MORNINGTON Peninsula residents are being urged to stop using some rodent baits which are blamed for killing such birds of prey as owls, tawny frogmouths and kookaburras. Mount Eliza mother of two Julia McCarthy and her family were devastated last week when a kookaburra that had been nesting with its partner in a nearby tree was found dead in her yard. “My children have loved watching these beautiful birds every year, so to find one of them dead in the yard with no obvious signs of injuries is absolutely awful,” she said. “I took it to a wildlife carer, who…
Author: Liz Bell
THE Mornington Peninsula Shire Council’s payout of $350,000 to end its financial commitments to the Peninsula Aero Club has been described as secretive. The payout released the council from a 173 agreement signed in 2002, which had tied the council to a 20-year commitment to assist the club with certain “financial accommodation” in relation to maintenance. Those obligations – which included paying for the cost of resurfacing the airport’s runway — was apparently reliant on the airport paying an annual maintenance fee of $400 to the council. Freedom of Information documents show the PAC did not make any of the…
MORNINGTON Peninsula Shire mayor Cr Anthony Marsh will ask Planning Minister Lizzie Blandthorn to “urgently” step in to protect the site of the former Melbourne Business School in Mount Eliza from development after a planning panel did not support the rezoning of the land to green wedge. The Kunyung Road land housed the former business school and is the subject of a controversial planning application by Ryman Healthcare for a multi-storey aged care centre and retirement village. Under amendment C270 of the Mornington Peninsula planning scheme, the council sought to rezone the land at 60-70 Kunyung Road and seven others…
RED Hill artist Michael Leeworthy, pictured, will help budding artists brush up on their skills with a watercolour demonstration class to raise money for childhood cancer research. On the back of a successful fundraiser Leeworthy held in August for the Peninsula Home Hospice, he will donate his time and expertise again on 14 November, running the event through Red Hill District Lions. Leeworthy said the demonstration – to be held at his Red Hill home and gallery – would help demystify the idiosyncrasies of watercolour. “I will explain the best use of materials, paper types, what paint to buy and…
WITH improving public transport on the agenda in the lead up to the November state election, independent candidate for Hastings Robert Whitehill says there is no better time to remind voters that the current politicians have had their chance and done little. While the Liberal Party is promising to electrify the Frankston rail line to Baxter if it wins the election, including electrifying and duplicating the line and building new stations at Langwarrin and Frankston East, Whitehill says he has been talking about the issue for more than a decade. He has drawn up a plan for a train line…
SUNDAY’S Bloody Long Walk on the Mornington Peninsula helped focus the spotlight on a little-known illness that impacts hundreds of Australians every year. The Bloody Long Walk raises money to enable much-needed support to patients and their families and research into the prevention, diagnosis, treatment and cure of mitochondrial disorders. The walk on Sunday 16 October raised $370,000 and took participants 35 kilometres along country and coastal paths, starting at the quarantine station at Portsea and finishing at Martha Cove marina, Safety Beach. Leigh Caulfield and his wife Laura, whose 13-year-old son Tyler was diagnosed with mitochondrial disease two years…
MORNINGTON Park Primary school received a visit from inspiring 2020 Victorian Local Hero Josie Jones on Friday (14 October). The school won the visit after being nominated by long-term local postie Sean O’Keefe in an employee competition to celebrate Australia Post’s support of the Australian of the Year Awards. The competition was run to provide Australia Post team members with the opportunity to connect their nominated school or community group with a visit from an extraordinary Australian – a past recipient of their state or territory Australian of the Year Awards. In nominating the school O’Keefe said it is an…
MORNINGTON Peninsula Shire Council is considering a six-week pilot program to iron out problems with illegal dirt bike jumps and tracks. According to a council officer’s report to council on Tuesday (18 October) the past two years – particularly during COVID lockdowns – coincided with a “high number of reports of illegal dirt jumps” being built across the peninsula, mostly in and around Mount Martha and Mornington. To ensure dirt jumps, skills parks and pump tracks are in “appropriate” locations and designed with the community, the council has also proposed to exhibit its draft strategy for mountain bikes and BMXs.…
OWNERS of empty houses are being reminded of their obligations to maintain them following complaints that some vacant homes are attracting “unsavoury” behaviour and posing a fire risk. Neighbours of a vacant house in Nepean Highway, Mornington, say their years of complaints to Mornington Peninsula Shire have gone “nowhere”. One neighbour said that for almost four years residents had been urging council staff to do something about the overgrown property. “They did make an effort to make contact and ensure it was safe and not as much of a fire hazard as it has come to be, but it’s not…
MORNINGTON Peninsula Shire Council wants the state government to hand over at least $158 million for road improvements, after figures revealed the shire has one of the highest number of road tolls in the state. In the past decade there have been 73 fatalities on peninsula roads, according to Transport Accident Commission statistics. More than 1300 people were seriously injured over the same time, including pedestrians and cyclists. The mayor Cr Anthony Marsh described the statistics as shocking and said there was a lack of government assistance to address many of the peninsula’s dangerous road sites. “Families are devastated by…
RESIDENTS and authorities are growing increasingly frustrated by people illegally dumping rubbish on the Mornington Peninsula. Mornington Peninsula Shire Council’s climate change and sustainability manager Melissa Burrage says the council shares the community’s frustration and disappointment around the issue of illegally dumped waste, particularly on roadsides. Mount Martha resident Katrina Mann drives along Moorooduc Freeway to work every day and says she is horrified by the amount of rubbish that appears to be deliberately dumped. Getting authorities to take responsibility has added to her frustration, she said. “This is the gateway to the peninsula and it’s so distressing that people…
FIVE budding philanthropists, Emina, Stella, Rocco, Florence and Millie, tested their baking talents by holding a cake stall over the school holidays, raising $504 for Rosebud Hospital. The children chose Rosebud because they had all been there at some time and thought it was a wonderful hospital, Sunny Shaw, whose daughter Emina was one of the stallholders at the hospital, said. When it was suggested that they do something to give back to the community in the school holidays five entrepreneurial friends decided a cake stall was in order. Shaw said they investigated some popular recipes and went on to…
PROTECTIVE Services Officers could be trialled at Frankston Hospital to tackle escalating violence in the state’s health care system, under a plan outlined by state opposition leader Matthew Guy. Guy said that if elected, a Liberal National state government would pay for a two-year trial at five hospitals to support the recruitment, training and deployment of 75 new PSOs to provide around-the-clock support from mobile stations. The Premier Daniel Andrews said there was no evidence Guy’s PSO trial would solve the problem and a 2011 parliamentary inquiry also recommended against deploying PSOs to hospitals. Guy said PSOs would be able…
SORRENTO Rotary Club is staging the inaugural Point Nepean Heritage Motor Show on Sunday 30 October after its COVID-related cancellation in 2021. Historic Point Nepean quarantine station will provide a backdrop for the display of 200 of the state’s most significant heritage motor cars and motorcycles. Music and refreshments will be available at the event which is expected to attract more than 1500 people from across the state. Rotary club president Brian Stacey said the motor aimed to promote Sorrento and raise the profile of the region. Held over the cup weekend, it will be a starting point to the…
A SOMERVIILE family was lucky to escape unharmed after a fire broke out at their Eramosa Road home Monday 3 October. Somerville CFA was called to the fire just before 6.30pm, supported by units from Baxter and Moorooduc. Somerville captain Josh Caron said the fire was contained to one room by CFA firefighters wearing breathing apparatus, with damage limited to some furniture, ceilings and walls. He said the fire was believed to have started by a scented candle that had fallen over, and firefighters spent some time removing smoke from the house and monitoring carbon monoxide levels. Caron said a…
AFTER two years, therapy dogs are back at Peninsula Health, and staff and patients are celebrating their return. Jeff and Judy Johnston have started their fortnightly visits to Frankston Hospital and the Psychiatric Assessment and Planning Unit with their golden retrievers, Benson and Sam. Judy said six-year-old Benson and Sam, eight, must be among the most photographed of dogs. “Once it took us an hour to get back to the car from the hospital because staff, patients and visitors would stop us to say hello and take cute photos of the dogs,” she said. “Our last visit was very successful,…
PENINSULA Aero Club has won its battle for legitimacy after the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal declared that Tyabb Airport does have permit rights to operate. After years of tension over planning controls around the airport and residents’ complaints about its operating hours, the aero club went to Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal in September and then in March 2022 to seek a declaration that its permits authorise its operation. PAC president Jack Vevers said the tribunal ruling last week (5 October) was a fantastic win for PAC and everyone at the airport. In a statement, Vevers told supporters he…
WHILE enjoying a walk at Mothers Beach, Mornington Jodie Richmond-Smith came across a strange object that has become something of a mystery. Piquing her interest, the odd-looking object resembled a skull or body part of a marine creature. “I’ve been walking the beach every day for years and I often find strange things on the sand,” Richmond-Smith said. “But this one has me and everyone else I’ve shown baffled, and even the Melbourne museum didn’t know what it was. “I’ve found all sorts of things, and this one is certainly a conversation starter.” Richmond-Smith said the museum had shown her…
ELDERLY residents living in retirement centres four kilometres from central Mornington say they have been left stranded by the lack of public transport. In the lead up to the November state election, Mornington Peninsula Shire Council has increased its pressure on the state government to increase public transport services on the peninsula. But resident Don Robinson, who lives at Beleura Village in Bungower Road, said he and others at the nearby Australian Unity centre in Racecourse Road felt nobody had been listening after campaigning for years for a bus service to Frankston and Mornington. In 2019 Mornington MP David Morris…
NINETY-year-old Mornington table tennis player Moya Macpherson has no plans of slowing down any time soon. After decades of playing the game, Macpherson, of Somerville, says she enjoys the social and fitness side of the sport as much as ever and is still one of the first to arrive at the Mornington Peninsula Table Tennis Centre every Tuesday morning at 9.30. The club member is proof that age does not have to be a barrier to fun and fitness, and that exercise and social connection are a great mix. Macpherson first played table tennis as an 18-year-old but had a…
A LONG term plan to strengthen protective walls along the Beleura cliff at Mornington will be investigated following community anger over the path’s deterioration and sudden closure. Friends of the Beleura Cliff path community group with Mornington Peninsula councillors, council staff and engineers last Thursday (28 September) to hear when the popular path will reopen (“Anger at closure of pathway” The News 27/9/22). Group spokesman Peter Nicholson said it was good to know the council was “putting on its running shoes” to reopen the path before summer, but disappointing that action was not taken earlier to prevent further erosion of…
THE return of the Archibald Prize tour to the Mornington Peninsula next spring is expected to bring around 50,000 visitors to the region and inject $10 million into the local economy. The prestigious and popular exhibition will be hosted by the Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery (MPRG) in 2023 for seven weeks from 15 September to 5 November. Gallery director Danny Lacy said it was a coup for the gallery and for the region, with past experience showing there will be a flow-on impact for other businesses. “The Archibald is hugely popular, and people come from all over the state, and…
RESIDENTS who live near a proposed, 35-metre mobile phone tower on green wedge land in Grant Road, Somerville, say the structure is just metres from homes and will create a visual and health “nightmare”. Landowner Karyn Murray, whose said the proposed tower is only 15 metres from some property boundaries, said there needed to be a “rethink” about the way telecommunication coverage is addressed across the peninsula, with more consideration given to “protecting residents’ health and well-being”. “I purchased and moved [to Webbs Lane] in January 1998. What attracted me to this property was the peacefulness, knowing that being on…
A SPECIAL tree planting day was held at Somerville Community House last week in recognition of the passing and long service of the late Queen Elizabeth II. As an expansion of the Planting Trees for the Queen’s Jubilee grant program, the community house received $10,000 for trees, enabling it to expand a garden at the community centre. Apple trees, pear trees and a range of native and indigenous fruit trees were planted to make the garden enjoyable and edible. One of the first trees – a contemporary cross between an apricot and a pear, fitted well with the theme of…
MORNINGTON Men’s Shed have generously used a grant received from the Mornington Peninsula Shire to make a table to present to the council. Men’s shed workshop manager Tony Sinclair said the grant made it possible for the shed volunteers to purchase some new wood working equipment, and the table was a kind of ‘thank you’ gift. Sinclair said the men’s shed was involved in a range of projects for the council, and was grateful for the support. “At the moment we are using the timbers from the old Rye Pier to make a seat and an upstand for the solar…
PEOPLE defecating in bushes, dogs injured by discarded fishing hooks, rubbish everywhere and abuse hurled at boat owners passing fishing lines in the boating channel. This is the new reality for the hundreds of people who own properties at the exclusive Martha Cove marina development. Owners and nearby residents have had enough, with 1000 signing a petition started a week ago to enforce a ban on fishing in the Martha Cove marina. The News understands that an environmental management plan for Martha Cove stipulates that there can be no fishing within the marina (the land and waterway at the marina…
THE unexpected closure of a popular walking path in Mornington has angered users, who say “mismanagement” of long-running drainage problems prevented erosion issues not being remedied decades ago. The 750-metre Beleura cliff path, which snakes its way down from the Mornington cliffs to Mills beach, was closed by council workers last week and barriers erected. Regular path users and residents whose properties access the path say its closure is an “act of mismanagement” and a “slap in the face to volunteers” who have spent years revegetating the path to reduce erosion and keep it safe and open. Convenor of the…
THE HMAS Otama Submarine was expected to take its final voyage on Monday (19 September) to be literally scooped from its resting place at Crib Point and shipped off to be scrapped. Supporters of the submarine have labelled the move “devastating”, but their desperate pleas to Park Victoria were unheard and the submarine was loaded onto a semi-submersible in the early hours of Friday morning. Max Bryant, president of the volunteer-run Western Port Oberon Association, Victorian Maritime Centre – which took ownership of the vessel 22 years ago to be the centrepiece of a tourism attraction – said it was…
AN application to amend a permit for a 140-site camping/tourist park in Boneo has been approved, despite concerns from a neighbouring organic farmer and community fears the park could be used as “defacto” permanent accommodation. The owner of the land at 161 and 189 Old Cape Schanck Road, Richard Merigan – who was fined $9000 in 2018 for the illegal removal of 46 trees and vegetation at the site – wants to reconfigure the park layout over the 10-acre and five-aces sites, enlarging some pitch sites and removing existing buildings and additional trees. At last Tuesday’s Planning Services Committee (12…
SEPTEMBER is national biodiversity month, and community groups around the peninsula are playing their part in rehabilitating local environments. The Mornington Rotary Club is involved in a project to help rehabilitate the indigenous vegetation at Hunters Crossing, a busy pedestrian bridge over Tanti Creek in Mornington. The project was funded by a South East Water community grant and enabled by Tanti Creek Friends Group and local residents, who all pitched in for the recent mulching, spreading and planting of 300 plants two weeks ago. Mornington Rotary Club president Brian Mann said the project was a great example of what Rotary…