Day: December 9, 2019

THE family of a Mount Martha woman who died in a horrific collision in Seaford last week has praised her as a “loving wife and mother to her beautiful 10-year-old son”. Rose Kelly, pictured, 43, died when a Nissan Navara ute being driven by a P-plater veered onto the wrong side of Nepean Highway and slammed into her, 6.30am, Thursday 5 December. A 20-year-old Sandringham man, arrested at the scene by an off-duty police officer, was taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. He has since been charged with one count of dangerous driving causing death. Ms Kelly’s grieving family said…

CRITTENDEN Estate in Dromana has won international recognition for its efforts to achieve sustainability in making wines. The estate has won the 2020 BRIT/FIVS international winegrowing competition in the wake of a decision more than a decade ago to stop using chemicals. Estate manager Rollo Crittenden said soil fertility at the Harrisons Road vineyard dropped noticeably about 12 years ago following 25 years’ use of herbicides, pesticides and fungicides. Chemical residues had made the soil “chalky” and lacking in nutrients, which led to vines being “not as healthy as they could be”. The decision to adopt other ways of improving…

LOCAL government representatives from around the world have been told about Mornington Peninsula Shire’s efforts to attain “climate neutrality” through lessening its carbon emissions. Cr Hugh Fraser last week outlined the declaration of a climate emergency by the shire and 1000 other Australian municipalities to a conference in Madrid, Spain. He said the move by local governments to recognise the climate emergency in Australia started in 2016 and was adopted by the shire on 13 August this year following an audit of its carbon footprint which was first undertaken five years ago. Cr Fraser told his international audience that the…

CHILDREN feeling unsafe or suffering from personal issues at three Mornington Peninsula primary schools can sit in a Buddy Bench in the playground and someone will come to check on their welfare. Members of the New Peninsula Men’s Shed, Mt Martha, installed a Buddy Bench at Rosebud Primary last week – their seventh so far – with others having been installed at Eastbourne and Balnarring primary schools. Shed president Andrew Doncovio said sitting in the seat triggered a “hierarchy of help” for the students, meaning they could feel confident they were not alone and that others were looking out for…

JUDO expert Harrison Cassar is on a mission to win the required number of ranking points to gain selection into the Australian Olympics team to compete at Tokyo in July. Described as an “elite athlete” by his coaches at Mornington Judo Club, Cassar has been a dedicated club member since he was eight. Now 20, he has wins at both state and national championships behind him and placings at recent international events. His most recent success was a bronze medal at the 2018 Asian Open, ranking him number one in Australia for his weight division. Cassar, of Dromana, is confident…

GIVING more people more access to the bay’s beaches is the aim of Mornington Peninsula Shire’s beach matting program. It is part of the Beach Access program which has been running at Mount Martha beach since 2016 and is now at Mills Beach, Mornington. The beach matting is permanently on the sand offering those in wheelchairs, or with limited mobility, the chance to get to the water’s edge during summer. The matting was rolled out on Friday 8 November and will remain until Easter Monday (13 April) with beach accessible wheelchairs available on weekends during patrol hours. The Disabled Surfers…

A MOUNT Martha man allegedly stormed into two neighbours’ houses and terrorised the occupants, 12.30pm, Sunday 1 December. The man, 43, allegedly forced his way in the front door of a house on the Esplanade and began threatening and verbally abusing a middle aged couple. While they cowered the man, possibly substance-or-drug affected, left and kicked in the front door of another house, again allegedly verbally abusing and threatening the occupants. No one was injured in the incidents although the occupants were said to be shaken. The man allegedly refused to come out of the house before being arrested by…

A TERRIFIED couple in their 60s was ordered out of their car in Mount Martha by two men who then drove off and crashed it into a tree, 3.15pm, Sunday 24 November. Detective Acting Sergeant Peter Drake, of Somerville CIU, said the couple was being tailgated by a silver Honda SUV in Dickson Grove when the incident occurred. Two men in the Honda pulled in front of the couple’s Mercedes and stopped. One, who “appeared to be holding something under a white cloth”, ordered them out, Detective Drake said. One jumped into the Mercedes and it, and the Honda, was…

PLANS to develop a 4.85MG solar farm in the Dromana industrial estate have received support from Mornington Peninsula Shire Council. The Dromana Clean Energy Farm in Collins Road is the first regional solar farm on the peninsula and aligns with what the council sees as a practical response to its declared Climate Emergency stance. Cr Simon Brooks said after the planning services meeting, Monday 18 November, that councillors had applauded the “effort that the applicant had gone to in bringing the proposal to this point”. “The location is ideal for grid connection into the southern peninsula electricity grid,” he said.…

BEACHES on the Mornington Peninsula will be a focus of the police Operation Summersafe until March. The police are armed with an arsenal of tools and resources to help ensure community safety, including the public order response team, mounted branch, water police, drone unit and dog squad. Commander Libby Murphy said police would have a highly visible presence on beaches within the Southern Metropolitan Region. “We will focus on using real time intelligence and technology through the drone unit to detect and deter offending, giving us the ability to flexibly deploy resources to where they’re most needed,” she said. “Those…

ALEX Dellaportas describes herself as “a living example of someone who doesn’t always fit in – someone who thinks differently, who experiences emotions uniquely”. She admits to having a “sometimes difficult relationship with mental health” but also as someone who has learned to embrace and see “differences as a superpower”. Dellaportas, of Capel Sound, started Spark Youth Dance Company (SYDC) in 2016 hoping it would enable 7-25 year olds “speak about mental illness and to normalise difference, to encourage it, to channel it into art that speaks to people, that tells stories that change the way our young people live…

SOMEONE with an intimate knowledge of the Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery’s latest exhibition Sublime Sea – Rapture and Reality won’t be around to admire the paintings. In what is seen as a shock move by the close-knit peninsula arts community, gallery director Jane Alexander was made redundant on Friday 8 November, after 16 years with Mornington Peninsula Shire. Programs and invitations to Sublime Sea – which opens on Saturday (14 December) and is billed as a fitting tribute to the gallery’s 50th anniversary year – still bear her name and best wishes. Indeed, Ms Alexander commissioned Dr Vivien Gaston to…

MORNINGTON Peninsula Regional Gallery’s summer exhibition Sublime Sea: Rapture and Reality will run 14 December-23 February. This major summer exhibition will feature about 100 paintings, sculptures, photography, film and the decorative arts. They aim to reveal “how the sense of wonder and awe that has driven artists across the centuries is heightened today as the sea itself is under threat”. With loans from major galleries and museums, including NGV, NGA, Art Gallery of NSW, Queensland Art Gallery, Australian National Maritime Museum, Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences, Museum Victoria and various private galleries, Sublime Sea: rapture and reality evokes the…

MILLIONS of dollars in taxpayers’ money is being spent restoring two Mornington Peninsula beaches despite experts being unable to find a permanent solution to sand loss. At Portsea, heavy machinery is being used to build a rock wall to protect workers repairing a sandbag sea wall first installed in 2010. At Rosebud, 20,000 cubic metres of sand will be dredged from offshore sandbars and used to renourish two beaches. Rosebud West beach is impassable at high tide and beach boxes have been undermined while the Bay Trail boardwalk has been washed by waves east of the pier. Within four weeks…

THE CFA says there is “still a short window of opportunity” for properties across the Mornington Peninsula to be cleaned up before the start of declared fire danger times on Monday 16 December. If fire is being used to clean up properties it must be registered. “So far this year, out-of-control burn-offs and unregistered burn-offs have caused unnecessary call-outs for brigades,” CFA District 8 operations manager Jamie Hansen said. He said there should be no burning off in strong winds or if they were forecast “not only on the day of your burn but for the days afterwards”. Mr Hansen…