Day: February 11, 2014

Contact Us Office: Street: 8 High Street, Hastings, 3915. Mailing: PO Box 588, Hastings, 3915 Phone: (03) 5979 8564. Group editor: Keith Platt – 0439 394 707. Email: keith@mpnews.com.au Journalist (Mornington News, Southern Peninsula News, Western Port News and Frankston Times): Mike Hast – 0457 550 117. Email: hast.mike@gmail.com Journalist/Production (Chelsea-Mordialloc News): Neil Walker Email: neil@mpnews.com.au Photography Manager: Yanni Dellaportas Email: yanni@satlink.com.au Production Manager: Stephanie Loverso: Email: steph@mpnews.com.au Production: Email: production@mpnews.com.au

RESPECTED and admired Aboriginal singer–songwriter Archie Roach shared both poignant and light-hearted stories of growing up in the Australian outback and memories of life with his large family with about 150 people at Hickinbotham winery in Dromana on Friday night. Roach even managed to throw in some inspiring tunes he’d written over a long and distinguished career. The all-female a cappella group Ling Marra opened the night with an hour of harmonies and magical arrangements of songs from traditional and world music styles. In February 2010, Roach suffered immeasurably. Many people will remember the venerable and dignified performer, who captured…

By Chris McLennan of Western Port Festival THE annual Western Port Festival, held 21 to 23 February on the Hastings foreshore, is shaping up to be one of the largest and most exciting festivals in its 45-year history. The festival is becoming known for being the largest volunteer-run community event on the Mornington Peninsula, and this year has seen a huge spike in people wanting to get involved. Festival committee secretary Ross Topham said interest in the event has gone through the roof since last year. “Entries for the street parade have almost doubled, stall participation has increased, more community…

AN out-of-control car smashed through the fence of a Rosebud property last Sunday night, rolling multiple times across the length of the garden before smashing into a parked car and landing just metres from the front of the house. The Holden sedan, believed to be travelling in excess of 100km/h, failed to negotiate a bend on Elizabeth Drive near the corner of Rosebud Ave shortly after 8pm. The car narrowly missed a power pole after leaving the road and becoming airborne, before crashing through the property on the opposite side of the road. The impact sent fence palings flying and…

AS the peninsula copes with a long, hot summer and record-breaking tem­peratures, Mornington scientist Ame­lia Travers has been rugged up to cope with the frozen world of the Arctic where the sun makes only a brief appearance each day. During January, Ms Travers, 26, was on Norway’s Svalbard Island in the Greenland Sea close to the Arctic Circle, the nation’s most northern permanently inhabited island. She was part of an international team of scientists studying marine life with the Marine Night field campaign, part of Mare Incognitum. The team used high-tech underwater robots, autonomous underwater vehi­cles (AUVs for short) as…

PLANS are being drawn up to fill in the missing links on the Bay Trail between Dromana and McCrae. Cyclists are forced to leave the trail at the busiest time of the year because of caravans on the foreshore reserve. Unless they want to push their bikes through the crowded camping area, riders must go on Point Nepean Rd, despite there being no designated bike lane around the cliff base at Anthony’s Nose. A draft plan for the Bay Trail to be made alongside the road on the outside of the camping reserve will be released in July. Mornington Peninsula’s…

TOXIC substances such as heavy me­tals, hydrocarbons, pesticides and anti-foulants appear to be low in Western Port, says one of five new reports commissioned by Melbourne Water. The reports are part of the government authority’s investigation into the health and environmental management of Western Port under the banner Western Port Science Review. The project started in 2010 and brought together a panel of scientists to consolidate the existing research on Western Port to improve knowledge of the area’s marine and coastal environments. Reports have been released in stages since then with five published in late January. The reports examined five…

SOIL samples and surveys began this week on land likely to be used for the planned expansion of the Port of Hastings. The 30 drilling sites are just north of Hastings within the BlueScope Steel area and around Whitneys Rd, Somerville. Core sampling and surveys have been underway in Western Port since December, mostly in the proposed port area and North Arm channel, and will now continue throughout all survey areas, including the Western Channel and anchorage. Port of Hastings Development Authority CEO Mike Lean said the survey results would provide “detailed knowledge on the soil composition, geological characteristics and…

COUNCILLORS will face greater scrutiny from the local government watchdog, the Local Government Inspectorate, when new powers are introduced into Parliament mid-year. Two new offences relating to breach of confidentiality and improper direction of council staff will be introduced. Mayors will have the power to order the removal of unruly councillors from council meetings, although how this will occur has not been detailed. The Chief Municipal Inspector will have expanded power to investigate and prosecute breaches of conduct under the Local Government Act 1989. Misbehaving councillors will face stronger penalties. Local Government Minister Jeanette Powell announced the changes on Monday…

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…

MORE than 20 million trips have been made on Peninsula Link freeway since it opened just over a year ago. The freeway has been credited with a big jump in the number of tourists staying on the peninsula this summer as well as an increase in the number of day-trippers. Word is out that you can drive from many parts of Melbourne to the peninsula in an hour or just over. Commuters also are taking to the Link, said Nepean MP Martin Dixon when he visited the freeway control centre in Golf Links Rd, Frankston South, which is operated by…

THE world’s second-largest semi-submersible transport ship MV Blue Marlin steamed through The Heads into Port Phillip early on Friday morning carrying the newest vessel of the Royal Australian Navy. The hull of LHD Adelaide, the second of the navy’s new amphibious ships, was built at the renowned naval shipyard in Ferrol in northern Spain by Navantia and launched in July 2012 prior to further work being completed. It is a sister ship to LHD (Landing Helicopter Dock) Canberra, which arrived on Blue Marlin in October 2012 and is expected to start sea trials next month before being handed to the…