DOLPHINS spend a lot of time rounding up food and socialising but researchers were intrigued when they were spotted swimming among a large group of jellyfish. Common dolphins living near Mornington were photographed for identification purposes when they appeared to be playing with the blue blubber jellyfish. “It’s always a treat to witness their leaps and sometimes full somersaults, as they herd fish or just seem to play,” Dolphin Research Institute executive director Jeff Weir said. “Their eyesight is good both above and below water, so when they leap or spyhop they can most certainly see other dolphins and boats.…
Year: 2019
MORNINGTON Peninsula Shire Council, Red Frogs Youth Support Program and police are planning to ramp up their services during Schoolies Week, 23-30 November. This includes setting aside a section of the Rye foreshore for school leavers during the notorious party week. The aim is to give shire officers and police a greater oversight of schoolies’ activities, particularly at night. Cr David Gill said the increase in services was needed to address the influx of visitors and heightened community concerns caused by last year’s episodes of anti-social behaviour. “While the shire is not promoting the Mornington Peninsula as a Schoolies destination,…
A INCREASING road toll has reinforced Mornington Peninsula Shire Council’s call for blanket speed limits rather than just on specific roads. Former mayor Cr David Gill said an 80kph limit should be trialled in dangerous areas in a bid to reduce road deaths which have spiked on the peninsula over the past 12 months. So far this year the toll stands at 13 dead and 100 seriously injured. The deaths include six drivers, a motorcyclist, four passengers and two pedestrians on freeways and country roads. Last year there were two deaths in line with the long-term average. Cr Gill wants…
SAM Hearn was elected mayor of Mornington Peninsula Shire 2019-20 at the Tuesday 13 November council meeting. His deputy is Cerberus Ward’s Cr Kate Roper. Cr Hearn, who represents Briars Ward, said that when he was involved in voluntary work through schools and other youth initiatives he “learnt that we live in an incredible place filled with amazing people”. “However, over the past three years in which I’ve been privileged to be part of the council, it has broadened my understanding of how many people we have who are constantly looking outside of themselves to give, serve and lead for…
SEAWINDS Boomerang Bags, Capel Sound has won the Tidy Towns Resource Recovery and Waste Management Award 2019. The award aims to encourage, motivate and celebrate sustainability achievements in rural and regional communities across Australia. It acknowledged the work of the Boomerang Bags group in linking with Uniforms 4U, a group created by Colleen Mackay, to help repair or alter donated school uniforms for families in need around Mornington Peninsula. During the past year they have helped hundreds of families clothe their children after repairing hems and zips, washing donated clothing and raising money from the sale of their bags to…
A MAN found clinging to the upturned hull of his boat off Mornington, Sunday 17 November, was lucky to be seen by passing boaters who initially thought it was a partially submerged jet ski or tinny. It was only when they came closer and circled that they saw the man clinging on with one arm and holding up his car keys, phone and wallet in the other. The Rosebud man, about 40, was taken to Frankston Hospital with hypothermia. The drama unfolded in moderately-rough water 200m metres off-shore when a top bung failed in the 5.5 metre aluminium plate hull…
Police from Southern Metro, Division Four, Regional Response Unit attended a Yaringa Road premises where they executed a warrant on the morning of 13 November as part of Operation Dealmaker. Police allegedly seized a commercial quantity of amphetamine, seven unregistered firearms including handguns, a large quantity of cash and 500 grams of cannabis. A 51-year-old man was arrested at the scene. He has been charged with; Possess traffickable quantity of unregistered firearms Traffick commercial quantity of amphetamine Traffick cannabis Possess amphetamine Possess cannabis Cultivate cannabis 5 x counts of possess unregistered general category hand gun 1 x count of possess…
AN endeavour to provide each student at Tyabb Railway Primary with a white timber cross representing a soldier who died in war formed the main part of the school’s Remembrance Day commemorations, Monday 11 November. The project was initiated by Tyabb ANZAC Day Dawn Service coordinator Peter Davis after a chat with the school’s principal Emma Slater. Mr Davis coordinates the Dawn Service on behalf of the Hastings RSL, Tyabb Ratepayers and others. Ms Slater and her staff are enthusiastic about the ANZAC spirit which is already represented in their ANZAC Memorial Garden and their annual school pilgrimage, led by…
SOMERVILLE Community House and three peninsula schools will share in this year’s annual community grant of $5000 from Peninsula Quarries. The $1250 grants are awarded by the company’s community engagement group. Pearcedale Primary will use the grant to build an easily accessible and secure bike shed. It’s certainly needed because an increasing number of students riding bikes or scooters to school has brought the existing shed to “bursting point”. Wallaroo Primary will expand its cooking and garden program. Students plant and tend the school’s gardens, growing herbs and vegies, used in making healthy and nutritious meals for the students –…
SOUTHERN Peninsula Grandmothers for Refugees are sending freedom birds in packages to the MPs in Canberra. This is a different approach while still reminding our politicians of their responsibilities towards asylum seekers and refugees, the group says. “It is over six years that most of the refugees in off-shore detention [centres] have survived the incredibly harsh treatments and the difficult environments,” member Anne Renkin said. “And there is still no hope of a safe future for them. Our freedom birds represent hope and justice for refugees.” The group says the federal Medivac legislation was also being challenged by the government…
THE Save Westernport residents’ group and local environmental groups were acknowledged at Environment Victoria’s 50th Anniversary celebrations in Melbourne recently. The entire Western Port community was also honoured by Environment Victoria with a special award to recognise many years of “resilience in the face of repeated attempts to destroy the local environment”. The Save Westernport Inc. residents’ group was formed in April last year to oppose plans by energy company AGL to import and process liquefied natural gas in Western Port Bay and to build a 56km gas pipeline to Pakenham. “From French Island’s nuclear reactor in the 1970s to…
PENINSULA A KNOCK of 98 from Nick Jewell helped Long Island to a comfortable win over Pearcedale last weekend. Pearcedale came in to bat first in the one day clash, and finished up at 8/143 from their 40 overs. Andrew Tweddle took 4/23 to help restrict Pearcedale to a low total. With Jewell in full flight, Long Island were able to reach their target with relative ease. They claimed the win with eight wickets and 18 overs to spare. At Ditterich Reserve, a stunning century from Damien Lawrence helped Pines get a win over Main Ridge. Lawrence came in as…
HORSE RACING MORNINGTON-based apprentice jockey, Matthew Cartwright, rode his first winner in just his third career race at Swan Hill on Tuesday 29 October. Hopping aboard the Dean Krongold-trained mare Miss Inception, Cartwright sat just outside the leader before kicking clear in the straight to win under hands-and-heels riding. The stable apprentice to his mother and grandmother, Leonie Proctor and Lyn Tolson, and son of former jockey, Rikki Cartwright, the up-and-coming hoop seemed destined to follow a similar path to his family in horse racing. But to score his first win so early in his career is a feat…
BLAIRGOWRIE boxer Jayde Mitchell will headline the recently launched National Boxing Series in its Melbourne debut at the State Basketball Centre, Wantirna, Saturday 23 November. Promoter Lynden Hosking said he was excited to launch the series into Australia’s “boxing heartland”. “This will be the first of three events held in Melbourne over the next 12 months with other shows in the series taking place in Sydney, Brisbane and Canberra,” he said. Mitchell, a world ranked super middleweight, will fight former world champion Stanislav Kashtanov, of Russia, over 10 rounds in what’s being described as “one of the fights of the…
ON Tuesday evening Mrs Parker, wife of Mr E. J. Parker, president of the Frankston Football Club, tendered a complimentary dinner to the premiers of the recent competition, at the Bay View Hotel. There was a representative gathering of players and members of the Club. Great care had been expended by the hostess in preparing for the occasion. The banquet hall was a blaze of colour composed of flags and floral effects with an artistic blending of red and black, representing the victorious team’s colours. The Union Jack and Australian Flag appropriately occupied pride of place, and accorded perfectly with…
A SERVICE to honour the memory of Constable Angela Taylor, pictured, will be held at Mornington police station this week. A plaque dedicated to Constable Taylor will be mounted beside an Angela Taylor rosebush during the service, Wednesday 13 November. Constable Taylor’s family and friends, the Blue Ribbon Foundation, local police and senior police officers will gather to celebrate Constable Taylor’s life and recognise her service to the community. Constable Taylor became the first policewoman in Australia to be murdered on duty when a car bomb was detonated in front of the Russell Street police headquarters on Easter Thursday, 27…
THE brutal – but as yet unsolved – murder of a girl at Mt Martha 66 years ago drew a team of Swinburne Online forensics-criminology students to the peninsula last week in a search of clues as to her killer. The purpose of their investigation – chosen at random from other cold cases – was to move closer to identifying the man responsible and uncovering more leads to prompt the police to reconsider the case. Shirley May Collins was a 14-year-old Reservoir girl driven to Mt Martha on the night of 12 September 1953 and bludgeoned to death in the…
THE all-too frequent vandalising of bus shelters along the 788 bus route from Frankston to Portsea has so irked Lindy Clarke that she called The News to complain. “They are always getting smashed,” she said. “I saw one vandalised near Tanti Park, also at Blairgowrie and four on Pt Nepean Road from Tootgarook to Rosebud. They were 500 metres apart. “In one case a steel bollard had been thrown through the bus shelter window. I even got glass splinters in my sandals. “In one damaged shelter there was an older lady with kids trying to find shelter from the wind.”…
A WELCOME about-face by the state government has thrown a lifeline to the Mt Martha North beach renourishment project. Beachgoers and members of the Mount Martha North Beach Group were jubilant last week when the government moved towards accepting Commonwealth funds to replenish sand eroded by winter storms and, possibly, erect a rock groyne to help hold the sand in place. This comes after a crowded August meeting at Mt Martha Life Saving Club at which the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP) confirmed it had accepted a recommendation to take no action to “save” the beach and…
A MAN, pictured, alleged to have stolen four, six and 10 packs of spirits valued at $260 from peninsula liquor outlets “on multiple occasions” has a taste for bourbon and rum. The raids occurred on 31 August, 8 September, and 3 and 25 October. Police said on some occasions the man has stolen liquor twice in the one day after changing his clothes. Anyone with information on the thefts or the identity of the man is urged to contact Senior Constable Leanne Marshall at Rosebud Police Station 5986 0444 or Crime Stoppers 1800 333 000 or submit a confidential report…
SOUTHERN Metro Division 4 had a “fairly quiet” Melbourne Cup weekend, according to Somerville Highway Patrol Sergeant David Collins. “There was no road trauma over the five-day period, which is a very good primary outcome,” he said. “Of the 4483 drivers breath-tested – up from 2400 last year – only 21 were processed for drink or drug-driving offences, down from 30 last year.” The tests were conducted as part of Operation Furlong, which took in Melbourne Cup activities as well as the Peninsula Cup day at Mornington Racecourse, Sunday 3 November. First published in the Southern Peninsula News – 12…
A DROMANA man has been charged with 11 offences, including burglary and theft, after allegedly stealing nine cars at Doncaster, Thursday 24 October. Manningham detectives arrested the man at Rhode Island, Patterson Lakes, Thursday 31 October. They allegedly recovered four of the stolen Subarus but five vehicles are still missing. The 41-year-old appeared at Ringwood Magistrates’ Court, Friday 1 November, and was further remanded to appear at Melbourne Magistrates’ Court in January. Meanwhile, a 43-year-old Dandenong man has been charged with theft and bailed to appear at Dandenong Magistrates’ Court on 11 December after being found in one of the…
A SOMERS Primary School student has been a busy bee gathering more than 100 signatures on his petition to save the bees. Rupert, 6, made a formal presentation at Mornington Peninsula Shire Council’s Tuesday 8 October meeting pleading for the council to guard against the poisoning of local bees. He was backed up by 120 signatures from peninsula school children and residents confirming they support his stand. Concerns about the safety of bees have been raised over fears Department of Health officers will begin widespread “fogging” of the peninsula’s bushland areas in the fight against the Buruli virus. It is…
RYE Primary School’s production of Be the Change was reportedly a huge success for all involved. Inspired by a quote from Ghandi: ‘Be the Change you want to see in the world’, the play evolved from a range of ideas contributed by students, parents and teachers. The bi-annual event featured students from Prep-Grade 6 who showcased their talents in the visual and performing arts. It featured lead actors, Drumbeat students, senior and 3/4 choirs, a rockin’ school band and dancers. Every year level had its own scene and theme to portray. The play centred around five kids who climb a…
A MULTICULTURAL event at the Rosebud Shire offices, Wednesday 30 October, celebrated the successes of Mornington Peninsula Shire’s migrant population. About 50 guests and family members, from 13 countries, acknowledged and highlighted the contribution migrants have made to the social, cultural and economic development of the peninsula. The mayor Cr David Gill said immigrants had expanded our culture and introduced new ideas and traditions into their adopted country. “The resourcefulness, hard work and determination of people who came from so many other countries helped make the Mornington Peninsula an exceptional place to live,” he said. “We are a more connected…
RED Hill Fire Brigade was a big winner at the Bendigo Bank’s grants and sponsorship evening, Tuesday 29 October. It received the largest donation: $25,000, which will allow it to provide room for a new type of tanker. On the night about 60 community groups received more than $250,000 between them from the Rye, Rosebud and Dromana Community bank branches. This second of the twice yearly grants and sponsorship evenings follows the first in May when $227,000 was shared among 50 groups. Grants and sponsorships were delivered to a diverse range of community groups, including sports, arts, environment and health…
ADVOCACY, community connection and financial prudency were cited as features of Mornington Peninsula Shire Council’s 2018-19 annual report released last week. The mayor Cr David Gill said a major council initiative over the past year had been the creation of an innovation and advocacy unit to help it “advocate effectively on behalf of the community”. He said this had enabled the shire and community to work successfully with Flinders MP Greg Hunt to help secure about $170 million in election-related funding, budget commitments and election promises. “Other major advocacy initiatives include the Better Buses campaign, jet ski reform, more jobs…
Police are appealing for public assistance to help locate Mornington man Tim McKinnon. The 36-year-old is wanted on warrants in relation to handling stolen goods, drug and traffic offences. He is described as 170cm tall, short brown hair, usually has a beard and moustache and has two piercings in his left ear. Investigators have released an image of McKinnon in the hope that someone may have information on his current whereabouts. Anyone who sights McKinnon or has information about his whereabouts is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or make a confidential report at www.crimestoppersvic.com.au
MORNINGTON Cricket Club players are thrilled with their new nets and multi-use facility at Alexandra Park. This comes after the club was awarded $193,825 in the state government’s Pick My Project grants. It became one of 237 projects from across the state to share in more than $30 million. “Having started the whole process over 12 months ago, and with building starting back in July, we are now fortunate to have a new cricket net/multi use facility for the whole community to enjoy,” Mornington Cricket Club president Lee “Alfie”Garnet said. The club welcomes all players and members of the public…
YMCA Camp Buxton: Cyril Young Memorial Chapel Association Annual General Meeting – Shoreham Hall, 2.00pm, Saturday November 16. The Cyril Young Memorial Chapel is the open-air chapel located at the site of the former YMCA Camp Buxton in Buxton Woodland Reserve, Shoreham. Historically, for many city boys attending the camp, the camp service at the chapel was their first experience of the sacredness of the natural environment, the chapel being set in a grove of swamp gums adjacent a wetland alive with fauna, mammals, birds and insect life. Archival records from the late 1940s demonstrate how the YMCA’s Shoreham Camp…