FEW people have had to endure the scale of tragedy and heartache suffered by Melbourne mother Susan Berg. Fewer still have come out the other side radiating the warmth and passion for life the 44-year-old author now exudes. Orphaned as a teenager following a boating accident in Western Port in which she was the sole survivor, Berg’s life rapidly unravelled. It took almost a quarter of a century of pain and self-loathing for the former Toorak College staff member and Mornington Peninsula resident to find the courage and fortitude to declare peace on herself. The journey she outlines in her…
Author: Chris Brennan
MORE than 500 people including senior police, politicians and community leaders, packed Mornington’s Peninsula Community Theatre last week in an overwhelming show of support for the campaign to turn the tide against family violence. Emotions ran high and many a tear was shed as the audience heard shocking details of the effects family violence was exacting on the community. The forum, organised by recently formed community group Peninsula Voice, featured speeches by Rosie Batty, Police Commissioner Ken Lay, Domestic Violence Victoria chief executive Fiona McCormack, and Rodney Vlais from Men’s Referral Service and No To Violence. Peninsula Voice president Peter…
FOR member for Mornington David Morris to lose his seat at the upcoming poll, the state Coalition government would need to suffer its most catastrophic defeat in history. Safely ensconced in the fifth safest Coalition seat in Victoria and requiring a swing of more than 20 per cent to unseat him, Mr Morris is all but certain of remaining the member for Mornington beyond the November election. But recently appointed Labor representative for Mornington Rebecca Wright, pictured right, isn’t fazed by such obstacles. The 38-year-old mother of three, who works as a speech pathologist at Peninsula Specialist College in Dromana,…
EMERGENCY services authorities are warning Frankston and Mornington Peninsula residents to brace themselves for a prolonged bushfire season of extreme risk due to unusually dry conditions and predictions of higher than average temperatures over the spring and summer months. Country Fire Authority, Department of Primary Industries and council officers are stepping up efforts to reduce fuel loads across a number of high-risk locations on the peninsula in response to warnings of “significant” risks during an “above normal bushfire season”. Residents are also being urged to reduce fuel loads and ensure their properties are clear of potential hazards. Mornington Peninsula shire…
SHIPWRECK recovery experts are increasingly confident they will be able to locate the shell fired from a Fort Nepean artillery gun in 1914 marking the first shot of the British Empire in World War I thanks to the emergence of previously unknown details from the historic event. While the mission to locate the shell from the murky depths of Port Phillip has been dubbed Project Longshot in reference to the “needle-in-a-haystack” nature of the challenge, dive experts say more precise details from the day the shot was fired one hundred years ago has helped them narrow down the search area.…
A 73-year-old man was found dead in the water at Mt Martha on Friday, on the same day a funeral service was held for a Mount Martha father of three who died in a surfing mishap less than a week earlier. The body of John O’Brien was located by a Mornington Volunteer Marine Rescue vessel in the waters off Mt Martha following an extensive search mission. The alarm was raised by Mr O’Brien’s wife when he failed to turn up for work at 3pm after he had set off earlier in the afternoon from Fishermans Beach to go fishing in…
WORK on a new $1.6 million sports pavilion at Fruitgrowers Reserve in Somerville will begin in August following announcement the construction contract has been awarded to Melbourne builder 4 Dimensions. Building works, which are slated for completion by May 2015, will triple the size of existing facilities from 157 square metres to 446 square metres. Mornington Peninsula Shire councillors voted to approve 4 Dimensions Building Contractors of Mulgrave following a tender process in which four bids were lodged. The new pavilion, which will be occupied by Somerville Junior Football Club and Somerville Cricket Club, will include multipurpose change rooms for…
IT may be one of the country’s most pop tourist destinations, but the Mornington Peninsula doesn’t even rate a mention among the state’s top 12 “experiences and destinations”, according to the latest edition of Lonely Planet Melbourne & Victoria. Taking out top spot in the ninth edition of the travel company’s Melbourne and Victoria guide book is the Great Ocean Road, with Melbourne’s laneways, The Grampians, Melbourne’s “cultural and sporting hub”, and Wilsons Promontory rounding out the top five. The closest the peninsula comes to rating a mention among Victoria’s “must visit” locations is the listing of Phillip Island and…
ROSIE Batty may have acted differently on the day her son Luke was killed by his father had she been made aware her estranged partner had made disturbing death threats towards a housemate just weeks earlier, the ABC’s Four Corners program revealed on Monday. Greg Anderson, who murdered Luke by bashing him with a cricket bat and stabbing him with a knife following a mid-week cricket practice session at Tyabb on 12 February, threatened to cut his housemate’s head off during an argument at the Chelsea Heights home they shared. Police failed to mention the incident to Ms Batty despite…
TYABB Cricket Club wants Mornington Peninsula Shire to help pay for new cricket nets at Bunguyan Reserve after the old nets were taken down following the murder of Luke Batty earlier this year. President Sam Taranto said the club had already raised almost $100,000 towards the estimated $120,000 cost of building replacement cricket training nets at the Tyabb sports ground and had put in a funding request as part of the shire’s draft budget process. The old nets were removed as a sign of respect after 11-year-old Luke was killed by his father during a cricket practice session at the…
POPULAR peninsula tourist attraction The Enchanted Adventure Garden was last week named as a finalist in two of the five business categories in the prestigious Telstra Business Awards. The Enchanted Adventure Garden, which is located at Arthurs seat, was the only business from the tourism sector and also the only Mornington Peninsula selection among the 25 Victorian finalists named in the national awards. First opened in 1997 as a small maze and garden attraction, the business has grown into a thriving tourist drawcard for the peninsula. The family owned business has grown to include adventure tube slides, tree surfing and…
THE Mornington Peninsula bore the brunt of last week’s fierce wind storm which damaged homes, cut power supplies and created havoc for commuters as train services were suspended and major roads closed to traffic. Dozens of trees and power lines were brought down by wind gusts of up to 122km/h as an icy storm front labelled by the Bureau of Meteorology as a “winter weather bomb” blasted the state’s south-east on Tuesday. Emergency services were stretched to the limit clearing roads, rail lines and homes from fallen trees, branches and other debris, while police were kept busy responding to chaos…
A MORNINGTON resident has hit out at the shire council after being rebuked for voluntarily helping maintain a beach access track. For the past four years, Peter Ritchie says he has trimmed back overgrowth, cleared fallen trees and branches and levelled washed away areas of a track leading from The Esplanade to the leash-free area at Fossil Beach. But last week, Mr Ritchie made the apparent mistake of informing shire officials of his voluntary efforts after writing to the shire to suggest a number of measures to help improve the safety and amenity of the beach. Not only were his…
OPPOSING factions in the “Great Flinders Sculpture Debate” are set to battle it out at a specially convened meeting of the Flinders Community Association next weekend. At stake is the erection of “a magnificent” four-metre high bronze sculpture by internationally renowned peninsula artist Andrew Rogers. The sculpture was to be “gifted” – at cost-price of about $100,000 – to the Flinders community to commemorate the town’s 150th birthday and a site in the middle of a roundabout at the intersection of Cook and Wood streets had been agreed upon. A town hall meeting in March voted in favour of the…
HUNDREDS of mourners bid farewell to senior Frankston SES and CFA member Peter Doutch at a funeral service at the Peninsula Aero Club at Tyabb last week following his death in an ultralight aircraft crash on 27 April. The service, which was held in the club rooms at 1pm on 10 June, was attended by about 400 family members, friends and colleagues, including his five-year-old daughter Emily, who was critically injured in the crash. Dozens of SES and CFA personnel formed a guard of honour along the airstrip to pay tribute to the dedicated father of two, who had devoted…
THE Country Fire Authority has warned Mornington Peninsula residents of the heightened dangers of house fires during the cooler months following a spate of deadly blazes across Melbourne’s south-east. There have been four fatal house fires so far this year compared to just two at the same time last year in the CFA’s District 8 region, which takes in the peninsula, Frankston and Melbourne’s bayside suburbs. CFA District 8 operations manager Trevor Owen said that while the coroner was still examining the causes of the deadly fires, residents need to be vigilant of potential fire hazards. “Tragically four people have…
POLICE were out in force across the Mornington Peninsula over the Queen’s Birthday long weekend, issuing hundreds of penalty notices and breath-testing more than 10,000 drivers. On Friday night alone, peninsula police conducted more than 4900 preliminary breath tests along Peninsula Link and Mornington Peninsula Freeway, detecting four drunk drivers. Among those charged were a 21-year-old Mornington man who returned a reading of .072 and was also charged with disqualified driving, a 30-year-old Frankston South woman with a .07 reading, a 65-year-old Mount Martha woman (.062), and a 23-year-old Frankston South woman (.072). But it wasn’t just drivers affected by…
NINE people were seriously injured – including a young man who remains in a critical condition – in a horror day on Frankston roads on Wednesday. Six vehicles were involved in two separate accidents at Seaford and Langwarrin in wet conditions on Wednesday evening. Two people taken to The Alfred hospital by helicopter in critical conditions while a further seven victims were transported by ambulance to Frankston Hospital suffering serious injuries. A third accident on Monday evening involving an out-of-control semi-trailer resulted in a further two people being seriously injured, taking the injury toll on Frankston roads to 11 in…
A FRANKSTON South retiree has been left homeless and heartbroken after being swindled out of her life savings in a sophisticated online love scam. Carole Ross, 64, lost more than $200,000, including all of her superannuation savings, after being duped by a “love interest” she met through an online dating website. “This has destroyed me,” Ms Ross said. “I’m emotionally distraught and financially ruined; I’ve lost my home, all my retirement savings, and my car is about to be repossessed. My life is ruined.” While well aware of the dangers of online dating and romance scams, Ms Ross never thought…
YOUNG Mornington Peninsula sailors Pip Pietromonaco and James Wierzbowski recently set sail for Europe as part of the Australian Sailing Team after being selected to represent their country at the 2016 Rio Olympics. Pietromonaco, 22, from the Westernport Yacht Club and Wierzbowski, also 22, from Merricks Yacht Club, learned in March they had won places on the 15-member national Olympic sailing team and are now competing in a full itinerary of international events across Europe. The long-time stars of peninsula sailing are competing together in the new discipline of Mixed Multihull in the fastest Olympic sailing class, the Nacra 17.…
THE smiles returned in abundance to a sun-soaked Tyabb Reserve on Sunday as more than 4000 visitors gathered for a celebrity Twenty20 cricket game in honour of Luke Batty. Dozens of celebrities and sports stars took to the field for the match, with Australian cricketer Matthew Wade proving the biggest hit of the day as he belted sixes into the enthusiastic crowd. The star-studded celebrity team lists included cricketers Wade, Bryce McGain, Peter Handscomb, Scott Boland and Cassie Brock, AFL footballers Michael Hurley, Michael Hibberd and Arryn Siposs, actors Gary Sweet and Rhys Muldoon, and television personalities Anthony “Lehmo” Lehmann…
PAGEANT queen Jessica Martini has already taken on the world; now she’s ready to conquer the galaxy. The 25-year-old Hastings resident is representing the Mornington Peninsula as one of four Victorian finalists in the Miss Galaxy Australia pageant. Having previously competed in the Miss World and Miss Humanity pageants, Ms Martini hit new heights after being selected as a national finalist in the international pageant. Should she win the Miss Australia title at next month’s national finals in Queensland, she’ll be heading to the United States to compete with the world’s most beautiful women for the Miss Galaxy crown. Ms…
WORK on the $16.3 million Somerville police station is finally underway following an official ground-breaking ceremony last week. The station, at the corner of Eramosa Rd West and Coolart Rd, is designed to accommodate 150 police officers and staff, and will include a uniform branch, highway patrol, crime scene unit and short-term holding cells. It will also feature public consultation and interview rooms, a mess room, changing rooms, gymnasium, administration areas and conference room facilities that can be adapted for emergency management. The 2500-square metre police station, which will operate 24 hours a day, is expected to be completed in…
THE tight-knit Tyabb and peninsula communities bid farewell to a cherished young soul last Friday, as hundreds of mourners gathered at Flinders Community Christian College for the funeral of 11-year-old murder victim Luke Batty. But police, psychologists and youth workers fear it will be a long time before the community, and in particular Luke’s young friends and school mates, can leave behind the pain and anguish of the Year 6 student’s senseless death at the hands of his father ten days earlier at a nearby Tyabb cricket ground. Overcast skies and light misty rain on the morning of the funeral…
VANDALS have again hit Somerville’s Dinosaur World tourist park, knocking down a life-size Tyrannosaurus rex model and causing thousands of dollars’ damage in the process. The 4.5-metre tall replica T-rex, which had stood at the entrance to the recently opened tourist park on Frankston-Flinders Rd, was attacked some time between late Sunday night and early Monday morning. It is the second time the park’s showpiece has been targeted in as many weeks, after it was knocked over and damaged on 7 February, causing more than $3000 damage. The damage this time is far worse, with park owner George Landolfo estimating…
AN ONLINE charity fund in honour of Luke Batty has been set up by friends of his mother, Rosie, to ensure some good comes from the tragedy. ‘‘For Rosie, her strongest belief is that something good can come out of this,’’ said close friend Jane McGrath, who has set up the Luke Batty Fund on gofundme.com “As Rosie Batty comes to terms with the loss of her son Luke this week, we can all help by showing our financial support,” Ms McGrath wrote on the website. “Rosie truly believes something good has to come out of this tragedy. She has…
THE four Mornington police officers at the centre of last week’s tragic events in Tyabb appear to have done everything they could to defuse the situation and would be forever affected by the ordeal, senior police said. With Hastings police tied up on other jobs, the two units from Mornington police station were the first officers to arrive at the Tyabb cricket ground shortly after 6.20pm last Tuesday and would have had no idea of the horrific situation they were about encounter. What they were confronted with was the battered body of a young boy and a highly agitated and…
THE tight-knit Tyabb and Western Port communities were this week doing what they do best – coming together to lend support to the family, friends and school mates of 11-year-old Luke Batty, who was tragically killed last week by his estranged father. The outpouring of public grief following the shocking events at Bunguyan Reserve last Wednesday afternoon was most visible at the cricket ground itself, which had been turned into a makeshift public memorial as hundreds of visitors brought flowers and farewell messages for the much-loved Flinders Christian Community College student. Luke died after being struck in the head with…
WORK on a long-awaited trade training centre at Western Port Secondary College is set to begin within three months after the federal government signed off on $1.1 million for the project. Flinders MP Greg Hunt visited the school in Hastings to announce final funding approval for the Trades Skills Centre. The centre is expected to be completed before the end of the year, with classes to begin at the start of the 2015 school year. Training will focus on engineering and automotive trade skills, with an emphasis on marine and construction industries, which have been identified as areas of critical…
A NEW wave of micro-sized plastic pollutant is finding its way into Port Phillip in ever-increasing volumes, sparking growing concern among environmental watchdogs who warn urgent monitoring and research into the problem is required. Thousands of pre-production plastic pellets known colloquially as nurdles have been found throughout the waterway and on beaches as far south as Mornington, Dromana and Sorrento. The tiny pellets – usually between 3-5 millimetres in diameter – are petrochemical products that are poured into moulds and melted down at factories across the planet to form virtually everything made from plastic. But increasing numbers of the pellets…