Month: March 2017

Fire has destroyed the old Anglican church, which currently operates as an op-shop, in Hastings overnight. The fire started around 4am, and witnesses report hearing an explosion before the fire took hold. While the fire brigade attended quickly, the weatherboard structure was completely gutted. Quick action prevented the fire spreading to the adjoining brick church and surrounding housing. Police are appealing for information and an arson chemist is expected to attend the scene later this morning. Anyone with information about the fire is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or make a confidential report at www.crimestoppersvic.com.au Pictures: Gary…

Police are appealing for public assistance to help locate missing woman Clare Hutson. The 71-year-old Bittern woman was last seen at her Island View Crescent home on Sunday. Investigators believe Clare may be in the Kilcunda area. Police and Clare’s family hold concerns for her safety due to a medical condition. Investigators have released an image of Clare in the hope that someone knows her current whereabouts. She is described as having a slim build and dark blonde shoulder length hair. Anyone who sees Clare is urged to call Hastings Police Station on 5970 7800. Source: Victoria Police News -…

A MORNINGTON op shop is proving the saying “from little things big things grow”. After being open just six months Tru Opportunity, in Frank St, has been able to donate $250 each to 48 different charities and causes – a total of $12,000. “The charities were nominated by the people who donated the goods – that’s how we pick the charities,” said manager Trudy Lennon-Bowers, who held a stall at the Benton Junior College Fair last week. “As we are in an industrial area we get no foot traffic and rely on people seeing the tiny op shop street signs,…

ST JOSEPH’S Primary School, Crib Point, is holding a year of celebration to commemorate 90 years of catholic education in Crib Point. St Joseph’s, in Martin St, was opened in 1927 by Archbishop Mannix to allow Father AJ Martin and the Josephite sisters to provide a catholic education for defence force families. At that time, many pupils also came from the migrant camp at Somers. Funds for the original building came from parents, committees and through collections from Our Lady Star of the Sea chapel at HMAS Cerberus (formerly Flinders Naval Base). For many years the Naval chaplain supported the…

NO, it’s not the dry plains of the old Wild West, but tumbleweeds are blowin’ in the wind from the Hastings foreshore reserve. And nearby residents are fed up with them. Keith Jacobson, of Skinner St, says it is a “horrendous” problem with masses of grass seeds blowing into their properties from new plants put in by Mornington Peninsula Shire over the road. “They are making a mess of our gardens,” he said. “They are covering everything.” Nick and Julie DeMooy, of Salmon St, said they collected six shopping bags full of tumble weeds blown in from the foreshore on…

A FRENCH Island pensioner who says Mornington Peninsula Shire’s negligence cost him $368 for new tyres has had his refund claim belatedly paid by the council’s insurers. John Woolley said protruding spikes on star pickets “sliced the walls” of two tyres near roadworks on Graydens Rd, Hastings, last month. Furious, he called the RACV which towed his VW Transporter to Balnarring Motors where the tyres were replaced. “The $368 does not include all the inconvenience and time wasting caused by the incident,” he said. The spikes – 600mm in from the edge of the bitumen – were a hazard to…

A TRACTOR and a four-wheel-drive were severely damaged when they collided on the Frankston-Flinders Rd, Balnarring, Monday morning. Sergeant Bruce Buchan, of Somerville Highway Patrol, said the crash occurred about 7.20am when the grass-cutting tractor was turning at Mt Barron Rd; the four-wheel-drive overturned on impact. The tractor driver, 72, of Somerville, was airlifted to The Alfred Hospital in a serious but non-life-threatening condition. The driver of the four-wheel-drive, 30, of Crib Point, was taken to Frankston Hospital in a serious but non-life-threatening condition. First published in the Western Port News – 28 March 2017

SLAIN Hastings jeweller Dermot O’Toole has been awarded the Star of Courage in the Australian Bravery Awards. The awards announced over the weekend recognise those who put their own lives at risk to protect the lives or property of others. Mr O’Toole, 64, died while protecting his wife, Bridget, during an armed robbery at their shop in High St in July 2013. The couple were working at the back when they heard the front door open. When Mrs O’Toole went into the shop she was confronted by a man in disguise approaching the counter. The offender – later identified as…

THE controversy that surrounded the erection of a sculpture at crossroads in the centre of Flinders may be about to be revived. The work “I am” by Andrew Rodgers has been in place on the Cook and Wood streets roundabout for nearly two years and Mornington Peninsula Shire, its nominal owner, is about to run a survey to see if the public approves of the site. The unveiling of the sculpture was part of Flinders’ 150th celebrations, but its location was made subject to later public approval. Rodgers “I am” works were described by Bhakthi Puvanenthiran in the Sydney Morning…

FELIX Arena, pictured, has been named Somerville Community Member of the Year. The award – announced at Somerville Family Day on Monday 13 March –  was made in response to his “selfless commitment to helping and improving the community of Somerville”. Mr Arena founded the annual family day in a bid to bring the community together to celebrate the local area and its variety of skills and talents. He is president of the family day committee, runs his own business and started up the town’s first soccer club – the Somerville Eagles. Chrissy Kouvaras, a member of the committee, said Mr Arena…

BELEURA Junior Football Club representatives Matty Mayne and Khyal Jacobson have excelled in the 2017 AFLNZ Premiership held in New Zealand. AFLNZ approached the boys at the start of the year to participate in New Zealand’s premier football league as part of a pilot program after their performance in the 2016 ANZAC Tour. Since leaving on 2 March, the boys played three matches in the AFLNZ Premiership against some of the best senior players in the country. They also worked as ambassadors for AFLNZ and have had continued support from the Mornington Peninsula Junior Football League. Jacobson, 16, was a…

PROVINCIAL BAXTER was crowned the final MPCA Provincial premiers on Saturday. With a new competition coming into play next season, the Provincial premiership cup handed over to the Baxter players will stay with them forever. It took just a couple of hours on Saturday for Baxter to pick up the two wickets required to win the match. In fact, it took until the first ball of the 14th over of the day to claim the title. Justin Bridgeman took out the off stump of Tim Clarke to wrap up the match, Mt Eliza all out for 209. At the beginning…

DISTRICT RED Hill captain Simon Dart produced one of the finest innings ever witnessed in MPCA cricket on Saturday to play a major role in steering his side to the District premiership. Dart played a masterful innings that saw him bat an additional 71 overs on the final day, on top of the overs he batted last Sunday, to finish unbeaten on 133. With four overs left to play in the grand final, the Hillmen had worked their way into a commanding position and needed just 10 runs off the final 24 balls with four wickets in hand. If the…

SOCCER By Craig MacKenzie MORNINGTON’S title threepeat attempt got off to a flyer last Friday night with an impressive 2-0 away win over Casey Comets. Adam Jamieson’s men bossed their fancied opponent from the outset, particularly in midfield, where Scottish duo Craig Smart and Chris Reid were dominant. The confronting thought for others with eyes on the championship is that Mornington can only get stronger as the club maintains an interest in English striker Josh Hine from Salford City while another forward, Simon Mur, is back after two years in the UK and looking sharp in training. Young Josh Valadon…

MR Archibald has secured from a breeder six fine Rhode Island roosters. They have been much admired and can be purchased for 6d each. If not sold before 5th April they will pass into city fanciers. *** OWING to our next issue falling on Easter Saturday, the “Standard” will be published on Thursday evening next. Advertisements and all matter intended for insertion must therefore be sent in on or before Thursday morning next. *** SIR Wm Irvine will address the electors at tho Frankston Mechanics’ Hall on Wednesday evening next. *** THE “Wattle” Club dance takes place in the hall…

A MAJOR facelift for the gateway to Frankston has been unveiled by the state government after two years of community consultation and a nationwide design competition. A new train station designed by Genton Architecture will be the centrepiece of a planned rejuvenation of the centre of Frankston including a revamp of Young St now underway. Labor Public Transport Minister Jacinta Allan and Frankston MP Paul Edbrooke congratulated the Melbourne-based architectural firm for seeing its design for the train station chosen from 40 entries in a nationwide competition. Construction work on the new train station, part of a $63 million revamp…

By Barry Morris IT IS the great mysterious love story of estuaries and creeks across the Mornington Peninsula that has its beginning and end 4000 kilometres away in the Coral Sea. Short-finned eels (Anguilla australis) live in or around the waterways for 10 to 20 years, maybe longer, growing up to one metre long and as thick as a man’s arm. Nobody seems to know how often, but around the full moon on an Easter tide they burst out of the estuary in their thousands to return to the Coral Sea to mate and die. And the cycle starts all…

A BENTONS Square kindergarten teacher has been named the 2016 Early Childhood Teacher of the Year for what is described as her “life-changing work with children with additional learning needs”. Meagan Hull received the $10,000 award which “marks the achievements and commitment of early childhood professionals across five categories”. These include promoting children’s health and wellbeing, supporting parents, creating collaborative community partnerships, and improving access to early learning. Ms Hull leads a team of 14 teachers and educators at Community Kinders Plus, whose members also work with early intervention specialists such as occupational and speech therapists and physios, at Mt…

CONVERSATION and communication within families and the wider community is the most readily accessible way of detecting and tackling depression among teenagers. This message was brought out by speakers and organisers at a forum in Mornington earlier this month designed to help young people “stay mentally healthy”. The forum follows the findings of a report commissioned by the Mornington Peninsula Shire Council which found 25 per cent of peninsula teenagers suffered from depression, six per cent higher than the national average. The shire has listed “youth and teen mental health first aid training” as one of seven priority projects in…

IT’S been a life punctuated by parental and societal abandonment, cruelty and betrayal, near-death experiences and fragmented relationships, yet Mornington’s Klaas Kalma’s glass remains “half full”. Surprisingly, none of the obstacles have stopped the feisty survivor from living life to the full, and now, at 77, Kalma gives readers another glimpse into his fascinating life story in his second novel, Distant Echoes. Part auto-biographical, part fiction, the book follows on from his 2011 novel, Creeping Shadows, to tell more of the life story of Jobe, a likeable larrikin born in war-torn Holland at the start of WWII, who then faces…

MYSTERY still surrounds the identity of the supermarket eyeing the site of the former Masters store on Mornington-Tyabb Rd, Mornington. The $4 million development proposal lodged with Mornington Peninsula Shire’s planning department has been “called in” by the mayor Bev Colomb and will be on the agenda for council’s April public meeting. A verdict on the mega-supermarket proposal was initially being left up to the shire’s planning department until its potential impact on the town’s retail landscape was realised. The size of the proposed retail spaces and the “secrecy” surrounding the application has upset established traders. Mornington Chamber of Commerce…

A WORKS barge and hydraulic crane will this week be used to remove five of Mornington pier’s storm damaged concrete wave protection panels. Marine infrastructure contractor P W Johnson Constructions will move the damaged 15 tonne panels still attached to the pier and recover from the sea bed panels dislodged in storms last July and October. In January, the Carrum Downs-based contractor removed loose wave panels, created a safe walking surface on the damaged pier deck and laid a temporary pier edge fence so the damaged area could be re-opened. While the barge is being brought in to remove the…

THE CFA is urging landowners in the cities of Frankston and Kingston and Mornington Peninsula Shire to register burn-offs and avoid unnecessary call-outs. With the official end of the fire danger period on Monday (27 March), CFA operations manager Mark Kennedy said there would be a lot of private burn-offs over the next few weeks due to vegetation growth caused by heavy rainfalls at the start of the year. He urged people to check conditions and register their burn-offs. Mr Kennedy said every year firefighters had to respond to calls from the public concerned about smoke in the air from…

A SORRENTO commercial site sold at auction for $3.71 million on Saturday 11 March – more than $1.31 million over the reserve. The sale of 157-163 Ocean Beach Rd attracted 68 bids from the 300-strong crowd. It achieved an area record of $6700 a square metre for the 554 square metre block on a yield of 2.6 per cent. The corner site contains two freestanding commercial buildings – Happy Days and Patrick’s – and is said to be “strategically positioned” adjoining a 200-space council car park. Selling agent Sandro Peluso, of CBRE, says the sale proves the Mornington Peninsula property…

IT wasn’t a bird. It wasn’t a plane. People in Westall who saw an unidentified flying object hovering over the suburb in 1966 are still sure they saw something extraordinary and unexplained on 6 April that year. A flying saucer-shaped object was seen by more than 200 witnesses in broad daylight including schoolchildren and teachers at Westall Primary School and Westall Secondary School. ‘The Westall Incident’ as it came to be known has long fascinated UFO watchers and some of the eyewitnesses on that April day five decades ago will gather to recall the strange events surrounding the mass UFO…

WHILE it’s not something they’re likely to encounter in Australia, just a short look at any television news service will dish up images of war-ravaged cities and towns. Examples of besieged cities filled with terrified citizens are all too real and no doubt help inform the young actors in this year’s production by the Dreamhouse Theatre Company – Stories in the Dark, by Debra Oswald. Oswald’s narrative centres around 12-year-old Tomas and Anna, 16, who are caught in a war-torn city. Seeking refuge, they find each other in a derelict mansion. As the nightly bombing raids unfold, Anna tells Tomas…

A GROUNDSWELL of support is building for a Southern Peninsula Aquatic Centre with a community meeting on Wednesday 8 March agreeing to “bringing the need for an aquatic centre to Mornington Peninsula Shire Council’s attention”. An action group formed by 60 residents is pushing to revive the centre after it was put on the back burner by the previous council. Organiser Betty Preston said she had been “sweating on a new council after the issue became toxic under the former council”. “There was no point doing anything until the new council was elected.” Ms Preston said she was “disappointed” that…

THE Frankston-based Peninsula Community Legal Centre has welcomed the support of high-profile domestic violence campaigner Rosie Batty in the fight to stop funding cuts that could cripple the service and the community. The legal service has helped thousands of low-income clients to access free legal advice and representation every year since opening 40 years ago, with the majority of clients seeking help with family law and domestic violence-related matters. The centre’s chief executive officer Jackie Galloway said domestic violence was a “scourge” on the Frankston community, and free legal help for those affected was essential to keep them safe, housed…

SCIENTISTS predict the large number of small King George whiting entering Port Phillip and Western Port bays will be “catchable” by spring 2018. The whiting larvae drift eastward from spawning grounds off far western Victoria and eastern South Australia for about three months before entering the bays and estuaries in spring. Studies of whiting living in seagrass beds in Port Phillip have shown they stay about four years before heading back out to sea. “Westerly winds help drive the currents that bring the whiting larvae into the bay, where they take about two years to reach the legal minimum size…

THE director of McClelland Gallery and Sculpture Park has resigned and the trustees of McClelland Gallery and Sculpture Park will meet artists previously told to vacate premises to review leases at Studio Park, Langwarrin. Gallery director John Cunningham met representatives of artists’ guilds in February to advise the guilds that their leases would not be renewed in June (“Artists left without studios”, The News 7/3/17). Gallery deputy director Lyn Johnson confirmed director John Cunningham’s exit. “The trustees are currently reviewing the matter of the tenancy of the guilds and this was communicated to the guilds last week,” Ms Johnson said in a…