CROWDS flocked to Anzac Day commemorations at Mornington Peninsula towns last week. Organisers were thrilled with the huge turn-out of young people which they hope will ensure the future of the national event. “The day went very well,” Mornington RSL sub-branch president Allan Paynter said. “The dawn service was extra large with not a spot left on the lawn at Memorial Park, and we had 300 back for the Gunfire breakfast. “Up to 4000 attended the march along Main Street from Queen Street. It was a packed house.” Rosebud RSL sub-branch had about 2500 people at the dawn service, while…
Year: 2018
SCIENTISTS and health experts have joined forces in the battle to stop the spread of the debilitating Buruli ulcer. The federal government last week announced a $1.5 million two-year research study into ways of eradicating the fast spreading disease – which is especially prevalent on the Mornington Peninsula. Of the 275 infections recorded across Victoria last year, and the 35 reported so far this year, more than 80 per cent have occurred on the peninsula, according to study leader Professor Tim Stinear, from the University of Melbourne. Mosquitoes are suspected as being the key factor in the spread of the…
THE entry made by CEO Carl Cowie on Mornington Peninsula Shire’s gifts register is by far the most valuable yet recorded. Mr Cowie’s estimated value of a Mediterranean cruise undertaken by he and his wife at the invitation of businessman Lindsay Fox is recorded as being $8400. The next highest is $1202 for return airfares to Sydney, dinner and accommodation for the shire’s chief information officer to attend a Dell EMC forum in August 2017. The lowest amount recorded on 10 pages of the register from 4 September 2015 to 19 December 2017 is $2, for a cloth glasses case…
1st Tootgarook Scouts were last week awarded a mayoral commendation for their efforts on Clean Up Australia Day and in winning the Clean-Up Australia Day photograph competition. The 24 children in the group cleaned one kilometre of foreshore over three hours, collecting 32kg of rubbish. They chose 555 pieces to create a colourful map of Australia which won them a digital camera. Their efforts aimed to draw attention to the rubbish problem and discover how small pieces of mainly plastic can be stopped from degrading the environment. The mayor Cr Bryan Payne was made one of the pack aftre being…
HILLVIEW Quarries has restarted its efforts to reopen the old Pioneer quarry in Boundary Road, Dromana. It has asked the state Planning Minister Richard Wynne to give the go ahead for an environmental effects statement (EES) into the proposal as well as “doorknocking” neighbouring property owners. Hillview CEO Paul Nitas said on Thursday that the company’s existing quarry, in Hillview Quarry Drive, was likely to run out of rock within seven or eight years if current extraction levels (750,000 tonnes) were maintained. He estimates the former Pioneer quarry, which Hillview wants to reopen, could supply one million tonnes of rock…
LAWS to tame behaviour at rowdy party houses on the Mornington Peninsula may be a Victorian first. The clampdown comes after the shire last week adopted a Short Stay Rental Accommodation Local Law. The new law includes a registration system that identifies the owner of a property who must nominate an agent to respond within two hours of complaints by neighbours. A code of conduct aims to counter issues which have ruined neighbours’ nights, including rowdy drinking sessions, abusive guests, thumping music late into the night, car parking congestion and inadequate rubbish disposal. Penalties will apply for breaches of the…
A LEGAL showdown between the Australian Services Union and Mornington Peninsula shire was averted just hours before a scheduled dispute hearing in the Fair Work Commission. Despite having several weeks’ notice of the hearing date, the shire’s lawyers waited until midday on Monday 23 April to say it would not be pursuing its move to declare 13 jobs redundant in its rangers and animal team. ASU organiser Ty Lockwood said the shire “pulled the pin, in my view, because it would have locked them into moving forward”. “Everyone has still got their jobs and the shire spent 10 weeks causing…
Police are today continuing the search for missing 23-year-old camper Sebastian Orefors. Sebastian was camping with friends in Wonyip and was last seen on Friday night about 7.30pm walking south along an unamed track off Randalls Track. Police have concerns for the Mount Martha man given the time he has been missing. Local police along with Search and Rescue and SES searched the Wonyip area yesterday but were unable to locate Sebastian. The search is contionuing today. Sebastian is described as 178cm tall and a medium build with a fair completion and nose ring. He was last seen wearing black…
WITH development of new parts of Hastings in the 1960s and 1970s, the decision was made to name many of streets in honour of Royal Australian Navy vessels. This was probably due to the towns proximity to and connection with HMAS Cerberus, the navy’s premier training establishment where about 6000 personnel are trained annually, averaging 800 trainees at Cerberus at any one time. In following pages we look at Hastings’ “navy streets”, but first a bit of history. The Commonwealth Naval Forces were established on 1 March 1901, two months after the federation of Australia. On 10 July 1911, King…
WHILE not a great deal is known about the development of Bittern and Crib Point, it is obvious that the area was subdivided after the First World War. The developers sought to honour those who had served in the war by the names they gave the streets and troads. Many streets in the two towns are named after Victoria Cross recipients, which was done to honour their sacrifice in the “Great War”. The Victoria Cross is the highest military decoration and is awarded for valour “in the face of the enemy” to members of the armed forces of various Commonwealth…
ABOUT 300,000 Australians volunteered to serve their country between 1914 and 1918; this from a nation of fewer than five million people. Most saw service on the Western Front: in Belgium (Flanders) or along the River Somme in France. About 52,000 died and are buried there. In the postwar years in Australia, whenever a new area was being developed it was common, almost mandatory, to honour our war dead by naming the streets after famous Western Front battles in which Australians had participated. The trapezium-shaped area in Bittern bordered by South Beach Rd (to the west), Disney St (south), Trafalgar…
ANZAC Day 2018 will see a bluestone paver dedicated to VC recipient George Morby Ingram. But who was this man, and why is he being honoured? George Morby Ingram was born in Bendigo in 1889, but lived much of his life in Hastings. He died in 1961 and is buried in Frankston cemetery. On 4 October 1918, the 24th Battalion took part in the attack that captured the Beaurevoir sector in France, and was, therefore, expecting to have a rest the following day when the unit was unexpectedly ordered to take part in another attack. The assault was to starts…
CFA crews fought for an hour to save the house of Somerville horse trainer Kane Harris when it was engulfed by fire, Tuesday 17 April. A faulty clothes dryer is being blamed for starting the blaze at the Whitneys Road house at 11.10pm. Up to 10 appliances from Pearcedale, Somerville, Hastings and Tyabb, fought the blaze, however, the house could not be saved. CFA spokesman Dillon Foote said crews donned breathing apparatus to protect themselves against asbestos-laden smoke. None of the horses stabled at the property were harmed and Mr Harris was reportedly back on the training track only hours…
HASTINGS MP Neale Burgess sees the realisation of power company AGL’s plan for a floating gas terminal at Crib Point as the beginning of the “industrialisation” of the town. “Crib Point has waited decades to flourish without the weight of industrialisation and it is time that was allowed to happen,” Mr Burgess said yesterday (Monday). “If we let this in what might follow?” Mr Burgess intends holding public meetings in the next month to gauge public feeling on the gas terminal at Crib Point and a pilot plant at Hastings to convert hydrogen gas to liquid before being shipped to…
THE Victorian Netball League season gets underway on Sunday 29 April with the Peninsula Waves and Southern Saints both looking to improve on their mid-table finishes from last year’s VNL Championships. Both the Waves and the Saints will head into their season openers at the State Netball and Hockey Centre, Parkville with a relatively new look, with the Waves recruiting five new players to their side and the Saints missing a number of players due to injury. Peninsula Waves finished their 2017 season in seventh place but championship coach Jess Whitfort is confident they can rise up the ladder after…
FATHER and son skaters Kevin and Harry Geary strapped on the green and gold to represent Australia at the Oceania Speed Skating Championships on Saturday 31 March. Kevin and his 12-year-old son Harry reached speeds of up to 40kph to claim a total of 10 medals at the international competition in New Zealand. Harry was one of the youngest competitors for Australia and competed against boys of up to two years older than him in the Cadet Boys division (under-14s). Skating over distances ranging from 300m to 21km, Harry shined over the long trips and landed two bronze medals in…
SOCCER CALEB Nicholes made sure of Skye United’s first win of the season with an eight-minute goal blitz against Dingley Stars at Skye Recreation Reserve on Saturday. The veteran striker’s quickfire hat-trick underpinned Skye’s 4-1 win and ignited the club’s push up the State 3 South-East ladder. The first half was a cagey affair with Skye dominating most of the possession and it was rewarded when Mitch Blake pounced in the box and finished well to give the hosts a half-time lead. Nicholes opened his account two minutes into the second half when he tapped in from close range following…
DIVISION TWO DROMANA remains a game clear on top of the MPNFL Division Two ladder after beating Karingal in the match of the day on Saturday. Just five points separated the sides at three-quarter time after Dromana had opened-up a 40-point half-time break. The Tigers booted six goals straight to four behinds in the second term. Karingal’s third quarter was equally as damaging, booting 6.2 to three behinds to drag the margin back to five points at the final change. The game was up for grabs, and with the home crowd at the Pier Street oval right behind it, Dromana…
DIVISION ONE IT’S early days in MPNFL Division One football but it’s hard not to think all is going as predicted in season 2018. Frankston YCW is a game clear on top of Sorrento after playing them in round one, leaving the Sharks second and Edi-Asp third. The Eagles just need to be more mindful of their player points and how that lines up for the remainder of the season. The talent is certainly there. They will finish with the double chance. The ‘logjam’ begins from Pines downwards. Now let’s have a look at Saturday’s football. Who would have thought…
CAPTAIN S. M. Bruce, M.C., Croix de Guerre, the selected Nationalist candidate for the Flinders seat, opened his campaign in the Dandenong town hall last night, and was given an enthusiastic reception by a large crowd of electors. Cr. R. Colenso, president of the shire, occupied the chair. The Candidate at the outset congratulated the electors of Flinders upon the great honor which had been conferred upon their late representative, Sir William Irvine, in being selected to fill the post of Chief Justice of Victoria. He proposed to support the present Government, because that Ministry was appointed by an overwhelming…
JAMS, cakes, crochet, needle work and photography will be among the hotly contested entries at the Country Women’s Association’s creative arts exhibition at the Peninsula Community Theatre next week. They will feature among a wide range of arts, crafts and cookery exhibits from 10am, Saturday and Sunday, 28 and 29 April, at the venue in Wilsons Road, Mornington, as the association celebrates 90 years of service. Market stalls will sell hand-made goods. Mornington Peninsula Group president Marnie Turner said the local branches will “go head to head in what’s always a tight competition”. “The ladies get quite competitive,” she said.…
MT MARTHA Tennis Club has effectively won its match against plans for a skateboard park adjacent to its courts at the corner of Kilburn Grove and the Esplanade. The club was able to claim the higher ground despite Mornington Peninsula Shire threatening to revoke the tennis club’s lease or use planning regulations to compulsory “recover” the land. Early in the game it also had Heritage Victoria barracking from the sidelines, cautioning the shire against building a skatepark on a historic parade ground next to Mt Martha Community House. The contest ground rules were set in 2012 when the shire announced…
A MT ELIZA beachgoer has had enough of nudists on family beaches away from designated “clothes-optional” areas. Craig Ferris wants Mornington Peninsula Shire Council to draw a line in the sand and fine those breaking the rules. Mr Ferris, a policeman who regularly takes his wife and two young daughters to the southern end of Moondah beach, said he had “absolutely no issue with those who want to get back to nature and do their thing”. But, he says, he takes exception to the “seemingly blase attitude being taken by … those of the naturalist persuasion (sic) who are now…
ROCKS will not be brought in to prevent further crumbling of cliffs at Mt Martha Beach North until after winter. Although five beach boxes have been already been demolished others may need to be removed – and later replaced – before the $880,000 rock revetment can be started. At least 10 of the 40 remaining beach boxes are leaning sideways or have sagging or broken stumps. Last week’s storms saw more landslides behind the bathing boxes, which during certain times of the tide cover the only sand remaining on the ever-widening beach. Experts have warned that continued crumbling of the…
THE storm which battered the Mornington Peninsula, Saturday 14 April, has renewed calls for a marina at Mornington. Plans for an $18 million, 170-berth floating marina to provide a safe haven for moored boats were abandoned in early 2010, but not before Mornington Yacht Club, Parks Victoria and other government departments had spent about $1 million on consultants’ reports to justify a marina. The latest storm left three boats on the beach and broke handrails and decking on the pier. The renewed push for a marina has already been raised with Mornington Peninsula councillors and its proponents are again likely…
THE second Rosebud Hospital Summer Appeal raised $63,000 for the emergency department – some of it from the efforts of volunteers who braved the wind and rain while doing intersection collections at Rye, Rosebud and Dromana. As well, peninsula businesses, clubs, groups and community members hosted events and made donations to the appeal which brought in more than triple the amount raised last year. The final tally was announced by Peninsula Health CEO Felicity Topp at an afternoon tea to thank volunteers and donors on 23 March. Rosebud Emergency Department nurse unit manager Kim Rogers said doctors and nurses were…
LONG-TIME Mornington resident Su-Rose McIntyre lost her only child when he was 26 almost a decade ago, after he suffered a long period of mental illness. Now the bereaved mother and qualified grief counsellor is a newly published author of a grief self-help book: The Grief Kaleidoscope: Metaphors for Grief. “Deep grief was a new experience for me as I tried to ride the grief waves as they came rolling in,” she said last week. “I became interested in learning more about what I was going through and the grief process itself.” After gaining a Masters in Counselling university degree…
A SEAFORD motorbike rider who allegedly sped away from Somerville highway patrol came to an embarrassing halt when his chain came off causing him to roll to a stop. He then fell off. Police said they attempted to intercept the bike in Brunel Road just before 2am, Monday 16 April, when they noticed blue tape on the number plate. The rider sped off, allegedly reaching 148kph in the 60kph zone, before the chain came off and began sparking on the road. The bike rolled to a stop and the 29-year-old rider fell off. Police found him to be disqualified from…
DETECTIVES are hoping to speak to a man, pictured, after a car was allegedly broken into at an oval on Edward Street, Somerville, about 5-6pm, Thursday 12 April. Personal items were stolen, including a bank card which was later used at a nearby supermarket. Anyone with information is urged to call Mornington Peninsula CIU 5978 1400 or Crime Stoppers 1800 333 000. First published in the Southern Peninsula News – 24 April 2018
MORNINGTON Peninsula Shire CEO Carl Cowie has now listed a Mediterranean cruise he and his wife took as guests of businessman Lindsay Fox on the shire’s gifts register. Mr Cowie has previously maintained that he did not need to register the cruise as it was made during his annual leave and at no cost to the shire. In a statement issued late Friday afternoon Mr Cowie repeated that he attended the seven-day cruise in July 2016 “in a private capacity”. Mr Cowie and his wife were guests aboard the liner Seabourn Odyssey as it sailed from Athens, Greece, to Venice,…