” gallery director Yvonne Watson said. “Travel, marriage and children followed, and then, in retirement at Merricks, she began drawing and painting as a hobby. The lovely bushland and coastal…

MORNINGTON Peninsula Shire Council will continue childcare services formerly offered by Mornington Community Contact. Parents were left wondering where to take their children last week after liquidators moved in and closed the centre (“Parents baffled by childcare loss” The News 6/3/18). The shire, in a news release sent at 5pm Friday, says it is working “to support the childcare programs on a temporary basis to ensure continuity of services for the community and staff while exploring longer term options with the community and other stakeholders regarding ongoing management of the centre”. As from today (Tuesday 13 March) the shire will…

ALTERNATIVE car parking spaces will be made available to commuters while Frankston train station is redeveloped. Works will see 120 spaces at the Beach Street end of the station car park unavailable from last Sunday (10 March) until late this year. The Old Law Courts car park, at the corner of Playne and Young streets, will have 120 free all-day parking spaces and Frankston Council will make 50 free all-day spaces at the Mechanic’s Institute car park available. The Level Crossing Removal Authority will lease 50 parking spaces at Bayside Shopping Centre for construction workers and LXRA staff. LXRA has…

TWO brothers out fishing in a “tinnie” two kilometres off Mornington are lucky to be alive after being rescued by the crew of the racing yacht Phoenix, Saturday 3 March. The Mornington men, in their 20s, were in the water for about 30 minutes after capsizing in the afternoon’s windy weather and feared they would drown. Luckily, a crewman on the Mornington yacht, skippered by Bill Bennet, saw them waving and the boat hurriedly changed course to pick them up. Spotting the men in the rough conditions was made even more difficult by the glare from the late-afternoon sun. Mornington…

ROAD rules were ignored near the epicentre of Sunday’s Mt Martha Triathlon. There was little evidence of the normal courtesies or cautions shown by cyclists, motorists and pedestrians at the corner of Watson Road and the Esplanade. VicRoads has told The News that it gave no permission for road rules to be ignored, but as the photographic evidence shows, in just 15 minutes one young boy was nearly run over by a cyclist (who did yell out a warning) and had to be comforted by his mother; several cars were driven through the supposedly blocked street; cyclists and walkers ignored…

THE triathlon which turned Mt Martha’s main road into a racetrack last weekend was described as an overwhelming success by organisers and a blow to business by traders. “It was a sell-out with 650 competitors – including 100 kids on the Saturday – and we couldn’t have fitted any more in,” said Sufferfest owner Scott Hollow, who runs similar events all over Australia. “We have got feedback from competitors and just about all said it was one of the best they had been in – on perhaps the best course in Australia.” The triathlon saw the Esplanade between Mt Martha…

MORE than 200 volunteers were on hand to help 75 surfers spend time among the waves at Point Leo on Saturday 4 March. The surf day was the second held this year by the Disabled Surfers Association Mornington Peninsula. It will also be the last event before completion of a viewing platform and wheelchair ramp now taking shape between two sand dunes near Point Leo Lifesaving Club. As usual, teams of volunteers (“blue shirts”) formed a human channel to the shore within which the surfers could safely travel to the beach. The surfers lay, sat and stood on the surfboards…

POLICE fired three shots at a stolen car during a dramatic pursuit along back roads in Red Hill, Dromana and Teurong, Friday 2 March. Two men in the car – and two others arrested earlier – were believed to have been involved in a carjacking and robbery the day before as well as another robbery, both in Rosebud. In the first incident, two teenage boys were allegedly run off Waterfall Gully Road by a stolen Toyota four-wheel-drive about midnight, Thursday 1 March. They were chased away and their car, as well as wallets, phones and power tools were stolen. The…

KANGAROOS and wallabies may be more safely crossing Mornington Peninsula roads at night thanks to a trial of electronic signs warning road users to their presence. Mornington Peninsula Shire’s traffic transport office has agreed to install temporary signs at high risk zones on Purves Road, Arthurs Seat and Jetty Road, Boneo. Similar speed indicator signs are being used for the second year running to caution motorists on the Esplanade, Mt Martha about pedestrians visiting The Pillars rock jumping site. Results of the wildlife trial will be evaluated and, if acknowledged as a success, may lead to permanent and more informative…