EXPERIENCED tradesman Alan Mott of Hastings recently placed a small advertisement in The News for Al’s Jobbing Shop. There appeared to be nothing unusual about this until you discover Mr Mott is aged 85. The advert was the first step in a return to work that had been forced on him by financial circumstances. Mr Mott was born in West Melbourne in 1927. He went to local schools, finishing at Footscray Tech where he completed his Intermediate Certificate. He started an apprenticeship in fitting and turning at a paper mill in Fairfield where his brother had also trained. After the…
Day: October 2, 2012
DEMOCRACY is alive on the Mornington Peninsula with 43 candidates vying for places in the shire’s six wards at this month’s election. It’s a far cry from the previous election in 2008 when six of 11 seats were uncontested, with five councillors returned unchallenged and one, this year’s mayor Cr Frank Martin, not even facing the voters. Cr Martin took over from the retiring David Jarman in Red Hill Ward and was not opposed. The 43-candidate list is vindication of the Victorian Electoral Commission’s decision to redraw the ward boundaries and create three multi-councillor wards from eight single-councillor wards on…
A TRACK leads down to rocky ledges below the site of the latest landslide on the Esplanade between Mt Martha and Safety Beach. The jagged rocks are partly covered by bright orange lichen and the clear water gurgles up and down as a westerly wind chops up Port Phillip. The landslide itself has uncovered what appear to be the remains of a rock retaining wall built into the cliff as well as undermining the bitumen road. It may have also revealed, or swept away, traces of people who lived here long before Europeans set foot on the shores of a…