MORNINGTON Peninsula Shire Council is urging people to dispose of flammable items such as car batteries responsibly after a fire started at the Rye waste transfer station on Wednesday 11 January. The fire was detected at 4.15pm in the section where hard waste is received but was extinguished not long after by staff and CFA volunteers. The shire’s circular economy and waste team leader, Daniel Hinson, said no one was injured and there was no damage to property or infrastructure. Hinson said the site was already closed to the public and while the cause of the fire has not been…
Author: MP News Group
UNTIL 19 February, Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery has a great mix of exhibitions and events. Julian Opie is a major international artist whose work often depicts figures and landscapes reduced to their essential outlines and flat colours fields. Judith Alexandrovics is a Melbourne artist whose oeuvre spans the decades since the early 1970s until 2019. MPRG’s current exhibition draws these two artists together so that visitors can see common threads throughout their work. Exhibition curator Angie Taylor says, ‘Both Opie and Alexandrovics create a snapshot of people in unremarkable moments such as walking through the city, making their way to…
Avoid electing ‘stepping stone’ council candidates As the dust settles on Christmas and New Year’s Eve, I’m betting neither the [Mornington Peninsula Shire’s] CEO or councillors were left sitting in detritus, without decent access to good food and a clean bed. I continue to question their reliability and accountability. How many people have been left hanging with no in-home support, including the person I heard of recently who suffers MND? With a by-election [in Watson Ward] in the offing, it is critical that people elected have the interests of residents and ratepayers front and centre and are not using this…
THE four First Nations artists chosen to undertake a residency at McClelland Gallery, Langwarrin have been announced. The successful applicants for the residency were Robert Fielding, Amala Groom, Caleb Nichols-Mansell and Steaphan Paton. McClelland Gallery revealed plans for its first ever Bunurong Fieldwork Residency for First Nations artists last year. The four artists will live at the studio cottage for six to 12 weeks developing public artwork. McClelland Gallery director Lisa Byrne said the program would help address a shortage of “First Nations cultural markers” on the Mornington Peninsula. “The residency program will provide the First Nations artists with the…
MORNINGTON Peninsula Crime Investigation Unit detectives are investigating a fire in Hastings on Friday 6 January. Emergency services were called to the fire at a property on Elizabeth Street about 4.50am. No one was inside the house at the time. It is alleged a man started the blaze following an earlier altercation with a woman known to him in the house. A 43-year-old Hastings man was arrested a short time later. He was later released pending further inquiries. There were no reported injuries. Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or submit a confidential…
EIGHT youths, including a 12-year-old, have been remanded and a further 12 arrested following a string of property and vehicle crimes across the Mornington Peninsula and in Melbourne. As part of Operation Alliance, detectives from the Southern Metro Crime Team and the Dandenong based Youth Gang Team joined forces between Friday 30 December and Tuesday 3 January. Detectives will allege the 20 youths – arrested across Melbourne’s south and south-eastern suburbs – were involved in 61 incidents between 23 December and 3 January, including aggravated burglary, theft of motor vehicle, burglary and attempted aggravated burglary. Suburbs where the incidents occurred…
THE distressing sight of two seabirds tangled in discarded fishing line at Mornington pier last week has prompted calls for fishers to be more responsible. Wildlife Victoria says entanglement of birds and wildlife in discarded fishing lines, plastic bags and rubbish is an “all-too-common” occurrence in Victoria. Hundreds of entanglements are reported to Wildlife Victoria every year, with hooks often caught in birds’ mouths or throats, which can lead to infections, abscesses, and starvation. Wildlife Victoria also sees birds’ feet entangled in fishing line, restricting their mobility, and causing them to become easy prey for other animals. A peninsula-based wildlife…
WESTERN Port Community Support prepared 350 hampers of food and toys to be handed out on 13 December during its annual Christmas Giving Program. Businesses, churches, schools, community groups, and individuals helped donated and helped pack and hand out hampers. The Hastings-based group is the largest provider of emergency relief and crisis support in the region, including food, material aid, housing and homelessness support. Executive officer Georgia Hourn said rising living and rental costs were forcing vulnerable community members into greater financial hardship, exacerbated at Christmas when there are additional expenses. The 20 volunteers who helped sort toys, pack and…
UPDATE: All four teenagers have been located about 20km from the beach where they went missing. Police and emergency services have been searching in waters off Rosebud overnight for four missing people. Two 18-year-old males, an 18-year-old female and a 19-year-old female are believed to have been using inflatable paddle boards at the beach just off Point Nepean Road on 19 December. A passer-by located belongings on the beach around 8pm and reported to police. A large-scale search of the area was initiated with the assistance of Police Air Wing, HEMS ambulance choppers, Water Police and local rescue boats throughout…
Supermarket etiquette can make a shopper’s day I am a female, not very tall, and now rather elderly. There are many kindly men and women in the supermarket who pick up goods from the shelf when it is too high for me to reach and others who let me through a doorway first as I have a walking stick. I always thank these courteous people for whatever they have done. However, there are also many incidents when a shopper, maybe a middle aged woman with a frenetic look in her eyes or, more commonly, a man, often a lot taller…
MOUNT Martha 12-year-old Mathew Basso travels the country to race go karts. Basso has just wrapped up the 2022 karting race season by taking out the six-race Victorian country series, which saw competitors travel all around state. The win adds this title to his Australasian Kart Title, Ultimate Club Racer Title, second place in the Northern Territory championships, second in the Junior Top Guns State Cup and his first place at the Oakleigh Club championships. Basso competes against racers up to 16 years in the KA4 Junior Light Class, where they race 100cc engines and reach speeds of up to…
THE owners of watercraft left for storage at Mornington Peninsula beaches may early next year be wondering where they have gone, especially between Blairgowrie and Sorrento. Mornington Peninsula Shire and Whitecliffs management committee have joined forces to remove kayaks, dinghies and yachts being stored illegally on beaches and foreshores. The clean-up will begin in March. “Our foreshores are public spaces where everyone is welcome. Removal of unauthorised watercraft will enable healthy foreshore environments and ensure everyone can continue to enjoy these public spaces into the future,” the mayor Cr Steve Holland said. He said some of the watercraft had been…
PEOPLE in need on the Mornington Peninsula and beyond will receive a helping hand this Christmas with South East Water employees raising almost $12,000 through their annual appeal. The Christmas Giving Appeal supported three charities – including Ford For Change in Mount Martha and Clayton, and Seaford-based Mums Supporting Families in Need (MSFIN) – to provide food, clothing, clean drinking water and health care. MSFIN marketing and fundraising manager Kim Michod said it was exciting to see donations of toys, clothes and essential food hampers left under the organisation’s Christmas tree to be distributed. “Thanks to the employees at South…
ON Monday Mount Eliza’s Toorak College celebrated some outstanding results from the class of 2022, with more than 40 per cent of students in the top 10 per cent in Australia by achieving ATARs over 90. The school reported a median ATAR of 87. School spokesperson Emma Castles said the dux of 2022, Anna Franklin, achieved an ATAR of 99.8. Dux proximus, Sophie Dahlenburg, with 99.2 was among 12 students with ATARs over 95 at Toorak College. “We couldn’t be more proud of our year 12 students who have role modelled for their younger peers that anything is possible,” Castles…
THE much anticipated Hastings foreshore sound shell concept has been scrapped due to state government concerns over flooding risks and rising sea levels. The community-led proposal to build an entertainment sound shell has been part of a revised foreshore precinct for several years, but the plan has been left out of the just-released new Hastings foreshore master plan. Shire mayor Cr Steve Holland said that while plans for a sound shell were “not supported” by the state government due to the flood risks, there was provision in the master plan for an open events area. “We have ensured the Hastings…
INVESTIGATIONS are being made into the stability and profile of the foreshore around Fishermans beach, Mornington. Meanwhile, a section of the popular beach will remain out of bounds to the public. Mornington Peninsula Shire mayor Cr Steve Holland said an “options report” was due early in the new year and the “exclusion zone will remain in place for the time being”. He said any works to correct the failing retaining wall and slope stability were likely to take six to 12 months. First published in the Mornington News – 20 December 2022
A MAN whose five-year-old son was thrown into Western Port when their boat capsized in 2017 has joined Life Saving Victoria to remind boaters to wear lifejackets. Stranded in open water for more than one hour, Nathan Hardinge, his son Darcy and his then-28-year-old nephew Matthew Stringer, managed to stay afloat thanks to their lifejackets, which enable them to raise the alarm for help by deploying a radio beacon and lighting a flare. The trio, from The Basin, had been gummy-shark fishing around 11.15pm when their 5.5 metre boat struck a sandbar on their way back to Stony Point and…
A FAST food snack turned out to be the downfall of a driver in Hastings on 12 December, after he was breathalysed and returned a reading of 0.246 – more than four times the legal limit. Around 7pm, police were notified of an erratic vehicle that was almost involved in several collisions. Police located the vehicle in the McDonalds car park in Hastings. The driver returned a positive reading on a preliminary breath test and accompanied police back to the Hastings police station for a further breath test which returned a result of 0.236. The man’s licence was immediately suspended,…
A SEAFORD man, 35, was arrested after a burglary in Mount Eliza on Thursday 15 December thanks to the use of a police drone to search the area. Sergeant Pat Hayes from Mornington police deployed the drone after a call about a suspected burglary in Elm Court about 10.15am. The Seaford man was located and arrested. Police believe they were able to identify an accomplice. First published in the Southern Peninsula News – 20 December 2022
OPEN Gardens Victoria in January will open two private Mornington Peninsula gardens—Karkalla, Sorrento and Samantha, Portsea, created by landscape designer Fiona Brockhoff. Karkalla is the coastal property of Brockhoff and partner David Swann built on a tertiary dune with views of Port Phillip and Bass Strait and abutting the Mornington Peninsula National Park. The garden and its 1950s-inspired beach house designed by architect Thomas Isaksson blend with their coastal setting. “During my twenty-five years of landscape design, my values have remained consistent: relating the garden to the site and surroundings, building functional spaces that are relevant to the needs of…
Shrieks of delight filled the hall of Eastbourne Primary School this week, as students were treated to a surprise visit from Australian singing sensation, Tones and I. The ARIA award winning artist hosted a basketball shootout style competition, awarding winners from each year level a prize pack including tickets to her Music in the Park concert which is due to be held at Mornington Park next Thursday, December 22nd. Tones and I didn’t depart without ensuring each adoring fan had a signature to remember this memorable moment.
Time to remove citizenship hurdles for refugees Are you like me? I’ve heard so many stories about impressive refugees of many ages who, despite the trauma of getting to Australia, are significantly contributing to their new country as medical, health, aged care professionals, business men and women, skilled tradespersons, journalists, musicians, engineers – the list goes on. And the amazing stories of secondary and tertiary students who achieve high level academic results and hold leadership positions in their schools and universities are spell binding. How remarkable it is that so many of these people are not permitted to be permanent…
THE success of the Socceroos in the World Cup is being felt throughout Australia and no more so than at The Den in Bittern. The Den, at Graham Myers Reserve in Hendersons Road, is home to Western Port FC which is running a recruitment campaign in preparation for the 2023 season. The club is open to boys and girls aged six to 16, some of whom are now playing five-a-side games, also in the lead-up to the season and the regular Wednesday night training which starts in February. Club president Jack McCarthy said the club, formerly known as Westernport SC,…
MOUNT Eliza shoppers can expect to be frustrated a little longer as roadworks continue to block street car parks. Mornington Peninsula Shire is undertaking stage two of a pedestrian safety improvement project in central Mount Eliza that is causing some traffic disruptions. The project is being paid for through the federal government’s Local Roads and Community Infrastructure and Black Spot program. Road rehabilitation works on Mount Eliza Way were completed early this year, and the next stage to be delivered in two phases includes a reduced speed limit on the Mount Eliza Way shopping strip from 50 to 40kph and…
A SUMMER safety blitz on the Mornington Peninsula and other foreshore locations across Melbourne is ramping up as beachgoers gear up for the warmer weather. Operation Summersafe – running until March next year – will see a bolstered police presence across key beachside locations. Residents and visitors should expect an increase in proactive police patrols along the foreshore as well as surrounding parks, entertainment precincts and public transport hubs. Local police will work alongside specialist units including the mounted branch, water police, public order response team, highway patrol and transit safety division. Specially fitted vans, called mobile policing units, will…
THE Mornington Peninsula’s only official nude beach has been saved, after councillors voted to keep its clothing optional status. However, the decision by Mornington Peninsula Shire comes with a caveat and there will be tougher scrutiny of visitors to the area. Sunnyside Beach North, at Mount Eliza, has been a clothing-optional beach since the 1980s, but the issue of clothing or no clothing came to a head during lockdowns, which reduced the number of nude bathers and increased its use by clothed locals who were within the five kilometre travel limit. A survey conducted by the council earlier this year…
By Dr Sally Shaw* SUMMER is here and we are all breathing a sigh of relief that we can have Christmas with our friends and family and all the celebrations that go with it. The last two years of COVID has had terrible implications on our businesses, our health and our mental state, this is all over. Or is it? Everyone seems to think that is the case and it is commonly thought there is no difference in the common cold and COVID and, for some people, this is true. At the Rosebud Respiratory Clinic, we have had a very…
Wildlife Victoria is asking tourists to slow down on the roads this holiday season as each thousands of native animals are killed or injured on Victoria’s roads every year. Statistics show that traffic is increasingly a significant factor in wildlife injuries and deaths, with 663 calls for road-related wildlife assistance in the same period in 2019-2020 compared to 559 calls in 2018-2019. Over six weeks in the December 2021 to January 2022 school-holidays, Wildlife Victoria responded to 1131 reports of wildlife injured or killed by vehicles. More than 60 per cent were eastern grey kangaroos and swamp wallabies. This contrasted…
CHRISTMAS is coming but there will be little to celebrate for many of the four-legged homeless this year at the Pearcedale RSPCA. The peninsula shelter is bursting at the seams with dogs, like many shelters across the state, and has come up with a promotion to help find them new homes. Throughout December, in an effort to rehome some and to make room for animals that are expected to arrive over the coming months, the RSPCA is running “mates rate”, where all adult dogs are available for $200. An RSPCA spokesperson said that since the promotion started, there had been…
Southern Metro Regional Crime Team detectives have arrested seven youths in relation to a series of alleged aggravated burglaries over the past week. Information gained by detectives lead them to a home in Bonbeach on 7 December. They located seven people inside the home who were subsequently arrested. The youths are alleged to be linked to: Four allegedly stolen vehicles were located in the vicinity of the home. An Audi station wagon and Toyota Camry allegedly stolen in Frankston, a Toyota Kluger allegedly stolen in Dandenong and a BMW wagon allegedly stolen in Sunshine have been seized for forensic examination.…