Year: 2020

UP to 16 CFA trucks, police and the EPA attended a crane truck fire at Tyabb, 1pm, Wednesday 18 March. The blaze began when diesel from a faulty hose ignited and began burning the cab and spreading throughout the truck at the corner of Frankston-Flinders Road and Western Port Highway. EPA crews set up a hazmat site to prevent fuel leaking into water courses. Four semi-trailers and another larger crane truck arrived to hoist the blackened wreck onto a low loader. The driver was not injured. Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers 1800 333 000 or submit…

A CAR rolled twice and ended up on its side after running into the rear of a car waiting to turn into The Briars, Nepean Highway, Mt Martha, last week. A 44-year-old Mornington woman driving a Toyota Kluger was trapped for an hour after colliding with a Holden Commodore driven by a 74-year-old Dromana woman, 3.40pm, Tuesday 17 March. CFA crews from Mount Martha, Mornington and Dromana attended. CFA Commander Brandon Crowder said the Jaws-of-Life was used to free the woman by cutting off the roof of her car to gain safe access and maintain spinal stability. She was flown…

FRAYED tempers in public and barbs on social media have so upset a Mornington Peninsula Shire Councillor that she is calling on her critics to “back off”. Cr Julie Morris said she has endured “12 months of snide comments” from Tyabb Airfield supporters voicing a “whirlwind of abuse” towards her and her family, both online and in public. “I’m almost at the point where I don’t know if I can send my daughter to the local school anymore,” Cr Morris, a senior constable with Victoria Police, said. “I feel I am at the point where we will have to move.…

RED Hill Mountain Bike Club will host the 2020-21 Gravity Enduro National Championships. Races will be held 24-25 October this year and 23-24 October 2021 in what’s being described as “exciting news” for the club. It’s the first time the Arthurs Seat venue has hosted a national championships event. “We will be crowning champions in each category and also issuing a personalised jersey to the first-placed rider in each category,” Red Hill Riders Mountain Bike Club’s Mark Jessup said. “The top riders across the country will be travelling to our wonderful Mornington Peninsula to battle it out. I’m aware of…

MORNINGTON Railway Preservation Society has trucked its steam train K163 to Newport for repairs where it became a drawcard during the Steamrail Victoria Open Day, 7-9 March. The arrival of K163 was a homecoming of sorts as it was built at Newport in 1941 at workshops which were built in 1882. The K class locomotive was a mainstay of the Victorian railway network from the 1920s up to the end of the steam era in the 1960s. Renowned for their dependability, the locomotives ran mostly on branch lines and several have been preserved and are operating around Victoria. The Mornington…

LINES of people stretching on to Main Street, Mornington on Monday morning would have been forced to join others queuing at Frankston if the latest COVID-19 emergency measures had come a week later. With phone lines backed up and the MyGov website offline across Australia, there were no answers from the federal government about whether it would proceed with the closure at the end of this month of Mornington Centrelink. A rally protesting about the closure slated for the end of this month was called off last week due the coronavirus. This week’s queues are likely to get longer as…

HORSE RACING IT was a day to remember for the Mornington-based training partnership of Amy and Ash Yargi who scored a winning double on Mornington Cup day on Saturday 21 March. Despite racing without a crowd, the Yargi Racing team were thrilled to land back-to-back winners at their home track of Mornington as the inform mare, Jamaican Hurry, and the enigmatic, I’m Telling Ya, rose to the fore in races two and three. Co-trainer Amy Yargi said it was an odd feeling to see Mornington so empty on its featured Cup meeting but was glad that racing was still able…

SOCCER MORNINGTON import Josh Heaton cost Scottish Premier League club St Mirren £75,000 in June 2018. The then 21-year-old became the most expensive signing in 25 years for the Buddies but the following year he joined Darlington on a free. “A lot of it comes down to the manager really and sometimes it just happens that way,” Heaton said. The young central defender is among thousands of players in Britain subject to the vagaries of the professional game and a look at his CV highlights the circuitous route he has taken to arrive at Dallas Brooks Park. Heaton is from…

POLICE V. GRIFFITH, charged that he did unlawfully ignite certain inflammable material whereby the property of one, Jos. Baker, was damaged. Sub-Inspector Trainor conducted the prosecution, and Mr. Backhouse appeared for the defence. Fredk. Merrit, residing at Langwarrin, said that on the 10th February last, between 7 and 8 o’clock p.m. he noticed a fire start on Griffiths’ property, about 300 yards distant from witness. On the following day he noticed a kind of haze over the place where the fire had been, and having occasion to get on to the roof of his dwelling to fasten a loose sheet…

To take a break from what seems like endless bad news, for no other reason than it’s Sunday night and we all need a rest, we publish here Stuart McCullough’s shopping experiences, in the light of COVID-19, printed in his regular column in our newspapers –  “The Meaning of Existence… and other short stories”. We hope you enjoy it… Key facts from today’s Victorian COVID-19 update: Sixty-seven new cases of coronavirus (COVID-19) were confirmed yesterday – bringing the total number of cases in Victoria to 296. The new cases include 42 men and 25 women, with people aged from…

IT was a routine trip to the supermarket. Trouble was, I was about five days too late. Having refused to succumb to panic, I was instead faced with having my choices substantially limited. The place was eerily quiet. Much as when you go anywhere that has recently experienced something deeply traumatic, everyone looked a little shell-shocked. I’d seen footage of people coming to blows in order to secure a packet of 2-ply but it’d been hard to believe. I’m not sure what this says about us as a nation, but we’re far less prepared for a zombie apocalypse than I’d…

Following advice from health authorities and the risks associated with the rapidly evolving situation, the Shire will be closing the campgrounds managed by the Shire along the McCrae, Rosebud, Rye and Sorrento foreshores from 5pm 22 March 2020. This includes all amenity blocks. Campers are able to remove their camping equipment over a period of two weeks ending on 5 April 2020. Campers will be entitled to a full or pro-rate refund for the unused portion of their stay. The Shire will also not be processing any new camping bookings for the remainder of the camping season (due to end…

COVID-19 causes closure of foreshore camping. Tours through Frankston will proceed as part of the Big Picture Fest this weekend. Scammers take advantage of virus fears. Key facts from today’s Victorian COVID-19 update: Twenty-eight new cases of coronavirus (COVID-19) were confirmed yesterday – bringing the total number of cases in Victoria to 178. The new cases include 18 men and 10 women, aged from mid-teens to late sixties. At present, there are two confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Victoria that may have been acquired through community transmission. Currently six people are recovering in hospital. More than 19,337 Victorians have…

TOURS through Frankston will proceed as part of the Big Picture Fest this weekend. The Block Party event to kick off the festival was cancelled last week in response to COVID-19 concerns. Council confirmed this week that the street tours would still go ahead, but urged the need for “social distancing”. Nine new murals have been completed across Frankston’s city centre. Artist Mark Taylor said “this is the best festival in the world. In the first year, it just blew me away.” “I have this thing with water at the moment and I think it is because of the place…

AUSTRALIA’S consumer watchdog has warned people to be aware of scammers using the COVID-19 crisis to sell fake cures and products. The ACCC put out a statement today (20 March) confirming that they have received 94 scam reports relating to coronavirus this year. They said that that figure is rising. ACCC deputy chair Delia Rickard said “unfortunately, scammers are using the uncertainty around COVID-19, or coronavirus, to take advantage of people”. “We’ve had a wide variety of scams reported to us, including fake online stores selling products claiming to be a vaccine or cure for coronavirus, and stores selling products…

Mornington Peninsula Mayor calls for calm and encourages people to carry on with their lives. Cancellations galore across the region. COVID-19 testing available at Peninsula Health Frankston, but make sure you meet the criteria for testing. Key facts from today’s Victorian COVID-19 update: Twenty-nine new cases of coronavirus (COVID-19) were confirmed yesterday – bringing the total number of cases in Victoria to 150. The new cases include 17 men and 12 women, with people aged from their early twenties to their early seventies. The Department of Health and Human Services is continuing to investigate all new cases. At the…

Peninsula Health Frankston is one of 19 testing sites for COVID-19 around Victoria, but medical experts are urging people to only present for testing if they meet the criteria for COVID-19 infection. A self-assessment guide for COVID-19 infection can her found here. Federal Health Minster, Greg Hunt, released a statement today that said: “In terms of the national health response, Australia has undertaken 81,000 tests for coronavirus, of which 99.5 per cent of tests have shown to be negative. In addition, we have secured a further 97,000 test kits, the first half of which arrived in the country late last…

THE Tyabb Air Show, the Great Outdoor & 4×4 Expo at Mornington Racecourse, the Red Hill Show, and the Rosebud Kite Festival were probably the last big events on the Mornington Peninsula for the foreseeable future. While timing was on their side, a host of other community attractions and events have been cancelled or postponed in an effort to slow the spread of the coronavirus. Here is a list of many of them… Shire services MORNINGTON Peninsula Shire is postponing, cancelling or modifying delivery of a range of non-essential services, programs, events and activities. These include libraries at Mornington, Rosebud,…

The Mayor of the Mornington Peninsula Shire, Sam Hearn, has a message for the peninsula: “we need to act with strong sense of responsibility but not anxiety”. The shire’s message coincides with a video the Mayor released on Facebook this afternoon. The video, the first in a series to run in days and weeks ahead, states that while coronavirus will be with us for a while, we still need to carry on with our daily lives and, above all, look after the vulnerable and support local businesses. “While we need to create a physical distance between each other to avoid…

A ROSEBUD man who allegedly stabbed a Woolworth’s supermarket staff member has been charged with intentionally causing serious injury and other assault-related charges. The 25-year-old, who was arrested in nearby Sixth Avenue, was remanded in custody to appear at Melbourne Magistrates’ Court at a later date. The incident occurred while the staffer was collecting trolleys in the car park of the Rosebud West supermarket, 1pm, Tuesday 17 March. Detective Acting Senior Sergeant Steve Reidy, of Somerville CIU, said the 37-year-old was stabbed in the lower body. He was taken by Air Ambulance to The Alfred hospital with non-life-threatening injuries and…

Toorak College parent tests positive for coronavirus. Cricket season ends early. Footy season start delayed. Council to carry on the business of local government, with meetings going online. Key facts from today’s Victorian COVID-19 update: Twenty-seven new cases of coronavirus (COVID-19) were confirmed yesterday – bringing the total number of cases in Victoria to 121. The new cases include 14 men and 13 women, with people aged from late teens to early seventies. The Department of Health and Human Services is continuing to investigate all new cases. At the present time, there are two confirmed cases of COVID-19 in…

AFL South East has made the call to postpone the start of the season for local football leagues due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Mornington Peninsula Nepean and South East Women’s leagues have been postponed until 1 June. For junior players the Frankston and Districts, South East, and Mornington Peninsula leagues have also been delayed until 1 June. The postponement also applies to the Auskick and umpiring programs. In addition to the cancellation of games, AFL South East has also put a ban on training and practice matches with immediate effect. An AFL South East statement read that “due to…

THE Mornington Peninsula Cricket Association board has voted to cancel local cricket competitions in response to the coronavirus crisis. Grand Finals in senior MPCA competitions were set to take place next weekend, but will not go ahead. The association has not yet decided whether premierships will be awarded for the 2019/2020 season. MPCA president Steven Morone said “we understand this is extremely disappointing for all clubs that have made it into the finals after a long season.” “The decision has not been taken lightly and has been one of considerable discussion and angst for the board,” he said. “This decision…

MORNINGTON Peninsula Shire has moved the Tuesday 24 March community council meeting from Peninsula Community Theatre in Mornington to the Council Chambers at Rosebud. The mayor Cr Sam Hearn said: “A live online stream that gives real time access to the meeting will be established and the community is being encouraged to access the meeting this way, and not to attend in person. “This is one of a number of measures we are putting in place to protect our community in an effort to slow the spread of coronavirus.” Cr Hearn said he also encouraged people to check on the…

Late last night the Principal of Toorak College, Mrs Kristy Kendall, sent an email out to parents informing them that a parent at the school had received a positive diagnosis for COVID-19. The email, sent at 11.22pm, stated “Just over an hour ago, I received a phone call from a parent in our community who has received a positive test for COVID-19. She is currently self-isolating at home and doing well. Her child was absent from school this week, however, was in attendance last week. While our student is currently well, they are being monitored closely at home. I ask…

Mornington Peninsula schools start to shut up shop, but it’s not all fun and games for the kids. Frankston Arts Centre to close for a month. How to talk to your kids about coronavirus – an expert’s guide. Key facts from today’s Victorian COVID-19 update: Twenty-three new cases of coronavirus (COVID-19) were confirmed yesterday – bringing the total number of cases in Victoria to 94. The new cases include 11 men and 12 women, with people aged from early twenties to mid-sixties. Sixty-three of Victoria’s confirmed cases were acquired overseas or through close contact with known, confirmed cases of COVID-19,…

UPDATE: Toorak College parent tests positive to COVID-19. School to close its campus at the end of the day today (Wednesday). Read more: *** At least two schools have announced they will be closing their physical campuses due to COVID-19, but it won’t be all fun and games for the students, as both schools move to an “online learning” mode. Toorak College’s Principal, Mrs Kristy Kendall, announced in a communication to parents on Monday (16 March) the school had “made the decision to use the final week of Term 1 to implement a remote and online learning program”. This will…

THE show will not go on at the Frankston Arts Centre. The centre will close for nearly a month, from 16 March to 13 April, to help prevent the spread of COVID-19. A statement put out by the Frankston Arts Centre on 16 March read that “in line with the latest advice from the Australian federal and Victorian governments on the prevention of the spread of COVID-19, Frankston Arts Centre will be temporarily closed from Monday 16 March through until Monday 13 April.” “The venue closure means that all scheduled performances and events from Monday 16 March to Monday 13…

A WOOLWORTH’S staff member was stabbed in the car park outside a Rosebud West supermarket while collecting trolleys, 1pm, Tuesday 17 March. Police said the 37-year-old was stabbed in the lower body by a Rosebud man, 25, who was arrested in nearby Sixth Avenue a short time later. The man was taken in custody at Rosebud police station where he was expected to be charged later in the day. Customers said they saw the victim lying on the ground covered with a sheet or similar. He was taken by Air Ambulance to The Alfred with non-life-threatening injuries. Police cordoned off…

A man has died after his motorcycle collided with a van in Hastings earlier this morning. It is believed the rider was travelling west on Hodgins Road when he collided with a food-delivery van just after 4am. The van was turning onto Hodgins Road from Michelle Drive when the collision occurred. The 21-year-old male driver of the van was arrested at the scene and is assisting police with their enquiries. Anyone who witnessed the collision is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or submit a confidential report at www.crimestoppersvic.com.au Victoria Police News – Tuesday, 17 March 2020