Browsing: Portsea

INTERNATIONAL eyes may have been focussed on a solemn religious ceremony at Westminster Abbey, London on Saturday 6 May, but the coronation of King Charles III was also celebrated in a far-flung outpost of the former British empire, Portsea. On Monday 8 May a Coronation Party was held by Sorrento Portsea RSL, complete with palace approved Royal bunting, flags and pictures of King Charles and Queen Camilla. On the menu, described by the chair of the RSL committee’s community engagement and marketing arm Marg McInnes as a picnic lunch, were scotch eggs, cucumber sandwiches “and of course the ever popular…

NEW restrictions on walking dogs in Mornington Peninsula National Park are now in force, with pet owners warned they face hefty fines for breaches. Dogs are prohibited at all times along an additional seven kilometres of coastline between Portsea and Flinders and can only be walked on leashes between sunrise and 9am within a limited number of signposted areas in the national park. Areas where early morning on-leash walking is permitted include a 14km section of coast between Sorrento and Rye, and signposted areas at Portsea surf beach, St Andrews beach and Flinders ocean beach. There are a number of…

THE Mornington Park precinct was marred by rubbish after the hot weekend and looked like a Third World country, says resident Paul Smith. Mr Smith and former chamber of commerce president Scott Crowe are “citizen cleaners” who pick up rubbish in the precinct during regular morning and evening walks. The pair has been calling for improved rubbish collection for several years. “At 8pm on Sunday I visited the precinct while walking my dog. The whole area was absolutely disgusting, littered with rubbish and picnic waste everywhere,” Mr Smith said. “Rubbish bins where overflowing in Mornington Park, the Mothers Beach picnic…

SOUTHERN Peninsula Rescue Squad came to the aid of a charter yacht tangled in a South Channel beacon tower off Portsea last Saturday. The squad was contacted by water police at about 5.30pm and asked to attend the scene where it arrived at about 6pm. Ten passengers aboard Sorrento Sailing Escape’s 12-metre (40-foot) Beneteau class yacht were transferred to the squad’s rescue boat Southern Peninsula 1. The yacht’s skipper and rescue volun­teers then pondered how to disentangle rigging that had been snagged on a sign atop the No 4 marker, which indicates the northern side of the channel. Sorrento-based commercial…

DOGS may be banned from Mornington Peninsula National Park, bringing it into line with nearly all other national parks in Australia. Parks Victoria is seeking community feedback before deciding whether to ban dogs from the park, which covers the beaches and foreshore from Portsea to Bushrangers Bay and inland along Main Creek to Greens Bush at Main Ridge. Chief ranger Libby Jude said there had been “numerous reports of dog attacks and threats to local wildlife”. “There are 32 fauna species listed as endangered, vulnerable or near threatened living in the Mornington Peninsula National Park and we need to protect…

A REPORT on the vanishing Portsea Beach has concluded sand erosion is a natural process and there is nothing to be done about it except to shore up the fast-eroding shoreline. Department of Sustainability and En­vi­ronment contractors are set to return to the eroded beach to repair the eastern end of the 150-metre sandbag wall – again. DSE has released the Port­sea Prefeasi­bi­lity Study produced by international consultancy firm Aurecon and a sand monitoring report by GHD. The report considers erosion manage­ment options for the popular family beach and concludes maintenance of the sandbag wall is the best way to…

DEMOCRACY is alive on the Morn­ington Peninsula with 43 candidates vying for places in the shire’s six wards at this month’s election. It’s a far cry from the previous election in 2008 when six of 11 seats were uncontested, with five councillors returned unchallenged and one, this year’s mayor Cr Frank Martin, not even facing the voters. Cr Martin took over from the retiring David Jarman in Red Hill Ward and was not opposed. The 43-candidate list is vindication of the Victorian Electoral Commission’s decision to redraw the ward boundaries and create three multi-councillor wards from eight single-councillor wards on…

A CHARTERED accountant with a 20-year career in local government prior to 1995 is standing in Nepean Ward on the southern peninsula. Bryan Payne, 65, will be after one of the two seats in the new multi-member ward, which is held by Crs Bill Goodrem and Tim Rodgers. Mr Payne lives in Portsea and is involved in many Sorrento organisations including Sorrento Sports Club (president); the RSL (treasurer); David MacFarlan Reserve committee (chairman); the football, cricket and bowling clubs; Sorrento Sailing Couta Boat Club; and the chamber of commerce. He is a member of Portsea Golf Club. He is CEO…